HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Organlegging
Date: 18 Aug 92 15:26:48 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


There was an article on organlegging in India in the August 16/17 New
York Times.  (Date depends on which edition you have.  Mine was the
Monday morning New Jersey edition, article on page A20.)

I won't bore you with the whole article, but here are some highlights:

"The sale of kidneys from people who need money to people who need
transplants has developed into a multimillion-dollar business across
India that is drawing recipients from Europe and the Middle East...

"Every day in the crowded cities of New Delhi, Bombay and Madras,
agents who find people with healthy kidneys for those in need of them
fan out from prominent hospitals to scour the slums in search of
donors."

[No implication of stealing organs from donors, as in the famous UL,
but the above paragraph could be read that way, if your imagination is
perverted enough.]

"Trafficking in human organs is common in some developing countries,
and India is not the first in which measures to curtail the practice
have been discussed...

"About 2000 kidney transplants are performed each year in India, and
the cost can range from $6000 to $12000, depending on hospital fees
and the time a patient must spend waiting in a hospital for a donor.
About 2/3 of the cost goes to the hospital and the doctor, with the
rest going to the agent and the donor...

"A middle man [no kidding--who says the Times editors have no sense of
humor?] in the business told the Indian Express in New Delhi that he
had a list of 60 to 70 donors.  The man said that he had supplied 125
donors "all over north India"..."

[Again, a really sick person could read that "all over north India" bit
as a confirmation of the UL...]

[The article then tells about a man who is selling his kidney for
$1130 in response to a newspaper ad.]

"[about the proposed restrictions] ...others propose that donations
should be restricted to kidneys from people who have recently died.
Virtually all transplants now come from living donors.

""The doctors here are concerned only about money and the 2000
patients who can afford these transplants," said Kisan Mehta, a
businessman who is promoting transplants from cadavers.  [hmmm]  He
said the Government should ban transplants from living donors, adding
that the Government should be concerned about the remaining 58000
Indians who suffer renal failure every year.""

Before I send this, just one more example of what incomplete quotes
taken out of context can lead to:

"Children are tastier than dogs or goats and they're far easier...to
catch." 
--Hari Prasad Tivari

--Scott
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: Re: Snuff films?
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 20:11:20 GMT


I'm thinking of filming my own snuff film.  Casting calls are going to
start next Friday.  Anyone interested in auditioning should send e-mail
to the address below.






Don't.


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Schroeder	                |  Warning: prolonged exposure to this
schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov         |  .sig may cause retinal damage and 
Brookhaven National Laboratory  |  blistering skin rashes. 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bobj@meaddata.com (Robert Jones)
Subject: Videotaped Wedding
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:48:44 GMT

I apologize if this one has come through here before, I haven't had a
chance to read a.f.u for awhile.

The last two weekends I have been a groomsman in weddings, one in New
Jersey and one in Indiana.  I heard the same story at both of them.
At the one in New Jersey it was related as "my Mom's friend's son
videotapes weddings..."  At the one in Indiana it was just "I heard that ..."

Anyway, the story goes that at the end of a wedding the bride's father
goes to pay the band and finds his wallet missing.  He has to
shamefacedly take up a collection to pay them.  A few weeks later they
are watching a videotape of the wedding and reception and captured on
tape is the groom's father lifting the bride's father's wallet.

Has anyone else heard this gem?

If the bride's father had shot the groom's father, we would finally
have that elusive snuff film :-)

-- 
Robert Jones            "The weatherman is wrong again,
bobj@meaddata.com        It looks like rain to me."
Mead Data Central           -David Byrne "Twistin' in the Wind"
Dayton, Ohio
                                        
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: martin@specialix.co.uk (Martin)
Subject: Re: full-body paint
Organization: Specialix International, London
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 15:30:37 GMT

smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:

>a while back we discussed body painting ala goldfinger and whether or not
>it is fatal.  Following is an article from the August 9th edition of the 
>Medical Post. (reproduced without permission 'natch). it has a full back 
>shot and a waist up front shot. man -- this guy (shaved head and all)
>was BLUE.

I heard that the original Tango advert in the UK was banned because 
schoolkids were wearing nappies and painting themselves orange all over.

Martin

-- 
Martin Pitwood - martin@specialix.co.uk or martin@specialix.com
Feel free to moan to my sysadmin.  I leave Specialix on Friday 25th September.
My new mail address from that date will be ee89tmp@ee.surrey.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: njs@scifi.uucp (Nicholas J. Simicich)
Subject: Re: Driving tests
Organization: Nick Simicich, Peekskill, NY
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 18:54:43 GMT

In article <gjacobs.713745096@qualcom> gjacobs@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Gary Jacobs) writes:
>martin@specialix.co.uk (Martin) writes:
>
>>I had previously heard the story as the Egyptian driving test where you
>>have to drive 9 yards forwards and 9 yards backwards.
>
>Having visited Egypt, I'd have to say that the Egyptian driving test has
>to be whether one can drive done the white line lane divider and make a
>two lane road into a three lane road.

Wait, I thought that was England?  (In Scotland they only have one lane.)

But really, it is good practice for Bali where they turn two lane
roads into five lane roads.  It also seems to be a rule there that you
honk *every time* you pass a pedestrian so that they don't
absentmindedly step in front of you.  That and buying gasoline out of
55 gallon drums measured into hand held containers.  I constantly felt
like I was being rescued from having run out of gas.



-- 
Nick Simicich - uunet!bywater!scifi!njs - njs@watson.ibm.com
SSI #AOWI 3958, HSA 318, NAUI #14065
Join the movement ---  turn 'to bush' into a verb.
From: flloyd@L1-A.West.Sun.COM (Fred Lloyd [Phoenix SE])
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Imponderables - Toilet Designs
Date: 21 Aug 92 23:09:37 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Phoenix, AZ
NNTP-Posting-Host: l1-a.west.sun.com

In article <1992Aug20.132758.16302@adimail.uucp> tel@adimail.uucp (Terry Monks) writes:
>Perry Clarke (perry@Unify.Com) wrote:
>: 
>: I don't suppose there are any toilet design consultants on the net who
>: could shed some light on this?
>: 
>In my recent travels around northern Europe (Norway, Denmark and
>Sweden seem to favour the 'button in the middle of the top') I
>was able to verify Norman Mailer's observation in "Harlot's
>Ghost" that German toilets are built with a sort of internal
>ledge so that you may inspect your product before flushing it
>away. Any thoughts? What can we say about the cultural implications
>of this?

Well, I can say from experience that german toilets really suck.
Primarily because after you pinch a big one, the specimen simply
lays there in the open air to fumigate the immediate area.  If 
you are disposed to release a particularly large "wurst", as they
call them, you may have to actually rise off the seat in order to
give it space to drop.  Of course if you're particularly handy
you can always swirl it like a tastee-freeze cone :-)

The main problem with the "ledge" is that it contains no water.  It's
just a holding point where, as the last poster put it, it may be
"inspected".  A continual problem with this arrangement is that since
the ledge is often dry, some er, uh, um, particles will inevitably
stick to the inside of the bowl which locally is considered an utmost
social faux pas.  To control this, nearly every german toilet, both at
home and in public, includes a small toilet brush at the side to
alleviate this "problem".  Even the little german childern are
tought not not to leave "skid marks" when visiting other peoples
homes (or in their own, for that matter).

The only thing good about the damned things is that you never
have to worry about the dreaded "splash back" when you let a
heavy one go.  Other than that, they have no saving grace.

-fred


-- 
| Fred Lloyd  AA7BQ,  Systems Engineer          Fred.Lloyd@west.sun.com |
| Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation                   ...sun!flloyd |
| Phoenix, AZ    (If it's a fact, I believe it!)         (602) 275-4242 |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: SHOCKING STORIES
From: sjan1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (Simon Lee           Jansen         )
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 21:48:39 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

In <l8j5ugINNj4a@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce) writes:

>In article 23443@news.cs.brandeis.edu, st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (LUCIFER) writes:
>> I have read somwhere that there is a maximum distance that it is
>> possible to walk on hot coals before all the moister between them and
>> your feet vaporizes. I think it was 3 steps weith each foot.

Look, sorry to inject some FACT into this discussion (after all, this is a.f.u)
but I have walked on hot coals myself - there's no trick to it at all.  You
don't even have to have wet feet.

The way it works is this:  think about what a hot coal _is_.  It is simply a
very light matrix of carbon, but it is well over 95% _hot air_.  Now hot air
has a very low specific heat capacity, and so is very _in_capable of burning
ones' foot.  Simple!

--KW 8-)

(no .sig here... it's at home :-( )
From: tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Oh Yea, We'll So's Yer Old Man!
Summary: One line come backs
Date: 17 Aug 92 22:54:42 GMT
Reply-To: tjw+@pitt.edu
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

Looking for a NEW Thread???  Hey, we're heavy into recycling around here so
allow me to take some of our old TRASH and turn it into SHEER GOLD:


In article <c28nbpbc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>, csuah@warwick.ac.uk
(~WISP at CU~) writes:

> In article <1992Aug17.054551.27668@PA.dec.com> snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:
>> why this claim is balderdash.  If the evidence doesn't fit your theory, just
>> ignore it.  You can "prove" anything that way.

>> - snopes

> You should know...

> The Wisp.


This got me thinking about "come backs".  About 10 years ago a fellow named
Roy Fox used to be on KDKA.  He was a Christian Intellectual, from my point
of view at least, and used to enjoy debating people on the air.  He was
actually quite sharp and made a number of good points over the years.

One that still sticks with me to this day is his "lecture" on people who
can't debate but merely come back with the line:

                 "Well, that's just YOUR opinion".
                 
Roy did a really great send up of this.  He called it "The last gasp of
the defeated".  I wondered if anyone know of any other snappy comebacks
that kids (or even adults) use in everyday debates.  Some that come to
mind are:

        "Oh yea, well so's yer old man"
        
        "Your mother wears army boots"

        "You st*p*d f*ck*ng b*st*rd" -- (well I only see that on USENET)
        
        "It takes one to know one"
        
        
Terry "...and you know them all" Wood
-- 
        INTERNET: tjw+@pitt.edu         BITNET: TJW@PITTVMS
"Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy!"                        - Lord "John" Warfin
"There can be only one!"                                  - The Highlander
"There should have been only one. I want my money back!"  - Terry
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (LUCIFER)
Subject: Kidneys
Reply-To: st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 20:24:15 GMT



In a recent (ie this weeks) New York Times (or the Boston Glob - they're the
only papers I read) I saw an article about pakistani doctors soliciting 
kidneys from the poor. Supposadly, the gov't is thinking of banning this,
but is afraid that a ban will simply drive tge trade underground. Other
members of the gov't say that the practice should be fully legalised so
that it can be regulated. (right now, the poor slobs who donate a kidney
get practically nothing, money wise, while the doctors and procurrers get
rich)
From: hawley@adobe.com (Steve Hawley)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Driving tests
Date: 14 Aug 92 21:56:11 GMT
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

In article <8167.3199@stratus.SWDC.Stratus.COM> jane@soave.swdc.stratus.com (Jane Beckman) writes:
>Amazingly enough, you can indeed fail a California driving
>test.  I knew one woman who failed it *five times.*  When they
>finally passed her, some of us theorized that it was because
>the testers were too terrified to ride with her again, and
>decided to get her out of their office.

For the record, my oldest brother (Hi Mike!) managed to flunk the New Jersey
driver's road test a couple times.  One of those times was due to the fact that
the insurance card was locked securely inside the glove compartment of our
VW bug, and he didn't have the key handy.  No proof of insurance, no pass.

The other failure (I think it took him 3 tries overall) was due to sheer
incompetence, which boggles my mind because I thought the test was incredibly
easy.  The only mildly challenging part was parallel parking since they ask
you to park between cones and I was used to using the driver's seat of the
car in front of the space as a landmark for where to start on the pass
backwards.  I think the driving test is set up so you can flunk parallel
parking and still pass.  Considering that the rest of the exam consists of
pulling out of the center, driving down a side street, doing a k-turn and
returning I can't imagine what he did wrong.  I should probably ask just
for the sake of humiliating him.  That's what brothers are for, right?

One aspect of my driving education that I found ironic was that my high school
provided a behind the wheel driver's education course, but because of the
high demand (number of students) and limited resources (cars and instructors),
it was often the case that the students would have their liscence well before
they managed to get into the course.  It turned out the primary use of the
course was not to learn how to drive, but instead to get an easy insurance
discount.

Steve Hawley
hawley@adobe.com
-- 
"Did you know that a cow was *MURDERED* to make that jacket?"
"Yes.    I didn't think there were any witnesses, so I guess I'll have to kill
 you too." -Jake Johansen
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Penicillin Priorities
From: joltes@husc8.harvard.edu (Richard Joltes)
Date: 13 Aug 92 12:46:24 EDT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

[concept of sending back dead/wounded soldiers to demoralize enemy...]

One that I heard along these lines was that during the American Revolution
the colonials (especially harriers) would often rub musket balls with garlic,
then wound a few enemy soldiers in a column with them.  This was done when a
unit was on the move, since (according to the story) the garlic acted as a
muscle inhibitor, necessitating that the wounded be carried since they could
not move on their own.  This slowed the column and allowed the Americans time
to gather more troops and attack.

The source (sorry, no idea where I heard it) said that while eating garlic
produces no ill effects other than bad breath, insinuating it directly into
the bloodstream makes it act in the manner described above.

Having absorbed a fair quantity of garlic oil through my skin and small cuts
on my fingers while cooking (with no ill effects), I can't believe this one.
Any comments?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dick "boy, my fingers are stiff today..." Joltes	joltes@husc.harvard.edu
Hardware & Networking Manager, Computer Services 	joltes@husc.bitnet 
Harvard University Science Center

"Mind you, not as bad as the night Archie Pettigrew ate some
sheep's testicles for a bet...God, that bloody sheep kicked him..."
From: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Whither Manhattan? Wither Liberty??
Date: 20 Aug 92 13:01:36 GMT
Reply-To: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Organization: Moscom Corp., Pittsford, NY

In article <94037@bu.edu> alpert@cs.bu.edu (Richard Alpert) writes:
>In article <=2fytf=@rpi.edu> kasprj@rpi.edu writes:
>> Anyone have a good reference for this? Are Governor's, Ellis and Liberty 
>>Islands also considered part of Manhattan Borough?
>
>Would that they were.  Summa cum dolar, I regret to inform you that Liberty
>Island is NEW JERSEY!!

I believe that this is still a point of contention between NY and NJ.



-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -->     David Esan      de@moscom.com  
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Driving tests
Keywords: n
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 16:59:39 GMT

lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson) writes:

>>egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy) wrote:

>>>(The cutoff score was around a 70, so I'm not sure what you have to do
>>>to fail)

>Vehicular homicide will do it in most states.

But _not_ vehicular manslaughter, to judge by what goes on in most highways
in North America.

Why did I buy a faster car when I moved back to Canada?  What I _really_ want
to buy is a road full of English drivers.


-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@geovision.gvc.com (Canadian first, Quebecer second)
"We sealed our federal pact without bloodshed and without exploitation of the
weak by the strong.  All it took was fairness, justice and some compromises
on both sides." - George-Etienne Cartier, Father of Confederation, 1867
From: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Date: 13 Aug 92 16:53:44 GMT
Reply-To: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Organization: Moscom Corp., Pittsford, NY

In article <1992Aug12.232159.4258@zip.eecs.umich.edu> stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame) writes:
>some (not all) of the footage in them was faked.  Certainly they are not
>snuff films in the truest sense of the word.  A true snuff film would
>consist of a death (or several deaths) specifically staged for the camera.

AND that the reason the film was made was to distribute it in order to make
money!

Thus, Ng films are well n/g.  The cult death is not acceptable.

Thus far no film has met all these criteria.

-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -->     David Esan      de@moscom.com  
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: DEATH OF FACES (was S n u f f: the proof at last.)
Date: 17 Aug 92 22:14:03 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <l8t9t5INNojo@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:

> Did you ever see fairies dancing on the
> lawn?  Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there.

I had no idea that the motto of AFU had been used over 100 years ago!

I bet the mascott of AFU, Criswell, himself would have been shocked!

Good parody!  Who says (besides jik-dick) that Peter has no sense of humor?

Terry "AFU too buddy" Wood
-- 
        INTERNET: tjw+@pitt.edu         BITNET: TJW@PITTVMS
"Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy!"                        - Lord "John" Warfin
"There can be only one!"                                  - The Highlander
"There should have been only one. I want my money back!"  - Terry
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ccuppern@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Cyndi Cuppernell)
Subject: Re: Imponderables - Toilet Designs
Organization: UIUC Department of Psychology
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 01:45:16 GMT

tel@adimail.uucp (Terry Monks) writes:

>In my recent travels around northern Europe (Norway, Denmark and
>Sweden seem to favour the 'button in the middle of the top') I
>was able to verify Norman Mailer's observation in "Harlot's
>Ghost" that German toilets are built with a sort of internal
>ledge so that you may inspect your product before flushing it
>away. Any thoughts? What can we say about the cultural
implications
>of this?

How well I remember.  Actually, I heard a story about Russian
soldiers during WW2.  As the story went, some of these soldiers had
never been far from home, and for some, home was pretty rustic. 
So the "modern conveniences" they encountered in Germany were
pretty poorly understood by some.  Some of these soldiers thought
that the toilets were for washing potatoes.  (Remember the ledge,
here.)  I also heard that these unenlightened soldiers would remove
(read that rip out) faucets and shove them into a wall back home
and cry "sabotage" when the faucets no longer worked.-- 
                 
         ________________________________
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         |______________________________|
From: harris@drvax3.msfc.nasa.gov (Mitch Harris)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Semen, NOT sailors!
Summary: Nahhhh!
Keywords: A quart?!
Date: 19 Aug 92 01:22:09 GMT
Organization: NASA/MSFC

Alright, folks, I think this has all the markings of an UL, but an
acquaintance swears it's true. Supposedly some girl was found dead at a
rock concert in Philadelphia with a QUART of semen in her stomach, back
in the 70s. (GROSS!) The acquaintance claims to have read it in the
papers. Any comments? (Oh, so I hope!)

       ......posted for the missus (Beverly)
--
Mitch Harris                           |  New Technology Inc.
(205)-544-2846                         |  700 Boulevard South, #401
drvax3!harris@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov    |  Huntsville, AL  35802
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: stirling@ozrout.uucp (Stirling Westrup)
Subject: Re: apples to teachers - idea why
Organization: Andre P. Ozrout
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 04:26:45 GMT

mgfrank@avernus.com (Marc G. Frank) writes
>
>Or perhaps the whole thing is just an urban legend.  Does anyone out
>there *actually know* (or even have a FOAF) of a student who gave an
>apple to a teacher or a teacher receiving an apple from a student?

I gave apples to teachers several times while growing up.  (It was almost
always my mother's idea though...)  From what I recall, the teachers were
actually delighted with the gift (or were sufficiently good actors to fool
a 7 year old.)

The last time I did anything like that that I can remember was in 7th
grade, which means I was 12.  By then I had come to the conclusion that
giving the teacher an apple was sissy.  But it seems that Mr. Alcock was
crazy about rasins, and giving him a box would put you on his good side for
at least a month...

-- 
||    BUNGEE SIDEWAYS!                              o   )))
||                                                 /-- ///
|P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\_  \\\      __ -_
||    stirling@ozrout.uucp                                 ((( (_)T(_)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,comp.dcom.modems