HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 03:52:39 GMT


My favorite combination of signs is in or near Custer State Park, South
Dakota, USA.  Two yellow diamond hazard signs, one over the other:


		FALLING ROCK


		 SOUND HORN


This must be where they're developing those smart rocks for SDI...

(Actually, of course, the two signs are unrelated except that they both
relate to hazards of mountain driving -- the second of these being a
short tunnel and a sharp curve.)



Some years ago a minor street in Metro Toronto called Everden Road had the
unusual property that at certain times of day, if you drove onto the
northernmost block of the street, there was no legal way to drive off it.
Everden is ONE-WAY northbound, and ends at the major east-west street,
Eglinton Avenue.  Turn restrictions were imposed on the intersection,
varying by time of day and specified by an automatically changing sign.
Outside of rush hours the sign read NO LEFT TURN (or the pictorial
equivalent; I'm not sure what was in use then).  And you guessed it.
During rush hours it was NO TURNS.

The only advance notice of this situation was a standard (and permanent)
NO EXIT sign when you entered the last block.  This is not a sign normally
associated with a one-way street!



Perhaps my favorite single sign, though, is one that I've only read about;
I haven't seen it myself.  See below.
-- 
Mark Brader		"NO LEFT TURN INTO CLOVERLEAF ALLEY EXCEPT FROM THE
Toronto			 MIDDLE LANE OF THE OUTER ROADWAY -- SUNDAYS AND
utzoo!sq!msb		 ALTERNATE HOLIDAYS EXCLUDED UNLESS CHURCH SERVICES
msb@sq.com		 ARE IN PROGRESS"   [former Killington, VT, road sign]

This article is in the public domain.
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31328 alt.fan.lemurs:213
From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.fan.lemurs
Subject: Re: OH NO! Lemurs in Sci. American
Keywords: The key to our evolutionary past
Date: 15 Dec 92 20:22:53 GMT
Organization: Escape from Blacksburg, VA

In article <1gik75INNjao@moe.ksu.ksu.edu> diverson@phys.ksu.edu (David Iverson)
writes:
>
>As much as I have tried to avoid this damn Lemur thing, here comes my
>January Issue of Scientific American with the article title: Lemurs: a key
>to our evolutionary past. (or something really close to that) prominently
>displayed on the front of the magazine.
>
>Perhaps this thread was some secret, subliminal advertising campaign on the
>part of Sci. American.  Or perhaps THEY are trying to soften us up for the
>arrival of aliens who look surprisingly like lemurs (or perhaps the lemurs
>have been aliens all along).  Anyway, I've started packing my pistol again.
>Better safe than sorry.

LEMURS! LEMURS!  WOO WOO WOO!  (pardon me.)

Wow.  I don't suppose you could illegally post the contents of the entire
article, plus a GIF of any pictures (especially the front cover), to
alt.fan.lemurs and alt.folklore.urban?  Lemur Lovers are anxiously standing by.

However, I should note that Lemurs are not aliens.  Cows are aliens.  Cows
landed in a very large ship millenia ago and promptly lost the key.  Ever since
then cows have been standing around peering at the ground hoping to find the
key.  None have.  However, Lemurs are small and wriggly enough to be able to
sneak through ducts into the Cow Ship without needing a key, and often at night
they'll climb up to the bridge and peer out into the nighttime sky with their
big Lemur eyes.  The cows have vowed revenge.  This is why you never see cows
and Lemurs in the same enclosure at a zoo... things don't work out well when
that happens, so zookeepers know better now.
From: stein@erg.sri.com (Bruce Stein)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Why Not?
Date: 11 Dec 92 15:32:45 GMT
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA

In article <1992Dec09.001011.9515@uvmark.uucp> roger@uvmark.uucp (Roger MacNicol) writes:
>In article <24243@galaxy.ucr.edu> judson@watserv.ucr.edu writes:
>>This is probably an urban legend, but one of my teachers in seventh grade
>>told me this story.
>>She said that for the final in her philosophy class the only question was:
>>"Why?"
>>She then said that somebody finished the test within a couple of minutes,
>>whereas she spent a couple of hours writing several pages.  Then, after
>>asking what the person wrote who only took a couple of minutes, he 
>>responded by saying that he wrote: "Why Not?"  Later, she found out that
>>he got an 'A.'
>>Urban Legend?  One of my seventh grade teachers says that this happened
>>in her class in college.
>>
>
>This one is as old as:
>
>	Q.	Is this a question?
>
>	A.	Yes, if this is an answer!
>
>
When I was in college (a million years ago), I remember a friend telling 
me of a philosophy class he had where the final was a single question.  
The prof removed a toy block from the desk and set it down.  The proceeded 
to inform the class that all they had to do was "prove the block existed".

One student thought for a moment and wrote briefly and left.  Everyone 
thought he had no idea and didn't want to waste the time.  According to my 
friend the only person to get an "A" was the one who left early.  His 
answer: "what block?".

I am sure this one was also an urban legend probably passed along by the 
philosophy professor.

	Bruce
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.religion.kibology
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: Unchanged FAQ List from 1 November 1992
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 08:04:50 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban

In <Bz3D3H.1uq@world.std.com> kibo@world.std.com (James "Kibo" Parry) writes:

>Note that making the gesture backwards, in England, is more amusing sometimes.

Wouldn't that be in the Middle East?  Is it pronounced with sideways
Vulcan salutes in France?
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jwindley%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jay Windley)
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Date: 16 Dec 92 14:24:48 MST
Keywords: KIBO = Knowledge In Bozosity Out
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

trevor@advent.co.uk (Trevor Pretty) writes:
>
>As any Englishman (none of this namby pamby englishperson here (this
>will cause flames!)) will tell POSH was stamped on tickets when going
>to India (back in the days when we had an Empire). It simply stood
>for
>
>Port, Out, Starboard, Home 
>
>as these were the coolest cabins

The "Port Out, Starboard Home" acronym accurately describes the shady
side of a ship when traveling to India from Britain, and a great many
American and English dictionaries accept this etymology.  However the
steamship line company (whose name I forget) upon which traveled all
the government officials has no knowledge of this.  They neither
stamped it on tickets nor used it in an official capacity.

The best that etymologists can tell us is that the acronym POSH was
used by the passengers themselves to remember the correct side of the
ship when requesting cabins, and the steamer line employees could
hardly be ignorate of this phenomenon.  But there is no evidence at
all that the steamer line coined the word, or even used it officially.

BTW, empires are passe' now.  Sigh.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Jay Windley  *  University of Utah  *  Salt Lake City
                    jwindley@asylum.cs.utah.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31377 rec.arts.startrek.misc:12756
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: Sex, the Final Frontier?
Date: 16 Dec 1992 19:07:58 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117


A friend of mine told me this story about trekkies.  It seems
that one of his friends had a sister who was a very quiet,
religious person, who spent most of her time reading.  After
a while, she became a real avid trekkie; going to conventions,
reading books, and finally getting to the point where she 
began writing her own stories and swapping it with other
people at those conventions.

One day, my friend's friend noticed one of her sister's stories,
and was curious about her sister's writing style.  When she
read the story, she was shocked because it was pornographic.
It turns out that there is a huge segment of the trekkie
subculture that meets and shares stories where the characters
from the old series are in egaged in much racier stories (the 
one that stuck in her mind was Kirk and Spock's homosexual 
relationship) than those commonly associated with the series.

Can anyone provide any further enlightenment on this point?
Maybe 'Lost in Space' wasn't better after all

Terry "Tiberious" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe Per Diem
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: renfro@geewhiz.ssc.gov (James Renfro)
Subject: Re: Crazy as a $2 bill
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:53:41 GMT

Military and Naval bases whose personnel experienced unfair or worse  
treatment from the merchants in town would periodically pay their  
troops in $2 bills so that those people in the town would be  
impressed with the amount of government payroll money in local  
circulation.    The practice was certainly used when I was doing my  
service in the Air Force; I received my pay  in $2 bills once in  
Texas.  Speed trap tickets deminished, and fewer reports of  
short-changing the troops was heard.    Nowadays, I suppose with  
Direct Deposit and such like computer banking arrangements, that kind  
of a scheme would not work.  But it did back in the olden days.
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:30876 rec.arts.startrek.misc:12525
From: csa09@seq1.keele.ac.uk (Paul Singleton)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Date: 11 Dec 92 23:44:37 GMT
Organization: Keele University, England

"All Silly Tom Cats"

(something in maths - I forget what ...)
----
  __   __    Paul Singleton (Mr)           JANET: paul@uk.ac.keele.cs
 |__) (__    Computer Science Dept.        other: paul@cs.keele.ac.uk
 |  .  __).  Keele University, Newcastle,    tel: +44 (0)782 621111 x7355
             Staffs ST5 5BG, ENGLAND         fax: +44 (0)782 713082
From: rperkins@astro.as.arizona.edu (Rachel J. Perkins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Summary: um, DUH! neptune is inside neptune's orbit?
Keywords: goof, lack of observational skills...
Date: 15 Dec 92 18:20:54 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

sorry about my apparent blindness with respect to what was actually
written as opposed to what i thought i saw. apologies to those whose
toes i stepped on. and for ending a sentence with a preposition, while 
i'm at this groveling business.

bah.

rachel "i'm a theorist, not an observationalist" perkins

--
		    -just give me what for,
	rachel perkins =  rperkins@astro.as.arizona.edu
      coed naked internet grep! always keep your link up!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Tidings from the Moon (was Soda Bottle Warning Source)
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 02:57:25 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <L8aNVB2w165w@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz> system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall) writes:
>cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) writes:
>
>> system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall) writes:
>> 
>> > ObUL: The high tide on the side of the Earth OPPOSITE the moon is caused by
>> > the moon pulling the Earth toward it, leaving the water behind.
>> 
>> If nothing else, this is certainly a descriptive way to illustrate the
>> effect of the moon's gravity on the earth.  
>
>Hmm, a question in there, kinduv, so I can tie up my strand (hello Hugh!).

Quite rightly so, it's my turn now.
 
>I expected more posts to be prompted by this statement. It seems intuitively
>wrong to me that the relative difference between the distance of the water
>on the far side of the Earth and the far side of the Earth is enough for
>the difference to be a high tide that is just as high as the difference
>induced on the other side, especially as water is more elastic than the land.
 
The LEP (Large Electron Positron) collider at CERN, with a circumference of
26.7 Kilometers and bolted to solid rock, is affected by the tides.

The uncertainty caused by this was responsible for the error in determining 
the mass of the Z particle discovered in 1983.  Now the effect has been 
noticed it will be quite easy for those loony scientists to compensate.

Derek "Isn't science fun" Tearne


-- 
Derek Tearne.   --   derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz   --    Fujitsu New Zealand   -- 
 _______
 _______} This is a Usenet condom<tm>.  Roll the condom over the .signature 
	  file before posting to protect yourself from .sig retro-virii
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: gmaples@netcom.com (Greg Maples)
Subject: Re: I Live to FAQ!
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 09:41:45 GMT

Funny that you should mention Celestial Seasonings Tea.  I know of no connection
to the church of Moon, but I do know of one to the church of Urantia.

There is a group of folks that believe in a modern bible written by a guy
in his garage.  Although the book is almost totally unreadable, it's basic
premise is that Jehova, Jesus, and all the angels are space aliens, here to
move us to a higher plane of existance.  If you doubt this crap, Ive got a copy
I could quote.

Anyway, there is a select group of Urantia followers called the elect or some
such wierdness.  In 1986 there was a motivational seminal held to help these 
folks build self esteem toward adding new members to the church.

One of these 'elect' was the founder and principal owner of Celestial SeasoningsTea.
He announced that from the date of the seminar onwards, he would be giving his
profit and stock control of CST to the church of Urantia.  

Now go look at a box of CST.  See the quotes?  Some have no attribution.
Those quotes are from the book of urantia (a least a significant number are).

How do I know all this is true?  I helped set up the AV and computers for the
seminar, and was in attendance the whole time.
From: Jarett.Weintraub%bbs@jptcs.com (Jarett Weintraub)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Date: 12 Dec 92 23:58:00 GMT
Reply-To: Jarett.Weintraub%bbs@jptcs.com (Jarett Weintraub)
X-Posting-Software: UniBoard 1.10a S/N 202921

And, for the planets:
My   Mercury
Very Venus
Educated  Earth
Mother   Mars
Just   Jupiter
Served Saturn
Us   Uranus
Nine Neptune
Porcupines  Pluto
From: henry@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Henry Bloomfield)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: ring-pulls/ cats-eyes/ zips/ etc...
Date: 14 Dec 92 10:25:42 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London

- just remembered another one! - 20 years ago someone filed
a patent which outlined the notion that all the computing power
of a computer could be held on a single chip, as opposed to
being distributed. Earlier on this year, some American court (I
can't remember all the details of the story) ruled that it was
a valid patent and so everyone who's being making single-chip
computers for the last 20 years have been infringing his
patent.
The North American Phillips Corporation (NAPC) then settled
with him for 400 million dollars, substantially less than they
owed him, but offered him the services of their legal
department so that, through them, he could sue everyone else.
I may look up this story again (it was in New Scientist). It
went on to say that this fabulous wealth hadn't changed him
much, but that he'd bought new seat covers for his 10-year old
Toyota.

--
--
      HCI Group, CS Dept, QMW, Mile End Rd, London E1 4NS
  "You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life"
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31548 alt.sex:39849 alt.flame:16974
From: rstevew@deeptht.armory.com (Richard Steven Walz)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.sex,alt.flame
Subject: Re: New Idea
Date: 18 Dec 92 04:03:35 GMT
Organization: The Armory

In article <1992Dec17.034957.15302@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
>Speaking of police states:
>
>As seen in Columbus Dispatch,  Dec. 15, 1992
>....................................
>Headline:Law Would Protect Police Animals
>...
>The Columbus City Council last night began considering a law to
>make it a first-degree misdemeanor to assault a police dog or
>horse.  The assailant would face up to six months in jail and a
>$1,000 fine.
>	"This would prevent anyone from taking advantage of or
>abusing an animal in an enforcement mode," Saftey Director
>Leonard P. Keller said.
>...
>	The law would be the first of its kind in Ohio, said
>Officer Alan Shaub of the police legal bureau.
>	Ohio lawmakers, however, are considering a bill to make
>attacking a police animal a felony, he noted.
>...
>	The council will vote on the proposal next Monday.
>.................................................
>
>	I guess Alex Karras wouldn't be such a bad ass in this town.
>
>Jon "What about police lemurs?" Papai
-------------------------
That's just pro forma. Most states have laws like that anyway. They
see the police dog as an extension of the officer and assault on the
animal an assault to the officer's safety. Whoopee, first degree
misdemeanor. It's a felony most places, equivalent to assault and
battery felonious.
- Steve

-- 
* Richard STEVEn Walz   rstevew@deeptht.armory.com   (408) 429-1200  *
* 515 Maple Street #1   * Without safe and free abortion women are   *
* Santa Cruz, CA 95060    organ-surrogates to unwanted parasites.*   *
* Real Men would never accept organ-slavery and will protect Women.  *
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.shenanigans
From: william@sage.cc.purdue.edu (jon)
Subject: Re: Send more than one dollar to this address
Summary: Money schemes: my case history.
Keywords: money
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Distribution: Here.......there. 
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 08:29:59 GMT

In article <1992Dec11.084341.11480@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth) writes:
>
>To someone like myself who is broke (money spent last summer on the
>computer I'm typing this on! :-) ), this scam is mighty tempting.
>
>I wonder if it is legal??
>
>
>Simon
>(money spent on computer well spent!)

   Actually, I believe it's not.  From what I can remember, an actual good or
service must be exchanged in lieu of the money.  Many people have been arrested
for postal fraud in these type of schemes.  Such a stipulation created even
better schemes to make money, but I must regress to tell the whole story.
   Some summers ago, I got bored and wondered what really was the beef on all
those ads you find about getting rich in Popualar Science magazines and the 
like. Soooooooo....... I mailed out about 15 SASE's (self adressed stamped
envelopes) to various addresses in the back of those magazines.  But instead
of putting my own name (I used my own address however), I used names like:
Santa Claws, Veroca Salt, Emmy Nems, and the like.  In a few weeks, i didn't
get just mail, I got MAIL.  A large percentage of those letters were from 
people using pyramid money making schemes.
   The pyramid money making scheme worked like this: There were five names
and addresses of different people who had sent out their own letters.  If you
wanted to join in, you would place your name at the top of the list and bump 
all of the others names down one place. (the last one you would take off
completely)  Then you would send each person on the list $5, and mail out as
many letters as you liked with you name at the top of the list. (usually
a couple hundred)  After that, you waited for the money to roll in.  The legal
variation of this scheme had each person on the list mail in return of the $5,
a unique improvement on how to make more money, so that now you are buying
a product.
   Another thing I leared was how to mail regular letters for 2 cents!  I tried
it, and it works. I'll post it if anyone's interested.


--> God wants dollars, god wants cents, god wants pounds, shillings and pence.
    God wants guilders, god wants kroner, god wants Swiss francs, God wants
        French francs.  God wants escudos, God wants pesetas,
    Don't send lira, God don't want small potatoes.   -Roger Waters.

------------------------william@sage.cc.purdue.edu------------------------------
From: trice@bnr.ca (Tony Rice P885)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Traffic Light UL's
Date: 11 Dec 92 18:59:52 GMT
Reply-To: trice@bnr.ca
Distribution: usa
Organization: Bell Northern Research, Research Triangle Park, NC

In article <1992Dec11.114627@IASTATE.EDU>, mkjensen@IASTATE.EDU (Martha K (Puester) Jensen) writes:
|> 
|> I used to live in San Diego, where they have the sensors on the
|> traffic light poles.  While most of the sensors could not be triggered
|> by flashing high beams, there was one particular one that could be.
|> 

My understanding is that traffic lights are triggered by sensors embedded in
the roadway.  Look for the lines cut in the lane.  An electromagnetic field
is setup in the loop of wire there.  That field is upset when a big metallic
car runs over it, triggering the light to change.

Maybe this is just the way it is in the south.

Anyone else have any ideas?  


-- 
=======================================================================
Tony R. Rice                                     Bell Northern Research
Systems Development Environment Support      Research Triangle Park, NC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
trice@bnr.ca          "    GO     "        Opinions are my own, & don't
mrmidi@aol.com           HOKIES!             reflect those of BNR or NT 
=======================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: wisp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Wisp)
Subject: Re: Mnemonics & Now - Burning Mines
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 09:36:46 GMT

In article <kfAAvdq00gpIEYc0wH@andrew.cmu.edu> "Andrew C. Plotkin" <ap1i+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>Excerpts from netnews.alt.folklore.urban: 14-Dec-92 Re: Re: Mnemonics &
>Now - B.. Ray Depew@hpfcso.FC.HP.C (724)
>
>> > quartz
>> > topaz
>> Corundum.  Rubies, sapphires, emeralds.  NOT Carborundum -- that's a
>> registered trademark.
>> > diamond
>
>Tsk. Sapphires and rubies are corundum (aluminum oxide, with impurities
>to impart color), but emeralds are beryl (aluminum/beryllium silicate.)
>Topaz is aluminum silicate, so emerald is probably around the same
>hardness as topaz.
>

Hold on a sec. Isn't that like saying that because diamond and graphite are
both made of carbon, they must both have the same hardness? Surely it all
depends on the crystal structure etc.

The Wisp. [clueless but curious...]
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.drugs
From: petersen@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Julie Petersen)
Subject: Re: UL: Monumental LSD overdose taken (was: Re: Brands of LSD)
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 10:00:08 GMT

BIG BLACK COMMUNIST FAGGOT HIPPOS ??? !!!

Oh my.