33-545: A Postal Index Number ( PIN ; sometimes redundantly a PIN code ) refers to a six-digit code in the Indian postal code system used by India Post . On 15 August 2022, the PIN system celebrated its 50th anniversary. The PIN system was introduced on 15 August 1972 by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar , an additional secretary in the Government of India's Ministry of Communications . The system
66-634: A Big Country in Britain, Canada, and Australia. During his time in the U.S., Bryson decided to walk parts of the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz (a pseudonym), about which he wrote the book A Walk in the Woods . In the 2015 film adaptation of A Walk in the Woods , Bryson is portrayed by Academy Award winner Robert Redford , and Katz by Nick Nolte . In 2003, in conjunction with World Book Day , British voters chose Bryson's book Notes from
99-399: A Small Island as that which best summed up British identity and the state of the nation. Also in 2003, he was appointed a Commissioner for English Heritage . His popular science book, the 500-page A Short History of Nearly Everything , explores not only the histories and current statuses of the sciences, but also their humble and often humorous beginnings. Although one "top scientist"
132-611: A Small Island he describes doing so, in Eastleigh . His citizenship ceremony took place in Winchester and he now holds dual citizenship . While living in the U.S. in the 1990s, Bryson wrote a column for a British newspaper for several years, reflecting on humorous aspects of his repatriation in the United States. These columns were selected and adapted to become his book I'm a Stranger Here Myself , alternatively titled Notes from
165-623: A cafe named after Bryson's book Notes from a Small Island . Bryson was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2013 , becoming the first non-Briton to receive this honour. His biography at the Society reads: Bill Bryson is a popular author who is driven by a deep curiosity for the world we live in. Bill's books and lectures demonstrate an abiding love for science and an appreciation for its social importance. His international bestseller, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003),
198-625: A half centuries entitled Seeing Further . He was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contribution to literature on 13 December 2006. In 2007, he was awarded the James Joyce Award by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin . After he received British citizenship, his OBE was made substantive. In May 2007, he became the president of
231-755: A journalist, first for the Bournemouth Evening Echo , eventually becoming chief copy editor of the business section of The Times and deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent . The Brysons moved around the United Kingdom, living in Virginia Water (Surrey), Purewell (Dorset), Burton (Dorset), Kirkby Malham , and the Old Rectory in Wramplingham , Norfolk (2003–2013). They currently live in rural Hampshire and maintain
264-503: A podcast, Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science , in 2017. In 2012, Bryson sued his agent, Jed Mattes Inc., in New York County Supreme Court , claiming it had "failed to perform some of the most fundamental duties of an agent". The case was settled out of court, with part of the settlement being that Bryson may not discuss it. In 2013, Bryson claimed copyright on an interview he had given nearly 20 years previously, after
297-513: A small flat in South Kensington, London. From 1995 to 2003 they lived in Hanover, New Hampshire . Although able to apply for British citizenship , Bryson said in 2010 that he had declined a citizenship test, declaring himself "too cowardly" to take it. However, in 2014, he said that he was preparing to take it and in the prologue to his 2015 book The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From
330-425: A sorting district that is headquartered at the main post office of the largest city in the region and is known as the sorting office . A state may have one or more sorting districts depending on the volume of mail handled. The fourth digit represents the route on which a delivery office is located in the sorting district. This is "0" for offices in the core area of the sorting district. The last two digits represent
363-417: A sub-office (SO) which are usually located in urban areas. The post from the delivery office is sorted and routed to other delivery offices for a different PIN or to one of the relevant sub-offices or branch offices for the same PIN. Branch offices (BOs) are located in rural areas and have limited postal services. RAS syndrome RAS syndrome , where RAS stands for redundant acronym syndrome (making
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#1732848472481396-468: Is a need to avoid pleonasms such as redundant acronyms depends on one's balance point of prescriptivism (ideas about how language should be used) versus descriptivism (the realities of how natural language is used). For writing intended to persuade, impress, or avoid criticism, many usage guides advise writers to avoid pleonasm as much as possible, not because such usage is always wrong, but rather because most of one's audience may believe that it
429-773: Is alleged to have jokingly described the book as "annoyingly free of mistakes", Bryson himself makes no such claim, and a list of some of its reported errors is available online. In November 2006, Bryson interviewed then British prime minister Tony Blair on the state of science and education. Bryson also wrote two popular works on the history of the English language, The Mother Tongue and Made in America —and, more recently, an update of his guide to usage , Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words (first published as The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words in 1983). He also released
462-413: Is always wrong. Although there are many instances in editing where removal of redundancy improves clarity, the pure-logic ideal of zero redundancy is seldom maintained in human languages. Bill Bryson says: "Not all repetition is bad. It can be used for effect ..., or for clarity, or in deference to idiom . ' OPEC countries', ' SALT talks' and ' HIV virus' are all technically redundant because
495-437: Is an American-British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has been a resident of Britain for most of his adult life, returning to the U.S. between 1995 and 2003, and holds dual American and British citizenship. He served as the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011. In 1995, while in
528-541: Is often used, and in English "please RSVP " (roughly "please respond please") is very common. This occurs for the same linguistic reasons that cause many toponyms to be tautological . The tautology is not parsed by the mind in most instances of real-world use (in many cases because the foreign word's meaning is not known anyway; in others simply because the usage is idiomatic). Examples of RAS phrases include: Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson ( / ˈ b r aɪ s ən / BRYE -sən ; born 8 December 1951)
561-619: Is the need for spelling alphabets in radiotelephony. Some instances of RAS syndrome can be viewed as syntactic examples of the principle. The redundancy may help the listener by providing context and decreasing the " alphabet soup quotient" (the cryptic overabundance of abbreviations and acronyms) of the communication. Acronyms from foreign languages are often treated as unanalyzed morphemes when they are not translated. For example, in French, "le protocole IP" (the Internet Protocol protocol)
594-647: The Campaign to Protect Rural England . His first focus in this role was the establishment of an anti-littering campaign across England. He discussed the future of the countryside with Richard Mabey , Sue Clifford , Nicholas Crane , and Richard Girling at CPRE's Volunteer Conference in November 2007. In 2011, Bryson won the Golden Eagle Award from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild . In October 2010, it
627-519: The Bill Bryson Prize for Science Communication was established in 2005. The competition engages students from around the world in explaining science to non-experts. As part of its 350th anniversary celebrations in 2010 the Royal Society commissioned Bryson to edit a collection of essays by scientists and science writers about the history of science and the Royal Society over the previous three and
660-460: The United Kingdom, Bryson authored Notes from a Small Island , an exploration of Britain. In 2003, he authored A Short History of Nearly Everything . In October 2020, he announced that he had retired from writing books. In 2022, he recorded an audiobook for Audible, The Secret History of Christmas . He has sold over 16 million books worldwide. Bryson was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa ,
693-618: The cause of the chemical sciences. In 2007, he won the Bradford Washburn Award, from the Museum of Science in Boston , for contributions to the popularization of science. In 2005, Bryson was appointed chancellor of Durham University , succeeding the late Sir Peter Ustinov . He had praised Durham as "a perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island . With the Royal Society of Chemistry ,
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#1732848472481726-519: The delivery office within the sorting district starting from "01" which would be the General Post Office (GPO) or head office (HO). The numbering of the delivery office is done chronologically with higher numbers assigned to newer delivery offices. If the volume of mail handled at a delivery office is too large, a new delivery office is created and the next available PIN is assigned. Thus, two delivery offices situated next to each other will only have
759-510: The first four digits in common. The pin code of Dakshin Gangotri in Antarctica is 403001, which is of the pin code of Panaji , Goa. Each PIN is mapped to exactly one delivery post office which receives all the mail to be delivered to one or lower offices within its jurisdiction, all of which share the same code. The delivery office can either be a General Post Office (GPO), a head office (HO), or
792-578: The interviewer republished it as an 8,000-word e-book. Amazon removed the e-book from publication. In 2004, he won the Aventis Prize for best general science book that year, with A Short History of Nearly Everything . In 2005, the book won the European Union's Descartes Prize for science communication. In 2005, he received the President's Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for advancing
825-452: The mayor of Des Moines, awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day." Bryson attended Drake University for two years before dropping out in 1972, deciding instead to backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, Matt Angerer (the pseudonymous Stephen Katz). Bryson wrote about some of his experiences from
858-402: The phrase "RAS syndrome" autological ) is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym in conjunction with the abbreviated form. This means, in effect, repeating one or more words from the acronym. For example: PIN number (expanding to personal identification number number) and ATM machine (expanding to automated teller machine machine). The term RAS syndrome
891-494: The second word is already contained in the preceding abbreviation, but only the ultra-finicky would deplore them. Similarly, in 'Wipe that smile off your face' the last two words are tautological —there is no other place a smile could be—but the sentence would not stand without them." A limited amount of redundancy can improve the effectiveness of communication, either for the whole readership or at least to offer help to those readers who need it. A phonetic example of that principle
924-571: The son of Bill Bryson Sr. , a sports journalist who worked for 50 years at The Des Moines Register , and Agnes Mary (née McGuire), the home furnishings editor at the same newspaper. His mother was of Irish descent. He had an older brother, Michael (1942–2012), and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth. In 2006, Bryson published The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid , a humorous account of his childhood years in Des Moines. In 2006 Frank Cownie ,
957-548: The sorting district. There are nine postal zones in India, including eight regional zones and one functional zone (for the Indian Army). The first digit of a PIN indicates the zone and is allocated over the 9 zones as follows: The third digit of a PIN, combined with the first two digits, represents a specific geographical region (except in the case of the functional zone for the Army) called
990-623: The trip in his book Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe . Bryson first visited Great Britain in 1973 during his tour of Europe and decided to stay after securing a job working in a psychiatric hospital, the now-defunct Holloway Sanatorium in Virginia Water , Surrey. He met a nurse there, Cynthia Billen, whom he married in 1975. They moved to Bryson's hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, in 1975 so Bryson could complete his degree at Drake University. In 1977 they settled in Britain. He worked as
1023-691: Was announced that Bryson would step down as chancellor of Durham University at the end of 2011. In 2012, he received the Kenneth B. Myer Award, from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience , in Melbourne, Australia. On 22 November 2012, Durham University officially renamed the Main Library the Bill Bryson Library for his contributions as the university's 11th chancellor (2005–2011). The library also has
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1056-479: Was coined in 2001 in a light-hearted column in New Scientist . A person is said to "suffer" from RAS syndrome when they redundantly use one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself. Usage commentators consider such redundant acronyms poor style that is best avoided in writing, especially in a formal context, though they are common in speech. The degree to which there
1089-427: Was introduced to simplify the manual sorting and delivery of mail by eliminating confusion over incorrect addresses, similar place names, and different languages used by the public. The first digit of a PIN indicates the zone, the second indicates the sub-zone, and the third, combined with the first two, indicates the sorting district within that zone. The final three digits are assigned to individual post offices within
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