HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: spice@convex.csd.uwm.edu (James G Spice)
Subject: Re: So, what IS the shelf life of Twinkies?
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 07:59:12 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.015941.4310@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> jcopelan@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (James c Copeland) writes:
>OK, I have heard that Twinkies could last for 20 years?  What is the  basis
>for this claim?  What is the REAL shelf life of these things?
>(I have a steak dinner riding on this one).
>
I have heard that the Twinkie mascot (that cowboy thing), as well
as the packaging design have remained relatively unchanged since
the late sixties so that very old Twinkies can be place on grocery
shelves right next to new ones.  If they changed anything on the box,
all the old ones would have to be destroyed.


-- 
--------------------------------------     Jim Spice
And we're off, like a dirty shirt!         U. of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee
		--Lester Earnest Spice     Dept. of Political Science
======================================     spice@convex.csd.uwm.edu
From: joslin_paul@ae.ge.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Latest FBI Wiretap Bill
Date: 10 Sep 92 19:57:06 GMT
Reply-To: joslin_paul@ae.ge.com
Distribution: na
Organization: GE Aircraft Engines
Originator: news@c0228.ae.ge.com


In comp.org.eff.talk, merlin@lerami.lerctr.org (David Hayes) writes:

>Annectodal, but true.

>A few years ago, a friend of mine worked for an electronics equipment 
>manufacturer. They were engaged in sales discussions with the USSR (nothing
>that high-tech, no export problems). Things went well, until the foreign
>negotiating team came in one day and announced what they were now willing
>to pay for the equipment. It was almost exactly at cost of manufacturer.

>It happens that those costs had recently been sent to this company's 
>overseas offices. It also happens that the USSR consular offices in California
>are perched on a hill, overlooking a suspiciously large number of telephone
>company microwave links. It didn't take long to figure out what happened.

>My friend came up with the obvious cure. They began encrypting their 
>overseas links, using DES double-block encryption. (Encrypt the message,
>then encrypt the encrypted message, using two different keys. Makes total
>garbage.)

>He got a very unpleasant visit from NSA a few days later.

>    David Hayes    merlin@lerami.lerctr.org
-- 
     Paul R. Joslin     |Dan Quayle's Top 10 TV complaints:
joslin@c0223.ae.ge.com  | 10. Nobody ever "beams up" William Shatner on
   +1 513 583 3537      |    Rescue 911.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: Harris's ghost town bust
Keywords: banquer's ghost pinky lee sheesh
Organization: South Bay Zilog Junkyard, Inc.
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 01:49:29 GMT

In a refreshing change from toothpaste recycling and flocking wild chickens,
 <lb1vs4INNede@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Trelford
Pinkerton) writes:

[Story you probably just read deleted.]

Ah, but Harris isn't as dumb as he really is.   Under his new ownership,
he's fenced off the place, added a simple ticket booth, and started offering
tours again.

Vegas slot players can't resist visiting the "World's Newest Ghost Town".

Phil "Sorry, I'm on a strict middle name budget" Gustafson
-- 
|play: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG; {ames|pyramid|vsi1}!zorch!phil                |
|work: (Under Construction)              | Phil Gustafson                   |
|              I'm the cultural elite.  And I vote.   "                     |
From: mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Highest Channel
Date: 10 Sep 92 01:20:33 GMT

dtasman@NMSU.edu (Dan Tasman) writes:

>be a conspiracy by the Anti-American-Buffalo-slamming-say-no-to-cross-border-  
>shopping-don't-watch-American-TV-OV-beats-any-beer-from-the-States-the-Falls-
>on-our-side-is-bigger-no-man-made-structure-is-taller-than-the-CN-tower-
>Beachcombers-watching-our-money-is-prettier-our-(insert opposite sex  
>here)-are-sexier-and-our-crime-rate-is-lower-than-yours-is-nyah-nyah-nyah  
>crowd... 

You forgot the part about the sinister US army base in NY.
-- 
Matt McIrvin, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 
From: ssouth@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Steve South)
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 15:30:49 GMT
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Organization: HP Scientific Instruments Division - Palo Alto, CA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban

The origin of the stories is quite obvious, at least to an outsider like me.
The rumours originated within the US government itself in order to foster a
sufficient level of paranoia to ensure support for military spending.

Steve South.

The Soviets couldn't hit a continent at this dist~@       
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: So, what IS the shelf life of Twinkies?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 15:05:51 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.173306.20613@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes:

>Does anyone have any leads on the validity of the rumor that Twinkies
>are in fact not baked but somehow chemically solidified by a reaction
>initiated by the injection of the "cream"?

Is there any truth to the rumor that the ingredients of Happy Fun Ball are
based on the ingredients in Twinkies?  (Which don't taste like chicken, 
rubber or real.)

cj "Don't taunt Twinkies" l
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Counterfeiting (Was: You are humble and loveable)
Date: 8 Sep 92 19:33:04 GMT
Organization: AT&T


In article <1992Aug27.121823.23066@echo.philips.nl> dolf@echo.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer) writes:

>ObUL: some german counterfeiters where so sure of their false banknotes that
>      in stead of printing "Deutches Bundesbank" (sp ? German Bank), they
>      printed "Deutches Bundesbahn" (sp ? German Railroad). No one noticed
>      the difference.

In 1923, numerous legitimate notes were issued under the authority of
German Railroad Berlin, Ministry of Transport, and bore the legend
"Deutsche Reichsbahn" (German Railroad).  They often bore a winged
railcar wheel emblem, and were of seemingly high denominations, ranging from
1,000,000 to 20,000,000,000,000 marks.  Remember though, that in 1923, the
German mark was at its all-time low, bottoming out at about
10,000,000,000,000 to the US dollar.  There were also 1923 "Deutsche
Reichsbahn" notes in denominations of 0.42, 1.05, 2.10, 4.20, 8.40, and
21 gold marks that bore statements of their value in US dollars (4.20
gold marks = US$1.00).

There were also numerous regional railroad notes issued in 1923, some of
which also bore the winged railcar wheel logo and the "Deutsche Reichsbahn"
legend.

source: STANDARD CATALOG OF WORLD PAPER MONEY by Albert Pick, Sixth
Edition, Volume One, pages 538-550


I know, I know.  How dare I include a reference to an actual
Authoritative Source (AS) in an afu post!  :-)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: chrisda@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU (David Christensen)
Subject: Re: Smallest denominations of paper money (was: Counterfeiting)
Organization: Computer Science Outreach Services - Oregon State University
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 01:21:07 GMT

This was before Yugoslavia flew apart, about 3 years ago, and the exchange rate
was around 1000 dinar= $1.00   500 dinar notes were common, and I recall a few
of the 100's too.  You could buy a pack of gum with that.  I don't remember
even seeing any coins.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Junk FAX Mail
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 00:47:12 GMT

bobk@ESD.3Com.COM (Bob Konigsberg) writes:


>The information below is a compilation (not by me, and I promised
>not to say who in exchange for permission to post it) of recent
>news articles, pending legislation and other stuff related to
>both Junk Fax, and unwanted solititations.

I don't know if this is a UL or not, but I heard that an American
legislator (I seem to remember California, but I'm not sure) was
sponsoring a bill on junk faxes.  The junk fax companies started
sending him tons of faxes protesting this bill, and asking him to stop.
He was getting so many of these that he was unable to contact his
constituency office which was in a district where some sort of natural
disaster was happening (flood?).  The junk fax companies really shot
themselves in the foot.

-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@geovision.gvc.com or {uunet,revcan}!geovision!pt
(This is not an official opinion of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
"No matter what you've lost - be it a home, a love, a friend - like the 'Mary
Ellen Carter' rise again." - Stan Rogers - "Mary Ellen Carter"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Subject: Re: Multimillion-$ jury award
Organization: Just put everything on the floor; I can find it.
Date:  5 SEP 92 21:52:38    


In article <1992Aug27.004149.314@midway.uchicago.edu>, 
  thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes...

>Of course, these were the two elements that made the story an urban
>legend about how amok the legal system was running...

 In a similar vein (this may have been covered in misc.legal; I'm sure Ted
 will know if it has):

 A few months ago in this newsgroup, several people were bemoaning how
 scads of plaintiffs were winning absurdly high awards in ridiculous personal
 injury and product liability cases, mostly because their lawyers made sure
 that any people of intelligence were excluded from juries.  It was suggested
 that we and the legal system would all be better off if these types of cases
 were decided by judges, who are "obviously" more intelligent and
 better-educated than laymen, rather than juries.  I quote from an article in
 the July 23 1992 edition of _The Wall Street Journal_:

       Judges, More Than Juries, Side With Personal-Injury Plaintiffs

   A new legal study is challenging one of the most widely held assumptions
about lawsuits -- that juries are more sympathetic than judges in cases
involving personal injury.
   The new study, published today in the Cornell Law Review, concludes that
judges, not juries, are more likely to side with plaintiffs in several major
categories of litigation, specifically suits over medical malpractice,
defective products and automobile accidents.  And in two of the categories,
medical malpractice and automobile injury, judges were more generous than
juries in damage awards to plaintiffs.
   The findings came as a jolt to jury experts, defense and plaintiff lawyers,
and some advocates of legal reform.  Emotional jurors, swayed by saavy
plaintiffs' lawyers, are often cited as a main reason for huge and unwarranted
damage awards in cases involving severe pain and suffering.

< The article continues at some length; anyone interested can look up the rest
  of the text.>

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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|   to read this posting.         by an adult.            this posting.       |
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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 19:54:43 GMT

In article <92252.080430WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>, WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU writes...
>In article <BAUDAIS.92Sep8084924@bmerh160.bnr.ca>, baudais@bnr.ca (Michael
>Baudais) says:
>>
>>Someone somewhere has invented a new engine/car/carbeurator/
>>fuel-injector that will allow cars to achieve 100 to 200 miles per
>>gallon.  The only reason we aren't driving these things is that the
>>Big Bad Oil Companies (BBOCs) have bought out the inventors to
>>preserve their markets.

See the flamewar that's just dying down now on sci.environment, misc.consumers
and crossposted to a half dozen other groups.  (Titled "Carburetors, Gasoline
and why I don't Recycle" or something similar)

>What about the guy in Utah who invented a car that ran on hydrogen.  The gas
...
>Did the BBOC (Big Bad Oil Companies) squash this one too?

No the problem with hydrogen cars is you can't mine or drill for hydrogen,
you have to produce it by electrolysis or reforming of natural gas or coal,
all of which use much more energy than simple burning of gasoline in the first
place.

(also hydrogen cars produce a fair amount of NOx pollution if they use an
internal combustion engine)

-Mike
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: The Brady Bunch
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 7 Sep 92 07:32:17 GMT

In <26137@dog.ee.lbl.gov> twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:

> Uh, didn't Robert Reid (or is it Reed?  You know, the old guy) buy the 
> farm about 2 months ago?  Cancer?  Liver trouble?  Rumors of AIDS?  

I didn't know a rumor of AIDS could be fatal.

Warren "does the CIA know this?" Burstein
-- 
/|/-\/-\       In real life, the Vice President chastises Murphey Brown
 |__/__/_/     for her morals.  Bill Clinton plays the sax on "Arsenio
 |warren@      Hall."  Though "Batman Returns" is fiction, it's not too
/ nysernet.org much stranger than truth - Caryn James, The New York Times
From: John.Slater@uk.sun.com (John Slater - Sun UK - City SE)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Shergold on TV!!
Date: 15 Sep 92 10:12:29 GMT
Reply-To: John.Slater@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.


Yes, it's true - Craig Shergold was on British TV last night. There was
a short piece in the local Thames TV news just after 10.30pm. It was so
short, and I was so surprised, that I didn't take in all the details.

However I can reliably report that he is now 13 and has just re-started
school after his illness. His new school is in Putney, which leads me
to believe that he no longer lives in unsalubrious Carshalton, site of
the now infamous AFU-UK meeting earlier this year. (Putney is quite
pleasant; I used to work there.)

There was tape of Craig on his first day back at school. He looked kind
of fat (not unusual in puberty), and either balding from chemotherapy
or just plain skinheaded. I suspect the former, which questions the
theory that he is now completely cured. (My SO tells me that obesity
could be from the drugs, and that hair sometimes doesn't grow back
properly after chemotherapy. Then again she's a theatre major, so what
does she know?).

The report claimed that he had received 100 million cards. Frankly I
think this is an exaggeration, probably from the family themselves.
Also it's a suspiciously round number. Despite the frequency of
Shergold card solicitation sitings around the world, I doubt that
there's been anywhere near as much response in recent times as there
was in the beginning (what? 5 years ago?), and a year or two ago we
were talking of maybe 30-40 million.

This has got to be a T for the FAQ - I'm not making this up.

John 'I'm not Craig Shergold, but I play him on TV" Slater

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: spm2d@uvacs.cs.Virginia.EDU (Steven Miale)
Subject: Re: Marching Band ULs needed
Organization: University of Virginia Computer Science Department
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 23:20:24 GMT

During the half-time show in a bowl game versus Tennessee,
the University of Virginia Pep Band had an Elvis impersonator
run out into the field.
"Elvis is alive!" was announced over the loudspeakers.
Then, the entire Pep Band ran out onto the field, right over
The King.
"Now he's dead."

Apparently, lots of Tennessee fans were POed, and managed to
help restrict the number of games our band performs at.


Steve
From: streeter@cs.unca.edu (Tom Streeter)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Renewing Nickel Cadmium batteries
Date: 13 Sep 92 18:08:31 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina at Asheville

In article <37995@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins) writes:
>In article <1992Sep12.050041.21710@PA.dec.com>, snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:
>>
>>Well, I've found that if I take something that doesn't work at all and drop it
>>on the floor, it usually works at least equally as well afterwards.
>
>Oh yeah? What about lightbulbs?
>

To be empirical about this I dropped a lightbulb that burned out in my
kitchen this morning, and it worked just as well after as it did before.

Tom "How many comedians does it take to make up a lightbulb joke?"
Streeter


-- 
Tom Streeter                                |   streeter@cs.unca.edu
Dept. of Mass Communication                 |   704-251-6227
University of North Carolina at Asheville   |   Opinions expressed here are
Asheville, NC 28804                         |   mine alone.
From: jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl)
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1992 19:27:27 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

In article <1992Sep4.184825.18056@ultb.isc.rit.edu>, bmb1021@ultb.isc.rit.edu (B.M. Buck ) writes:
|> In at least two cities I've lived in (Charlotte, NC and Binghamton, NY),
|> there is the claim that that city is "third" on the list of sites to be
|> bombed by the Soviets (now that the Soviets are gone, I suspect that
|> this legend had died, too), because of some strategic importance of the
|> city.  The stated first two places (when pressed) end up being the
|> missile sites, and Washington, DC.  After that, comes the current city.
|> 
|> Is this legend wide-spread?  If you've heard it for your locale, what is
|> the supposed reason for being third?

Having lived near two large missile command centers for most of my life
this one is old hat.  Minot, ND and Grand Forks, ND both have major 
Air Force bases near them that controlled missile silos that were 
spread out over the prarie.  In the movie "War Games", when the 
computer launched the simulated attack, one of the first three places
to be hit was Grand Forks AFB.

Missile bases make bad targets.  They are too hard to hit.  And by the
time your missiles reach them, they have already been warned and have
launched away your targets.  And if you think that these missiles are
twenty feet apart, think again.  They are spread out all over the prarie.

My vote is for major population and industrial centers, and non-nuclear
military targets next.

Jared "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM" Dahl
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
| Jared Dahl             | "My heart is human, my blood is boiling, | 
| Systems Programmer     |  my brain IBM"                           |
| IBM - Rochester, MN    |              -- STYX,  "Mr. Roboto"      |
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Opinions expressed are mine, not IBM's.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: btd43733@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (BTDonovan)
Subject: Business Reply Cards & Junk Mail...
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 04:35:31 GMT

Greetings, all...

I once heard that one of the best ways to convince junk mailers to take your
name off their mailing lists is to attatch a large rock to a those 
"Postage paid by adressee" business reply cards.  Has anyone out there tried it
and is it effective?  Also, this wouldn't constitute mail-fraud or some other
obscure breach in protocol, would it?  (If not, I have a couple of boulders
to send out in the next few days :)

btd

-- 
-------------------------------------- Bernard T. (Tom) Donovan      
| All things are ready, if our minds | BTDonovan@uiuc.edu
| be so.  -- Henry V. IV.iii.71      | btd43733@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu 
-------------------------------------- TDonovan@synapse.npa.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: kaydin@jarthur.claremont.edu (puck)
Subject: Re: British Paper Money
Organization: Forest of Satyrs, City of Vampires, the wilds.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 05:20:01 GMT

In article <Sep.13.20.08.56.1992.21845@cadenza.rutgers.edu> masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) writes:

>ObUL: The Germans, during World War II, produced a perfect set of
>counterfeit plates for British #5 notes, to try to destabilize the
>currency. It could have happened, so it must be true.

>Steve "Send me YOUR cash for verification" masticol@cs.rutgers.edu.

   True or not, this was the subject of a *very* funny story, written
from the point of view of a German lower officer in charge of the
project, who goes through a variety of misadventures from the production
of the false fivers to the transferring of them to England to the
burying them in England to recovering them after the war.  This story
came around the U.S. a few years back as a Masterpiece Theater series.

   Now, does anyone out there remember the name of the story, the author,
or details of its truth/fiction?

  ``Now let me get this straight.  You're sole contribution to the
German war effort was to take a handful of fake five-pound notes from
Germany and bury them under a lavatory in Kent?''

-Kerim.


-- 
 ``Much of what is greatest in human     |kaydin@jarthur.claremont.edu
 achievement involves some element of    |kaydin@hmcvax.bitnet
 intoxication.''                         |!uunet!muddcs!jarthur!kaydin
                   --Bertrand Russell    |or send mail by W.A.S.T.E.
From: rrd@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ray Depew)
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:33:17 GMT
Subject: Re: Junk FAX Mail?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban

In alt.folklore.urban, Chuck Adams <chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov> writes:

> I have heard on several occaisions that a new (and perhaps undesirable) trend
> in "Yuppie" circles is junk mail received via FAX machine.  I have worked at
> several places where we used a FAX, and my parents have one also.  ...

[ stuff deleted ]

> I don't know of any way that FAX machines could be specifically targeted for
> FAX messages unless someone dials every phone number in sequential order with a
> FAX machine to see if a FAX machine on the other end responds.

Yep, this is exactly what happens.  Usually, the junk-mail FAX machines work 
late at night, ringing numbers sequentially, and waiting only one or two 
rings before hanging up and dialing the next number.  If the receiving phone 
connects, and has a FAX carrier tone (not a sleepy homeowner or a graveyard
shift worker), then the FAX transmits its junk mail and hangs up.  (Computers 
with FAX boards do this, not really FAX machines.)

This part is UL, because I don't have the technical expertise to confirm 
it:  It's possible to query a FAX machine and get a list of all the phone
numbers from which it has received transmissions over the last XX hours.
What a great way to expand your FAX mailing list!

> Has anyone ever received junk mail on their FAX machine?

Yeah, but we tossed it.  Can't remember what it was.

Regards
Ray Depew
Integrated Circuits Business Division
Hewlett Packard Co, Fort Collins, Colorado
rrd@hpfiqa.fc.hp.com
(don't worry, I'm on break.)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: smith@panther.adelphi.edu (Jim Smith)
Subject: Re: How are McNuggets made? <gag!>
Organization: Adelphi University Swirbul Library
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 19:53:26 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.110751.224@zia.aoc.nrao.edu> lbrother@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Larry Brothers) writes:


>They're not made, they're mined.

They're not made, they're laid.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban