HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dwight@devnet.la.locus.com (Dwight Tovey)
Subject: Re: WAY stupid things to do with guns (was self-i
Reply-To: dwight@locus.com
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 19:49:29 GMT

In article <1992Dec22.124217.18780@husc3.harvard.edu>, joltes@husc10.harvard.edu (Richard Joltes) writes:
|> smb@research.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
|> >PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
|> >> Jon "A house divided makes two smaller houses." Papai
|> >
|> >and is probably against the zoning codes, besides.
|> 
|> And plays hell with the plumbing and electrical work to boot...
|> 

And is a real bitch to heat in the winter.

|> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Dick "doesn't rhyme with `volts'" Joltes 		joltes@husc.harvard.edu

I never thought "Dick" rhymed with "volts" at all.  Oh.  You mean the other one.  Well,
what does it rhyme with then?

|> Hardware & Networking Manager, Computer Services 	joltes@husc.bitnet 
|> Harvard University Science Center
|> 
|> "Mind you, not as bad as the night Archie Pettigrew ate some
|> sheep's testicles for a bet...God, that bloody sheep kicked him..."

I still get some great mental images whenever I see that one.

	/dwight
-- 
  Dwight Tovey                          | I didn't claw my way to the top of
  Locus Computing Corp.	                | the food chain to eat vegetables.
  (310)337-5978	                        |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Internet:     dwight@locus.com        | The views I express are entirely my
  UUCP:         ...!uunet!lcc!dwight    | own and do not in any way represent
  MIL/BITNET:   dwight%lcc@UUNET.UU.NET	| those of Locus Computing. 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: arielle@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva)
Subject: Re: Skyscraper FALLS DOWN.
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 11:54:40 GMT

> <MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
> 
> >     BUT, can one of them actually fall down? The thought of a mountain
> >of steel, glass, office equipment and attourneys splatting all over Battery
> >Park is terrifying, but somehow also strangely compelling.

I don't know about skyscrapers, but about 10 or 12 years or so ago, there
was a radio tower being built in Missouri City, which is a few miles
southwest of Houston.  At completion, it was going to be the tallest
radio tower in some large geographic area around here -- 1000 feet tall
or maybe it was 2000 feet.  

At the time, my brother was living in Missouri City, in the shadow of
the under-contruction tower.  Everytime I talked to him, he'd talk about
the tower and what would happen if it fell and would it land on his house?
I thought he was obsessed about it in a morbid sort of way.

What's really freaky about all this is when the tower was near completion, 
it did fall when one of the guy wires snapped.  Two construction workers 
who were on it when it fell died, and at least one radio or a television 
station that was already broadcasting from it went off the air.

It didn't topple over but collasped, telescoping down on itself, as it was
designed to do.  They rebuilt it and not too long after that, one of those
stunt people who like to climb up skyscrapers climbed up one of the guy
wires to the top of it.  I drove down there to watch it (with my brother).
When the stunt guy got to the top, he sat up there for a couple of hours
and then parachuted off.  Police took off after him when he did and he
landed in someone's backyard.  What was neat about it was the people in
the house refused to let the cops in and they had to wait a couple of hours
for him to come out so they could arrest him and charge him with trespassing.
Same guy climbed up the Pennzoil Tower downtown some time after that.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: C558172@mizzou1.missouri.edu
Subject: Re: Mother Lifts Car Off Child.  Uh huh.
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 92 22:07:48 CST

In article <28148@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
 
>
>Well people, I would like to revisit the story where a woman
>(or anyone) lifts a heavy car off of a trapped child.  The
>story illustrates various points such as the power of the mind,
>what the body is capable of under great stress, etc., etc.  An
>example is the following post from another newsgroup (not in the
>alt sewer):
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<some deleted>
>
>Then, robear@access.digex.com (Robear) writes:
>
>Check the newpapers for a reasonably large city; it'll happen a few times a year
>the last I remember in this area was last Spring in No. Va.  A mother was able
>to stop her station wagon when it rolled down a  mildly sloped drivewy
>towards her child, then called for help while holding the car in place.
>She ended up in the hospital for a bit, probably with back problems.
>
>================================================================================
>
>I did a search on a database of several US newspapers with national
>circulation from 1 January 1988 to 5 December 1992 and over 1,000
>magazines and journals from the same period.  Does anyone have
>any documentation on this story?
>
>Terry "Wide Load" Chan
>--
>Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
>Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      |
>Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe per diem
I don't know about automatic transmission cars, I've never tried to push one
but it is fairly easy to push a standard transmission car or pickup. (I've
pushed both and I weigh about 120 lbs at 5' 4") So the story about the
woman holding the back is unremarkable. Now lifting a car is a completely
different ballpark.
OB true story.
I once had to push a car off myself! Really. B-)
I was warming up my car (a manual transmission with a bad emergency brake)
while I was scrapping the ice off the windshield. Before I could do anything
my car rolled onto my foot! (Of course the first thing I did was to see if
anybody saw me do something stupid like that -- Whew! nobody around) Then
I tried to pull my foot out -- nope the car had it pinched. So I had to grab
the car by the driver's side mirror and pull it off the foot. B-)
--Shannon "and what if I would have had to stand out there 'till rescued" Kohl
From: salantel@dssv01.crd.ge.com (E. L. Salant)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Dead Cat
Date: 23 Dec 92 16:31:53 GMT
Reply-To: salantel@dssv01.crd.ge.com (E. L. Salant)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center

I heard this dead cat in the mall story years ago.  Only in the version
I heard the theif was a fat lady, who opened the bag in a telephone
booth in the parking lot.  She fainted upon opening the bag, and became
wedged in the booth, requiring the fire department to extricate her.

==============================================================================
Eliot (maybe it happened in two separate incidences) Salant
==============================================================================
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Trademark legends
Date: 30 Dec 92 00:00:50 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service

In article <1992Dec28.035056.28763@samba.oit.unc.edu> Mike.Oniffrey@launchpad.unc.edu (Mike Oniffrey) writes:
>The Bayer pharmeceutical company was based in the southern German state of
>Bayern, which is the German term for Bavaria. 

Give this one an "F".  Encyclopaedia Brittanica says it's named for its
founder, Friedrich Bayer, and was originally based in Weppertal-Barmen (sic,
don't they mean Wuppertal-Barmen?), and is now headquartered near Cologne,
neither of which is anywhere near Bavaria.  They're both in what is today
the Bundesland of Nordrhein-Westfalen.

>Mike "I'll have another "Hefe-Weizen" Oniffrey - Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Meet me at Southern Season sometime and I'll buy you one.

Bruce "Na ja" Tindall
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:32170 sci.skeptic:21730
From: carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: Wwy is the sky blue? (was Re: Daytime Stars - Not Donahue or Oprah)
Date: 27 Dec 92 19:09:55 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <1hk42sINN34t@gap.caltech.edu> carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick) writes:

>In article <2934047046.4.p00168@psilink.com>, p00168@psilink.com (James F. Tims) writes:
>>I can't figure out whether the atmosphere is a lens or a radiator;

>It's both.  At sunrise or sunset, the sun will appear to be somewhat squashed. 
>This is a result of the atmosphere acting as a lens.  On the other hand, try
>the following experiment:  Wait until about an hour before sunset.  Look at the
>eastern sky.  Blue isn't it?  Well, there's no way in hell that the atmosphere
>is enough of a lens to somehow refract the sun's rays through more than 150
>degrees.  When you see a blue sky to the east near sunset, you're talking about
>radiation (glowing, to use your term).

[sig deleted]

  Um, no.  Actually you're seeing neither radiated nor refracted light.
You're seeing *scattered* light.  The light travels in a straight-line path
to the air over your Eastern horizon, then encounters some dust particles
and is reflected back into your eye.

-- 
Carl Fink          carlf@panix.com, C.FINK4(GEnie), or CF427620I@LIUVAX.BITNET
  "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our
  inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter
  the state of facts and evidence"     --      John Adams
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Federal Reserve Notes (Re: I Live to FAQ!)
Date: 22 Dec 92 22:21:11 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com


Other Federal Reserve Bank codes are "B" = New York; "C" = Philadelphia;
"E" = Richmond, Virginia.  

ObUL: The car on the back of the $10 is a Hupmobile.  (Mentioned
on National Public Radio recently.)

ObUL2: One of the flags on the Treasury building on the back
of the $10 is flying upside down.  (Old and widespread UL; 
different versions of the UL ascribe different reasons.)

ObUL3: If you look at it right, the shrubbery around the Lincoln
Memorial on the back of the $5 is in the shape of some digits.
No one knows what they stand for.  (This is covered in one of the
_Rumor!_ books.)

ObFAQfodder:  A couple of years ago, a book was published explaining
the significance of all kinds of numbers, such as the digits in your
Social Security number, all the various numbers on U.S. paper money,
why telephone area codes are the way they are, etc.  Can't remember
the title.  It was featured by various book clubs.  Anybody know it?

Bruce "36-year-old child wants pictures of Hupmobiles" Tindall
-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Mgr., SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. 27513
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: kasprj@isaac.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak)
Subject: Re: Federal Reserve Notes (Re: I Live to FAQ!)
Reply-To: kasprj@rpi.edu
Organization: The Big Wedge 
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 17:03:04 GMT

In article <1993Jan2.063823.8539@ucc.su.OZ.AU>, bill@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (William Logan Lee) writes:
|> 
|> But, can I still go into a Federal Reserve Bank with my US$1 Silver
|> Certificate and cash it in for US$1 of silver (Ag) metal?
 
 I think I'll go try this out and let you know what happens. But first I'm
going to go to Germany with my 1922 billion-mark bills and see if I can 
buy Stuttgart with them.
------------------------------------------------------------------
     __  Live from Capitaland, heart of the Empire State...
 ___/  | Jim Kasprzak, computer operator @ RPI, Troy, NY, USA
/____ *|          he who refuses to do nonsense  
     \_|          is doomed to talk arithmetic.
      ====  e-mail: kasprj@rpi.edu or kasprzak@mts.rpi.edu 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: extreme strength (was: mom lifting car..)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 06:13:21 GMT

arielle@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:
: > 
: > >Ever carry someone on your back?  Figure on that being 200 pounds.  
: > 
: > i doubt i have the strength to do either of those things, and i weigh
: > closer to 150 than to 200.  your examples are far from universal.
: 
: I can carry a 200 pound guy on my back and I'm just a little slip of a 
: thing.  In fact, it used to be one of my favourite things to demonstrate 
: to freak out people.  I can't carry them far, but I can do it.

Yeah, not too unusual. Many people are taught how to do this, including
how to do the lifting, only using the legs.  However, try that with 400
pounds. I doubt if you will be able to come close. I can carry a 200 lb
load, on my back, quite a ways. I cannot even lift a 300 lb load for more
than a few seconds.

Bill
From: dannyb@panix.com (Daniel Burstein)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Skyscraper FALLS DOWN.
Date: 26 Dec 92 21:30:14 GMT
Organization: Panix, NYC

Jim Dwyer, a reporter/columnist in New York Newsday, wrote an article
about a year ago describing the sudden realization at Citicorp that their
brand new skyscraper (53rd and Lexington, approx 60 stories) was so
unstable in wind loading that it could actually tip over and crash into
the next one.
  
He added to the scenario that a "domino effect" would ensue, and that we'd
see about a half mile of buildings toppled over.

----------------

I DON'T know how true this concern was.  From some back of envelope
calculations, I doubt that this would happen.  (But then again, don't
forget Galloping Gertie)  ANd, even if the building torqued out and shook
loose, I suspect the next one over would simply crumble under the added
load, rather than move to the next.

HOWEVER, it is true that there was a massive and (some might call it an
emergency) structural modification, of which the most visible portion was
the placement of an "active damper system" inside.  Basically, as others
have described, a "huge" block of concret is floated on an opil stream in
an upper floor, and shock absorbers push the building against it (or it
against the building) to reduce harmonics and the like.

I -CAN- tell you from personal experince that various skyscrapers in
Manhattan are, in fact, evacuated (or at least have activities curtailed)
during high winds.  Not for structural safety, but because there is
  1) a definite noticing of the swaying - very uncomfortable
  2) certain activities are shut down, i.e. the high speed elevators
  
danny
<dannyb@panix.com>     <dburstein@mcimail.com>
From: styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Protestant caucasians
Date: 22 Dec 92 17:05:48 GMT
Reply-To: styri@nta.no
Organization: Bohemians and Globetrotters, Unlimited

I found this cute passage in another newsgroup:

In article <1992Dec19.024607.26404@colorado.edu>, bear@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Bear Giles) writes
> In article <80ar1ql@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
> >
> > If I decide that in order to use my system, you must stand on your head
> > while administering oral sex to a camel, you will either do that or
> > you will go elsewhere.  
>
> I would love to see you attempt to enforce that clause.
>
> Many subdivisions in the United States have covenants that prohibit the
> sale of houses to anyone except Protestant caucasians.  If you tried to
> back out of a sales contract based on that "legally binding" convenant you
> will find yourself in an incredible amount of legal trouble.

Now, is this true? (Not John De Armond, but the covenants.)

---
YuNoHoo  "no, I didn't copy this from alt.tasteless"
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Roach hotel
Date: 24 Dec 92 16:24:10 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com


In article <1992Dec23.190802.26963@ssc.com>, tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) writes:
>[Mrs Fields] wrote back a nice letter, and enclosed her business card,
>and on the back was written "Give this guy a pound of cookies."

This brings to mind a real UL about a hotel in Charleston, S.C.,
although it is probably told in all port cities in warm climates
where cockroaches routinely grow to 2 or 3 inches in length and
people have long since stopped trying to exterminate them and regard
them as just another element of the environment, like the air.

It seems a lady from inland checked into the swankest hotel in 
Charleston -- either the Fort Sumter or the Francis Marion [isn't
it interesting how all threads on a.f.u interrelate?].  She was
shocked, shocked!, to find roaches in her room.  After returning
home she wrote a furious letter to the hotel manager stating that 
she would never again stay at his hotel because of the unsanitary
roaches with whom she had had to share her room.

She received a letter of abject apology from the manager, stating
that they had closed the hotel for a month, fumigated it, torn out
the walls and found the roach nest, etc., and urging her to stay at
the hotel on her next trip to the city.  She was placated, until she
noticed a little piece of paper still in the envelope.  Apparently
a note from the manager to his secretary, it said, "Send this old
bag the Roach Letter."

Bruce "isn't one of the Roches named Terry?" Tindall
-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Mgr., SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. 27513
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.config
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: Re: alt.dev.null.mnemonics?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 20:59:25 GMT


	Joel Furr believes that a hundred postings on
Mnenomics in a couple of weeks merit a new newsgroup?
How about an LSD newsgroup, it's been a more popular topic,
or maybe an FAQ newsgroup?  Time for a vcation, take
a couple of days away from the terminal and enjoy xmas.

ObUL: A canadian professor posted many complaints to sci.research,
was told to shut up and do something about it, then killed 5 people.

Jon "The fruitcake's in the mail" Papai
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Subject: Re: CD Legends
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 21:17:35 GMT


In article <1992Dec26.201931.21261@netcom.com> jamesh@netcom.com (James
Hightower) writes:

>thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:
>
>>I bought a couple of CD's the other day, and noticed some strange things
>>about them.
>
>>One, Nirvana's "Nevermind," has about ten minutes of silence on track 12
>>in between two songs -- the second song comes as a bit of a surprise if
>>one has left the CD player running.
>
>Mine doesn't, but I've heard this before. Did you buy it used? Perhaps
>it was only the first pressing that hed this feature.
>
>>Anyone have any interesting CD stories not involving green markers, or
>>know someone who does?
>
>I understand that the Boston "Third stage" gives a countdown on your
>cd players display during the intro.

The first pressing of the Skinny Puppy CD LAST RIGHTS was hosed.
Subsequent corrected pressings had (and I think still have) a large sticker
on the outer wrap that says "QUALITY CONTROLLED."

-- 
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88  Barth Richards                  "Language is a virus from outer space."  88
88  att!ihlpf!barth                           - William S. Burroughs         88
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Subject: Re: Trademarks (was Re: ...film at 11...)
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 19:19:27 GMT


In article <Bzn1n3.Jxp@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu>
norlin@midway.ecn.uoknor.edu (Norman Lin) writes:

>billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>
>: There is no way to
>: trademark a commonly used term. For example, Bayer lost their "aspirin"
>: trademank due to common usage.
>
>Is that right?  Well, I have a can of Lipton Iced Tea (bought out of the
>coke machine), and it says:
>
>"Brisk (tm) Iced Tea"
>
>which seems to imply they have a trademark on (of all things) the word
>"Brisk."  Ludicrous, yes, but there is the "tm" subscripted right below
>the word "Brisk" and before the word "Iced."  Bizarre.

Perhaps one of our more lawyerly type readers will post specific details,
but I believe that trademark provisions often include limitations on how
the word is used.  To use "Brisk" as an example, if another company used
the word "brisk" as the name of beverage (tea or some other drink), they'd
probably be successfully sued by Lipton.  If a car company called one of
their cars "The Brisk," they probably would be able to make a case for
using it, because there isn't much chance that people would confuse a car
called "Brisk" with a tea called "Brisk," but there is a good chance that
people would confuse two beverages called "Brisk."


Barth "I'll be mother" Richards

-- 
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88  Barth Richards                  "Language is a virus from outer space."  88
88  att!ihlpf!barth                           - William S. Burroughs         88
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 04:31:32 GMT

In article <1992Dec20.232842.25594@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>
>Ted "I hope your team wins, lady" Frank

I was told we wouldn't have to wear helmets in this group.

cj "black tie" l
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Net's Funniest Kitchen Disasters
Date: 31 Dec 92 23:44:40 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service

In article <1992Dec30.183458.3066@julian.uwo.ca> jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll) writes:
>bottles was labeled 'picric acid' (sp?), which is fairly unstable when

From the Georgia Institute of Technology Handbook of Interesting
Substances, 6th ed. (Atlanta: Olympic(tm) Hype Press, 1991):

"pickrick acid, K(subscript3)H, a major constituent of fried chicken
and axe handles, also used as a neck rubefacient.  The ion K(subscript3)
is a cheap -- and until the FBI can catch him, free -- radical, first
isolated at the University of Leicester."

Bruce "free explanations to foreigners upon request" Tindall

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.religion.kibology