HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Trelford Pinkerton)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Party at Kitty and Stud's
Date: 2 Oct 92 19:42:06 GMT
Organization: 4M (Mid-Manchester Marketing & Mailing)
NNTP-Posting-Host: positive

I have heard that sir Winston Chruchill carried on a life-long feud with 
Labour Party leader Aneurin Bevan and, on one occasion, while Mr Bevan was
delivering an unusually long speech to the House of Commons,
Churchill slumped into his seat and appeared to doze off.  

When Bevan noticed this, he inquired in his loudest voice, "Must the
right honorable gentleman fall asleep during my speech?"  Receiving no
reply, Mr. Bevan  continued until,  a  few  minutes later, the sound of
snoring was distinctly audible to all present.  This time Mr. Bevan
slammed his  hand  on  the  rail and fairly shouted, "Until now, the
Conservative Party had usually managed to conceal  the  fact that  it
was asleep."  Without even opening his eyes, Churchill quipped, "Flake
off, touch-hole"  and  unconcernedly resumed his nap.

Is this true?
--
----------------
Trelford Pinkerton     floss@least.twice.daily   (415) 555-1212
Stalk tall strangers, and wear leather. Speak in tongues and post
regularly to Usenet.  Raise big black dogs and sacrifice homework.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (George Jetson)
Subject: Re: Mixed up translations
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 02:39:26 GMT

In article <2636@israel.nysernet.org> warren@nysernet.org writes:
>In <1992Sep30.201015.27323@bradley.bradley.edu> death@buhub.bradley.edu (Dustin Slater) writes:
>
>    I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
>    wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car).
>
>I'm afraid not.

These 3 strings walk into a bar ... (*)

Anyway, one wonders why they don't just translate "Nova" into Spanish,
and call it a "Nuevo".

(*) Write me if you don't get this.

************************************************************************
A note to new readers:  the weasely :-) symbol is frowned upon in this
group.  Any questions, see Phil Gustafson who will gladly rearrange your
diodes for you.
			- From the AFU FAQ -

	- pynq@quads.uchicago.edu, who is still costing the net
	  hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, every time he posts -
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Rape movie? (was: "Gang Bang" series)
Organization: Films-R-Us, USA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 19:07:24 GMT

: In a previous article, ras@athena.mit.edu (Richard A Shandross) says:
: 
: >	It was reported in the Boston Globe a few months ago.  I don't remember
: >the details WRT litigation and all that.  I don't find it at all impossible to
: >imagine.  Picture the following scenario:  two guys come into your house, tell
: >you that they've got your daughter and they are going to rape and kill her if
: >you don't cooperate.  They hand you a "contract," which you sign, then they 
: >start filming.  You are told to look like you really enjoy it or your daughter
: >is mincemeat.  When the film comes out, who can prove that it wasn't 
: >consensual?  The lawyers tell you you haven't got a chance, the video store 
: >owner is an asshole who thinks you're lying and says he'll just buy another 
: >copy if it disappears.

Right. Any lawyer who told you that should be disbarred. Who do you think the
jury would believe - the woman and her daughter, or those men?

Furrfu.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney)
Subject: Re: Mixed up translations
Reply-To: sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:02:33 GMT

In article <717575994snx@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz> frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz (Bruce Clement) writes:
>pt@geovision.gvc.com writes in article <1992Sep25.190057.13519@geovision.gvc.com>:
> 
>> One further observation - Japanese car manufacturers pander to the US market
>> - that's why Nissan was Nissan all over the world, except when they called
>> themselves Datsun (in the North American market).
>
>It was Datsun here for 20 odd years too.
>

Same in the U.K. Nissan/Datsun came to the U.K. in the early fifties
to get hold of what was then the latest manufacturing technology. The
reception from the general public was, ah, tepid. The Yanks wouldn't
have them at all, due to the then recent unpleasantness. The choice
of Datsun as a name may (just may) have been influencenced by WWII....

Nissan Japan has always been Nissan. Datsun was chosen for former
enemy countries because it sounded "less japanese".
>--
>Bruce Clement    (frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz  SNEWS/2,  UUPC 1.11q)


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: yenamand@giga.cs.umn.edu (Murthy yenamandra)
Subject: Re: Studies have shown...
Keywords: Alcohol, Eskimos, Native Americans, College Students
Organization: :noitazinagrO
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 19:06:11 GMT

u8802356@cs.uow.edu.au (Stephen Lance Rogan) writes:
>I heard this one earlier in the year.

>A freind of mine doing a course was told (quite seriously) that
> ".... 50 percent of people who commit suicide do so within the first 
>  six months following their birthday... "

I read in the paper sometime recently that men have a slightly higher
probability of dying in (a small period - a few days?) after their
birthday. For women, the probability was higher in that period leading
upto the birthday. Or was it the otherway around?

Murthy "insert blown diodes here" Yenamandra

--
Murthy Yenamandra	|    "I close my eyes and all the world drops dead;
Dept of Comp Science 	|     I lift my lids and all is born again.
Univ of Minnesota	|     (I think I made you up inside my head.)"
yenamand@cs.umn.edu	|
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Superglue origin an UL?
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:16:28 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 27881@colorado.edu, crosby@caesar.cs.colorado.edu (CROSBY MATTHEW JAME) writes:
> I have heard from *several people* that Cyanoacrylate (superglue) was
> originally invented by mountain climbers as a quick fix for
> wounds/cuts/gouges/etc.

I had heard that it was used as a replacement for stitches by the US
military, but not that it was invented by mountain climbers.  I'll give
climbers their due, but surgical R&D is probably not their strong
suit.

Brian "Bonds in seconds!" Scearce
---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Elvis bit-parts in snuff movie! (Well, sort of)
Date: 30 Sep 92 12:54:05 GMT
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs

In <1992Sep28.101207.9062@vax.oxford.ac.uk> banks@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:

>Ok, so who's got a copy of Elvis's autopsy (or Robert Maxwell's
>for that matter)?

I recall hearing that a video of Maxwell's autopsy was taken out of
the morgue and sold by two technicians who worked there.  I have no
idea just how it was marketed.  No, I didn't save the newspaper.  It
should not be hard to locate for anyone with a good indexed news
retrieval system.

ObFrozenChicken: Maxwell was buried in Israel, not all that far from
where I live, with all sorts of honors.

ObTimeZone: Elvis is not buried in Israel, since he's not dead.
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Canadian pennies
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 92 21:04:35 GMT

> Are your [Canadian] pennies still copper or bronze?  The US went to
> copper-plated zinc in 1982 ...

Still bronze, but the quantity of metal used was reduced in two stages at
roughly the above date.  First the thickness was reduced about 15%, and
then there was a shape change, with a 12-sided rim at the same thickess
as the previous version and an even thinner center.  Making it non-round
allowed a few percent saving of metal at the perimeter.

The original proposal was for an even smaller coin, but it would have been
almost identical in size to a Toronto transit token and the howls of protest
from the TTC were heard as far away as Ottawa.  (TTC tokens are aluminum,
by the way, though brass ones were also made at one time.)

The last number I heard was on the order of 2 cents to make a penny, but
that was a couple of years ago, I think.

> Also, are your nickels and quarters still real nickel?  That's probably
> rather expensive now if still true.

The nickel nickel was next to go, around 1984.  It's now the same silver-
colored, 75-25 copper-nickel, alloy that the US nickel has always used
and which is now used for most formerly silver coins in the US, UK, etc.
(in the case of the US, used only for the outer layers).

Higher coins are still 100% nickel, except for the loonie ($1 coin) which
is 100% nickel with a plating of "aureate bronze".  I have never seen the
metallic composition of the (gold-colored) plating, by the way, even in
places where I would expect it to be given.
-- 
Mark Brader		"Actually, $150, to an educational institution,
Toronto			 turns out to be about the same as a lower amount."
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com				-- Mark Horton

This article is in the public domain.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pv@gagme.chi.il.us (Paul Vader)
Subject: Fine Art {was: A Goofy Question was Re: Flavored Condoms (was: Re: Stupid cop tricks)}
Originator: pv@gagme
Organization: Inline Software Creations
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 23:35:52 GMT

joslin_paul@ae.ge.com (Paul Joslin) Writes:
>Okay, you asked for it:
>
>Today's pressing question is "What kind of animal is Goofy, anyway?"  If he
>is a dog, how come he wears pants and Pluto doesn't?  Is it because Goofy
>can talk, and Pluto can't?

On that note, have you ever heard the one about the house behind the farm
couple in Grant Wood's "American Gothic"? Supposedly it's a house of "ill
repute"... PV

-- 
Paul Vader           Systems Analyst, semi-lurker, Rollerblader,
pv@gagme.chi.il.us   ex-Zen poet, FOAF, and bleeding-heart liberal
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: Oranjelo
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 21:04:08 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.


In article <1992Oct2.185923.24086@unislc.uucp>, pjd@unislc.uucp (Priscilla Davidson) writes:
>few weeks earlier, a young woman had named her baby daughter Pebbles Bamm Bamm.
>It's not Oranjelo, but it goes to show: never underestimate weirdness.

I heard of a couple of parents who named their infant son "Bruce".
This cruel act supposedly happened in Louisiana in 1956.  But I
can't imagine anyone being so unfeeling, so it must be a UL.



-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Manager, SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC 27513
"Bruce Tindall laughed in all the right places ... [and] is not,
of course, a dangerous bird."  --Janet Lembke, author/translator
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rosso@roscoe.csd.sgi.com (Ross Oliver)
Subject: American view of justice
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:17:39 GMT


PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
|>
|> Exerpt from _The Columbus Dispatch_   (a "legendary" paper)
|> Friday, September 25,1992  p. 11A, Forum page.
|>
|> Headline: U.S. Drunken-Driving Laws Still Too Lenient
|> Author: Claude Lewis
|> Affiliation: Philadelphia Enquirer
|>
|> [drunk driving is bad, penalties not harsh enough, etc. deleted]
|>
|> ...According to the _Journal of American Insurance_, U.S. laws on
|> the issue of drunken driving are comparatively lenient.  That may
|> be the very reason the problem persists.  In many instances,
|> courts in other countries treat drunken drivers with much greater
|> severity.

In a later article, he writes:

|> An article about jaywalking penalties in Columbus Ohio
|>  in _TWA Ambassador Magazine_, sept. 1992
|> 
|> "The penalty for violation of them (Jaywalking laws)  is
|> tantamount to a capital offense elewhere.  Errant jaywalkers are
|> arrested on the spot.  Fines, even for first offenders, are
|> heavy.  Repeat violations can result in prison terms."


Americans seem to have an obsession about proving we are more civilized
than the rest of the world.  "Why, look how barbaric the laws are in other 
countries!"  I'm sure citizens of those countries would consider us equally
savage because we allow rapists and murderers to go free on technicalities,
while our government uses RICO to appropriate the property of innocent
citizens.


Ross Oliver
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Cthulu for President.  Why choose a lesser evil?

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Superglue origin an UL?
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 20:34:09 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.173822.27881@colorado.edu>, crosby@caesar.cs.colorado.edu (CROSBY MATTHEW JAME) writes...
>Ok, guys, heres another one.

>I have heard from *several people* that Cyanoacrylate (superglue) was originally
>invented by mountain climbers as a quick fix for wounds/cuts/gouges/etc.  Is
>this true?  It sounds very ULish....

I heard it was developed for wounds, but was developed for surgeons to be
used in place of stitches in some cases.  Supposedly it didn't work out
but a variant is used.

-Mike
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: License Plates and Prisons
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 3 Oct 92 19:02:43 GMT

In <1992Oct1.153705.13944@PA.dec.com> snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:

>Guess I shouldn't have requested "CORONA" on my vanity plate.

