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INKYTEXT 131
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ISSUE No 131 ESTABLISHED 1993 Friday 8th March 1996
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AGENDA
1. News: Charlotte Mason, Sicknees Absence, New Pro-Chancellor
2. Supplementary Council Agenda: restricted and confidential
3. UK - US Internet Link by Alan Phillips
4. Public Announcements and Whazzon: notalot
5. Culinary Corner: Fennel Risotto
6. Readers' Letters: Rubella, Lubbs, The Croft
1. NEWS
-------
AN EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE LAKE DISTRICT CAMPUS ADVISORY GROUP takes
place at Ambleside on Friday morning, before the COuncil meeting. It
will address deals that might be struck involving St Martin's.
The Minutes of the 5 February meeting of the same body point to the
risk that students currently on course might not receive Qualified
Teacher status on graduation should the follow-up government OFSTED
(Office fro Standards in Education) report be negative. It probably
won't happen, of course, but in their interest a transfer to S Martin's
programme (which still awards Lancaster University degreees) is the
safest solution. This might not necessarily involve any physical
transfer.
From the University's point of view, the value of transferring
property to S. Martin's lies in divesting ourselves of the liability
for maintenance, and in reducing the value of our estate.
The latter has the benefit of also reducing the depreciation charges
that fall upon our income-expenditure account under the new accounting
scheme. That in turn helps bring down future overdraft projections.
S. Martin's is in a healthy position to borrow capitral should it
require any.
A NEW SICKNESS ABSENCE CODE is to be approved by Council. This is a
Personnel Office document. It tries to reconcile Senate's rebuffal of
the ludicrous and misspelt KPMG report on the matter, with the
obsessions and hang-ups of the Audit Committee. The result is blandly
enough phrased, with the odd threat, but reveals yet more bureaucratic
'monitoring' for HoDs to return to Personnel - who prolly need extra
staff to process it.
A LIVELY BUILDING AND ESTATES COMMITTEE meeting took place on Tuesday.
The cut-backs in maintenance and minor works is likely to make
substantial staffing reductions desirable.
NOMINATIONS ARE INVITED FOR A NEW PRO-CHANCELLOR to replace Sir
Christopher whose extended term of office will come to an end in July
1997. Sir John Kerr remains favourite but rumours of an interest
expressed by David Martin.
2. SUPPLEMENTARY COUNCIL AGENDA
-------------------------------
Additional discussion items include:
(a) A Confidential draft of the letter from the VC to the new Chief
Executive of the HEFCE (Prof Brian Fender) explaining the measures we
have taken, are taking and intend to take to bring our deficit under
control. This presumable itemizes things done so far, including last
week's stopping of all Library purchasing and expenditure on equipment,
whether from revenue or from the equipment fund.
(b) Management response to the Audit Committee's RESTRICTED report on
the latest financial forecasts to 1999. This too is RESTRICTED. Mrs
Gill Gardner has been invited to attend for this item.
[NOTE: Mrs Gardner is a junior partner in leading Lancaster lawyers
Oglethorpe, Sturton and Gillibrand, specialising in liability. She
prepared the advice for Council members on their potential personal
liability with respect to the accuracy of the information furnished to
the Stock Exchange prior to the launch of our debenture. (She was
unavoidably absent from the relevant meeting for reasons of maternity,
but her briefing was presented by Mr Oglethorpe in person). (Ed.)]
[NOTE 2 This seems to hint at a division of opinion between Admiral
Kerr - always anxious to apportion blame and hold people responsible,
and the VC, who sees no point in raking over the ashes of past
mistakes. (Ed.)]
(c) A proposal from the Remuneration Committee (mainly Sir
Christopher) that the 150K budgeted for professorial increments be
frozen. This was to have been used to give salary rises of the order of
10 percent to about 40 odd professors earning in the 30K - 40K bracket.
(d) Proposal from the Investment Committee (Professor Shennan) that
BZW, the merchant bankers who organised the debenture, be authorized to
find us a buyer for the SW campus, willing to pay about 10 million.
BZW's fee will be a flat-rate 250K plus VAT, deductible from the
proceeds.
3. UK-US INTERNET LINK by ALAN PHILLIPS (postmaster@lancs.ac.uk)
---------------------------------------------------------------
An update on what's happening with the UK's Internet link to the US,
which, at the time of writing (Wednesday 6 March), is far from well.
For the last year or so our link to the US (shared with all other HE
establishments, of course) has consisted of two lines, each with a 2
Megabit capacity. (For comparison, Australia has a 34 Megabit
connection to the US, and considers _that_ far too small; and our own
link to the JANET network infrastructure has a 10 Megabit bandwidth).
UKERNA, who manage HE networking, have long realised the pitiful
inadequacy of the link; but only recently have money and circuit
availability meant that something can be done.
A few weeks ago it was planned to add an 8 Megabit line to the link,
giving us a total of 12 Megabits. Everything was installed and ready to
go; and then the power supply driving the US end of the new line
failed. Because of the urgency it was decided to take a power supply
from one of the existing lines; this in its turn expired, with the net
result that line capacity halved instead of trebled.
Things then got quite silly. New equipment was sent from the US to be
installed in London; the customs decided it looked like a bomb and held
on to it for a few days to make sure. The engineer accompanying it
apparently did not seem suspicious; and when engineer and equipment
were re-united the new circuits were installed.
The hardware worked; and it was then realised that the software
didn't. A new engineer from a different company has been summoned, and
at last report is due to arrive at the end of the week. Let us hope he
does not tick loudly.
So there is a prospect that sometime next week our US link will reach
12 Megabits capacity; but at the moment we are working on a very
inadequate 2 or 4 Megabits, with the result that most international
working is difficult. E-mail, which tends to consist of small messages,
is getting through (although the systems here and at the other end may
need to make several attempts to do it). Large scale data transfers,
such as web browing and ftp, tend to be impossible during the week.
Regrettably there's nothing we can do to alleviate the basic
under-provision of resources. However, those browsing the web might
benefit substantially from using the caching system - we have a large
local cache machine, which in turn connects to the national one. Many
accesses can then be satisified from within the UK.
Web browsers should be configured to use the machine
"wwwcache.lancs.ac.uk" on port 8080 for HTTP (web), Gopher and FTP
caching. How this is done varies between browsers; the help desk can
advise in case of difficulties
5. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS AND WHAZZON
-----------------------------------
Mr and Mrs Osammor, proprietors of the Palmgroove (African) restaurant
in Morecambe invite friends and colleagues to a buffet night on Friday
15 March. This is an opportunity to sample the different dishes they
offer, including starters, main dishes and sweets - vegetarians also
catered for. One sitting at 7pm for a cost of 8.95 per head. Anyone
interested must book in advance on Morecambe 401212 or fax 400730.
-------------
Anyone interested in a ticket for the 21 March concert (Manchester
Camerata) in the Great Hall? Having bought it in advance (?9.00) as
part of a 90-odd quid pack, I now find I have to be away on research
trip, and once bought, tickets apparently cannot be returned. Sad, but
that's life. Less sad if someone were interested in taking it over:
call Gerd on 4277 (internal), or on 60999. Let's say 7 quid?.
------------
5. CULINARY CORNER: FENNEL RISOTTO
----------------------------------
Another from Fabien PICHARD of the FRENCHTALK list
<frenchtalk@list.cren.net> who got it from his girl friend who got it
from a book..
Salut les filles! Bon pour remonter le moral des troupes, voici une
recette d'une copine. Je l'ai essaye il y a 3 semaines, pas mal du
tout...
This is an excellent recipe. It comes from Sara Brown's Healthy Living
Cookbook (it's a DK book that's sometimes available in the co. store).
I've made a few modifications to it, which I note. The combination of
flavours and textures is wonderful, and the gomasio really makes the
dish. Try not to use long-grain rice; the texture of the finished
product won't be the same (although it's still good). Enjoy!
FENNEL RISOTTO
2 tsp. sunflower oil
1 med. onion, finely chopped (my addition: 2 cloves garlic, minced)
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 lb. fennel (anise), diced
1 c. short-grain brown rice
black pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 oz. walnuts, roughly chopped
12 oz. tomatoes, skinned and chopped (I've never bothered skinning the
tomatoes) gomasio, or salt if preferred (see below)
I also make about three cups of veggie broth, because I don't think
the recipe calls for enough liquid otherwise to make a true, creamy
risotto. Also, the author says to use water, and I like the additional
flavor the broth adds.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic
for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Add the lemon rind and fennel and cook
for 2-3 minutes. Add the rice and 1 c. boiling broth. Stir, bring to
the boil and cook covered, until all the water has been absorbed,
stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, walnuts and 1/2
c. broth. Stir again and cook until all the liquid is absorbed. If the
rice isn't yet cooked, add a little more boiling broth if necessary.
(note: at this point I add the extra broth and cook uncovered until
it's mostly absorbed, but enough is left to make a sauce). Once cooked,
the risotto should have a creamy consistency. Season with gomasio and
pepper. Garnish with a fennel frond. Serve hot.
