HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Media rantings
Date: 18 Nov 92 23:07:00 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

> The reporter said, completely seriously, that the [prostitute] claims to 
> have been with 250,000 men in the course of her 20 year career.

I once heard a radio DJ say that "the weather tonight will be partly
sunny" and have seen a newspaper run a picture of a thunderstorm (with
a bolt of lightning coming out of the bottom yet) upside down.  Just
last night I saw a TV station spend several minutes on the fearsome
tens-of-milligauss magnetic fields on BART trains.  Mere innumeracy 
hardly even gets my attention anymore.

But, what *are* the records for hiding the salami?  And how on earth
could one decide on their plausibility?  Something tickles my memory 
about a detective-story author -- I think it was Georges Simeon -- who 
claimed to have bedded 10 000 women in his life.  (He was then in his
60s or 70s.)  And of course there are the well-publicized claims of
various sports and entertainment celebrities.  But... roughly halfway
to his age, I doubt very much that I've even *met* 10 000 women, never
mind having both the opportunity and the desire to play with them all!
How on earth do such people allegedly set it all up, much less find 
the time to do anything else?

Joe "If you'll indulge me in a very small pun, something's screwy here" Chew
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
From: danwell@IASTATE.EDU (Daniel A Ashlock)
Subject: Re: AIDS and the CIA (was Question)
Reply-To: danwell@IASTATE.EDU (Daniel A Ashlock)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 16:38:48 GMT

In article <9706@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, pmmst8+@pitt.edu (Paul M Mweene)
writes:
> In article <1992Nov10.222416.5113@engage.pko.dec.com>
moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:

                 [topic of thread backtracked to KGB propaganda]

> Your story is half true. Infact the Soviets picked this story from two French
> scientists who did studies on the virus. They showed that there was no way 
> the Simian (green monkey) virus could ever evolve into HIV. They felt that a
> more likely source was combination of the luekemia causative agent and the
> visna virus found in sheep. I happened to read this report way back in '87
> or '86.

   This is news to me.  Why _can't_ SIV evolve into HIV?  At the vary least
they obviously have a common ancestor.  Also, if memory serves, this luekemia/
visna idea went up in flames the second someone checked the viral sequence
data.  
 
> Similarly, German researchers debunked the monkey virus myth in 1988 (I will
> bring the date of the New Africa magazine which has the story). Further more
> an high powered group of German scientists undertook a trip to the Ituri rain
> forest where models had 'shown' the aids virus to have originated. 

   Gosh, why have I never heard of this "model" that is so incredibly site
specific?  (I do AIDS modeling).
 
> Having nailed the source of the virus to village in Zaire where the virus had
> to have begun, they proceede to test all 15000 pygmies they found there for
> the virus. They zero (0) infected with it.

   Which probably says something about the model...   ...also this level
of site specificity is the halmark of fantasy.
 
> According to Frenc hypothesis. AIDS was created at Ft. Detrick Maryland. The
> powers that be elected to conduct tests on long term prisoners at a nearby
> prison. They promised them freedom if they survived the test. 
> 
> Six weeks after infection, the prisoners suffered a mild flue which however
> disappeared. The powers therefor released them. These people who were drug
> addicts and homosexual subsequently infect others in the population, especia
> lly in the New York area.

   Huh?  They all _went to New York_?  Could you explain a _whole_ lot more?

> 
> The dates all reconciled and this story seem to be true.

   This story might pass the timing test.  It fails at many other points, like
that whats-his-noggle the frenchman had no way to produce and AIDS virus; he
lacked the technology.  In fact the whole thing looks like an unsupported
illiterate fabrication.  I surpasses the original theory in that it merely
contradicts information in the public record and not itself directly.

> makala

Dan
Danwell@IASTATE.EDU
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (George Jetson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Famous Americans on Christianity
Date: 15 Nov 92 20:57:23 GMT
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates

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

Sinead O'Connor?

************************************************************************
I've been told to back off on the diode jokes, but I still don't
like smileys ;-)

	- pynq@quads.uchicago.edu, who is still costing the net
	  hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, every time he posts -
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,soc.culture.african.american
From: kautaj@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (kauta)
Subject: Re: 1950's Darryle, damnit.
Organization: Indiana University, Department of Mathematics.
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 20:32:14 GMT

In article <1992Nov15.185443.11261@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <Bxrs4z.IEB@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> kautaj@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (kauta) writes:
>>In article <97719@netnews.upenn.edu> weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
>>>In article <9652@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, pmmst8+@pitt (Paul M Mweene) writes:
>>
>>>>Is such a difficult thing to infect 30 or 40 year old serum with any virus?
>>>
>>>The British sailor who died ~1962 had symptoms that we would today
>>>recognize as AIDS.
>>
>>There is a simple explaination to all this...this sailor had AIDS-like 
>>symptoms without the HIV virus. So Mweenes hypothesis still holds.
>
>Except that the sailor (and the St. Louis male prostitute from three years
>later, etc.) did have the HIV virus.  

This comes back to Mweene's claims that the HIV virus was ACTUALLY injected
into those samples at a much later date...a vicious circle, ain't it?

>Why is it that y'all are trying so hard to believe something that's so
>blatantly not true?

Your naivety amazes me!

>-- 
>ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
>standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
>the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637


-- 
Internet: kautaj@silver.ucs.indiana.edu  The law of Romanian Engineering:
Bitnet:   kautaj@iubacs.bitnet          _NO PROBLEM_. Just put a bunch of
Uucp:     kautaj@iubacs.uucp            engineers on both sides. IF they meet,
                                        you've your tunnel. ELSE you've TWO!!!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright)
Subject: Re: UL in a Time Warp!
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 15:35:34 GMT

bill nelson (billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com) wrote:
: cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
: : >: Yes, i'm back.
: : >
: : >I'm a big Cindy fan and I'm glad she's "back".
: : 
: : You know, if i didn't know better, i would swear i was being mocked.
: 
: Nah - you are not a turtle. Why would we want to do that? Would you
: believe that they actually have a lutefisk festival here in Oregon?
: Supposedly, thousands of people get together to eat the stuff. What
: is it, intentional sacrifice so the people of Norway will not have
: to consume it? 
: 
: Bill "Anything that acts like jello should have sugar in it" Nelson

Hey! The Cindy article which Bill is quoting never made it to my computer.
I wonder what else she wrote besides the sentence about knowing better than
to think she was being mocked.  

When I said I'm a big Cindy fan, and I'm glad she's "back", I meant
it with no implied smilies, no sarcasm, and no read-between-the-lines
stuff.  I simply adore her.  I put "back" in quotes because I was
not aware than she had been "gone".  She does post infrequently.
I have always attributed her absences to these notions:

1) She probably has a real job, and occasionally spends time
   doing *it* rather than fooling around on the net all day like
   so many of us.
2) When she does decide to post she takes the time to compose an
   article worth reading.
3) She is just not the type to read a.f.u every day and anxiously
   follow up most articles with short quips and attempts at humor
   like *some* people (rot("pwy")).

  -- Dan Wright
From: ccaamrg@ucl.ac.uk (Mike Gahan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: UL used for sitcom plot
Date: 18 Nov 92 16:31:01 GMT
Reply-To: ccaamrg@rs6-svr-2.cls-4.bcc.ac.uk (Mike Gahan)
Organization: UCL

In article <1e8ni5INNemb@moe.ksu.ksu.edu>, diverson@phys.ksu.edu (David Iverson) writes:
|> In <zlsiida.416@fs1.mcc.ac.uk> zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> >ALSO!  on a show called "Waiting For God", a couple of lines of dialogue 
|> >struck me as rather amusing---
|> >"What was he doing throwing a boomerang from the window of a moving train?"
|> >"He was testing Einstein's theory of relativity"
|> >Anybody want to discuss what the 'rang ought to do?
|> 
|> Barring air-friction and assuming a constant speed to the train it should
|> come right back to the thrower.  More likely it will hit some poor old biddy
|> a couple of cars aft.  Of course, that's assuming he can throw one of those
|> damn things properly.

Barring air-friction, it will continue in a straight trajectory until it
falls to the ground, thus not coming back at all.

Mike Gahan
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billmcc@seanews.akita.com (Bill McCormick)
Subject: Re: Calvin/Hobbes diagnosed as clinical schizophrenic
Organization: SEANEWS - Seattle Public Access News & Mail
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 20:38:05 GMT

In article <gln.722201692@brutus> gln@iti.org (Glen Niebur) writes:
>In <1992Nov16.231943.27236@informix.com> proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) writes:
>Who has heard the story that "Puff" is about Marijuana?
>Little Jackie *Paper*?, Puff?  The story goes that the song is about
>how smoking pot is something you do when you are a kid, but then you
>become a responsible adult and give it up (i imagine to move on to
>the hard stuff to deal with the idiots you work with :-).
>
>Do you think it's true?  Do Peter, Paul, or Mary read this group?

It seems transparently obvious to me, but all three of the group
vehemently deny that it has anything to do with marijuana.

You be the judge.

Bill
-- 
SEANEWS  []  Seattle News + Mail  []  Public Access  []  +1 206 747 NEWS
E-mail for PGP key.   MD5 (no sigs) is: 8e253e95133365a292261c7d0da58bcb
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: dbushong@wang.com (Dave Bushong)
Subject: Re: "Microwave in Use"
Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA, USA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 04:47:31 GMT

hermit@cats.UCSC.EDU (William R. Ward) writes:

>Why do some places (notably at the local county government building
>and at the university) have a sign that says "Microwave in Use"
>outside of rooms where a microwave oven is?  It's like a warning, or
>something, but why would we need a warning?  Microwave ovens don't
>cause any harmful radiation outside of the oven, do they?  And being
>outside of the room isn't going to make a big difference, is it?

>This may just be a California thing; have people elsewhere seen this
>sort of thing?

The reason for the notice is this: some of the first pacemakers made
were shipped to the hospital with a magnet shaped like a donut around
it.  This kept the thing turned off, using a NC reed switch, similar
to the magnetic switches used as part of burglar alarms like you see
in restaurants over the doors, etc.

The surgeon removes the donut, which starts the thing running.  See,
you can't have an on-off toggle switch, because, among other things, such
a switch could not be sealed as easily.  A magnetic reed switch can 
be inside the sealed part.

A microwave oven uses a magnetron (we used to use them in radar
transmitters before mic. ovens) to develop its power.  Notice that the
first part of that word contains "magnet", as does the device itself.
By putting the (now embedded) pacemaker in the field of the magnetron,
the reed switch can open, effectively turning off the pacemaker.

Bummer.

This is your pacemaker    :)
                                             ,---.
This is your pacemaker in a magnetic field   |RIP|
                                             |   |
                                            -------

Dave
-- 
Dave Bushong, Wang Laboratories, Inc.   Amateur Radio Callsign KZ1O
Project Leader, OCR products            kz1o@n0ary.#noca.ca.na
Internet: dbushong@wang.com
From: neil@robots.ox.ac.uk (Neil Townsend)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Legal Tender
Date: 20 Nov 92 18:03:19 GMT
Organization: None evident here.
Originator: neil@lucrece.robots

In article <mcirvin.721168955@husc8> Mcirvin wrote:
>                                         Is it somehow more legitimate
>to refuse pennies than to refuse $100 bills?

Bruce Watson commented:

>My understanding is that debts cannot be paid in pennies if they exceed
>10 cents. So that all the ULs you hear about thousands a pennies
>used to pay fines, etc. are not true.

In Belgium, the maximum number of coins of a particular value that a
merchant must accept in all or part payment for goods or services is
specified in law. I can't remember how many, I'll try and track that
down on my next forray to the land of beer and chips (that's fries,
not crisps).

Neil "But I'm going for new year ..." Townsend
-- 
Neil Townsend | neil@uk.ac.ox.robots | enough already
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Calvin/Hobbes diagnosed as clinical schizophrenic
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 21:09:55 GMT

gln@iti.org (Glen Niebur) writes:
: 
: Who has heard the story that "Puff" is about Marijuana?
: Little Jackie *Paper*?, Puff?  The story goes that the song is about
: how smoking pot is something you do when you are a kid, but then you
: become a responsible adult and give it up (i imagine to move on to
: the hard stuff to deal with the idiots you work with :-).
: 
: Do you think it's true?  Do Peter, Paul, or Mary read this group?

I have heard it, from a number of people. However, Mary Travers has
told me that it is not about marijuana. Paul Stukey has stated the same
thing a number of times, in public.

Bill
From: cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: "Microwave in Use"
Date: 16 Nov 92 21:30:33 GMT
Organization: /home/ludviga/cindy/.organization

Joe Chew wrote:
>I think there is some concern that a leaky microwave oven might
>cause somebody's pacemaker or other heart-related implant to
>misbehave.  We have similar signs on the accelerator buildings,
>but more strident -- "PERSONS WITH PACEMAKERS DO NOT ENTER" --
>the Microwave Oven from Hell being a substantial component of
>most of the accelerators.

So what would happen if you put a paper towel into one of the
accelerators?

And has anyone ever fried their intestines by standing too close
to one?

-Cindy Kandolf
 cindy@solan.unit.no
 Trondheim, Norway
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Soldiers breaking wind (Was Re: Soldiers breaking step across bridge)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:55:29 GMT

jmethot@vicorp.com (John Methot) writes:
: 
: : It talks about resonance occurring when "the frequency of the forcing function
: : is the same as the natural frequency of the system" (no, I don't know what
: : this means yet, we just started the chapter).  Then, the juicy stuff:  "For
: : example, soldiers traditionally break step when crossing a bridge to eliminate
: : the _periodic_ force of their marching that could resonate a natural frequency
: : of the bridge."  (Their emphasis.)
: 
: : So, anyone wanna help me with my homework?
: 
: I wonder if the bridge could be saved if the soldiers broke wind instead
: of step?  Now, of course, if the soldiers' buttocks (bullocks?) vibrated
: at the bridge's resonant frequency you could still have problems.

The thing that all these people forget is - long before enugh of a wave could
build up that would affect the bridge, the soldiers would lose their footing
and would not be able to maintain the pace. As such, the marching is a self
damping function and could not damage the bridge.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mr. Furr)
Subject: Re: Soldiers breaking wind (Was Re: Soldiers breaking step across bridge)
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 13:16:53 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.133030.15519@hubcap.clemson.edu> michaet@hubcap.clemson.edu (michael dale townsend) writes:
>billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>>The thing that all these people forget is - long before enugh of a wave could
>>build up that would affect the bridge, the soldiers would lose their footing
>>and would not be able to maintain the pace. As such, the marching is a self
>>damping function and could not damage the bridge.
>
>>Bill
>
>My experience with this was in the marching band.  One of the bowl games
>had the parade route go over a suspension bridge.  We had about 250
>marchers, and the tempo of our steps was about 150 stomps/minute.  The
>bridge did start oscillating, and the vertical displacement was about
>1/3 of a meter.  By the time the woodwinds at the back of the line went
>across, they were being tossed up around worse than we were.  Since they
>were half-drunk woodwind players, they did lose their footing and it
>helped dampen the bridge.  We were all thinking of that Tocama Narrows
>Bridge film that we had seen in physics.  All of the mechanical and
>civil engineers in the band were talking about elasticity of steel and
>all that.  It was pretty scary.  The bridge was the four lane bridge
>with steel grates in the center that went over some body of water.  I
>can't even remember the town now, but it was the Gator Bowl, so I think
>it was Daytona.  If any of you are from Daytona, it was the big blue
>bridge.  I can't imagine who would plan a parade route over a bridge. .


The Gator Bowl is played in honor of s. mudgett each year in Jacksonville,
not Daytona.  At halftime, they have a ritual public consumption of
larn-'n'-sugar while smoking some fine Manhattan White sewer-grown marijuana.

Now let's move on to more important subjects:

Does anyone besides me miss the war we had where the "practice random acts
of kindness and senseless beauty" people invaded a.f.u. and in defense a
lot of people started generating parodies of the original post?
From: m1tca00@fed.frb.gov (Thomas C. Allard)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: a first year grad student freaks out.
Date: 16 Nov 92 18:10:19 GMT
Reply-To: m1tca00@fed.frb.gov (Thomas C. Allard)
Organization: Federal Reserve Board, Wash, DC

In article <1e4f0fINN9k5@moe.ksu.ksu.edu>, diverson@phys.ksu.edu (David Iverson) writes:
> I think the numbers of people who go insane quietly are much larger.  There
> was (probably still is) a homeless man called "The Professor" who hung out
> around the Syracuse University Campus screaming at walls.  Evidently he just
> broke down while writing his dissertation.  If you listened to him you 
> could tell that he knew a lot of facts, but he'd totally lost the ability to
> put them together in any coherent fashion.  Just a year and a half ago I
> watched a kid slowly freak out (over the course of the semester) in one of
> my classes, he was finally removed when he became abusive and obviously
> totally out of it.  I don't know what the rest of his life was like, but
> it's quite obvious to me that some people DO crack under the pressure. 

At Berkeley there used to be (is he still there?) a guy called the "X" man because he had "X"'s all over his body, on his glasses, etc.  When I met him in High School he was talking about how the "X" represented the female chromosones and chattered about how men were just broken women and on and on...  There was a rumor that he was actually a professor experimenting on the students.  I think he sometimes went around with polka-dots, too (but I never saw him like that).

rgds-- TA  (uucp: uunet!fed!m1tca00 | internet: m1tca00@fed.frb.gov)
[implied disclaimer]

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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: CDs cheaper to make than cassettes?
From: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Organization: The Man With Ten Cats
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 21:42:56 GMT
Reply-To: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)

In article <1992Nov16.193529.1384@vicorp.com> jmethot@vicorp.com (John Methot) writes:
>In article <1e1au9INNbg0@gap.caltech.edu> heathh@cco.caltech.edu (Heath Ian Hunnicutt) writes:
>>Mike Berman <MSB101@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>
>>>Along related lines (I know this one is true), it is cheaper to make certain
>>>computer chips with math coprocessors than to make them without (since it costs
>>> extra money to sever the line to the coprocessor).  But the ones with the
>>>coprocessor cost more.  Of course in this case, you're paying for technology...
>>
>>	Unless I miss my guess, you must be refferring to the Intel 486
>>and 486sx.  While it is true that the 486sx is merely a 486 with a "severed
>>line", there was a good reason to sever that line and charge less for
>>the chip.  Namely, most 486sxs are 486 chips that _failed_ the quality
>>check for the floating point unit.  That is, the main processor was
>>working, but there was some trouble during the fabrication that screwed
>>up only the "math coprocessor" portion of the chip.  Well, there was no
>>reason for Intel to throw away a perfectly fine half-working chip, so
>>they "officially" removed the floating point unit and called it the SX.
>
>This would be a great explanation except for the existence of one other
>major difference between the SX and DX intel processors.  The DX procs
>have 32 bit wide access to the motherboard's data bus, while the data
>path on SX's is only 16 bits wide.  Both have 32 bit *internal* data busses.
>The SX were actually made *on purpose* to be plug compatible with older
>(16 bit data bus) motherboards.

The 486SX has an external 32 bit data and address bus.

The 386SX has an external 16 bit data and address bus.

Go read the spec.

A 486SX is exactly identical to a 486DX, except for floating point speed.

>The "half defective" explanation above *does* apply to processors of
>varying speed.  A 20MHz x86 is the same as a 25 or 33MHz except for the
>existence of some manufacturing defect that prevents it from passing
>functional tests at the higher speed.

However, 486DX/50 and 486DX/2 processors are different internally.

-- 

Rick Kelly	rmk@rmkhome.UUCP	unixland!rmkhome!rmk	rmk@frog.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.conspiracy,alt.politics.perot
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 12:15:23 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.192012.3428@midway.uchicago.edu> pynq@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>
>Stuff about L.L., deleted.

Leisuresuit Larry?

cj "Mine's powder-blue" l