On 9-8-2009 16:47, Stephen wrote:
> On Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:12:14 +0200, andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> 
>> I think it was meant as a reference to the British system where you can 
>> only elect politicians that have been to one or two colleges. It is 
>> scarily true of most democracies though.
> 
> I think that Jim is right it is more a criticism of the American political
> system. In Britain we have effectively had a three party system since the late
> 19th century and have a few small parties and independent members of parliament.
> 
> You may be being confused with our class system where the majority of English
> MPs have traditionally been educated at either Oxford or Cambridge.

I think that is basically saying that all politicians (except local 
ones?) are either from Oxford or Cambridge, but perhaps I was indeed 
more thinking of Eton. I am not extremely familiar with British 
political system, but I had the impression that it is a bit of an old 
boys network, where the labour and the tory leader had been always 
together at school except when the age difference was too big.
You may both be right that it is about the US system, I think it was in 
a later book and he was more exposed to the strangeness of the US at 
that time than merely to the silliness of British politics.

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On 9 Aug 2009 13:09:56 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>That particular DNA quote is actually on the front of the returns desk at 
>our local public library.  :-)
LOL
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:52:00 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 9 Aug 2009 13:09:56 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> 
>>That particular DNA quote is actually on the front of the returns desk
>>at our local public library.  :-)
> LOL

Yeah, I thought it an absolutely inspired selection. :-)

Jim

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On 9 Aug 2009 17:25:47 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>On Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:52:00 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 9 Aug 2009 13:09:56 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> 
>>>That particular DNA quote is actually on the front of the returns desk
>>>at our local public library.  :-)
>> LOL
>
>Yeah, I thought it an absolutely inspired selection. :-)
>

Does your library fine you for late returns?

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:19:11 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 9 Aug 2009 17:25:47 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> 
>>On Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:52:00 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>>
>>> On 9 Aug 2009 13:09:56 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>>> 
>>>>That particular DNA quote is actually on the front of the returns desk
>>>>at our local public library.  :-)
>>> LOL
>>
>>Yeah, I thought it an absolutely inspired selection. :-)
>>
>>
> Does your library fine you for late returns?

Indeed they do, but not very much. :-)

Jim

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On 9 Aug 2009 20:49:44 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>> Does your library fine you for late returns?
>
>Indeed they do, but not very much. :-)

Westminster libraries charge 25p per day per book up to a limit of GBP 10 per
book. :(
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:16:55 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 9 Aug 2009 20:49:44 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> 
>>> Does your library fine you for late returns?
>>
>>Indeed they do, but not very much. :-)
> 
> Westminster libraries charge 25p per day per book up to a limit of GBP
> 10 per book. :(

Yeah, here it's $0.20/day except for videos and DVDs, which are $1.00/
day, to a max of $6.00 per item per loan period.  The length of time 
items can be borrowed for vary depending on the type of item - either 28 
days or 14 days.

Jim

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On 10 Aug 2009 10:44:47 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:16:55 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 9 Aug 2009 20:49:44 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> 
>>>> Does your library fine you for late returns?
>>>
>>>Indeed they do, but not very much. :-)
>> 
>> Westminster libraries charge 25p per day per book up to a limit of GBP
>> 10 per book. :(
>
>Yeah, here it's $0.20/day except for videos and DVDs, which are $1.00/
>day, to a max of $6.00 per item per loan period.  The length of time 
>items can be borrowed for vary depending on the type of item - either 28 
>days or 14 days.
>

That's good. I don't know what I'd do without public libraries.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:26:21 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> That's good. I don't know what I'd do without public libraries.

I used to spend a lot of time at the library when I was younger, but not 
so much now.  I just got my new library card a few months ago, so maybe 
that'll change.

We do have a very good library system here in Utah, one of the best in 
the US (so I hear).

Jim

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In article <4a81821d@news.povray.org>,
Jim Henderson wrote:

> On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:26:21 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> That's good. I don't know what I'd do without public libraries.
>
> I used to spend a lot of time at the library when I was younger, but not 
> so much now.  I just got my new library card a few months ago, so maybe 
> that'll change.
>
> We do have a very good library system here in Utah, one of the best in 
> the US (so I hear).

I used to think that no one could beat Ohio. New Jersey certainly
doesn't. Do you know how much Princeton would charge you for a library
card you being a non-student? Some 300 dollars per semester! Call
them to check. 

I figured it would be a lot better to go to the library, have a look
at books I *might* want to read a substantial part of, and just buy
them off of the Internet. How many books does one read in a semester?

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