GOMASIO
To make gomasio, which is simply a mixture of toasted sesame seeds and
salt, toast about 1 tbsp. of sesame seeds over medium-high heat,
shaking the pan to prevent burning. When done, grind with a mortar and
pestle and add a pinch of salt. This mixture is intended to help people
cut down on their salt intake, and is it ever good!
6. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
Add to those four cases of German measles at least two in Furness.
Half of all Rubella infections don't have the usual rash, so many may
go undiagnosed.
I heard from one of the Furness infected that cases were appearing at
the Health Centre at the rate of three per day, but quite how long that
alarming rate was sustained for is not clear!
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Voila bientot un mois sans Inkytext, quelle privation. Je crois que
c'est de ma faute, car on a annule mon ancienne adresse il y a quelques
semaines, mon abonnement a Inkytext avec, je suppose. Pourrais-je me
recotiser le plus vite possible? Merci.
--------------------------
I keep hearing about your celebrated Text. Could you possibly add me
to the circulation list, please?
------------------
Having got fed up with only being able to read Inkytext via other
people, I have finally gone and got myself networked. Therefore, I
would be most grateful if you would send me any future editions of
Inkytext.
----------------------
It has been alleged on Lubbs today (Tuesday) that Lancaster University
is bankrupt. Can you confirm whether this is in fact true, and, if so,
what the implications are?
[NOTE: Certainly not. I'm not even sure exactly what that might mean,
or what people who said it might think they meant. The position is
presumably still more or less as stated in the Minutes of the Feb 14th
meeting of the Finance Committee. (See IT Issue 129.)
You certainly must not believe everything you read on Lubbs.
Personally I have a deep mistrust of much it contains, especially the
pompous and misspelt contributions of people like 'Voltaire'. (Ed.)]
-----------------------
I would appreciate it if I could be included in the circulation list
for Inkytext. It forms a central part of conversation in the Geography
department.
----------------------------
Didn't the University buy a rather expensive house in Bailrigg Lane
last year? If so what use is currently being made of it?
[NOTE: Downings is currently let to post graduates I think. (Ed.)]
-------------------------
Is there any truth in the rumour that the South West Avenue buildings
are to be named after the man who is, presumably, a hero and role model
for some members of the university? I refer, of course, to Nick Leeson.
P.S. We could try and cheer ourselves up by suggesting witty names for
some of the millstones hanging round the university's neck. The
buildings, I mean.
Or coming up with newspaper headlines that describe our situation.
How about: UNIVERSITY IN TROUBLE AFTER ATTACK OF CS GAS?
--------------------------
What is the 'arts project' that has been excised from the buildings
programme???
------------------
What is happening outside The Croft?
First of all, the wooden fence had some panels removed, then some
posts, then new pieces of wood inserted into the posts to provide
better visibility presumerably. Then, the work stopped, leaving a hole
in the fence as a useless short cut opportunity that is unfortunately
being used as a useless short cut, in the process trampling on the lawn
of North Lodge.
Then, bollards were erected at both ends. The purpose is unclear,
since the only thing they will cause is people to fall of their bikes,
and stop security driving along it, as they do every night when on
patrol. They also mean any emergency on the cycle path will be
responded to more slowly, and the time taken to unlock the bollards
could be dangerous and an unnecessary hassle. What happens when quick
response is required?
Given the money situation, shouldn't expenditure be on things of
benefit, rather than this?
-------------------------
Someone I spoke to was adamant that C.M. College was not going to be
bought be St. Martin's, as S.M., it is alleged, cannot afford
Charlotte Mason. Can you confirm this?
[NOTE: Whoever said anything anywhere about 'buying'? Haven't heard it
mentioned myself. S. Martin's is certainly better placed to borrow for
investment purposes than we are though. There is nothing to be
confirmed since as yet nothing has finally been decided. (Ed.)]
-------------------------
Would you please remove my account (X@lancs.ac.uk) from your list of
subscribers to InkyText. Although I have enjoyed receiving it and find
the information therein of interest, I am unable to continue receiving
it as it brings my incoming mailbox size to unmanageable proportions.
[NOTE: No prob. Every sympathy - it does the same to mine. (Ed.)]
----------------------------
I would like to subscribe to Inkytext. Please send me details and some
info about it.
[NOTE: Hmmm.... dunno how to describe it really. Perhaps readers
could help. A sort of bad news version of NewsView with added attitude
and misprints really. Aiming for excellence of course. (Ed.)]
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