HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: RFowler@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Robert A. Fowler)
Subject: Re: Lightning and trees.
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 13:55:08 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.121756.26708@cl.cam.ac.uk> rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns) writes:

>In article <govender.713710105@shannon> govender@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za (Govender) writes:
>>[...]
>>the safe thing to do in a thunderstorm is to lie flat on the ground, away
>>from any tall objects and preferably in a low lying area.

>Surely, if you're in a large flat area this is positivley _not_ the
>sort of thing you want to indulge in.

>If the area is flat, any place to strike is as good as any other.  By
>lying down, you increase your cross section (as seen by Jove), and
>hence increase your chance of getting hit.

[...]
BUT, if you stand up, your head is the highest point in the local area, and 
you will atract lightning.  If you lay down, yes your vertical cross-section 
is larger, but you will hopefuly be lower than some other point in the area, 
so lighting will strike there.

    _________________________________________________________________
                        
                        HONDA -- The only way to fly
    o          
  _/\_>   -A proud owner (just wish they were made in the USA)
 O,> / O   [with all respects to Ohio MINE were made in Japan]
           
                           CM400T/XL500R/VF500F
                             '79   '82    '84
                           
     Slower trafic keep right (SUCKzukies, HDs, etc.) ->->->->->->->
    _________________________________________________________________
From: ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: The dangers in microwaved food...
Date: 20 Aug 92 13:16
Organization: Private Coherent 4.0.1 site Augsburg/Bavaria/Germany

p257shu@fs1.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Susanne Huettemeister) writes:
>. Anyway, could someone lead us to serious reviews
> of the health risks (or even benefits) inherent in microwaved food?

Yes, Muller et al. (Mature 12,345) describe a possible increase in
temperature of the food which could lead to strange sounds emitted
by the human being, like: "Ouch!","Arghh!","Huhh-hot!!!".

In cases where humans have contact with temperature-increased food,
it has been hypothesized, and in recent studies (Journal of Gourmants)
proved that one can observe also other type of behaviour, like spitting,
blowing, waving the hands and, most rarely, injuries.

Hope this hilft.  --ralf
-------------If your nose runs and your feet smell, you're built upside-down.
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: "Yes Virginia!" What does it mean?
Date: 14 Aug 92 18:26:46 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com


Bartlett's Familiar Quotations says it was in the New York Sun,
Sept. 21, 1897, written by Francis Pharcellus Church.

I guess this doesn't necessarily contradict the earlier post that
ascribed it to the *Baltimore* Sun, since it could have been 
reprinted there from the other paper.

-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Manager, SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC 27513
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (LUCIFER)
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Reply-To: st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 15:33:54 GMT

RE: apostrophies.

Doc, lighten up, smell the industial fumes.

Snopes was joking. You shouldn't get so wrapped up in the argument. Just
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The AFU Book List
Date: 18 Aug 92 19:36:55 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <4899@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood) writes:
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Mrs. Byrnes' Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Obsolete Words - ???
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------

That'd be _MRS. BYRNE'S DICTIONARY of Unusual, Obscure, and
Preposterous Words_, by Josefa Heifetz Byrne (daughter of the famed
violinist Jascha Heifetz), copyright 1974, published by Citadel
Press (a division of Lyle Stuart, Inc.), ISBN 0-8065-0498-6,
containing a word 1,913 letters long (it's the chemical name for an
enzyme), Bob.

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (And that's _preposterous_, not "obsolete")
-- 
  "Windle shook his head sadly. Five      | pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
exclamation marks, the sure sign of an    |  [Not a UCSD employee]
insane mind."                             |
     --Terry Pratchett, _Reaper Man_      |
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:21266 rec.arts.books:14496
From: kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Mnemonics in books (was Re: Useful quips)
Date: 12 Aug 92 22:22:48 GMT
Organization: nope, not today

In article <1651rdINNll1@agate.berkeley.edu> goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) writes:
>In article <weUVK=C00VpAQ94Kso@andrew.cmu.edu> jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan R. Ferro) writes:
>)I also remember reading an
>)SF short story taking place in a human vs. robot setting where the
>)identity of a spaceship was confirmed by finding "Oh Be A Fine Girl..."
>)scribbled near the telescope used for astrogation.  Does this ring a
>)bell with anyone?
>
>	This is one of the Fred Saberhagen "Berserker" stories. It's
>collected in _The Ultimate Enemy_. I don't remember the story title, though.
>(Ironic, isn't it?)


Stellar spectral types?

-- 
David Kassover             "Proper technique helps protect you against
uupsi!khazad!kassover	          sharp weapons and dull judges."
kassover@aule-tek.com                   F. Collins
kassover@ra.crd.ge.com
From: jprice@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (James Price)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Date: 15 Aug 92 00:31:07 GMT
Organization: Portland State University, Portland, OR

In article <1992Aug10.031648.995@PA.dec.com> snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:
>
>In article <Bsq0pM.EtB@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, 
>  jvmg9796@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (doc) writes...
>
>>Well, FoD shows several murders/executions, so "snuff films" most
>>certainly do exist then.  In FoD II at the very end, a 3rd world govt
>>was overthrown and its officer tied to poles and executed en masse by a
>>firing squad.  No one will convince me that the scene was faked either.
>
> Even if the scene were real, it's unlikely that the officer was executed
> solely for the purpose of filming his death, so it's not a snuff film.  I
> suspect they had political reasons for shooting him, not merely cinematic
> ones.
> - snopes
>|  David P. Mikkelson   Digital Equipment Corporation   Culver City, CA  USA  

  assume a war was waged with smartweapons, with the purpose of accumulating
yardage of snuffshots, precious seconds of carnage for TV....

 and those who directed the shots did so solely for their viewing pleasure....

 and losses measured in cameras sacrificed, video eyes for sharks with computer
brains that relentlessly closed and killed; for their viewing pleasure....

 seems to meet the definition anyway....
  
James
Net: jprice@jove.cs.pdx.edu       "Justice is incidental to law and order."
Globe: 45 31 25 N 122 40 30 W                          - J. Edgar Hoover
Unity not uniformity | NBC = GE   "Reading musses up my mind." - Henry Ford
From: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Timex UL
Date: 13 Aug 92 13:09:51 GMT
Reply-To: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Organization: Moscom Corp., Pittsford, NY

In article <12553@grayt> grayt@Software.Mitel.COM (Tom Gray) writes:
>Does anyone remember the LIVE Timex commercial in which John
>Camaron Swayze attached a watch to the propeller of an
>outboard motor. The motor was operated in a large transparent tub
>full of water. After several seconds of noise and splashing, Swayze
>stopped the motor to see if the Timex was still running. One problem
>resulted - there was no Timex to be found.

But, the saving grace of the commercial was JCS's quick thinking remark:

"Well, folks, it seems that we lost the watch.  But wherever that Timex is
you can be sure that it is still ticking!"
-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -->     David Esan      de@moscom.com  
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: reay@bnlls1.nsls.bnl.gov (Robert Reay)
Subject: Re: apples to teachers - idea why
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 17:17:05 GMT

>
>Last September, I watched, with my very own eyes, as a child in my
>son's music class gave the teacher an apple.
>
    Hah, I got you beat.  With my own hands I gave a teacher an apple.  It was
more of a joke than anything else though, so I can't help you with motive.

			-Rob
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: I Love Lucy Forever?
Date: 21 Aug 92 00:49:44 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

In article <1992Aug20.213700.23504@unislc.uucp> dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright) writes:
>Whether or not she always appears -- this is all conjecture in the first
>place, along the lines of:  there are enough squid alive at any one time
>that, if caught and laid out side by side, they could cover the entire
>Mohave desert.  A fine trivial point to argue at garden parties.

If all the I Love Lucy episodes were laid end to end in the Mojave Desert,
it would be the best place for them.

Ted "or they'd fill three-fifths of the Grand Canyon -- may not seem like
     much, but keep in mind it's a VERY BIG canyon" Frank
-- 
             ......................................................
             ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | std disclaimers
             the university of chicago law skool, chicago, illinois
             you can't throw me to the lions -- i'm charlton heston
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sethb@fid.morgan.com (Seth Breidbart)
Subject: Re: Useful quips
Organization: Terry, (hon.)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 23:29:30 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.011031.18757@bert.eecs.uic.edu>
artn@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Ellyn Sandor) writes:

>	Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
>	In sacred truth and rigid spelling
>	Numerical sprites elucidate 
>	for me the lexicon's full weight
>	If nature gain who can complain
>	Tho' Doc Johnson fulminate.

Now I, even I, would celebrate
In rhymes inapt, the great
Immortal Syracusan, rivaled nevermore,
Who, in his wondrous lore,
Passed on before,
Left men his guidance how to circles mensurate.

There's a Greek translation with the same property.

Seth		sethb@fid.morgan.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cldavies@nyx.cs.du.edu (cindy davies)
Subject: Re: "Yes Virginia!" What does it mean?
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 02:53:36 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.010844.14366@pony.Ingres.COM> bobm@Ingres.COM (Bob McQueer) writes:
>> >I ran into the expression "Yes Virginia!" in several places and couldn't
>> >find any explanation in dictionraies (either standard or Slang/Americansims
>> >ones). I guess it's from an American movie.
> 
> 
>Actually, it comes from a famous editorial in response to a little girl
>writing a letter to an editor asking if Santa Claus existed or not because
>she'd been told he didn't.  The sappy (or heartwarming if you prefer)
>editorial preceded the sappy song by decades.
>
>I'm directing this article and followups to alt.folklore.urban - somebody
>probably knows the editor / newspaper / decade in question, and now I'm
>curious.
Baltimore Sun (If you see it in the Sun it's so) Early twentieth century 
I think.

--

Since moral has not improved, the beatings will continue.

cldavies@silver.sdsmt.edu        cldavies@nyx.cs.du.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Eskimo words for snow
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 21:35:58 GMT

In article <25567@dog.ee.lbl.gov> TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
>
>Ummmm...old Norse?

But does it taste like chicken?

Oh, I thought you said old Horse!

cjl

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: Re: Political ULs
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 17:18:51 GMT

In article <1992Aug10.221447.24905@news.columbia.edu> egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy) writes:
>In article <Aug.10.17.30.46.1992.6462@math.rutgers.edu> cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) writes:
>>
>>What other ULs exist that credit politicians (or politics) with events
>>that never actually happened?
>
>UL: Dan Quayle is a real person.


Could be.  I've never actually seen him in person and those Coke
commercials that combine living stars with dead ones are getting pretty
convincing.   Has anyone on the net actually _seen_ Dan Quayle with
their own eyes?  I always thought he was invented to give the late night
comedians good monologue material.


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Schroeder	                |  Warning: prolonged exposure to this
schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov         |  .sig may cause retinal damage and 
Brookhaven National Laboratory  |  blistering skin rashes.
From: smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: yet another multi-sided record
Date: 12 Aug 92 12:49:16 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon


Yeah, yeah: there's the Monty Python album and the Mad Magazine single.

But I'd like to interrupt now and again cite another example:

	Laurie Anderson, John Giorno and William S. Burroughs.

	_You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With_


A double albums set; the second album of which has a side with three
parallel tracks.


You may resume your snoping now.

--Sean ``it's William S Unisys now'' Smith

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

          posting from PITTSBURGH, the center of the AFUniverse!
******************************************************************************
From: medic@milton.u.washington.edu (Travis Lauricella)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Help me identify this Mcdonaldland character
Date: 14 Aug 92 19:19:44 GMT
Organization: University of Washington

Ronald, the Hamburglar, and the Filet-o-Fish sailor guy, are (apparently)
human.  Birdie is a bird.  The fry guys are little pre-pacman ghost monsters.
So what is Grimace?  My best guess (since he seems to be the milkshake
pusher of the group) is that he is the lump of milkshake after the melted
shake is drained off.  

Any other ideas?

<medic@u.washington.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: snopes-busters and the ghosts of the lyric
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 09:59:57 GMT

In article <1992Aug11.234739.24849@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <9208081151.AA24944@news.cis.ohio-state.edu> FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu (Joel Furr) writes:
>>we've embarked on, to say nothing of the recursive three-sided record thread.
>
>How can a record have three sides?

Two plane and one curved...

The Wisp.
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     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^>)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Re: Co-ed Dorms!
Reply-To: lawson@aldia.UUCP (Drew Lawson)
Organization: ACUSON, Mountain View, CA
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 18:55:39 GMT

In article <9208171631.AA06068@crdgw1.ge.com> news_for@ae.ge.com (Paul R. Joslin) writes:
>
>ObUL:  At some schools, "co-ed dorm" means that men and women LIVE IN
>THE SAME BUILDING!
>

So, what does it mean at the other schools?

-- 
Drew Lawson                      If you're not part of the solution,
lawson@acuson.com                you're part of the precipitate
From: kristyp@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kristy Patterson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: That'd be In the Air, Phil
Date: 18 Aug 92 15:04:08 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Originator: kristyp@coos.dartmouth.edu

Standard disclaimer: Apologies if this has been discussed to death.

I've been curious for awhile as to the "true" origin of the song
"In The Air Tonight," by Phil Collins.  The various stories I've
heard are:

(1) Phil sees someone drowning, and someone close enough to help
aforementioned drowning person.  But this person doesn't save the
drowning person, and he/she dies.  Phil finds out who the person
is, invites him to a concert, and sings the song directly at him.

(2) Aforementioned drowning person is Phil's girlfriend.

(3) Incident takes place on a boat, and Phil is on shore.

Apparently someone drowned and Phil saw it, if this story has any
factual basis whatsoever.  Any clues?

-Kristy

-- 
 +==========================+================================================+
 |Kristy Patterson          | Nothing really rocks, and nothing really rolls,|
 |kristyp@mac.dartmouth.edu | & nothing's ever worth the cost.      -Meatloaf|
 +==========================+=================================Bat Out of Hell+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,comp.dcom.modems
From: olsen@xn.ll.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Modem tax back
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 12:53:49 GMT

In article <Bt06I7.E1t@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us>, mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes:

>>[me] Why should long-distance networks (data and voice) be the
>>sugar-daddies for everyone else?

>[Marc] They're not sugar daddies.  The IXCs are making much more
>substantial use of their PSTN connection, so they should pay for it.

For AT&T, Sprint, and MCI, that argument has some weight.  The
long-distance voice networks both accept and originate calls in the
local telephone network, i.e., they accept it from the caller's area,
carry it some distance, and originate a call in the callee's area.
They originate many peak-hour local calls, and should therefore pay
for the switching capacity they use.  (Note, however, that the same
argument applies to heavy business users, and also note that the
off-peak access charges have no basis in telco cost.)

None of this applies to Compuserve, however.  Compuserve originates no
calls, it only accepts them.  While Compuserve's access points do attract
a heavy volume of calls, all of those calls are paid for BY THE CALLER,
at standard local rates.  Since these calls are standard local calls,
we have two possibilities:

  1. Local rates are high enough to pay for local calls.
     In this case, long-distance access charges are pure gravy for the
     telephone company, and go toward waste and illegal profit.

  2. Local rates are not high enough to pay for local calls.
     In this case, long-distance callers are subsidizing local callers,
     to make up for low local rates.   In this case, the question recurs:

     Why should long-distance callers and Compuserve users be the
     sugar-daddies for everyone else?
From: rocher@husc8.harvard.edu (Jean-Marc Rocher)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Date: 19 Aug 92 21:13:26 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

In article <1992Aug14.132058.5484@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1992Aug14.121124.1395@nntp.nta.no> styri@nta.no writes:
>>In article <4730@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, Terry Wood writes:
>>>
>>
>>There's some old movie with a snuff plot. I think it was "teen girl runs
>>from home, ends up in porno business. Girl's father looks for his daughter
>>all over the place, including a snuff porn movie theatre." Don't remember
>>if there was a happy ending. (Guess I turned off the TV.)
>
>I forget the name of it, but it had George C. Scott as the father.
>

	The movie is "Hardcore" (I Believe) I've never actually seen it,
but it's advertised on HBO or some local station's 'movie of the week'
just about once a month.

					...Jean-Marc Rocher

"If we took the bones out it wouldn't be crunchy, would it?"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: "Yes Virginia!" What does it mean?
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 03:49:12 GMT

In article <BszKKM.2zA@unx.sas.com> sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall) writes:
>
>Bartlett's Familiar Quotations says it was in the New York Sun,
>Sept. 21, 1897, written by Francis Pharcellus Church.
>
>I guess this doesn't necessarily contradict the earlier post that
>ascribed it to the *Baltimore* Sun, since it could have been 
>reprinted there from the other paper.

I guess the confusion came because Baltimore's in Virginia.

Ted "let's see some newbie try to correct *me* on 'Hamburglar' again" Frank

fahss guvf 
-- 
             ......................................................
             ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | std disclaimers
             the university of chicago law skool, chicago, illinois
             you can't throw me to the lions -- i'm charlton heston
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: herbert@let.ruu.nl (Herbert Ruessink)
Subject: Re: Right-Left
Organization: Faculty of Arts, State university of Utrecht
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 08:09:43 GMT

peterk@public.sub.org (Peter Kittel) writes:

>msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:

>>The idea that it's legal to proceed against a red light just
>>because you're turning in a certain direction is, as far as I know,
>>confined to (most of) the US and (parts of) Canada.  

>Not really. In the former DDR (east Germany) they had this rule. But not
>for any traffic light, only those that are marked with a green arrow sign.

>Funny that in this regard the communist DDR had something in common
>with only the USA!

In Holland there is a similar rule. Some traffic lights are accompanied
by a new sign to indicate that its permitted to turn right when the
light is red, IF you're on a bicycle.

Herbert Ruessink.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban