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Arthur C.Clarke



 
 
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  #11  
Old July 7th 03, 06:12 PM
John Carruthers
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

I had not even heard of O-levels
at 15, for my secondary modern did not take any exams at all. If you

lived
long enough to get your certificate of eligibility which ensured

that no
longer would you have to have to legally attend school, and could
more-or-less read your own name, write it and work out the change

from a
pound having bought something for three and fourpence ha'penny, you

were
all set for 'life'. (My tongue was in cheek just a little, there!)


How true, I was told "there's no point in you learning your tables, -
you'll always have your slide rule "
(this was 6 months before (Sir) Clive Sinclair brought out his "pocket
calculator" )
jc



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  #12  
Old July 7th 03, 08:09 PM
Martin Frey
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

Dr Robin Bignall wrote:

I did not say that I got a bad education; merely that my school did not
take exams. In fact, the majority of my teachers were ex-service, and
vastly overqualified for teaching young erks such as me. The guy who taught
me maths was an ex-regular soldier who had been a gunnery instructor. What
he didn't know about the sort of maths I needed at 15 wasn't worth knowing.


SNIP

Forgive my presumption.

Cheers

Martin

--------------
Martin Frey
N 51 02 E 0 47
--------------
  #13  
Old July 7th 03, 08:09 PM
Martin Frey
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

Dr Robin Bignall wrote:

I did not say that I got a bad education; merely that my school did not
take exams. In fact, the majority of my teachers were ex-service, and
vastly overqualified for teaching young erks such as me. The guy who taught
me maths was an ex-regular soldier who had been a gunnery instructor. What
he didn't know about the sort of maths I needed at 15 wasn't worth knowing.


SNIP

Forgive my presumption.

Cheers

Martin

--------------
Martin Frey
N 51 02 E 0 47
--------------
  #14  
Old July 7th 03, 10:43 PM
Dr John Stockton
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

JRS: In article , seen in
news:uk.sci.astronomy, Dr Robin Bignall posted
at Mon, 7 Jul 2003 09:59:54 :-

I know the name Wiley Ley
well, but cannot remember much. Will have a google after this.


Seeking "Willy Ley" might be more effective.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. Turnpike v4.00 MIME. ©
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
some Astro stuff via astro.htm, gravity0.htm; quotes.htm; pascal.htm; &c, &c.
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  #15  
Old July 7th 03, 10:43 PM
Dr John Stockton
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

JRS: In article , seen in
news:uk.sci.astronomy, Dr Robin Bignall posted
at Mon, 7 Jul 2003 09:59:54 :-

I know the name Wiley Ley
well, but cannot remember much. Will have a google after this.


Seeking "Willy Ley" might be more effective.

--
© John Stockton, Surrey, UK. Turnpike v4.00 MIME. ©
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
some Astro stuff via astro.htm, gravity0.htm; quotes.htm; pascal.htm; &c, &c.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.
  #16  
Old July 8th 03, 02:45 AM
Dr Robin Bignall
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 20:13:59 +0100, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

In message , Dr Robin
Bignall writes

It is quite hard to judge how the future, even 20 years, will develop. In
1963 I saw my first Startrek, with Kirk flipping his portable phone.


That's quite a trick, when it wasn't even premiered until 1966. It
wasn't shown here for some years.


That is weird! My memory tells me that I saw my first Star trek not long
after I got married, which was Dec 7, 1963. I was sure it was while we were
living in Muswell Hill in a flat, from which we moved to a house in south
London 1967. It could not have been in the States, because my first trip
was in 1969.

Obviously my memory is wrong, but it could not have been after 1972, for we
emigrated to France at the end of that year. I stayed 15 years, and my
family is still there.

So your 'some years' cannot have been too many! I remember the episode. One
of the crew (I think) developed extra-sensory powers, and when he used them
his eyes glowed. It was so much better than Dr Who (which I thought was
rubbish, probably because I've been reading serious SF and fantasy since I
was nine)) and other 'made-for-TV' SF, that I was spellbound.

--

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm
  #17  
Old July 8th 03, 02:45 AM
Dr Robin Bignall
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 20:13:59 +0100, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

In message , Dr Robin
Bignall writes

It is quite hard to judge how the future, even 20 years, will develop. In
1963 I saw my first Startrek, with Kirk flipping his portable phone.


That's quite a trick, when it wasn't even premiered until 1966. It
wasn't shown here for some years.


That is weird! My memory tells me that I saw my first Star trek not long
after I got married, which was Dec 7, 1963. I was sure it was while we were
living in Muswell Hill in a flat, from which we moved to a house in south
London 1967. It could not have been in the States, because my first trip
was in 1969.

Obviously my memory is wrong, but it could not have been after 1972, for we
emigrated to France at the end of that year. I stayed 15 years, and my
family is still there.

So your 'some years' cannot have been too many! I remember the episode. One
of the crew (I think) developed extra-sensory powers, and when he used them
his eyes glowed. It was so much better than Dr Who (which I thought was
rubbish, probably because I've been reading serious SF and fantasy since I
was nine)) and other 'made-for-TV' SF, that I was spellbound.

--

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/docrobin/homepage.htm
  #18  
Old July 8th 03, 02:47 AM
PSmith9626
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Default Arthur C.Clarke

Dear robin,
I did enjoy the reference to celestial mechanics in " The Day the Earth Stood
Still":
" Just expand in a power series, all terms beyond the third are negligible
and then apply the method of reduction of order."
" How do you know all terms beyond the third are negligible?"
" Well, it works well enough to get me from one planet to another."
best
Penny

Almost as much fun as the episode of " The Time Tunnel" where Hamilton's
Equations appear on a 1910 blackboard to
calculate the orbit of Halley's Comet.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) they thought
that 4000 mph was super-fast and 250 million miles away a huge distance;
the fact that the film was a cop-out


Right.

or in the original story it
was the robot which was the life-form, and Michael Rennie was just a robot
they had created to look human so as not to scare the natives!


And the movie was a retelling of the Christ story ( Mr. Carpenter etc.)

In the 1930s, the world of the future would
have us all using personal transport in the form of helicopters at least,
if we'd been too slow to discover anti-gravity by now. Where are they?


There is an American prototype of a decent flying car on the cover of last
month's "New Scientist". I think the major redesign would have to be of the
American driver!
This is based on my experience with the impatient and insane drivers here in
New Jersey. I don't want those people flying over my house.
  #19  
Old July 8th 03, 02:47 AM
PSmith9626
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Posts: n/a
Default Arthur C.Clarke

Dear robin,
I did enjoy the reference to celestial mechanics in " The Day the Earth Stood
Still":
" Just expand in a power series, all terms beyond the third are negligible
and then apply the method of reduction of order."
" How do you know all terms beyond the third are negligible?"
" Well, it works well enough to get me from one planet to another."
best
Penny

Almost as much fun as the episode of " The Time Tunnel" where Hamilton's
Equations appear on a 1910 blackboard to
calculate the orbit of Halley's Comet.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) they thought
that 4000 mph was super-fast and 250 million miles away a huge distance;
the fact that the film was a cop-out


Right.

or in the original story it
was the robot which was the life-form, and Michael Rennie was just a robot
they had created to look human so as not to scare the natives!


And the movie was a retelling of the Christ story ( Mr. Carpenter etc.)

In the 1930s, the world of the future would
have us all using personal transport in the form of helicopters at least,
if we'd been too slow to discover anti-gravity by now. Where are they?


There is an American prototype of a decent flying car on the cover of last
month's "New Scientist". I think the major redesign would have to be of the
American driver!
This is based on my experience with the impatient and insane drivers here in
New Jersey. I don't want those people flying over my house.
  #20  
Old July 8th 03, 02:54 AM
PSmith9626
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Arthur C.Clarke

Dear Martin,
Here in America, secondary school standards have gone down. But, we now educate
a larger proportion of the population.
And, I keep expecting my students to have the sort of education that I had
at Bronx High School of Science in the 1960's. That is unfair, since this
school is probably the best school in the USA.
best
Penny

Still, whatever happened to spherical trig, solid geometry, and the law of
tangents in the high schools C.,?

Instituting A levels here, would be a BIG improvement. There is starting to be
some use of the international Bac., at the better schools.

It's hard to believe the people actually think standards have gone
down - they have utterly forgotten what education was really like for
half to three-quarters of the population.


Right. In America, high schools were rather good in my dad's day ( 1930's) when
2% of the population achieved a college prep degree.
They are somewhat worse now that 75% of the population achieves a college
prep degree.
Oh, Horrors, the sky is falling.
 




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