HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: glp7584@tamuts.tamu.edu (Gordon Lee Powell Jr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Digits in the Driver's license number
Keywords: licence
Date: 6 Apr 92 19:47:30 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: ~/lib/organization

In article <rookbINN71@agate.berkeley.edu> shirriff@sprite.berkeley.edu (Ken Shirriff) writes:
  I wrote:
>>Well, my operator's license is from Wisconsin (which is in the U.S.A.).
>>I'm sure there must be some information coded into the number, 
>>because there is a total of fourteen (14) digits.
>
>If you want to know the drivers' license formulas, take a look at
>"Assigning Driver's License Numbers", J. Gallian, Mathematics Magazine, V64
>#1, Feb 91.
>
>In the case of Wisconsin, they encode first name, middle name, last name,
>year, month, day of birth, and a check digit.
           [demonstration of how to assign number deleted]
>So, Gordon L. Powell, your license should start P 400-??2; is this right?
>If you give me your birthdate, I can figure out more.

You got that right.  Thanks for the info, but I'd just as soon not have
my very important number published for the whole world to read.

It's difficult to live in relative anonymity these days.  Facinating,
I'll have to check our "world class" library here to see how it is
done.

Gordon "yep, that's the number right there.  All of it.  Really" Powell


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Flute tuning (Re: Radio UL)
Organization: Hewlett-Parkard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 23:49:38 GMT

comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen) writes:
: eepee@polaris.utu.fi (Esa-Pekka P{lvim{ki) writes:
: 
: >In article <1992Apr8.004651.6300@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
: >>
: >>And just what do they do with the fixed span instruments, such as flutes and
: >>the woodwinds? The idea would work fine for the string instruments, and such
: >>instruments as the trumpets which have a tuneable section. Why do you think
: >>that the instrument that is often used as a tuning reference is a flute? It
: >>is because the span between notes is fixed and cannot be tampered with.
: 
: >Sure you can tune a flute, just by changing the length of it slightly. 
: 
: >/ep
: 
: Flutes and woodwinds can all be tuned a bit, by pulling the neck out or
: pushing it in slightly.  In addition, there is a tuning plug inside the end
: of the head for establishing the basepoint of the pitch.  Admittedly brasses
: tend to have a bit more tuning range, which is why our orchestra uses the
: oboe (who has the least variability) to tune on.

You can tune the basenote - you cannot vary the range between notes. That is
fixed by the spacing of the "fingerholes". 

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: GC.SUL@forsythe.stanford.edu (Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Sam Kinison's last words
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 00:17:51 GMT

In article <rdippold.703294275@cancun>,
rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes:
>edwardy@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Edward Yagi) writes:
>
>>along this AHHHH AHHHHH! AHHHHH! thread..
>> dont know if this is true or not, but I heard his real last words/actions
>>were: he was first pleading to somebody (doctor?) that he didnt want to die..
>>'please dont let me die..' but then, he became quiet and made like he was
>>listening to somebody and then said 'why?' anther pause then finally 'ok'
>>then died..            /^\
>                         |
>Another urban legend in  |  making!  Both accounts I saw in the papers
>said his neck was broken | d he died almost immediately.
                          |
Rush Limbaugh related this story on his show Monday morning.  'Tis
gospel to the dittoheads now, true or no.

Mike 'Ya ta da,ta ta da,ta ta da' Sullivan
From: eepee@polaris.utu.fi (Esa-Pekka P{lvim{ki)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Flute tuning (Re: Radio UL)
Date: 8 Apr 92 20:31:05 GMT
Organization: University of Turku, Finland

In article <1992Apr8.004651.6300@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>
>And just what do they do with the fixed span instruments, such as flutes and
>the woodwinds? The idea would work fine for the string instruments, and such
>instruments as the trumpets which have a tuneable section. Why do you think
>that the instrument that is often used as a tuning reference is a flute? It
>is because the span between notes is fixed and cannot be tampered with.

Sure you can tune a flute, just by changing the length of it slightly. 

/ep
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: mikkelson@breakr.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Subject: Re: Fluorescent Pens
Organization: Still waiting for the snuff films . . .
Date:  6 APR 92 22:35:43    


In article <92094.090924ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET>, <ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET> writes...

>One day, several were in a rest room when the lights went out in the building.
>To their amazement they could see their skeletons outlined in the mirrors,
>they were so radioactive.

So, none of them had even been in a darkened room prior to this incident?
Or was the effect magnified when several people were in close proximity to
each other?

- 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   Digital Equipment Corporation   Culver City, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: idiomatically speaking... (Was: Re: other fun mistranslations)
Date: 9 Apr 92 20:02:23 GMT
Reply-To: de@moscom.UUCP (David Esan)
Organization: Moscom Corp., Pittsford, NY

In article <1992Apr8.203628.1508@aus.intel.com> robin@aus.intel.com (robin rosenbaum) writes:
>When, where, and how did this one get started:
>     "If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a locomotive!"

I heard from my German grandmother:

If my grandmother had wheels she'd be an omnibus.

Although the Yiddish phrase is slightly better, but something you can't
tell an 8 year old grandson:

If my grandmother had had balls she'd have been my grandfather.


-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -->     David Esan      de@moscom.com  
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tjw@vm2.cis.pitt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Carbonated Beverages
Date: 17 Apr 92 22:25:58 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Apr17.085244.19120@cbnewse.cb.att.com>,
doctor1@cbnewse.cb.att.com (patrick.b.hailey) writes:

> Look!  A reference to urban folklore!!  Gosh that takes me back!

I was told that we wouldn't have to know anything about folklore in
this newsgroup.  What? Oh, NEVERMIND.

Anybody want me to moderate alt.folklore.serious?

Terry "Evil Moderator of Folklore" Wood
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: other fun mistranslations..
From: comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 19:59:49 GMT
 <1992Apr5.123053.1@vm2.cis.pitt.edu> <1992Apr6.190400.16349@anasaz>
Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.

morris@anasaz (Bob Morris) writes:

>...OK, more detail.  When I was a kid near Los Angeles in the
>1960s, it was a popular passtime (mostly among Mexican-Americans) to change
>the suspension on their cars so that they would ride low...

Why?

jj

John Thayer Jensen                      64 9 373 7599 ext. 7543
Commerce Computer Services              64 9 373 7437 (FAX)
Auckland University                     jt.jensen@aukuni.ac.nz
Private Bag 92019
AUCKLAND
New Zealand
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:11870 misc.kids:12617
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,misc.kids
Subject: Re: Walla walla bing bang (was Re: Worm song?)
Date: 9 Apr 92 00:31:20 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

I heard they tried to sell the song "Marsie Doats" in China, but it
didn't go over well because it meant "Churchill has a Wax Tadpole."
-- 
Ted Frank          + "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it
1307 E 60 St, #109 +  is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in
U o' C Law Skool   +  color and content according to the circumstances and
Chi, IL 60637      +  the time in which it is used."  --  Holmes
From: 21329KAD@MSU (Kim Dyer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: PepsiCo UL
Date: 10 Apr 92 00:02:40 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University


>Supposedly,there were pipes at PepsiCo which distributed Pepsi Cola throughout
>headquarters. Workers and management had an unlimited supply of Pepsi,
>and naturally consumed enormous amounts of it.

>When Pepsi Free (without caffeine) was introduced, they switched over to it.
>Suddenly everyone experienced caffeine withdrawal symptoms; workers were
>sleeping over the machines, executives fell asleep during meetings.
>Does anybody know the background for this story?

Well ... the pipes deal sounds a little far fetched, but I suspect that
they would rather pass around free Pepsi to the employees then have
someone bring in a (gasp) Coke product.

I suspect the deal would be more along the lines of free access to
ANY Pepsi product during the workday (within reason).

I *can* tell you from personal experience that caffine addiction is
insidious.  And withdrawl is NOT pretty.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: "Cute" animals vs. Food animals was Re: Cat food marketed as Tuna Fish
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 00:20:26 GMT

In article <1992Apr4.145249*cindy@solan.unit.no> cindy@solan.unit.no (Cindy Kandolf) writes:
>
>I happen to love [to eat] reindeer, which is reasonably common
>over/up here.  However, lots of other furriners - not to mention people i
>write letters to back on the other side of the mill pond - react to the
>idea of eating reindeer because they are, and i quote, "so cute".  When
>i mention liking a good reindeer stew, i often get the response of "You're
>eating RUDOLPH!!!" from people who are far too old for these sorts of
>antics.
>
>We've recently been through the whole bit about eating dogs and cats,
>so i really don't want to start that up again.  I'm just basically
>wondering out into the ether (well, sorta).... where do we draw the line
>between what's edible and what's "cute", ergo taboo? 

To start with, all mammals, birds, and reptiles, and most insects, are edible.
But you're talking about ethical edibility or cultural edibility:  most
Northern Europeans just don't eat bugs, practicers of several faiths
revile the yummy pig, and it won't do to shoot and eat whooping cranes or
Californa condors or whales.
  
My sister-in-law, for example, won't eat lamb, because she thinks they have nice
eyes.  I suspect if she saw the daggy end more often, she's change her mind.

I have read considerably of these matters, and will try to overcome my laziness
Real Soon Now and post a bibliography.

But I certainly wouldn't hesitate to chow down on a reindeer.  Hey, if you
_stop_ eating reindeer, some poor Lapp doesn't get new shoes.

Phil "My late grandmother would have conniptions if she knew I were writing to
a Norwegian" Gustafson
talking
-- 
|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               |     
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: larryh@cabezon.uucp (Larry Huntley)
Subject: Re: Brownie recipe in HOT SHOTS credits
Organization: Logic Modeling Corporation, Beaverton OR & Milpitas CA
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 01:11:58 GMT

In article <7455@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> warwick@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:
>>warwick@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>>>the $2.50 becomes $250 mastercard fee for a recipe?
>
>>No.
>
>Well.  That was frank.

	Thanks, frank.
-- 

    Larry Huntley / Logic Modeling Corporation / Beaverton  OR
	  "Pink and wet - they make the best kind of pet"
                   -*- Stop Continental Drift! -*-
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Miss Savant and Monty
Date: 10 Apr 92 22:47:29 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

In article <73584@netnews.upenn.edu> weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
>In article <1992Apr10.85415.8759@ms.uky.edu>, fehr@ms (Jeff Davis) writes:
>>I have to confess to something: I've never seen the show. A friend to
>>whom I related this discussion says that Monty Hall varies the gag
>>from time to time. He sometimes just reveals a prize and asks if you
>>want the revealed prize or your original choice. Also, the choices
>>aren't always between goats and Cordobas. [...]
>
>The problem, in the Monty Hall form, first appeared in THE AMERICAN
>STATISTICIAN, Feb 75, p67.  Monty Hall wrote in, explaining that they
>do not offer such a switch as occurs in the problem anyway.  But even
>he knew that the odds were 1/3 before the goat was exposed, and that
>they remained 1/3 after the goat is exposed.  He thought this was
>trivially obvious, which it is.  See the Aug 75 issue, p 134.

Monty Hall got interviewed by the NY Times this summer over the whole
Marilyn-Monty issue.  Indeed, the problem is much different when Hall
isn't bound by the requirement to demonstrate a goat.  The interviewer
and Monty did some trials (not with real doors and goats, of course)
and Monty was able to consistently steer the interviewer to a goat.
The Times also had a very nice diagram demonstrating the 1/3, 2/3
reality of the abstract problem.
-- 
Ted Frank          + "He wanted to be the car rather than the thimble or the
1307 E 60 St, #109 +  hat."  -- District attorney explaining Marc Cienkowski's
U o' C Law Skool   +  murder with bow and arrow of Michael Klucznik in
Chi, IL 60637      +  Doylestown Borough, PA over a game of Monopoly.
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Falling Bullets
Date: 9 Apr 92 08:30:49 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK

In article <1992Apr8.134711.28085@sunova.ssc.gov> chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov (Chuck Adams) writes:
>In article <1992Apr6.204125.3576@fivegl.co.nz> derek@fivegl.co.nz (Derek
>Tearne) writes:
>
>Much talk of Space Shuttle/speed of sound/falling objects etc. deleted
>
>> 2) The speed of sound in air varies depending on exactly how much
>> air there is and is much higher at higher altitudes. Therefore Terminal
>> velocity is greater at higher altitudes.
>
>Reading this paragraph would indicate that you believe that Terminal
>Velocity (tm) is somehow related to the speed of sound in air.  It is not.
> Terminal Velocity (tm) would be higher at higher altitudes only because
>the density of air is less.  The speed of sound at higher altitudes is
>also higher, also due to the fact that the density of air at the higher
>altitude is less, but the two are not directly related.
>

I always thought that Terminal Velocity (tm) depended on the density of the
object you hit...

Later,

The Wisp [confused? So am I...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     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: mikkelson@breakr.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Subject: Re: Free magazine from subsription services. NOT!
Organization: Still waiting for the snuff films . . .
Date: 16 APR 92 09:53:54    


In article <1992Apr15.201333.1@vm2.cis.pitt.edu>, 
  tjw@vm2.cis.pitt.edu writes...

>I was told we wouldn't have to buy any magazines in this newsgroup.

Well, you don't have to buy any magazines to join the newsgroup, but the
AFU sweepstakes entry you mailed in is going straight into the wastebasket.

- snopes

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                             Reader's Comments                                |
|                                                                              |
|     Did you find this posting understandable, usable, and well-organized?    |
|     Please make suggestions for improvement. ____________________________    |
|     _____________________________________________________________________    |
|     _____________________________________________________________________    |
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|                                                                              |
| Send to: David Mikkelson  Digital Equipment Corporation, Culver City, CA USA |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: dternes@duke.cdc.com (David Ternes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Flip-Tops for Kidney Dialysis UL (?)
Date: 9 Apr 92 14:23:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: shamash.40651
Reply-To: dternes@mips.COM (David Ternes)
Distribution: na
Organization: Advanced Product Development

In article <1992Apr8.194619.1@acfcluster.nyu.edu> axd7104@acfcluster.nyu.edu writes:
>
>This is arguably the biggest UL of all time.  And no, it's not true. Or,
>at least, it USED to not be true.  I recently read somewhere in an article
>(written by Brunvand himself, I believe) that the rumor got so out of 
>hand in one area that a charity actually decided to set up just such a
>program.  Now you collect the tops, turn them in, and the charity sells
>them for scrap and gives the $ to some medical facility, a local hospital
>I think. 

Some local McDonald's in Mpls/St.Paul have set up collection bins in their
restaurants for pull tabs.  They sell them for scrap and use the money for
their Ronald McDonald houses near hospitals.
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The wacky, flakey State
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:34:25 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
Summary: The midwest gets earthquakes as well as tornadoes
Keywords: earthquake dam flood
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   

Back in '70 or '71 or so, there was an earthquake in southern Indiana.
I came home from school to find that there was a chimney in my bed.
This was far worse than any consequence that happened to me, personally,
in the Loma Prieta earthquake.  Just wait until the New Madrid Fault
gets up the gumption for another big slip.  But it ain't the only one.

It was also determined that the nearby Uniontown Lock and Dam, then being
built, sat astride a fault.  A lot of people looked at the situation,
concluding that (a) the dam wasn't going anywhere, (b) it was just a
navigational/flood-control dam, not one of the power dams with a huge
hydrostatic head, and (c) it was too durn late to do anything about it.

--Joe "If anything happens on the Hayward Fault, we'll be the first
to know" Chew
Organization: Arizona State University
Date: Monday, 6 Apr 1992 11:42:59 MST
From: <ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: other fun mistranslations..
 <1992Apr4.221149.9100@nmsu.edu> <1992Apr5.122833.1@vm2.cis.pitt.edu>
 <1992Apr5.123053.1@vm2.cis.pitt.edu>

In article <1992Apr5.123053.1@vm2.cis.pitt.edu>, tjw@vm2.cis.pitt.edu says:
>
>What's a "lowrider"?  Also, does anyone else have any interesting adjectives
>like this one?  (Ones that are unusual.  "Pinhead" I already know!).
>
Wow!  I have lived in the southwest so long that I had forgotten that this was
not a universally understood term.  It is popular for young males in Hispanic
communities to take large cars (especially some of those boats from the 60's)
and lower them to ground as much as possible and still be drivable.  There is
also a tendency among some (I'm trying to be careful here) to gather in gangs.
Hispanic gangs are identifiable by the fact that they cruise in low riders
(and picked up the name).  At the other end of the spectrum is the young red-
neck male who puts his vehicle, usually a pick up, on ridiculously large
springs and tires.  Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
Loyd Means
Phoenix
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
From: carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink)
Subject: Re: CATV monitoring, Tempest screening (was Re: FCC Call letters)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 00:59:16 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <1992Apr4.204833.1572@lsl.co.uk> robin@lsl.co.uk (Robin Fairbairns) writes:

[Stuff deleted]

>2: the military (I think it's NATO-wide at least) have this thing about 
>tempest-shielding of VDUs that will hold sensitive information.  This is 
>a form of Faraday caging of the VDU that is (was?) to prevent the wicked
>USSR spies sitting in large black vans outside the base perimeter
>reading what's on the screens.  Now I've always poo-poohed this idea, 
>but whenever I've done it in the presence of someone employed by the 
>military, they've always `been shown the equipment in use' by a security 
>officer.  Yes, Robin, they say, we _really do_ need (incredibly 
>expensive) Tempest screening.  So a USSR spy can _obviously_ watch your 
>TV without even paying for a license... ;-)

  Read SPY CATCHER, by the inventor of the technology.  It's quite real.

============================================================================

Carl Fink                              	CF427620I@LIUVAX.BITNET
                                        carlf@panix.com
 
)
From: tjw@vm2.cis.pitt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: FCC URBAN LEGENDS
Date: 14 Apr 92 18:35:02 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <e39K02ae0fJw01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>, tjc50@ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll) writes:

>>Every plane I've ever used had an "N" callsign.  "N7892W" was the call sign
>>that we used on our Piper Cherokee back in the 60s.

> Isn't N7892W your aircraft registration number, not your radio call sign?
> The registration number, preceded by aircraft type, is also a legitimate
> call sign, but not alone, and not based on the N/K/W convention.

It been almost 30 years, so I don't really know.  I thought that my dad
showed me a radio license that had to be in the aircraft with the N7892W
on it, but I could easily be wrong.

As a side note, I believe that to use the radio in the aircraft you had to
hold a 3rd Class radio-telephone license (also required to be a Disk Jockey).
My dad held a 1st Class license from his days at Westinghouse, so he didn't
have to apply for one.  But that's just like to government -- you gotta have
a license for everything.  Even your dog.  (Cats are exempt).

Terry "Sky King" Wood

PS: I wonder if N7892W is still out there or is sitting in an Aircraft
junk pile.  How would one find out?
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Extraterrestrial metal
Date: 16 Apr 92 20:11:42 GMT
Organization: Dynamic Graphics Project, University of Toronto

tim@tcom.stc.co.uk (Tim Kennedy) writes:
>Does anyone else remember hearing the story about the pillar in India
>somewhere which is made out of a metal that is unknown anywhere in
>the world?

Do you mean, unknown anywhere ELSE in the world?
I think I can prove that it's not the case that there is a metal known in India
which isn't known anywhere in the world.

(V gubhtug jr jbhyqa'g unir gb qb zrgnyyhetl va guvf tebhc)
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:12178 alt.beer:2379