HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo)
Subject: The salami strikes back
Reply-To: styri@nta.no
Organization: Bohemians and Globetrotters, Unlimited
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 18:54:34 GMT

Urban legends came up as a topic during lunch today, and one story that
may be relevant to a recent thread came up - the salami attack. One version
of the story goes like this:

Crooked programmer modifies program to siphon off small ammounts of money
generated by an incorrect rounding procedure, eg. during calculation of
interest, and direct the money to his/her account.

There are several other versions, but today one of my fellow lunchers
claimed that if you consider the amount of transactions in the average
US bank it would take decades to get really rich using this technique.
(That is - stealing fractions of cents...) I'm curious about this, but
haven't found any good references in my office. A version of the story
is printed in Pfleeger's "Security in Computing" (Prentice-Hall, 1989)
and Sieber gives a promising reference to some German books in "The
International Handbook on Computer Crime" (Wiley, 1986). I've also
found a reference to an article by Brill in the "Security Gazette" of
December 1988 (pp 57-58, The great computer swindle). [Guess I have to
order a copy.]

Here's my 3 questions to the a.f.u community:

1) How fast will your account grow if you pulled this off in "the
   average sized US bank"?

2) Has anyone really tried to do this? (Any references in legal
   databases?)

3) Is this the reason (at least some) banks do the accounting in
   units smaller than the smallest coins in circulation.


ObUL: A nice little ol' lady once had the SSN 078-05-1120. (Then what
      happened?)

---
YuNoHoo  "all the things I want to know for no apparent reason"
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31301 alt.drugs:19814
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.drugs
Subject: Re: UL: Monumental LSD overdose taken (was: Re: Brands of LSD)
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 20:29:26 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <If_xP4i00iUz43g88S@andrew.cmu.edu> "Stephen M. Lacy" <sl31+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
>I just want to say that the apparent knowledge of drugs on the network
>and the volume of people that have significant knowledge makes me
>utterly sick.  Is there something about computers that forces you all to
                                         ^^^^^^^^^
>take drugs...

I don't know how to break this to you Stephen but...

Look in front of you and what do you see?  It's a (horrors) computer.
(unless you are the guy posting from his game boy<tm>).

It's too late for you now - you are inevitably caught by that insidious
aspect of computer usage which drives almost all of us to become users of -

The killer drug from South America -

CAFFEINE

Derek "Just off for my next fix^H^H^Hcup" Tearne




-- 
Derek Tearne.   --   derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz   --    Fujitsu New Zealand   -- 
 _______
 _______} This is a Usenet condom<tm>.  Roll the condom over the .signature 
	  file before posting to protect yourself from .sig retro-virii
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31050 alt.drugs:19640
From: curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.drugs
Subject: Re: UL: Monumental LSD overdose taken (was: Re: Brands of LSD)
Date: 14 Dec 1992 09:35:57 GMT
Organization: CS Dept. Snakepit - Do Not Feed.
NNTP-Posting-Host: cobra.cs.berkeley.edu

In article <If_xP4i00iUz43g88S@andrew.cmu.edu> "Stephen M. Lacy" <sl31+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
>I just want to say that the apparent knowledge of drugs on the network
>and the volume of people that have significant knowledge makes me
>utterly sick.  Is there something about computers that forces you all to
>take drugs, or do you just hang out with people who and that's how you
>get your knowledge.... anyways, you'll tell me that YOU don't really DO
>them, but I won't believe you.

No.  No, Steve, I won't.  Oh no.

Because I DO do them, Steve.  That's right.  I'm a fucking
junkie.  A Dope Fiend.  

I'm vile.  I'm human scum.  I'll eat anything that'll fuck me
up.  I don't do it because I'm addicted - oh no.  I'm not
addicted.  I do it 'cause I like it.  A lot.  Because it's
fun.  And when I can't get enough fun with one piece of shit
I'll eat two.  And when I can't get enough with two I'll eat
three.  However many it fucking takes.

Because I'm a fucking criminal, baby.  I'm evil.  I'm against
everything that America stands for.  In fact, I'd like to see
the entire population of Washington, DC buggered by hippos.
Big hippos.  Black hippos.  Communist hippos.  Faggot hippos.
And you can quote me on that, baby - because I love you.
	
>This whole discussion of LSD has gone too far and is upsetting me more
>with every post.

LSD?  Shit, that's nothing.  That's just a toy.  What you want
is some Khat - the killer Somalian weed.  That shit is deadly.
It makes LSD look like Brach's.  And if you've got any, I want
some!  

Because I need to get loaded and fuck something.

c
From: slb3y@cc.usu.edu (Punk Rocketeer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Do dcotors still spank newborns?
Date: 16 Dec 92 12:42:24 MDT
Organization: Omega:  The Final Solution

Crossposted from misc.kids without comment

In article <29768@ursa.bear.com>, RABINOWITZ@BEAR.COM (Ari) writes:
> In <Bz9ouB.Ips@inews.Intel.COM> vnoronha@mipos3.intel.com writes:
> 
>> My girlfriend and I were talking a few days ago and she asked if I had a
>> preference as to whether or not I wanted my baby spanked after birth.  I
>> had just assumed that doctors are no longer performing this practice as
>> no one seems to comment on it.  Is this an outdated practice or do doctors
>> still do this?  If so, is it really necessary?
> 
> When I was working in a hospital a few years ago the story went out
> about a OB resident who was delivering his first baby.  He picked the
> baby up by its feet, upside down, to spank it to get the breathing
> going.  Unfortunately, the baby slipped out of his hands and fell to the
> table below.  The baby did start do cry, which was the desired result so
> the resident tried to cover for himself by saying "That's pretty good,
> sometimes we have to drop them three or four times before they cry".
> 
> He might have gotten away with it, except that the mother was the wife
> of the chief resident.  I never found out what happened to that
> resident, but I hope he changed specialities.
-- 
Patrick S. Clark | "I'll be waiting up for Santa like I did last year
Email is life!   |  But my brother says he's already here."
Usual disclaimer | _Twisted Christmas_, "The Chimney Song"
This .sig brought to you in part by the Bob Rivers Comedy Corp.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
From: battin@venus.iucf.indiana.edu (L GENE BATTIN)
Subject: Re: Daytime Stars - Not Donahue or Oprah
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: battin@venus.iucf.indiana.edu
Organization: VENUS.IUCF.INDIANA.EDU
Distribution:  usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 21:42:16 GMT

In article <2933181476.1.p00168@psilink.com>, 
"James F. Tims" <p00168@psilink.com> writes...

>>DATE:   Thu, 10 Dec 1992 03:40:36 GMT
>>FROM:   Dave Svoboda <rubis@gagme.chi.il.us>
>>
>>In article <1frabsINNibs@gap.caltech.edu> 
>>carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:

>>|
>>|How do you propose to "cut out scattered sunlight"?  The fact that it's
>>|scattered means that it's coming from all over the sky.  That's why the sky
>>|looks blue.
>>
>>Naww, it looks blue 'cause it reflectin' off the ocean!
>>
>>		Dave "Jethro" Svoboda, Chicago, thereabouts
> 
>You know, a physics zero such as I should not have to correct this, since
>real physicists post to this newgroup.  As I understand it, the sky is blue
>because certain elements of the atmosphere glow at their spectral
>frequencies when the energy of the sun activates them ala neon lights.
>Maybe it's just the argon, but I think the nitrogen glows, too.  I can't
>remember...somebody get this right, will ya?
> 
>-jim tims
> 
> 
Nah, the sky's BLUE GLOW is CHERENKOV radiation from all the TACHYONS left over
from the BIG BANG.  This EXPLANATION also accounts for ALL the "missing
mass":  it's travelling TOO FAST for us to MEASURE it!

REPRODUCTION of this IMPORTANT MATERIAL is ENCOURAGED, as long as there is
SIGNIFICANT variation for EVOLUTIONARY PURPOSES.

-Gene
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mnemonics & Now - Burning Mines
Date: 20 Dec 92 21:36:30 GMT
 <1992Dec18.093646.19735@dcs.warwick.ac.uk>
Organization: The Ohio State University

wisp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Wisp) writes:
>In article <kfAAvdq00gpIEYc0wH@andrew.cmu.edu> "Andrew C. Plotkin" <ap1i+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>>Excerpts from netnews.alt.folklore.urban: 14-Dec-92 Re: Re: Mnemonics &
>>Now - B.. Ray Depew@hpfcso.FC.HP.C (724)
>>
>>> > quartz
>>> > topaz
>>> Corundum.  Rubies, sapphires, emeralds.  NOT Carborundum -- that's a
>>> registered trademark.
>>> > diamond
>>
>>Tsk. Sapphires and rubies are corundum (aluminum oxide, with impurities
>>to impart color), but emeralds are beryl (aluminum/beryllium silicate.)
>>Topaz is aluminum silicate, so emerald is probably around the same
>>hardness as topaz.
>>
>
>Hold on a sec. Isn't that like saying that because diamond and graphite are
>both made of carbon, they must both have the same hardness? Surely it all
>depends on the crystal structure etc.
>
>The Wisp. [clueless but curious...]

				 Corundum and beryl _are_ the
names of crystal structures. Aluminum oxide is simply an example
of a compound that has the corundum structure, and emerald is an
example of beryl.  I will need further research to find the structure
of topaz, but at the moment I doubt it is beryl.  Given that the
aluminum ion has charge of -3 and berrylium ion has charge of -2,
they are not simply interchangeable.  I would guess Topaz is an
impure mullite (Al2SiO5), a compound that can have different
crystal structures.  I suppose it would be easier to find a book
on mineralogy, rather than speculate.

Reference: Introduction to Ceramics, ISBN 0-471-47860-1

ObUL: The largest supplier of high quality alumina (Al2O3) is
also a famous Colorado brewery.

ObUL2: Clay is inorganic.

Jon "I really should know this stuff better" Papai
From: bmb1021@ultb.isc.rit.edu (B.M. Buck)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Date: 14 Dec 92 18:36:56 GMT
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Originator: bmb1021@ultb

In article <42533@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins) writes:
>In article <Bz8Gpz.KFI@hatch.socal.com>, richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) writes:
>>  In this manner the left side became the "landing board side"
>>which was shortend to "labboard", then "port side" and then to "port".
>>The "steering board side" was shortend to "starboard".
>>
>
>Sounds good to me. I don't quite see how "labboard" gets abbreviated
>to "port side" smoothly, but hey . . .

From what I heard, it wasn't quite "labboard", but more like "larboard".
This was dropped when it was realised the potential for error in
shauting directions like "Turn larboard" versus "Turn starboard".  

>
>obTypographicalOddity: The English word with the largest number of
>apostrophes is "fo'c's'le", short for "forecastle".
>

Interesting, but exactly how is fo'c's'le supposed to be pronounced?
like it was spelled "foksil?"  

>obUL: Some people on the net actually know when apostrophes should
>be used.
>

This is true, a friend of mine says he knew someone in college who knew
this.  ;-).  Actually, I do know when apostrophes should be used, but
that doesn't mean that I use them.


> -Paul "Monty" Ashley
>   (Sailors are busy people. They don't have time to pronounce more
>than two syllables for anything.)
>-- 
>All just the opinions of pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu.

-----
Buddha Buck            bmb1021@ultb.isc.rit.edu
(insert-file ".disclaimer")
(insert-file ".quote")


-- 
-----
Buddha Buck            bmb1021@ultb.isc.rit.edu
(insert-file ".disclaimer")
(insert-file ".quote")
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: WAY stupid things to do with guns (was self-inflicted death) 
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 07:35:42 GMT

obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien) writes:
: >
: >There's always the "catching the bullet between the teeth" magician's
: >trick.  There are several ways this trick can be done;  suffice it to say
: >that none of them use "real" bullets.  None of the versions that I've
: >heard of are particularly safe, either.  (Kids, don't try this at home.)
: >
: >
: I have a video tape of someone holding a paper target in front of his face,
: you then see a hole appear in the target, and he lowers the target, showing
: a bullet in his teeth.
: 
: The actor's name is David Leisure, the brass is still on the bullet (you
: can even tell that the primer is undented), and it's a car commercial.

Yeah. Such trickery is trivial - even without resorting to video magic.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.shenanigans
From: mjenkins@alfred.carleton.ca (Michael Jenkinson)
Subject: How I Beat Drug Testing...aka "Send Two Dollars to this Address"
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 02:03:20 GMT

From the Spy Dec/Jan classifieds:

          "HOW I BEAT DRUG TESTING 3 TIMES IN 3 WEEKS! True Story.
          Send $2 and SASE to..."

Now why do I get the feeling you'll get a card saying:

          "By not taking any drugs."

Michael
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc
From: govender@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za (Govender)
Subject: Re: More mnemonics
Organization: Electrical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand
Date: 14 Dec 92 10:06:10 GMT

In <1992Dec14.001559.21479@microsoft.com> leecr@microsoft.com (Lee Crocker) writes:

>>Along with mnemonics, how about the one for the resistor color code?
>>Learned that one in the USAF and have not forgotten it since!

>"Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly"

>Followups to soc.feminism

the black guys i've worked with always preferred:

"black boys rape our young girls but violet gives willingly"

it also accurately differentiates between the two "b"s in the beginning!

morgan govender
govender@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za
university of the witwatersrand
johannesburg, south africa

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.religion.kibology
From: kasprj@isaac.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak)
Subject: Re: Puff the Magic Dragon And now DISNEY'S SWAMP FOX
Reply-To: kasprj@rpi.edu
Organization: The Big Wedge 
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 14:45:48 GMT


 tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood) writes:

> Does anyone remember this "Swamp Fox" record?  The verse goes:
> 
>         Swamp Fox, Swamp Fox tail on his hat
>         Nobody knows where the Swamp Fox at.
>         Swamp Fox, Swamp Fox hide'n in the glen
>         He runs away to fight again.
>         
> If I'm not mistaken, the "Swamp Fox" was an invention of Disney.
 
 I wish I had been around for all of this thread, because it ties in 
nicely with a conversation I had at Philcon about a month ago. I was 
trying to tell my friends about the Swamp Fox, and for some reason I
couldn't keep a straight face while telling the story. They weren't 
sure whether I was making it up or not. This inspired me with the idea
for a game, whereby one person tells a bizarre and obscure tale from
history and the others try to determine whether it's made up or not. 

 Actually, though, AFU is already a lot like that.
 
 Ask me about the Saltpeter War sometime...
------------------------------------------------------------------
     __  Live from Capitaland, heart of the Empire State...
 ___/  | Jim Kasprzak, computer operator @ RPI, Troy, NY, USA
/____ *| Sam Adams,Spaten# Life is too short #Hudson Lager,Beck's 
     \_| Pilsener Urquell#to drink cheap beer#Pete's Wicked Ale
      ====  e-mail: kasprj@rpi.edu or kasprzak@mts.rpi.edu 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
From: dnash@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Dave Nash)
Subject: Re: Daytime Stars - Not Donahue or Oprah
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 03:16:03 GMT

In article <2933181476.1.p00168@psilink.com> "James F. Tims" <p00168@psilink.com> writes:
>>DATE:   Thu, 10 Dec 1992 03:40:36 GMT
>>FROM:   Dave Svoboda <rubis@gagme.chi.il.us>
>>
>>In article <1frabsINNibs@gap.caltech.edu> carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:
>>|
>>|How do you propose to "cut out scattered sunlight"?  The fact that it's
>>|scattered means that it's coming from all over the sky.  That's why the sky
>>|looks blue.
>>
>>Naww, it looks blue 'cause it reflectin' off the ocean!
>You know, a physics zero such as I should not have to correct this, since
>real physicists post to this newgroup.  As I understand it, the sky is blue
>because certain elements of the atmosphere glow at their spectral
>frequencies when the energy of the sun activates them ala neon lights.
>Maybe it's just the argon, but I think the nitrogen glows, too.  I can't
>remember...somebody get this right, will ya?

You understand incorrectly.  Things like auroras are the colors that they
are because of such excitation and emission, but an ordinary blue sky is not.
The first poster (Carl) already got it right, fellas.  Light scattering is such
that high frequencies (towards the violet/blue end) get scattered more strongly
than low frequencies (towards the red end).  Thus when you look at a patch of
sky, you're seeing the scattered (and hence relatively blue) light, whereas
when you look more-or-less toward a sunset you're seeing direct sunlight
minus all the blue light that's been scattered away, which causes it to look
orange or red.

-- 
David Nash                  | Gradual Student, Chemistry
                            | University of Illinois (Urbana)
(dnash@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)    | This .sig is made of 100% recycled electrons.
(nash@aries.scs.uiuc.edu)   | No binary trees were killed to make it.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: For a close, circular shave (was: Unchanged FAQ List
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 13:59:34 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand
Keywords: lather, rinse, repeat

fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis) writes:

> Curt Tucker  writes:
> >
> >Wayne McDougall writes:
> >
> >>Yup. Furthermore, it seems odd to be that two geriatric jokers admit to
> >>having made some circles, and thus that explains ALL cirles in England [for
> >>all time?] when similar circles also appear in places like, South America.
> >
> >>Occams Razor should apply here, methinks.
> >
> >Yes.  And it says there have been many pranksters.  That's a lot
> >simpler and easier to swallow than the other explanation.
> >
> I've seen Occams Razon used in argumentation a lot and its use has
> always baffled me. It seems merely "reasonable" rather than conclusive, but 
> I've seen it used as proof in works like Hawking's history of time to...well.
> this argument about crop circles. I want to know 2 things:
> 
> 1) Isn't using Occams Razor in the above argument a case of circular
> reasoning?

No, I don't think so, and here's why:

1. Person A asserts that "two jokers" are responsible for all crop cricles.
2. I assert that there have been crop circles for centuries and on different
continents.
3. I conclude that the use of Occam's Razor (when faced with more than one
possible explanation, the one requiring the fewest additional assumptions
is MY PERSONAL paraphrase and is thus flameproofed) applies as follows that
it is MORE LIKELY that there is SOME OTHER explanation for the crop
circles that I postulate in 2. above THAN that the two jokers have been at
it for centuries, and regularly fly to Brazil and New Zealand to carry out
their hoax, as THAT explanation requires ADDITIONAL assumptions about
longevity and human nature which clashes with what I already know, and
explanations involving plasma, wind vortexes, etc, IMO don't, or even
green Martians, don't. [ie I'd rather believe in green Martians than two
jokers are 600 years old, or even that there is a guild of these hoaxers).

WHERE the current state of play is whether my assertion in 2. above can be
substantiated. I'll get back to you. As I have remarked earlier - omega
priority.

> 2) Did the person who stole Finnegans apostrophe steal Occams? I'll just
> turn my back here, and if it's on my desk when I turn around....

I'm lazy, okay.

-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
  This .sig unintentionally left blank.

Hello! I'm a .SIG Virus. Copy me and spread the fun.
From: mitch@novavax.UUCP (Mitch Silverman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Date: 17 Dec 92 21:17:28 GMT
Reply-To: mitch@cfraix.cfr.usf.edu (Mitch Silverman)
Organization: Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

In article <t7R=Jf#@engin.umich.edu> ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering) writes:

>I noticed some weird street signs last summer when I was in Berlin.  
>It was odd, but about one out of every three streets seemed to be
>named "Einbahnstrasse."  I have no idea how Berliners find their
>way around.  Even stranger, the same thing was true in Naples
>and Brindisi, except the common street name seemed to be "Senso Unico."
>
>What's the deal?  Is this some European conspiracy to confuse foreigners,
>or what?
>
>Larry "clueless" Doering

My mother (who lived in Bologna for several years and does remember the
language somewhat) confirms that "Senso Unico" means basically the same
thing I take "Einbahnstrasse" to mean, namely, "One-Way [Street]."

I apologize if I've missed any net.sarcasm here--I suppose that may be
what the "clueless" in the .sig reffed to....

Mitch "also pretty clueless, and really pedantic too" Silverman
Student, New College of the University of South Florida
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Blood Sucking Managers (was: ABBA on the dole?
Date: 16 Dec 92 15:51:11 GMT
Organization: Austerlitz, Gershovitz, and Carmichael

styri@nta.no writes:
>
>You forgot to state that their manager, "Stikkan" Anderson, got all the
>profit they ever made
>
>|> I was also told
>|> that none of them can speak english despite the fact that they 
>|> sing in english.
>
>Right, and that was how their crooked manager was able to fool them.
>
>ObNitPick: Anyone can speak English, reciting something they may not
>           understand (eg. politicans).

Bela "I never drink....wine" Lugosi spoke his lines in "Dracula"
phonetically since he did not speak English. He thought he was
shooting a B. Altman's spread for Esquire. What the well dressed
young man was wearing: cut-away, spats, starched shirt front, dental
appliance.
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> Don't be a stranger.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,ba.politics,ca.politics,talk.politics.misc
From: mjenkins@alfred.carleton.ca (Michael Jenkinson)
Subject: Re: absentee ballots
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 21:47:45 GMT

I was doing a reporting gig for the Ottawa Citizen the night of the
recent Canadian constitutional referendum.

The absentee and early-bird voting ballots were not counted in my
riding that night. Whether they were counted eventually, I don't know,
but when I phoned in my results to the newsroom that night, we counted
it as 100% of the ridings reported, even though the absentee ballots
hadn't been included in the finals.

Michael
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban