HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dpm1960@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (snopes)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Will pay money for food.
Date: 17 Nov 1992 01:42 EST  

In article <Bxu0L8.F6y@chinet.chi.il.us>, 
  dhartung@chinet.chi.il.us (Dan Hartung) writes...

>Let's stop misusing "clear mandate"!  I do agree with you that Perot's
>supporters made a strong point in this election, but frankly, only the
>winner can have a mandate, since only he has the office and thus the
>power to do anything with it.

Not at all.  A "mandate" is an authoritative command.  Bush was given a
clear, authoritative command to get his fanny out of the White House and back
to Maine or Texas or wherever else he wants to pretend to come from.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "An idea or belief is not necessarily true or false because your parents,   |
|  your friends, or you or your children have believed it."                   |
|                                                           - Abel J. Jones   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson        Rocketdyne Systems          Chatsworth, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cmriggin@iastate.edu (Christin M Riggins)
Subject: Re: Puff the magic dragon (was Calvin/Hobbes...)
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 23:41:11 GMT

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Puff the Magic Dragon (was Calvin/Hobbes...) 
Summary: 
Expires: 
Followup-To: 
Distribution: 
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
In article <1992Nov18.210411.29484@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>
>I am surprised there are so many people who post here who even
>remember PP&M - much less, memorized (somewhat) some of their
>songs.
Well, I for one was born in 1974 so I was raised on PP&M.  Although I do
remember being one of the few if not the only kid at my school to know who
wrote "Puff."
>How many people remember the "Paul talk" cut on their "In Concert"
>album?
I remeber the album, but not that particular cut.
>Bill

Marie :)


-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 C. Marie Riggins          |    The people who walked in darkness have seen a
 cmriggin@iastate.edu      | great light.  They lived in a land of shadows, but
 TYAU7@isuvax.iastate.edu  | now the light is shining on them.  -Isaiah 9:2-
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jussi@tor.abo.fi (Jussi Laaksonen DC)
Subject: Re: Car Crime
Organization: ]bo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:24:47 GMT

In article <1992Nov18.164954.22605@bas-a.bcc.ac.uk> ccaamrg@ucl.ac.uk (Mike Gahan) writes:

   AFOM has recently been issued with a company car. It is quite fancy, and
   he took some pleasure in demonstrating the remote door locking/unlocking
   feature, by which it is possible to lock the doors from some distance
   away using a remote control instrument.

...

   Can anyone substansiate this rumour, so that I can gloatingly tell my
   friend 'I told you so' ?

   Mike Gahan


Here in Finland Abloy Security Group (or something like that) is 
very actively marketing a similar device for use in normal home
and office doors. The "key" is a keylike device sending a coded
infrared message. The company claims that there are megazillions
of different codes, but what does that help if the bad boys
from London come here with their "listening" device ? :)

Makes me wonder how difficult it would be to construct such 
a thing ? Does one need more that a few unemployed spy satellite
makers from St. Petersburg ? (add BIG smile here!)


	Jussi Laaksonen 
--
	Jussi Laaksonen
        Computing Centre / ]bo Akademi University,  Finland

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.nude
From: sgs@grebyn.com (Stephen G. Smith)
Subject: Re: Driving without shoes
Organization: Agincourt Computing
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 16:34:19 GMT

Terry "who knows the REAL middle name of Captain Kirk" Wood wrote:

> ... (thomas.e.lester) writes:
> >     I have been told that in Pennsylvania it is illegal to drive without
> >     shoes!

> This is an urban legend.  It is not required to wear shoes.  I've met members
> of the State Police who laugh really hard when they stop someone and find them
> struggling to get their shoes on.

This varies from state to state.  The justifications given lead me to
think that this is another law to control the "wrong types".  You know,
only "Those Awful People" go around without shoes.

Another possible UL in this category is that in some states (Texas?
Ohio?) if a man and a woman are in a parked car AND the woman is
under the Age of Consent AND she has her shoes off, then the man is
automatically guilty of statutory rape.


Note that the "laws" about wearing shoes in stores are actually insurance
company regulations.  Apparently, the insurance companies feel that the
average commercial establishment is such a pigsty that anyone with bare
feet will get an Awful Disease and sue the store.

For some reason, there seems to be no problem in beach communities.
-- 
Steve Smith                     Agincourt Computing
sgs@grebyn.com                  (301) 681 7395
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: dpm1960@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (snopes)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Will pay money for food.
Date: 16 Nov 1992 12:52 EST  

In article <1992Nov16.082524.16752@news.columbia.edu>, 
  lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes...

>I didn't say that Bush got a clear mandate either, so that's irrelevant.

Bush *did* get a clear mandate: get the hell out of the White House.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson           Rocketdyne Systems       Chatsworth, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|        When brides are registered, only registrars will have brides.        |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: desilets@sj.ate.slb.com (Mark Desilets)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Famous Americans on Christianity
Date: 20 Nov 92 00:50:43 GMT
Reply-To: desilets@sj.ate.slb.com (Mark Desilets)
Organization: Schlumberger ATE, San Jose

In article <mjenkins.721786253@cunews> mjenkins@alfred.carleton.ca (Michael Jenkinson) writes:
>In <2825@israel.nysernet.org> warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein) writes:
>
>>Was anyone famous ever a Christian?
>
>How famous? Does Amy Grant count? How about Billy Graham?

  Yeah, and how about Reverand Sun Yung Moon?
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld)
Subject: Re: Soldiers breaking step across bridge
Organization: University of Toronto Physics/Astronomy/CITA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 06:04:07 GMT

In article <1992Nov14.072125.14579@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com>, billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com
(bill nelson) writes:
|> colombo@bronco.fnal.gov (Rick Colombo - Fermilab) writes:
|> 
|> : A hotel (in Texas?) had some sorta christmas party and people dancing on
|> : an overhead walkway caused it to collapse, due to resonance, not weight.
|> 
|> I believe the determined that it was weight - not resonance. The builder
|> used substandard materials and construction techniques.
|> 
|> Bill
>
   I saw a show on engineering mistakes which went over the cause of the
Texas hotel skywalk collapse. It seems that the design called for two
bridges hanging from the ceiling from long bars. You would have one bar
running from the ceiling down to the lower bridge, and the higher bridge
would be clamped on to the bar part-way down. Sort of like this:

                               |
			       |
			       |
			  =====+====
			       |
			       |
			  =====-====


   Later in the construction somebody felt that it had to be changed, and
the new design broke the bar in two and hung the lower part of the bar
from the upper skywalk, like this:

                               |
			       |
			       |
			=======-======
			        |
				|
                        ========-=====


   Not much difference, eh? Well, the didn't change the specs on the
anchoring points. The new design loads the upper skywalk's connection to
the upper bar twice as much as the original design did. Now, put a bunch
of party revelers on the bridge and that factor of two overdesign you
thought you put into it goes away.


-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | Don't let your mind
 neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca    Ad astra  | wander -- it's too little
 utzoo.utoronto.ca!generic!cneufeld              | to be let out alone.
 "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" |
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:28680 sci.med:21069
From: bd@fluent@dartmouth.EDU (Brice Dowaliby)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.med
Subject: Re: Calvin/Hobbes diagnosed as clinical schizophrenic
Date: 16 Nov 92 12:25:34 GMT
Reply-To: bd%fluent@dartmouth.EDU
Distribution: usa
Organization: Fluent Inc., Lebanon NH

linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Trelford Pinkerton) writes:

>ObUL:  wrapping even a ribbon around the midriff of a cat
>       puts it off-balance.
>
>ObUL2: Lard'n'sugar does the same for 'gators.

Trelford - how do you wrap the lard and sugar around
the gator's midriff?
-- 
   Brice Dowaliby, Fluent Inc., 10 Cavendish Court, Lebanon, NH  03766
                         bd%fluent@dartmouth.edu        
             I don't speak for them, they don't speak for me
                              DoD # 0698
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Is my father lying?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 21:26:49 GMT

vagrant@vpnet.chi.il.us (Guy Umbright) writes:
: C521832@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu wrote:
: :  
: : He's worked as a DJ at an AM radio station for more than 20 years. He says
: : AM transmitter antennas are dangerous, in that if you touch one while
: : standing on the ground, you will be electrocuted--the current will go
: : through you to the ground and fry you.

Not if the equipment is correctly designed. See later in my posting.

: : He says ladders on the sides of such towers (for engineers) begin a foot
: : or so off the ground. Engineers have to make a little hop onto them
: : to avoid touching the ground and the tower at the same time.

No engineer would attempt to climb the tower while the station is in
operation. They would shut it down for the time necessary.

: : Periodically, he says, kids or engineers (equally likely!) get zapped.

With defective equipment, it could happen. 

: There is a lot of juice around an AM transmitter.  You can feel it when
: you stand next to it.  I don't know if you can really get elctrocuted,
: but I does not strike me as too unreasonable.

I have never felt any such potential in the vicinity of a transmitting
antenna - including a number of high power fm antennas. 

All transmitters have capacitors to isolate you from the high voltage. As
long as they are working, you will not have a large current flowing through
you. However, you could get nasty rf burns on your skin. 

Bill
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:28919 sci.med:21163
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.med
Subject: Re: Puff the Magic Dragon (was Calvin/Hobbes...)
Date: 17 Nov 1992 21:16 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

The double album "Peter, Paul, and Mary In Concert" is available
on CD as Warner Brothers 1555-2, and is at least one of surely
many sources of "Puff the Magic Dragon."  Including sheet music.
This is a favorite of my wife and her friends when the second
bottle gets drained, the ol' six-string comes out of the box,
and the Folk Song Army gets mobilized.  I have, at best, one
fleeting opportunity to steer the proceedings towards Warren Zevon.

No idea why this is crossposted to sci.med, though one could 
certainly think of a sardonic hypothesis or two.  Might want to
followup to sci.military if you mean the *other* Puff the Magic
Dragon.  :)

Joe "Commercial's over and 'The Terminator' is back on -- adios!" Chew
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Calvin/Hobbes diagnosed as clinical schizophrenic
Date: 17 Nov 92 22:29:44 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com


In article <1992Nov16.231943.27236@informix.com>, proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) writes:
>Does anyone else out there think that "Puff the Magic Dragon" is a very
>sad song, especially the lines "Dragons live forever, but not so little
>boys"?

Captain Kangaroo (tm) played the song, with still illustrations, on his
children's TV show in the 1960s.  At the very end, there was a totally
gratuitous illustration, not supported by anything in the text of the
song, containing the words "BUT WAIT!" and showing a smiling Jacky 
Paper returning the cave of the overjoyed Puff. 

ObUL:  Mr. Greenjeans isn't dead; he was the gunman on the grassy 
knoll, and when Oliver Stone was about to reveal his identity, he
disappeared to his underground bunker beneath Graceland.
-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Mgr., SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. 27513
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Famous Americans on Christianity
Date: 19 Nov 92 23:40:05 GMT
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs

In <1992Nov18.005300.12785@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:

>Didn't the Supreme Court rule against Oral herschizing?

I think it was soc.culture.jewish which ruled against alt.sex
crossposts.
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Car Crime
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 10:43:13 GMT

v462etnn@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (David L Anderson) writes:
: 
: How does the villian know the frequency used?  Granted, only
: a given range might be used, but then the device must scan all
: available frequencies, lock onto the code at the start of
: transmission, and hope that the code is transmitted several
: times to ensure code is received properly.

Monitoring the correct frequency is the only hard part.

: How does the device differentiate between spurious data and 
: real signal?

Easy to determine - actually, not even necessary. He would just
let the automobile receiver make the differentiation for him.
After all, it has to be done when the owner uses the control.

: How does the device decode the signal?  Ie determine bit-rate,
: method of modulation, etc.

It doesn't have to. 

: Seems like and *awful* lot of work, if you ask me.

Nope - rather easy, with a little effort. And, it would be quite
worthwhile - if a person were a professional auto thief who was
planning on stealing a number of that model automobile.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lbd@cbnews.cb.att.com (linda.b.dunlap)
Subject: Re: Gender denoting pictograms on restroom doors
Organization: AT&T Network Systems - Columbus, Ohio
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:05:24 GMT

In article <1992Nov13.234521.14145@adobe.com> taft@adobe.com (Ed Taft) writes:
>I've been to several yacht clubs where the restroom doors are labelled
>with pictures: a seagull and a bell buoy. Gulls and buoys, get it?
>Hahaha. What a clever way to embarrass visitors whose native language
>isn't English.
>-- 
>Ed Taft      taft@adobe.com      ...decwrl!adobe!taft

I belong to a boat club that used to have theirs labeled "inboards" and
"outboards."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: smaxwell@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Sara Maxwell)
Subject: Re: Ankle-Slashing UL Resurfaces
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 14:27:28 GMT

The latest issue of Glamour warns against thieves hiding under your car
to grab your Christmas shopping, and warns that they will even slash
your Achilles tendons so you can't run away (why this should help them
take your packages is not explained).  Complete with photos. 

Sara

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering)
Subject: Re: Nomenclature  (was Puff the Magic Dragon)
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 02:33:39 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <1992Nov19.225327.24374@twg.com> nolan@twg.com writes:
>
>[stuff...]
>In response to:
>
>        No idea why this is crossposted to sci.med, though one
>        could  certainly think of a sardonic hypothesis or two. 
>        Might want to followup to sci.military if you mean the
>        *other* Puff the Magic Dragon.  :)
>In article <1992Nov18.132230.3033@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mr. Furr) writes:
>
>	What, you mean Puff the Headless Thompson Gunner?
>
>To which I say:
>
>No, it's Puff the Magic Hercules, as in C130 gunship. Testors make a decent
>plastic model of the beast.

*Smack*.  No, he means Puff the AC-47, as in the DC-3 variant with a
bunch of miniguns and things.  The Vietnam-era "Puff the Magic Dragon"
was, believe it or not, a twenty-some-odd year old WWII transport.
Ask on sci.military for more details.

Larry "Airplanes, airplanes, airplanes" Doering
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: griffith@acuson.com (Paul Griffiths)
Subject: Re: The hell with Lemurs,
Organization: Acuson; Mountain View, California
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:27:55 GMT

harris.minter@ehbbs.gwinnett.com (Harris Minter)  writes:

>>Oh, great.  Next you're going to tell me that Old Yeller wasn't really
>>sick, and they shot him just for the movie.

>>Then you'll tell me that they torched the forest that Bambi lived in just
>>to make a good plot complication.

>Well, they shot two mules for Patton, so they'd have something to throw
>off the bridge.

	Just so no one thinks Disney completely inhumane here, it should
be noted that to justify shooting the mules, they did break their legs
first.

>>Well, there goes my faith in Disney flicks.  Damn.  Thanks alot.

>Sooner or later we all must discover Walt Disney has feet of clay.
>                                                            
>----
>+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
>|       Ed Hopper's BBS - ehbbs.gwinnett.com - Atlanta, Georgia         |
>|  USR/HST: 404-446-9462                  V.32bis: 404-446-9465         |
>+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

-Paul Griffiths
-Acuson Computed Sonography

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cmriggin@iastate.edu (Christin M Riggins)
Subject: Re: Soldiers breaking wind
Keywords: bridges
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 17:51:45 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.010130.26229@cbfsb.cb.att.com> rcnixon@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (russell.nixon) writes:
>I remember hearing some time ago (TM) that the Bronx-Whitestone bridge
>between the Bronx and Queens in New York City was designed by the same
>person who designed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Galloping Gertie).  The
>story went that when the TNB failed, a large truss beam (friends, *you*
>can throw away that truss..I digress) was added to the bridge at the sides
>of the deck to increase its mass and ridgidity.  I can vouch for the
>presence of the truss which does look like an afterthought, but is the
>story true or is it another sinking library.  Inquiring minds want to know!
>
>Russ who can't make up his mind whether or not to have an opinion

Heh, heh, heh... that must be a _real_ joy to drive across on a windy day. ;)

Marie :)


-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 C. Marie Riggins          |    The people who walked in darkness have seen a
 cmriggin@iastate.edu      | great light.  They lived in a land of shadows, but
 TYAU7@isuvax.iastate.edu  | now the light is shining on them.  -Isaiah 9:2-
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: starfish@stein.u.washington.edu (Sarah Skovronsky)
Subject: Re: Child Molestors - internationally organized?
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:05:23 GMT

jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:

>There are persistent reports in the popular media of a "North American
>Man-Boy Love Association" (NAMBLA) whose materials, including some
>kind of a newsletter, are sometimes found among pedophiles' effects.
>If I recall correctly, this came up a year or a year and a half ago
>when a group of such people claimed their right as taxpayers to use 
>some facility of the San Francisco Public Library to hold meetings. 
>As they say in chess, "?!?"

I have read an issue of the NAMBLA newsletter (an acquaintance of mine
was given the newsletter as a "gag gift").  There are some rather disgust-
ing descriptions (a la Penthouse Forum) of man-boy "love," and there is a
report on the idol and official object of lust for NAMBLA:  child actor
Macaulay Culkin (of "Home Alone" fame).  I kid you not.

>Fact or folklore?  I don't know, and frankly I don't care to associate
>with the kind of people who *would* know, with the guarded exception of
>the enforcement officials who catch 'em and put 'em in the slammer.  
>Sorry, folks.  Consenting adults can do what they please, but children
>need protection.

I feel the same way.  That newsletter was sort of morbidly, fascinatingly
disturbing to read, but...wouldn't want to deal with these people on a
personal, day-to-day basis.

-- 
************************************************************************
*            Sarah Skovronsky     starfish@u.washington.edu            *
* "Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up!"  Nekoman, Furrcat *
**********fnord!********furrfu!********hi-keeba!********meep!***********
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: davew@willow03.cray.com (Dave Wagner)
Subject: Re: More electrical no-no's
Originator: davew@willow03
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 18 Nov 92 09:35:23 CST


In article <1992Nov17.184101.1@novax.llnl.gov>, urbina@novax.llnl.gov writes:
> 
> 
> I was in a High voltage safety awareness class a few months back and the
> instructor told a supposedly true story of some idiot kid somewhere in 
> Georgia that took a 600 amp auto battery with jumper cables and touched the
> other ends of the jumper cables to his tongue. (Ouch !) He blew his tongue and 
> lower lip right off.
> 
> Remember kids, auto batteries are not like 9 volt batteries.
> 
> Guy
> Urbina@novax.llnl.gov
UL alert!  UL alert!  UL alert!.
   
-- 
Dave Wagner                                     Cray Research, Inc
davew@cray.com , uunet!cray!davew               655F Lone Oak Drive
(612) 683-5393                                  Eagan, MN  55121
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban