HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: presto@chopin.udel.edu (Jason Y Nocks)
Subject: Re: Notorious Toothpaste Skit
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 05:48:57 GMT

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you are exactly the sort of person
that readers of this group are trying to guard against by not posting methods
to this group. If you want to know how this effect could be performed magically
(which may or may not be the case), go immediately to your local magic dealer
and ask about a glass that you can make liquids disappear with (I am
purposefully avoiding using the exact name for this glass, as you might be able
to figure out how it works -very straightforward method). Hopefully, you will
have to buy the glass first, then you will either feel that magic is a truly
inquisitive art or that you were ripped off and won't want to buy the secrets
any more - leaving magic as just one of those truly amazing thins in life.
	I don't want to sound like a "I know and you don't" but the principles
behind keeping certain methods secret are important and I'm not sure how many
people would stumble onto a posting of the method or would hear it second hand.

Good luck with your efforts. May you find the solution to your question worth
the little extra time required to visit your local magic shop.
Magically,
-Jason Nocks
P.S. If you pestered me in email, I might eventually tell you how this effect
works but I DOUBT it since you sound like you could care less about magic as
an art form.
P.P.S. I can't believe how frequently I've been posting lately. School must
really be driving me crazy more than I thought.

-- 
| presto@brahms.udel.edu       | A senior E.E. at the U of D with a side order
| presto@freezer.cns.udel.edu  | of stage and close-up magic. The views
| nocks@snow-white.ee.udel.edu | expressed are exclusively my own (etc).
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bakc@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN)
Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 07:48:20 GMT

In article <88223@netnews.upenn.edu> crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford) writes:
>From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
>Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
>Date: 8 Sep 92 19:58:14 GMT
>In article <bakc.128.715957551@giraffe.ru.ac.za> bakc@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN) writes:
>>>
>
>Hmmm.  Where did you read about this Indian soldier?  The African variety
>(sand fleas, I think) like to lay eggs just under your toenail.  It
>doesn't take too long to figure out you've been zapped -- you get a
>lovely little swollen bump, and it's tender.  So you take a hot needle
>and very carefully dig out what ends up being a large egg.  (Large
>in comparison to the sand flea that laid it, that is)  If you goof,
>the egg (which is probably actually an egg sac) pops, and you end up
>with lots of junk in your toe and very likely a nasty infection.  
>
>If your story about the Indian soldier is true, there's another whole
>realm of yuckiness going on there.  Can't imagine what critter that is.
>
>
The sand flea is called a "Jigger" in West and East Africa -- tends to be 
confined to the more tropical areas.   The Indian soldier story appeared in 
a book entitled (as I recall) "A Quiet War", published in the 1950's, author 
I can't remember.  Next time I'm in the local library I'll look it up and 
give a reference.
BTW a quiet afternoon with a tome on Tropical Disease and Medicine could 
REALLY put legs on this tread!!!!

Cheers,
Keith
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 4 Sep 92 06:46:31 GMT

In <1992Sep3.145411.26996@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay) writes:

    If it's true, it is pretty sick.  I doubt highly that it's some
    coincidence either.

Just a second, lemme get a kosher frozen chicken for the cannon.

Warren "Iceberg, Shergold, who can tell the differnece?" 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
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Subject: Re: Speeding in Iowa
Organization: Just put everything on the floor; I can find it.
Date: 11 SEP 92 21:45:26    


In article <lb23opINNd8k@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, 
  bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce) writes...

>Although I can understand the desire of the driver to get out of Iowa
>as quickly as possible, the fact that he encountered two deaf Iowa
>state troopers makes me wonder about the story's veracity.

Uh, that's 'voracity' Brian, even if it wasn't your grandmother who told you
the story.

 - snopes  

+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|    NOTE:  This signature for adults only.  Sale to minors prohibited.       |
|    All characters 18 years of age or older.  For private home use only.     |
|    Any other use, copying, reproduction or performance in public, in        | 
|    whole or in part, will be prosecuted.                                    |
|                                                                             |
| +  David Mikkelson  Digital Equipment Corporation, Culver City, CA  USA  +  |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Speeding in Iowa
Date: 11 Sep 92 19:53:16 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   

>> the sudden his radar gun flashed something like 140 or 150 but when he
>> looked outside he saw nothing. It was around 2 or 3 in the morning. The
>> same thing happened to another cop who also saw nothing. But it happened to
>> a third cop who radioed ahead and had squad cars block off the road way down

It seems most unlikely that they would have seen _nothing_, even on a
moonless night, and they'd most certainly have _heard_ wind, engine,
and tire noise with the unmistakable signature and Doppler effect of
a car rushing past.  Engines and tires good for 140-150 mph are not 
noted for quietness.

>given the cruddy frequency response of commercial night vision equipment
>I hate to think of the guys life expectancy. Unless he had a couple of
>IR spots he wouldn't see a lot (unless it was desert, early evening).

From my (brief) visits to Iowa, I recall that once you get west of the
immediate Mississippi Valley, things are pretty flat and you're starting
to get into the Great Plains tendency to lay out the roads on grid squares.
If you were going to try a stunt like this, Iowa might not be a bad place,
though I might opt for some of the US highways in the hopes that they're
as forsaken by the police (and by traffic!) as they usually are by the
maintenance crews.

For what it's worth, I've driven cross country quite a lot and have
seldom had an Eastern road completely to myself, even in the wee smalls.
I've also hit potholes worthy of Beirut and seen all manner of animals
dead and alive, some of them big enough to turn your Lotus into extremely
expensive tinfoil.  Sounds like a UL to me.

Joe "So what do oncoming halogen high-beams do to a starlight scope?" Chew
From: carolo@cse.ucsc.edu (Carol Osterbrock)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 12 Sep 92 19:17:08 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
NNTP-Posting-Host: jade.ucsc.edu

In article <n5sn1+k@lynx.unm.edu> kbos@carina.unm.edu (Kurt Bose "of Biscayzee") writes:
>OK, followup question.  Now that most everyone has established that their town,
>city, state, hole in the ground, etc. is high on the list, is there anyplace in
>the US that prides itself on being relatively safe from nuclear devastation?
>
>I have read that Tierra del Fuego was ranked last among all strategic targets
>for nuclear devastation worldwide, but where in America has this honor?  
>Anywhere???

Santa Cruz, California.  Not only is it a nuclear-free zone, there is
no airport, no seaport, nobody who knows any military secrets (well,
except the Christic Institute, and they don't exactly try to keep them
secret), the only commodities that Santa Cruz supplies to the rest of
the country are broccoli, brussels sprouts, and chewing gum.  The 
Russian equivalent of Dan Quayle would have to be in charge of bombing
for anything to get dropped on Santa Cruz.

-carol "peace, doood" o

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Carol Osterbrock       *       Such a long, long time to be gone
carolo@cse.ucsc.edu    *         And a short time to be there...
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Subject: Re: Wild Chicken Flocks
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 18:25:11 GMT
Keywords: chicken, freeway, flock, human flesh


In article <ZDmTqB1w165w@dogbox.acme.gen.nz> dogbowl@dogbox.acme.gen.nz (dogbowl) writes:

>OBUL: Foxes live in suburban areas in the U.K.
>OBfact: They have been filmed raiding rubbish bins in suburnban U.K.

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE ran a story this spring about how coyotes had been
sighted in and around Chicago.  They guessed that they were hanging out in
the forest preserves and ranging wider in their nightly forages.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jfreter@triton.unm.edu (The Myth)
Subject: Re: North Pole (was: The Flat Earth Society???)
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 00:47:48 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <jyc.715995899@Leland> jyc@leo.Stanford.EDU (Jon Corelis) writes:
>
>   This raises an interesting question that I hadn't thought of before:
>what time is it at the North Pole?  If the Pole is in a time zone, then
>what zone is it in?  If it isn't in a time zone, then is there no way to
>tell what time it is there? 

Easy, each time zone runs through the North Pole, so when you're standing
on it, you can just choose your time zone.  I can just see it now...

Wifely-type-being:" Dear, time to wake up and go to work"
Me: " not yet, Its still 3 in the morning and I wish to sleep"


Or better yet, ever notice how the clock seems to slow down as 4 PM on
a Friday afternoon approaches?  Well, living there it is Friday afternoon
that much faster...


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jmethot@vicorp.com (John Methot)
Subject: Buenos Aires Trivia (was Re: Evita's body)
Organization: V. I. Corporation, Northampton, Massachusetts
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 19:33:34 GMT

In article <SHAFER.92Sep9144314@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov> shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>
>Evita's crypt is not the biggest or neatest or anything; it's just
>sort of ordinary.
>
>The sight that I thought was more interesting was the park across from
>our hotel.  It has an oldish clock tower that was a gift from the
>British government commemorating some significant event
>(independence?) in the history of Argentina.  It also has a monument
>listing all the Argentinian Air Force crews killed by the British in
>the Falklands/Malvinas War.  I asked several people, but I'm still not
>sure if this was irony or inadvertence.

I was in Buenos Aires last month - our tour guide told us this clock tower
(which is commonly called "a copy of Big Ben" even though it looks nothing
like Big Ben other than being a clock in a tower) used to be called "The
Monument of Friendship With the British People" or something to that effect,
but that after/during the Malvinas War it was renamed to "The People's
Monument."

As you approach the airport from Buenos Aires, there is an official looking
sign that says "Las Malvinas son Argentina" (if I remember my bad Spanish
correctly), meaning "The Falklands are Argentina."
From: comp_oper@darwin.ntu.edu.au
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Sex on the Train
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:05:42 +0900

In article <1992Sep3.145710.8629@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
> You know, it's odd that you should mention that. This story apparently 
> appeared in the Independent a few weeks ago. I did not see it, but I was told
> about it by a friend. It also appeared as a quiz question on the News Quiz on
> the Radio, which confirms that the paper published it as a true story. The only
> things I can add are that the couple were both employed by Sainsbury's, one of
> Britain's largest supermarket chains, that they actually had full intercourse
> and that the carriage was packed with commuters.
> 
> Now for the odd bit. This story was told as a joke by the comedian Victoria
> Wood in her show "Victoria Wood as seen on TV", which must have been first
> broadcast about two years ago. Since then I have heard the same show twice on
> the Radio, most recently about a fortnight ago, just after the newspaper story.
> Is this life imitating humour, or is this a gullible newspaper editor being
> taken in by a practical joke? Has this been reported anywhere outside these
> supposedly staid islands?

Yes.  Australian papers picked up the story either last week or the week
before.

-- 
Glenn Wallace					comp_oper@darwin.ntu.edu.au
Northern Territory University
Darwin, Northern Territory,
Australia, World, Universe, etc...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DISCLAIMER:
This is not necessarily the views of the management of this establishment:-
We just chain him up in that little cubby hole of his and leave him be!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf)
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Organization: /home/ludviga/cindy/.organization
Date: 9 Sep 92 22:37:34

I heard a variation of this legend several times when i was a wee
thing, growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (alas).  But the
way i heard it, we were _twenty-second_ on the list.  I heard this
several times from different people, so this was a legend that had
gotten around somewhat.

Personally, i think 22nd was flattering themselves... the claim was
that they wanted to make the (very fertile) soil unfit for growing
crops after the war.  

-Cindy Kandolf
 cindy@solan.unit.no
 Trondheim, Norway
 (very likely the third _Norwegian_ city on any bombing plans... if
  anyone should plan to bomb Norway...)

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Rice versus Birdseed
Organization: Hatch Usenet and E-mail.  Playa del Rey, CA
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 17:50:56 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.153749.24587@xilinx.com> dif@xilinx.com (Diana Foss) writes:

>My fiance and I are planning our wedding, and my mom has asked whether
>we want birdseed thrown at us as we depart. I said, "I thought rice
>was the appropriate grain," but my mom replied that she had read that
>rice "swells up and explodes in birds' stomachs." Have centuries of
>unenlightened weddings exacted a terrible toll on our feathered friends?
>Is there any reason at all to consider this more than an urban legend?

Enjoy your wedding with whatever grain(s) you feel are appropriate.
The "rice exploding birds stomachs" is a genuine take-no-immatation
Urban Legend.  After all, how many dead birds with exploded stomachs
heve you seen around churches lately?
-- 
                
Rich Greenberg - N6LRT - 310-649-0238 - richg@hatch.socal.com
From: Peter.Hammond@brunel.ac.uk (Peter D Hammond)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
Date: 8 Sep 92 13:44:33 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

exuhag@exu.ericsson.se (James Hague) writes:
{edited highlights}
: 
: and got to the bottom of it:  the patient has a worm living in his brain,
: slowly munching away.  He claimed to have eaten raw bear meat on a hunting
: IMO this sounds a lot like the old earwig bit, or maybe the choking baby,
: but could it be true?  (My question is how did the worm get from his
: digestive tract to his brain?)  Anyone hear of similar maladies?
: 
: --
: James Hague   
: exuhag@exu.ericsson.se
Hi.
OK, I know its not the worlds greatest authority, but in the Readers Digest a
few months ago (UK edition), there was a `true story' regarding a little girl
who died of a mysterious brain desiese in America. The family tried to sue the
hospital for failing to save her, but the consultant hired to clear the 
hospital found the following: The child had ingested roundworms, rare in that
part of the country, though very common in other parts of the world, and
generally harmless. One of the worms, in its normal life cycle, got `lost',
and instead of moving down the gut, got itself trapped in the girls brain,
where it festered and I think caused a sceptic infection type of thing.
The brain tissue had a strong faecal smell at the autopsy, when it should be
almost odourless. All this is from memory. I can dig out the article if you
want, but it will take a week or three.

By the way, roundworms are abuot 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, (6-12 mm) and thin, so
dont necessarily think about something earthworm sized in the guys head.


-- 
BFN, Pete.

 Dept. Materials Technology | Disclaimer: SERC pay me | You sometimes have to  
 Brunel University          | to report my opinions,  |    listen to
 Uxbridge                   | not for theirs or the   | A lot of useless talk.
 Middx, UB8 3PH, UK.        | the university's.       |         N. Peart. (RUSH)
From: tsarna@endicor.com (Ty Sarna)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The final solution - Seagulls
Date: 14 Sep 92 23:56:36 GMT
Organization: Endicor Technologies, Inc., San Antonio, Texas

Seen recently in alt.tasteless, the Alkaseltzer/Seagull UL with
a few new features:

In <9209141855.AA08353@GROUCHO.CS.NYU.EDU> deragon@GROUCHO.CS.NYU.EDU (John Paul Deragon) writes:
> 	The ultimate soultion for taking care of seagulls comes from my
> uncle.  Seems when he bought a house down the Jersey shore, there was

The poster has no first-hand experience of course, it was "heard from
someone else".

> 	Well one day he decided to do something about it.  He got some,
> Fizz Tablets (or Alka Seltzer) and broke them up into bite size pieces
> and dipped them in peanut butter or somtimes wrapped a piece or bread
> around it.

The uncle is very considerate and takes the time to make the tablet
pieces easier to get down and tastier.

> 	He would then throw the bits up to the hovering seagulls and
> would be promptly snatched up.   The problem is that seagulls 
> cant burp.  So the gases that build up in the birds have no where to
> go.  If you have them eat enough.... KAPOW!  Implosion!   I have never
                                               ^^^^^^^^^^
Now, this is the first time I've heard of alkaseltzer making birds
*implode*. These must be the new Wint-O-Green Neutron Star Flavored
Black Hole Alka Seltzer tablets (TM).
 
> seen a bird implode, but my uncle said he was walking along the beach
> and saw a seagull that was splattered on the sand.  He said it was 
> his food.  

Being alt.tasteless, the uncle of course eats the (im/ex)ploded birds
afterwards.

> 	Anyway... needless to say there are no more seagulls around his
> house.  (This also works with any animals that cant burp. ie: cats)

As an extra plus, we find out that there are other animals which can't
burp. I would be interested in finding out just how this determination
was made. Doubtless it was some multi-trillion-dollar government-backed
study, perhaps related to the Bovine Flatulence studies.


ObFOAF: I can count the tuba player for Sgt.  Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band and the sax player for The Pink Panther as FOAFS, as well as
Mr. Wizard as a FOAFOMF (FOAF of my father).  The Attorney General for
the State of Maine also helped me pick out a tie once. 

--
Ty Sarna	       "Staring faces, set in celluloid,
tsarna@endicor.com	Welcome to the late show, starring null and void"
From: f67700241@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (Greg Franklin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The vanishing hitch-hiker
Date: 15 Sep 92 16:57:51 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona
Nntp-Posting-User: f67700241

In article <BuM4MA.180@brunel.ac.uk>, Peter.Hammond@brunel.ac.uk (Peter D Hammond) writes:
> The story of the vanishing hitch-hiker came up on the Arthur C Clarke
> Mysterious World series last night. They had a bloke on the program who
> (claimed he) saw it himself, He Was There, he did not hear it from a FOAF.

Have you considered the possibility that the bloke was lying?

> Now, I know
> this is an FAQ and the title of a JHB book (which I haven't been able to get,
> one day I'll order it), but my point is: If they have traced at least one
> person who genuinely claims it happened to him/her, then surely this makes it
> a normal ghost story, not an urban legend? Surely the point of a haunting
> is that it is seen by more than one person, at different times?

Yes, that's true.  All over the English-speaking world there are people who
claim to have proof that the vanishing hitchhiker story happened to a friend
of a friend (consult JHB's book for at least 2 examples).  The point of an
UL is that certain minor details are altered from place to place (e.g., hair
color of the hitchhiker), but the main plot remains the same over space and
time.

> And I always
> thought that a prime characteristic of an urban legend was that when you try
> to trace the person it actually happened to, the trail peters out? Or am I
> missing something?

That's true, too.  Did the bloke offer actual proof, or did he SAY he had
proof (like a photo of the girl's jacket over the grave)?  BIG difference.
If you pressed him, you would likely find his "proof" to be non-existent.
-- 
Greg "Mockingbird" Franklin      Interviewer: "Sir, how do you spell relief?"
f67700241@ccit.arizona.edu               Dan: "R-O-L-A-I-D-S-E."

"[George Bush is] the most ruthless white man in the history of the planet."
	-- Richard Ben Cramer, author of _What It Takes_
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: Wild Chicken Flocks
Keywords: chicken, freeway, flock, human flesh
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 10:39:28 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.182511.4949@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards) writes:
>
>In article <ZDmTqB1w165w@dogbox.acme.gen.nz> dogbowl@dogbox.acme.gen.nz (dogbowl) writes:
>
>>OBUL: Foxes live in suburban areas in the U.K.

OBFactoid: I live in Acocks Green, Birmingham, which definitely counts as
suburban (subhuman, too, actually...), and there is at least one fox that
feeds in my back garden. I don't know how many there are, because I've only
seen one at a time, but they look different. FYI, they actually take the food
that's left out for a couple of feral cats that have adopted me...

The Wisp. [yes, it's raining cats and dogs...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chris Williams <csuah@uk.ac.warwick.csv> aka <csuah@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
"Tony Greig in the slips, legs apart, waiting for a tickle"
                                      Brian Johnson (thanks to A. Simha 8^>)