HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: phil@iagu.itd.adelaide.edu.au (Phil Kernick)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Radar Cars (was: stupid cop tricks & t)
Date: 29 Sep 92 02:01:52 GMT
Reply-To: phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au
Organization: Psychology Department, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: iagu.itd.adelaide.edu.au


In article <bakc.142.717313936@giraffe.ru.ac.za>, bakc@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN) writes:
> In SA, the larger municipalities use this system...

SA is also the abbreviation for South Australia, and this is where this
Radar Camera story comes from...

The Radar Cameras here are set to photograph the rear number plate of the
car, because the privacy legislation makes it illegal to pinpoint the exact
location of someone without their permission.

The owner of the vehicle gets the fine.  If they don't want to pay it, they
have to sign some legal document saying that they weren't driving the car,
and saying who was.  The driver then gets the fine.

It is almost impossible to beat a camera conviction in court, but this seems
unfair to me, because I used to work for the company that first introduced
them to South Australia, and we had a photo of a *tree* doing 57kph pinned
up on the noticeboard in the engineering drawing room for ages.

Yep, one of the speed cameras took the photo.

Interesting enough, our government says they cameras are their to reduce
accidents on the roads (which statistics show they have not done) and are
not their just as another money grubbing exercise (so why do they have a
line in their budget saying they expect to raise more than $10M dollars due
to the cameras each year!).


Regards
Phil who has not been done by a camera, yet!

--
   _-_|\    Phil Kernick                        "Sleep all day,
  /     \   University of Adelaide               Party all night,
  \_.-*_/   E-Mail: phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au    It's fun to be a
       v    Phone:  +61 8 228 5914               Vampire!"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (George Jetson)
Subject: Re: Is the electric chair an Edison publicity stunt?
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 14:58:26 GMT

In article <1992Sep24.164700.4506@hemlock.cray.com> davew@willow03.cray.com (Dave Wagner) writes:

>Now, what about the oft sited argument in the pro-electrocution camp.
>Namely, that it's humane becase they (the electrocutee) doesn't feel
>anything, just blacks (blanks?) out, etc.  Did anyone ask the few people
>who have survived some attempts at being electric-chaired?  And could you
>trust their answers?  Inquiring minds want to know...

This subject is covered at length in Panati (Extraordinary Endings ... -
full citation information is given by Terry Chan elsewhere in this
thread)

According to Panati, there has been, throughout history, the search for
a "humane" way of putting criminals to death.  Each new invention was
greeted with excitement that the goal had been attained, followed by
disgust at finding out the truth (that it was really quite painful).

However, with lethal injection, the problem now appears to be solved.
It appears that with lethal injection, you really do just "fade away".

The funny thing to me, is that the theory behind lethal injection
is exactly the same as that behind suicide by sleeping pills.  It seems
they could just let the convicts do it the way Marilyn did...

************************************************************************
A note to new readers:  the weasely :-) symbol is frowned upon in this
group.  Any questions, see Phil Gustafson who will gladly rearrange your
diodes for you.
			- From the AFU FAQ -

	- pynq@quads.uchicago.edu, who is still costing the net
	  hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, every time he posts -
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc,rec.arts.startrek.fandom,alt.religion.kibology,talk.bizarre
From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: "Lost In Space" was better
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center and Reptile Farm
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 17:12:45 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.143346.16064@PA.dec.com> snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:
>
>Why?  If they haven't figured out a way to stop all the other organs in the
>body from aging, what makes you think they'd have a way to stop the same thing
>from happening to the brain?  Contrary to bad science fiction movies, brains
>don't live forever -- they age and stop functioning, just like all the other
>parts of your body.

Ahh, yes!  This explains a lot about President Reagan.  Now I understand.
--scott
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Of Egg Yolks and Astrology
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 18:46:43 GMT

derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne) writes:
: >
: > Hmmm....but things shrink in the cold, EVERYBODY knows that!
: >
: > Terry "I think" Chan
: 
: Not things which are mostly made up of water - these expand when they freeze.

Yes and no. After the water is frozen, they shrink as they are cooled even
further.

Actually, when you freeze water - I believe that it shrinks until a degree
or so above freezing, then starts to expand (before it freezes). To verify
this, check out the density of water at various temperatures near 0 deg C.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Subject: Re: Rainbow Head - Sports Fan
Organization: Just put everything on the floor; I can find it.
Date: 28 SEP 92 08:01:00    


In article <1992Sep25.171629.20124@sunova.ssc.gov>, 
  Chuck Adams <chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov> writes...

>I heard this morning that "Rainbow Head", the guy you have probably seen on TV
>at US sporting events with the rainbow colored hair and holding a "John 3:16"
>sign was for some reason in jail in California.  I have heard several times
>that there is more than one "Rainbow Head", that it is some kind of cult.  I
>have seen this guy (or some other freak that looks like him) on consecutively
>televised sporting events from opposite sides of the country, so it can't be
>the same guy.    Or is it?

He was recently arrested after holding a maid hostage for several hours at
gunpoint in a hotel near LAX.  Apparently he has been arrested before, for
stink-bombing various religion-related businesses.  Just what he's trying to
accomplish I don't know, but I think (and fervently hope) there's only one of
him.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|"[Disney's machine] has placed a Mickey Mouse hat on every little developing |
| personality in America.  As capitalism, it is a work of genius; as culture, |
| it is mostly a horror."   --   Richard Schickel, "The Disney Version"       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson   Digital Equipment Corporation   Culver City, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Subject: Re: Mixed up translations
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 17:36:29 GMT

In article <xM2-Xf-@engin.umich.edu> ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering) writes:
>Oh, by the way, I heard there was a computer program developed in the 
>Fifties that was supposed to automate translation of Russian into English.
>It rendered "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" into the Russian
>for "The meat is rotten, but the vodka is holding out."  Is this true?
>
>Larry "Ted, do you know?" Doering

No, I can't say that I do.

On the other hand, I reread a Dave Barry column last night where he mentions
the Wax Tadpole incident.  He claims to have called Coca-Cola and gotten
confirmation of this story from someone named Darlene.

Does anyone know a Darlene at Coca-Cola, or know someone who does?

Ted "teeth of the sea" Frank
-- 
           .. . . .  .  .   .    .     .     .    .   .  .  . . . ..
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
From: MJFORRES@SUVM.SYR.EDU (maurice)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: RE: cleaning cd's -- warning
Date: 2 Oct 92 13:29:39 GMT
Organization: Syracuse University

From rec.music.cd.  Note the classic folklore form:  It may feel good
at first, but when you wake up the next morning, you find "Welcome to
the world of AIDS" scrawled across your CD collection.
 
Don't bother following up; I don't care if it's true or not.  (somebody
nominate this for afu motto-of-the-week)
 
maurice
                                                 Maurice Forrester
                                                 mjforres@suvm.syr.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In article <80889@ut-emx.uucp>
bruceg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Bruce Gimble) writes:
 
>Just a word of warning as far as cleaning CDs.  A rumor spread a couple
>of years ago that you could clean your CDs with armor all and get a
>cleaner sound.  This does work -- at first.  But a few months later you
>find the the plastic coating has turned ash white and is beginning to
>flake off.  Not exactly what you had intended, is it?
>So DONT use armor all!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Disco "Snuff" Recording?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 06:14:23 GMT

In article <Bv5MJq.F3A@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson) writes:
>
>You're confusing the issue with James Bond's squeeze in "Goldfinger".  The
>woman in question was done in by the bears and the bees on Wolverton
>Mountain.
>
>Phil "This posting is cjl bait" Gustafson

Well, her tender lips may be sweeter than Honey, but Clifton Clowers protects
her there.  Also, I believe it's the bears and the birds, not bees.

In any case, you're thinking of the Golden Girl in Goldfinger who dies
of skin-clog-induced problems.  (Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore?)

Shirley Bassey sang the theme of the same name on Goldfinger, as opposed to
Paul McCartney who sang Live and Let Die.

Perhaps a more amusing James Bond item:

Former Saint and later James Bond Roger Moore and Stacey Keach star in 1975's
Street People where Moore plays a Mafia Consuliari.  When asked to carry out
some physical act for the mob, Moores says "who do you think I am, 007?"

obJamesBondFact: Charles Lasner is not related to George Lazenby, the only
one-shot James Bond in the popular series of movies.

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering)
Subject: Re: Mixed up translations
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 92 03:19:05 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <12602@optilink.UUCP> samlb@optilink.UUCP (Sam Bassett) writes:
>In article <xM2-Xf-@engin.umich.edu> ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering) writes:
>>Oh, by the way, I heard there was a computer program developed in the 
>>Fifties that was supposed to automate translation of Russian into English.
>>It rendered "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" into the Russian
>>for "The meat is rotten, but the vodka is holding out."  Is this true?
>
>	This appeared in one of the Readers' Digest humor columns, as did
>the "translation"  'Out of sight, out of mind' --> 'Invisible idiot'.
>
>	Having studied Russian once upon a time, yeah, you can get one
>out of the other, if you are willing to be sufficiently literal . . .

cha-CHING!

Larry "nye ponemayu ruskii yazik" Doering
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@quads.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Subject: Re: Disco "Snuff" Recording?
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 02:43:51 GMT

In article <1992Sep27.005314.5424@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>ob Hollywoodfact: I am related to someone semi-famous in Hollywood.  My 
>mother's first cousin was Helen Mack, whose most famous role is starring in
>Son of Kong 

That's okay--my mother's second cousin was the producer of "The Rookies,"
as well as that cop show that starred Pat Morita, better known for his
work on Happy Days and the three Karate Kid movies, and who was recently
featured in Honeymoon in Vegas, though he didn't appear in any of the
Las Vegas scenes, as he played a Hawaiian taxi-cab driver (not to be
confused with the TV series Taxi or Hawaii 5-O, neither of which starred
Judd Nelson).  Honeymoon in Vegas, whose initials spell HIV, the virus
that eventually killed Rock Hudson and Anthony Perkins, who starred in
Fear Strikes Out, was Nicholas Cage, who is a much-underrated comic actor,
as demonstrated by his work in Moonstruck, Wild at Heart, and Raising
Arizona.

Furthermore, my grandmother appeared on camera for a full ten seconds in
the documentary "The Huddled Masses."  And my family was featured in
a 1983 US News & World Report story on the fad of home computers, because
we were unique in that we had *two* home computers, both of which were
Atari 800's, which were actually more advanced than Atari 2600's.  Atari
was later bought up by Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore, and
most of Atari's engineers went on to design the Commodore Amiga.

Anyone else related to someone famous, or knew someone who was?

th "doing a reasonably good cjl impersonation" f
-- 
           .. . . .  .  .   .    .     .     .    .   .  .  . . . ..
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
From: jay@deepthot.cary.nc.us (Jay Denebeim)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mixed up translations
Date: 3 Oct 92 18:23:10 GMT
 <4315@moscom.com> <1992Oct1.203259.21895@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: The Software Distillery
X-Newsreader: Arn V1.00 beta rel2

In article <1992Oct1.203259.21895@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, Crunchy Frog writes:

> 
> You just *love* this, don't you?

I know I am.  I'm just waiting for snopes to join in.

Jay "We don't need no stinking quote" Denebeim
From: smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: drink, drive, die, sen~or
Date: 29 Sep 92 12:16:32 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1992Sep28.185300.15472@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
>I wrote:
>
>>>Affiliation: Philadelphia Enquirer
>
>sean.smith@cs.cmu.edu replied:
>
>>Last I knew, there is no publication by this name.
>>There is a Philadelphia Inquirer, however.
>
>It must be September, spelling corrections are beginning to
>show up with increased regularity on the net.  YAWN.
>
>
>J.P. "we don't need no stinking CMU" Papai


Sheesh!  You post an article from a Columbus newspaper that
trots out a UL as fact.  I add the data point that the newspaper
apparently couldn't even get the name of the original source
correct---casting doubt on the veracity of the rest of the article.
One more fact to mention should you wish to confront the Columbus paper
with the bogosity of their article.  Which was your whole point to
begin with.

It never occured to me that YOU made the typo.  

--Sean ``don't give me this September shit---I've been reading AFU longer
than you've had hot dinners'' Smith

******************************************************************************
                         sean.smith@cs.cmu.edu
                     carnegie mellon computer science

          posting from PITTSBURGH, the center of the AFUniverse!
******************************************************************************
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: Hot (superheated) tea?
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 1 Oct 92 17:57:08 GMT

In <1ad5m9INNi7r@gap.caltech.edu> miriam@seismo.gps.caltech.edu (Miriam Jackson) writes:
>>
>This reminds me of an old (18th or 19th century) recipe I saw for duck
>or some other kind of fowl.  It was a way to cook the duck so that it was
>still alive right up until the time you started carving it, and involved
>putting a fire around the bird, basting it with water and giving it

"The White Knight's Cookbook",  Marion Zimmer Bradley. p6

    The Most Outrageous Recipe Ever

    M.F.K. Fisher, in her delightful book on hard-times and poverty
    cooking, "How to Cook a Wolf", discovered this one in an ancient
    manuscript.  I present it without comment.

        How to Cook a Live Goose.

        Take the goose, pull off the feathers, make a fire about her, not too
        close for smoke to choker her, or burn her too soon, not to far off
        that she may escape.  Put small cups of salt and wter, with honey ...
        also dishes of apple sauce.  She will drink water to relieve her of
        thirst, eat apple sauce to cleanse and empty her of dung.  Keep her
        heart and head wet with a sponge.  When she gets giddy from running
        and begins to stumble, she is cooked enough.  Take her up, set her
        before the guests; she will cry as you cut off any part of her, and be
        eaten almost before she is dead ... it is mighty pleasant to behold ...

    Those who are prompted by historical interest, enthusiasm or
    curiosity to re-create this dish at a Twelfth Night should first consult
    their local SPCA ... and refrain from including me among the list of
    guests.

Warren "who gets to eat the Alka-Seltzer?" 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: linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (G.C.H.Q. Taf-Bastrad)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Party at Kitty and Stud's
Date: 4 Oct 92 05:18:25 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: positive

Trelford Pinkerton alleges:
>  [stuff deleted, for the sake of the freshperpeople]

Oh yeah?  Well, I heard that as the Second World War got  underway,  
Dr. Fleming was still perfecting the new wonder drug,   penicillin.   
Initially, supplies of this prophylactic were severely limited, and 
great debates arose about the triage priorities.
   
Eventually the problem was escalated to the great man himself for a
decision.   The  War  Department  phrased  an  official  memo  to
Churchill asking "If we can only treat one,  should  we  treat  a
pilot  burned  in  the line of duty, or a sailor who got venereal
disease on shore leave?"
   
Churchill read the memo, puffed mightily on his  trademark  cigar
and   rendered  his  decision in  a  magisterial rebuke that over
fifty years later was to gain notoriety  in   the   movies:   "No
problemo -- the dickwads".


ObUL: Has anyone heard any other Churchill stories?  I also heard 
that Churchill's dad died of syphillis when his dick fell off.


--
----------------
G.C.H.Q. Taf-Bastrad     casey@the.bat             (415) 555-1212
A man without two apophthegms in his .sig is tired of life.
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: Perfect Knowledge
Organization: Where the wolf has slept by the silver stream
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 18:19:30 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.115833.15995@husc3.harvard.edu> joltes@husc10.harvard.edu (Richard Joltes) writes:
>
>"no matter how thin you slice it, it's *still* baloney."
>
>						--Milo Bloom, "Bloom County"

That would be Harry Truman, Dick.
-- 
|play: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG; {ames|pyramid|vsi1}!zorch!phil                |
|work: (Under Construction)              | Phil Gustafson                   |
|              I'm the cultural elite.  And I vote.                         |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: agillum@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Aaron C Gillum)
Subject: Re: "Lost In Space" was better
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 19:45:49 GMT

#1 there IS artificial gravity on board the ship.


>  What I'd like to know is why the artificial gravity never gives out.  The
>engines fail, the life support fails, but the gravity never fails.

 Perhaps gravity has highest priority, because without it, the crew wouldn't be
able to function at %100, and thus couldn't fix the other systems.

Aaron Gillum
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Flavored Condoms
Date: 29 Sep 1992 14:54:34 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

In response to Maurice Forrester's post, keith@cstr.ed.ac.uk (Keith Edwards) 
writes:
  +
  +|> Where does the word posh come from?
  +
  +I think posh is an acronym from Port Out Starboard Home
  +which is the way the most expensive tickets on cruises or
  +voyages by ship were sold. I think the idea was that you 
  +got a cabin in the shade on the way out and on the way back.
  +It could have originated as long ago as the 18th century.

No, it's a description of how seating arrangements had to be done
for manic-depressives who were compelled to injure waterfowl such
as seagulls.  In my Webster's, it states that this is from which 
we get the term "gullible".


Terry "I gotta get me some more Alka-Seltzer" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe Per Diem
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh)
Subject: Re: Oranjelo and the severed dog's head
Summary: Maybe and yes
Keywords: names rabies
Reply-To: hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh)
Organization: Interleaf, Inc.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 15:09:49 GMT
Expires: 10/31/92

The spread of the Oranjelo name story qualifies it as a UL, although I have
seen many equally horrible atrocities perpetrated on helpless babies by
ignorant parents attempting to be "cute."

The "send the dog's head" story has some basis in fact.  The preferred method
of checking a dog for rabies is simple observation.  If, however, the animal
is dead, its brain can be checked for both degeneration and cultures to see
if it was rabid.  If there's no lab nearby, it's not uncommon to ship just
the head for examination.

The story got to UL status as a cautionary tale for dog owners: Control that
mutt 'cause if it bites somebody we'll have to cut its head off for an
examination for rabies.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Floor numbering
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 18:42:04 GMT

Regarding floor numbering, this is what you experience if you are in the
building complex I work in (Digital "Mill" in Maynard, MA):

You enter a building by its main entrance.  You are now on the 4th floor. You
go down one flight of steps, now you are on the third flooor. You go through a
bridge to another building.  You are now on the sixth floor.  From here you can
go down to the third floor and go outside, or go to the second floor and go
outside, or go to the first floor and go outside, all to ground level.

In addition the whole place is built like a ratmaze, all visitors get lost
quite easily.

-Mike
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban