HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: The wacky, flakey State
Keywords: Wayne & Garth; we have nothing bad to say about them
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 23:12:29 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.164548.11655@anasaz> morris@anasaz (Bob Morris) writes:
>In article <1992Apr2.224828.19567@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>>
>>How many other states have an element named after them?
>
>I count three, if you include Lawrencium and Berkeleyium.  (Please forgive
>my spelling; I don't do too well on pretend words).
>

Lawrence and Berkeley aren't states.

>>The state bird is the California road-runner, no, not CA, Arizona :-).  What's
>>the CA state bird, Goldie Hawn (on a wire) :-).
>
>No, not Arizona, New Mexico (you'll get a lot of flames about this).  Our
>state bird is the Cactus Wren.

OK, New Mexico then.  The point is that the California roadrunner is the state
bird of something other than California :-).

And nobody challenged Goldie Hawn as CA state bird :-).

cjl (What was the name of Churchill's pet Mexican rat?)

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: birdman@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Christopher Kush)
Subject: Re: De-ionized water mishap
Keywords: angry young man
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:06:53 GMT

In article <1992Apr1.121350.3495@ms.uky.edu> fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis) writes:
>In article <1992Mar30.183922.26470@anasaz> morris@anasaz (Bob Morris) writes:
>>>>I was told recently about an accident that happened in a school physics
>>>>lab. It seems some kid decided to drink some water but instead of
>>>>distilled water he took de-ionized water. The end result was rather nasty
>>>>since the water decided to replace it's lost ions from him.
>>>
>>>This is nonsense, of course.

Good call.

>>
>>When I worked at the Garrett Aerospace Facility near Tucson, Arizona,
>>the had faucets labelled, "Danger--Deionized water--Do Not Drink".  I
>>never knew why, but, then, I never drank any either.  Maybe this is not
>>nonsense.  I'll listen more closely to an opinion from a chemistry
>>department than a statistics department.
>
>Pure Water is one of the best solvents around and is an absolute boogger to
>store and keep pure. 
>-- 
>Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> 
>Now, I'll sign it as a witness, you wretch.

More explicitly, deionized water has no ions, but it may have (and usually
does) a lot of amoebic dysentery and other goodies that the ions aren't there
to kill.

thankslaterbirdman
-- 
________________________________________________________________________________
   My employer, ACNS at NWU, tells me I must have a disclaimer in my .sig, so
  here it is: If these were the opinions of ACNS, I wouldn't have to post this.
From: morris@anasaz (Bob Morris)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Initials on the Subway Token
Date: 6 Apr 92 18:28:07 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Anasazi, Inc.  Phoenix, Az

In article <1992Apr2.213033.16003@pt.com> beb@pt.com (Bruce Buck) writes:
>
>The initials were restored in 1918.  This time they were placed on the 
>obverse ("heads") side of the coin and were made smaller.

A kindergarten teacher (not mine) asked me this and maybe afu knows:

It's pretty obvious why the obverse is called heads, but why it the
reverse called tails?

She was afraid a student would ask her and she wouldn't know the answer
so she asked me.

Bob Morris
aka morris@anasazi.com  (new address)
anasaz!morris@asuvax.eas.asu.edu (old address still works)
My opinions only, of course...
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:11581 alt.folklore.science:1319
From: w3wes@edison.gsfc.nasa.gov (William E. Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
Subject: PC Hazard
Date: 6 Apr 92 18:35:18 GMT
Article-I.D.: nsisrv.1992Apr6.183518.9061
Distribution: na
Organization: General Sciences Corporation


     I once ran across an account of a possible hazard to PC's.  It seems
someone had their hard disk "wiped" during the trip home aboard one of
Washington, DCs Metro Subway trains.

     Any comments?

*******************************************************************************
        ___      _      ___      ___________      ___
       / _ \    | |    / _ \    / __________|    / _ \     Bill Smith 
      | | \ \   | |   / / \ \  | <_________     / / \ \    Code 910.4
      | |  \ \  | |  / /   \ \  \_________ \   / /   \ \   Goddard Space Center
      | |   \ \_| | / /     \ \___________> | / /     \ \  Greenbelt, MD 20771
      |_|    \___/ /_/       \_____________/ /_/       \_\ 
                                                    w3wes@edison.gsfc.nasa.gov

Promote sober mathematics, prevent drunken deriving.
*******************************************************************************
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: vince@cadence.com (Vince Gibboni)
Subject: Re: Falling bullets on Marilyns Parade
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 18:04:09 GMT

rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes:
> tzf@cs.arizona.edu (Theron Friedman) writes:
>> (Rick Kelly) writes:
>>|> Marilyn Vos Savant's main talent is doing well on IQ tests.  She gets tested
>>|> 4 to 6 times per year.  If you do that for enough years, you ought to start
>>|> showing fairly high IQ numbers.  How this reflects on her worth as a person
>>|> to ponder all the questions of the cosmos in a weekly column is beyond me.
>>|> 
>>
>>Bravo Rick! But, is this 4-6/year a documented truth, or yet another myth
>>about the goddess? Folklore or fakelore?
>>
> She volunteered this information herself.  She also mentioned which test
> series she uses, but I don't remember that information.

    This can only be _sort of_ true. There are really only two generally-
    recognized IQ tests (Stanford Binet and Wechler) and one new one that's
    _becoming_ accepted (Kaufman). You are not "allowed" to take these tests
    more than once every two years (and that's really pushing it) lest you 
    remember stuff from last time, so the most she could really take would
    be three tests every two year. But, of course, _anyone_ can call _anything_
    an IQ test, and you can take these pseudo-tests as much as you like
    and get all sorts of amazing scores but, it doesn't really mean very
    much.

    
        Vince "but this test goes to 11" Gibboni


--
                                                        vince@gda.cadence.com
    And in the battle on the streets 
    You fight computers and receipts
        - Pete Townshend
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:11709 alt.folklore.science:1345
From: cullen@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Cable TV cheater spotters (was Re: FCC Call letters)
Date: 7 Apr 92 17:50:44 -0300
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

In article <22499@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) writes:
> A superheterodyne receiver like a TV generates and amplifies 
> its intermediate-frequency (IF) signal all the time regardless 
> of what channel you're on or where the rf input is coming
> from.  The local oscillator (LO) frequency varies depending
> on what channel you're watching, however.  If the cable uses
> a channel on which no one in town broadcasts, and they kept
> picking up the corresponding LO signal from your house, they
> might be able to infer that you were watching the cable.  The
> signal is very weak from an FCC type-accepted TV set, and
> they'd have to have good equipment and skills to figger it out.

Not Even close to how they do it in Nova Scotia.
> 
> Driving down the street with any special instrument to catch 
> pirates would require (a) a technician, (b) an instrument,
> and (c) a truck.  This kind of expenditure of money and intellect,
> shall we say with great diplomacy, does not fit my image of a 
> typical cable-TV company.  But starting a UL as a free or near-free
> way to _scare_ people into subscribing seems right up their alley.

Instead, they drive around and look at the distro boxes hanging from
the cable. The boxes hang upside down and have regular cable screw
connections. The house lines come to the box and form a drip loop
when going into the box. The cable co. hangs a plastic tag on the loop
and pays somebody to drive around looking at the boxes from the street
> 
> There would probably be all kinds of interesting illegal-search
> questions that could be raised if someone wanted to get prickly
> about active investigation by a cable company.  They probably count 
> more on technological ignorance, combined with people's fear of
> embarrassment at being exposed as a penny-ante thief.  However,
> even in a TV-addicted society where it can probably be assumed
> that most people watch cable whether they pay for it or not, the 
> burden of proof is still on the accuser.  Or so I hope.
> 
> --Joe "Neither pays for nor uses the cable" Chew

						Murray
						Cullen@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick)
Subject: Re: TV 'buzz' when graphics are on screen (was: Re: FCC Call letters)
Reply-To: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 03:31:50 GMT

In article <32556@darkstar.ucsc.edu>, unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (99E99) writes:
>	Unrelated question.. (this group seems to have become an open forum
>for any question..Sort of a worldwide Straight Dope.. so here goes)
>
>	WHY do TVs, even new TVs, put out an audible (irritating!) buzz 
>when graphics are shown on screen?  I mean like "typed text", and pictures
>and such.

Well, you've got your video circuitry and your audio circuitry, both sharing
the same chassis, including power supply and ground bus.  The circuitry is
designed to isolate these two subsystems pretty well, given that you're
watching a normal picture.  When you say "graphics," you actually mean letters
superimposed on the picture.  Consider what that implies:  You've got LOTS of
SHARP, HIGH-CONTRAST edges on the screen.  This means you've got a
high-amplitude, high-frequency signal.  This is exactly the sort of signal for
which isolation is most difficult.  The isolation fails and part of your video
signal bleeds into the audio.  If you count the number of edges in the graphic
and multiply by 60, I suspect you'll get a pretty good estimate of the
frequency of the buzz.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: CARL@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL

Disclaimer:  Hey, I understand VAXes and VMS.  That's what I get paid for.  My
understanding of astronomy is purely at the amateur level (or below).  So
unless what I'm saying is directly related to VAX/VMS, don't hold me or my
organization responsible for it.  If it IS related to VAX/VMS, you can try to
hold me responsible for it, but my organization had nothing to do with it.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Re: Perfume and whale vomit
    <1992Apr13.223141.5701@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 15:18:22 GMT
Organization: My Daddy, My Doggy, and Me
X-Bytes: 

In article <1992Apr13.223141.5701@midway.uchicago.edu> djb6@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>
>ambergris. n. A waxy, grayish substance, mainly cholesterol, formed in the 
>intestines of sperm whales and found floating at sea or washed ashore.  It
>is used as a fixative in perfumes. [Middle English "ambregreis" from 
>Old French "ambre Gris"]
> 
>Reader's Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary.
>The above definition has been reproduced and duplicated without the express
>written consent of the commisioner of baseball.
>
>
>Actually, I'm glad I looked it up.  I used to think that ambergris was
>whale snot.

In the early stages of this discussion, someone pointed out that Moby
Dick was a great place to go for a discussion. Do you want to know
what you missed by reading the Cliff Notes version?..this is really
gross stuff...! The sailors, after they secure a great big pot of the
stuff have to work the runny gooey stuff into a thicker gooey stuff
by hand...isn't that great? They hang around the pot squeezing this
goop for hours. Its been years and years since I read the book all the
way through, but that scene has stayed with me since I was a kid.
I used to use it when my brother and I played Gross Out. I always won.
See what you can get from your reading? And you thought there was nothing
in Moby Dick!
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu>  
You know, there's many a damned fool woulda swallered that.
From: pirinen@cc.helsinki.fi
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Origins of Syphilis
Date: 10 Apr 92 19:35:27 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

In article <1992Apr5.012415.1577@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>,
egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy) writes:
> There's a book called _Plague_ (I forget the author at the moment.  I
> can look it up if you want.) in the history section of your friendly
> neighborhood bookstore.  The author looks at human history as, more
> or less, a history of infection.
William H. McNeill: Plagues and Peoples
Penguin -79
ISBN 0 14 055.139 5

I know, I'm getting in the habit of posting facts...

ObNomination:  The Official a.f.u Song: "I Heard It on the Grapevine"
__
Pekka P. Pirinen          pirinen@helsinki.fi   pirinen@finuh.bitnet
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
From: slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com (Mark Slagle)
Subject: Re: FCC Call letters
Reply-to: slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com
In-reply-to: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com's message of 4 Apr 92 02:56:25 GMT
Organization: Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Sunnyvale, Ca.
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 92 17:34:38 GMT

In article <1992Apr4.025604.11675@e2big.mko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
   ObUL:  Many ABC stations have Channel 7, because ABC upper management 
   believed Channel 2-6 would be reassigned, and they wanted the lowest 
   frequency (because lower frequencies were received more clearly on the 
   more primitive equipment available).

----
Seems more likely that, since they were the new kid on the block,
that they just took the lowest available UHF channel.  Either CBS 
or NBC would likely have had the lower ones in most cities before 
ABC was born.

--
----
Mark E. Slagle                                 PO Box 61059
slagle@lmsc.lockheed.com                       Sunnyvale, CA   94088
408-756-0895                                   USA
From: hwt@bwdlh490.BNR.CA (Henry Troup)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: New legend: Daffodils
Date: 7 Apr 92 18:17:22 GMT
Reply-To: Henry.Troup@BNR.CA
Distribution: world
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada

In article <1992Mar27.164806.29643@visionware.co.uk>,
mags@visionware.co.uk (Maggie Thomas) writes:
|>However, this so outraged the Dutch people that, in a brave protest, en
|>masse they took to wearing a daffodil on their coats - so that a Dutch

I believe that the King of Denmark wore a yellow star...
                                                      
  Henry Troup - HWT@BNR.CA (Canada) - BNR owns but does not share my opinions
!erutangis ruoy otni suriv erutangis siht ypoc ot nevird ylsuoicsnocbus era uoY
From: chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov (Chuck Adams)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: FCC Call letters
Date: 6 Apr 92 20:50:13 GMT
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory

In article <1992Apr6.144913.6990@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> folse@crs.cl.msu.edu 
(Mark Folse) writes:

> The overlap of the TV audio band into the FM band also applies in the
> U.S.  The audio signal for VHF Chanel 6 can also be received on a
> standard FM receiver, at the low end of the band.


They don't overlap....they are, however, adjacent.  Many FM broadcast 
receivers have enough range to cover a little bit out of their design 
range and into the adjacent band.

               Chuck Adams,  WB5WRR   (The Puhpxfgre)
                Internet:  chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov
   Disclaimer:  Not an official document of DOE, SSCL, URA or EG&G
                   "Curses!  Flamed Again"  - me
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:11668 alt.folklore.science:1339
From: tms@cs.umd.edu (Tom Swiss (not Swift, not Suiss, Swiss!))
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Cable TV cheater spotters (was Re: FCC Call letters)
Date: 7 Apr 92 15:11:53 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: The Reality Liberation Front (pixels to the people!)

In article <1992Apr7.133344.23647@alf.uib.no> s082@brems.ii.uib.no (Ketil Malde) writes:
>
>And while we're at it, I always had this dream of jamming the police
>'radars' to show, say 300km/h while you're driving along at 30 :-)
>Could this be done?
>
>(I assume the radars work by emmitting sound, and measuring the frequency
>it is returned with, so you'd probably need a source of high volume, high
>frequency sound...would this work?)

     If it emits sound, it ain't radar. Radar, including the Doppeler
(sp?) radar used in speed traps, uses radio waves (RAdio Detection
And Ranging). And devices do exist that can transmit a false reading to
police radar (they're mentioned in the FAQ, and somewhere in my parent's
attic is an issue of Popular Electronics (or a similar magazine) that
describes their construction.)


===============================================================================
Tom Swiss/tms@flubber.cs.umd.edu| "Born to die" | Keep your laws off my brain!
     "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" - Nick Lowe 
          This is a .signature antibody. Vaccinate your .sig!
    "You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than
     about 10-12 to 1." -- Ernest Rutherford
From: weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Alka-Seltzer ad in Saudi-Arabia
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:37:41 GMT
Reply-To: weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Organization: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology
In-reply-to: eepee@polaris.utu.fi (Esa-Pekka P{lvim{ki)

In article <1992Apr8.141536.20283@polaris.utu.fi>, eepee@polaris (Esa-Pekka P{lvim{ki) writes:
>Alka-Seltzer used to advertise their soluble painkiller with a little 3-picture
>cartoon where, in the first picture, a head figure was looking miserable, in
>the second he was drinking Alka-Seltzer, and in the third he was smiling.
>They ran the same campaign in Saudi-Arabia, with no success: They forgot that
>the Arabians read from right to left.

This reminds me of an Asterix in Hebrew that I have.  All the panels were
mirror reversed, so the flow of the story matched the flow of the pictures.
-- 
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rgarg@tellabs.com (Rajesh Garg)
Subject: Re: Free magazine from subsription services.
Organization: Tell
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 17:50:06 GMT

In article <2940033@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> joanne@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Joanne Petersen) writes:
>This doesn't belong in this notesgroup.....


>   I came across a company called "COLLEGETOWN MAGAZINE
>   SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE" in New York.

>   Right Now they are offering this special offer:

>   You can call them and either give them the address
>   label info from your old subscription or ask them a
>   free trial offer subscription for one full year with
>   a purchase of any magazine.

>   They will send you any magazine (out of 1200 different
>   titles) for one year free. After that they will request you
>   to subscribe thru them at the lowest price. If you don't
>   want anything just say no and they won't act as pests
>   and keep on sending you their advertisement.

>   Right now, they are taking new business from present customers
>   only. So, it would help to mention my name, Roger, as
>   present customer.

>   TELEPHONE NUMBER 1(800) 433-1357.
>   From area codes: 212, 516, 718, 914 CALL (718) 967-1234
>   FAX NUMBER       1(718) 967-1144.

>   %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>   No flames because if you don't want a free magazine, don't
>   call them. If you want a free magazine, call them. In either
>   case you don't loose anything.
>   %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

This doesn't belong in this notesgroup & should not be posted.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: samson@ptd475a.erim.org (Joseph Samson)
Subject: Re: FCC Call letters
In-reply-to: olt@sparc1.isgs.uiuc.edu's message of Fri, 3 Apr 1992 06:12:18 GMT
Organization: Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
	<1992Apr1.133025.9584@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>
	<epeterso.702141187@fenix> <4dqqWDK00VpZ4SvG9c@andrew.cmu.edu>
	<1992Apr3.061218.27537@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Distribution: na
Date: 9 Apr 92 13:27:16


>Are there any other 3-letter stations out there?

Detroit has WJR (AM, 760) and WWJ (AM 950).
--
		C D B.
		D B S A B-Z B.
		O, S N-D!
			-- William Steig		Joe Samson
							ERIM
							PO Box 134001
							Ann Arbor MI 48113-4001
							(313) 994-1200 x2878
							samson@erim.org
From: robin@aus.intel.com (robin rosenbaum)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Locks and Tumblers
Date: 8 Apr 92 00:46:07 GMT
Organization: Development Tools Operation, Intel Corp.

Every so often the police/fire departments hold classes on protecting your
home.  They always say to use a deadbolt but *not* the kind that needs a
key to lock/unlock from the *inside*.  This is good advice.  A friend of
mine was once a houseguest in a house with double-key deadbolts on the doors.
One morning he woke late; everyone had left and the last person had locked
the house.  My friend managed to pry the handle off a door but still could
not get at the deadbolt.  He eventually got out by taking a window apart.

Robin "Randomize your schedule; confuse prowlers" Hilp
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: Lemurs and twinkies
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 06:26:00 GMT

I just reread the last posting of the AFU FAQ list.

I would like to nominate Nigel the lemur as yet another candidate for
official mascot of AFU.

Now, I noticed a Fb. next to the UL that Twinkies digest mold.  That is,
if mold appears on a Twinkie, the Twinkie digests the mold.  I take it
this means that this is a false UL, but that there might be a little
grain of truth here.  I ask: WHAT is the grain of truth here?  I worry
enough about Twinkies as it is, I don't want to worry that they might
be digesting mold when I'm not looking.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: Falling bullets on Marilyn's Parade
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 00:44:29 GMT

In article <73295@netnews.upenn.edu> weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
>
>Wait a minute.  You're not one of these silly people who think if they
>successfully enumerate four cases, these four cases each occur 1/4 of
>the time?  What a maroon.

There are two possible cases:

    I will get a check for a million dollars in my mail from a total
    stranger.

    I won't.

Figuring 2^(days of adult life), I'm the unluckiest person in the 
universe.

Phil (fighting the temptation to make an insertion from dc(1)) Gustafson

-- 
|play: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG; {ames|pyramid|vsi1}!zorch!phil                |
|work: phil@gsi; sgi!gsi!phil            | Phil Gustafson                   |
| "Better a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy"          |
|                                      Fred (not Steve) Allen               |