An article about Corona beer in a Jerusalem local paper (it's
available here now, the article said it costs about $6, but that might
be the price at a bar) mentioned that "it is the color of healthy
urine".
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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
From: llama@pooh.cc.utexas.edu (sine nomine)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: a variation on the "aids mary" ul
Date: 30 Sep 92 11:19:00 GMT
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

i heard a new (to me anyway) version of the infamous "aids mary" ul
tonight at work, told by a chirpy little 18-year-old who swore it
really happened to a friend of a friend of hers. the most interesting
twist is it has the man giving aids to the woman:

it seems that a group of young college women went to florida for
spring break. while there, one of them met the perfect man and fell
madly in love. by the end of the week they were engaged. but, of
course, spring break ended, and the girl had to fly home. at the
airport, the man gave her a ring box which she assumed was an
engagement ring. when she got home, she excitedly told her family and
friends all about mr wonderful, and with them around, opened the ring
box, which turned out to contain a toy skeleton and a piece of paper
which said (of course) "welcome to the world of aids."

a couple of interesting things: another coworker was prompted to tell
the original story, with the lipstick mirror message. and the first
person told this story in response to a coworker talking about a
telemarketer who'd accepted a customer's invitation to spend a weekend
in san francisco. her point was that if you accept invitations from
strangers and sleep with them, you'll die.

has anyone else heard this variant?

sine "welcome to the world of annoying people" nomine
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Canadian pennies
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 05:01:04 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.202744.8609@honte.uleth.ca>, std_fleming@hg.uleth.ca (John Fleming) writes...
>  A while ago I was told that it costs the Royal Canadian Mint (which is
>supported, in part, by -my- tax money) four cents to mint a penny.  Has anyone
>else encountered this rumour, and if so, is it true?  Thank you.

Are your pennies still copper or bronze?  The US went to copper-plated zinc in
1982 since it was getting too expensive to keep making them from straight
copper/bronze.

Also, are your nickels and quarters still real nickel?  That's probably
rather expensive now if still true.

-Mike
From: bjackson@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Ben Jackson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Finger math (was: Re: Urban Legend Alert (was: ...))
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:35:02 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center

>>>   "Base 8 is just like base 10, really...if you're missing two fingers."
>
>>But for most of us, we have 8 fingers on both hands.  The rest is, as they
>>say "all thumbs" so it's quite natural to use base 8.
>
>Actually, the hands are base 8; the thumbs are just there for the carry.

Actually, they are base 9 with one finger for parity.

\\_//
 o o    Ben Jackson
< ^ >   bjackson@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
 \~/         ...@glia.biostr.washington.edu
  V     "Natural laws have no pity."
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Floor numbering (was: Room numbering (was: Floor numbering))
Date: 2 Oct 92 09:40:01 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

Look! It's topic anti-drift!

Anyway, here at UCSD we only have one strangely-numbered building.
The Central Library just doesn't have a third floor.

  ******      (Eighth floor)
 ********
**********    (Sixth floor, widest on the building)
 ********
  ******
    ||        (Technically third floor; just wide enough for
   ****        stairs and elevator shafts)
  ******

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (And, as far as I know, no one has ever claimed it was sinking)
   (However, they say that after it was built, it "worried" the
people in charge, so big pointless concrete things were put up to
make it look more stable. These concrete things, however, are
rumored to be "too heavy for the foundation" . . .)
-- 
"Am I a drunken loon? Whoo! Whoo!"        | pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
     -- David Letterman                   |  [Not a UCSD employee]
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Subject: Re: "Lost In Space" was CLEARLY better
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1992 21:14:06 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.005727.27318@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>Does anyone else know someone famous who went to their college, or know
>someone who does?

Yes.
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
        There are many things a person should experience in a lifetime.
       Among them are an infant's first cry, and an infant's first laugh.
From: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us (S. Mudgett aka little gator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: gators 'r us
Subject: Re: Gross Stories (true?)
	<1992Sep22.064241.1@ulkyvx.louisville.edu>
	<1992Sep22.211529.25919@infonode.ingr.com>
	<1992Sep23.090634.13566@echo.philips.nl>
	<Bv14wt.1LB@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Reply-To: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
X-Software: HERMES GUS 1.03 Rev. Apr 14 1992
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 04:51:22 -0500

In <Bv14wt.1LB@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>, David Morning writes:
(someone writes):
>>The grossest (is that a correct english worst ?) scene ever filmed and
>>released in an official film or documentary is when a dog does its sh*tt*ng
>>and a guy moves to this fresh sh*t, lift it with his bare hands and eats it.
>
>Ah! was this not a film involving Devine in his early days?
yes, it was pink flamingos.
-- 
-- little gator aka s. mudgett     email: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
-- friend of a gator is a friend of mine
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: 666 Cable TV
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Distribution: alt
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 21:16:05 GMT

rdale@cstp.umkc.edu writes:
: > 	b) When they discover a site is cheating they send a powerful electric
: > 	   current thrugh the cable and destroy (explode?) all the TV's in the
: > 	   offenders' house.
: > 
: > Before you hit followup I am aware that a) is possible and b) is a howl.
: 
: 	b) is not *too* far off the mark.  With "the bullet" the cable
: company can zap chips in illegal decoders.  The people who are illegally
: using the boxes are nabbed when (get this) they go down to the cable
: office to complain that their cable box doan wuk no mo.
: 
: 	FWIW, "the bullet" can be disabled with a simple (3 parts)
: circuit which was featured in the February or March (maybe January)
: 1992 issue of "Radio-Electronics".

Correct. All they did was reprogram the software in the illegal decoders
to make it inoperative. It did no physical damage.

Bill
From: de@moscom.com (David Esan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Flavored Condoms
Date: 1 Oct 92 18:50:56 GMT
Organization: Moscom Corp., Pittsford NY

In article <1992Sep29.125314.5057@aisb.ed.ac.uk> keith@cstr.ed.ac.uk (Keith Edwards) writes:
>
>|> Where does the word posh come from?
>
>I think posh is an acronym from Port Out Starboard Home

Caught one.

Welcome to AFU, Keith.  Check out the FAQ file to find the lowdown on posh,
a favorite trapper of newbies.  
-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -->     David Esan      de@moscom.com  
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.computers
From: rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Subject: Re: Possible UL alert(was Re: Videotaping rapes)
Reply-To: rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Organization: U of Cambridge, England
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 14:06:20 GMT


In article <1992Sep25.203226.9366@news.columbia.edu>,
lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
|> In article <1992Sep25.151924.12450@cs.yale.edu>
rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes:
|> 
|> >   "Base 8 is just like base 10, really...if you're missing two fingers."
|> 
|> But for most of us, we have 8 fingers on both hands.

Both _my_ hands are restricted to 4 fingers.  Where on earth does one
_put_ 8 fingers on the end of a human hand?

|>                                                       The rest is, as they
|> say "all thumbs" so it's quite natural to use base 8.

Hmmm.  And I only have two of those, one for each hand.

If one counts using fingers and thumbs, the original statement is
surely entirely correct (though not a complete statement of how one
goes about achieving base-8 counting on one's hands)...

|> Can someone please post the derivation of this legendary phrase "all
thumbs".
|> I assume it's in the category of references to rocket scientists, or "it's
|> all Greek to me".

No doubt.  What references to rocket scientists were you thinking of?

|> obComputerUL: Some computers can be counted in octal base; some computer
|> hardware was made from vacuum tubes with octal bases.

I never encountered one that was base-8 (except in the arrangement of
its order code, though there were several that were explicitly
(hardware) base-10 - i.e., there were decimal counter circuits in the
memory.  Of course, the first examples of such things were mechanical
calculators, including Babbage's engines.
--
Robin (dump Brian Kay) Fairbairns                    rf@cl.cam.ac.uk
U of Cambridge Computer Lab, Pembroke St, Cambridge  CB2 3QG, UK
Organization: Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA