HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: don@redsun.pps.rain.com (Donald C. Currie)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Amusing street names
Date: 6 Jan 93 18:31:33 GMT
Organization: Research and Evaluation Dept. Portland Public Schools, Portland Oregon.

dtasman@NMSU.edu (Dan Tasman) writes:

**** stuff deleted ****

>On another note, I've got the folowing imponderables about street names ...
>* Does any city have a "Martin Luther King Boulevard" in a neighborhood that  
>isn't predominantly African-American? If so, was the surrounding neighborhood  
>opposed to the name change? Did the neighborhood change solely because of the  
>new name?

In Portland, OR, Union Ave was changed to MLK Blvd about 5 or 6 years ago.
The neighborhood in that area has the highest population of black folks in
the city.

The angst & protests among many businesses (there are a lot of small businesses
on the street owned predominately by whites) was unbelievable.

Finally the city (who changed the name) said that there was no law on the
books that can stop the renaming of a street and that was the end of that.
The furor finally died.

The neighborhood is slowly changing, but not due to the name change; the new
Convention Center is generating more & more income in the area. MLK & the
surrounding neighborhood is getting cleaner and more productive all the time.

I'm glad I live nearby.

>is there a "Malcom X Boulevard" anywhere?  
During the end of this episode, some prankster changed all the street signs
on downtown Front Avenue to "Malcolm X". It looked *very* authentic and some
folks got all steamed up again until they discovered it was a peel & stick
hoax. Go figure.
						- DeeCee
-- 
Donald C. Currie -- Portland Public Schools -- Research & Evaluation Dept.
		 E-mail Address -- don@redsun.pps.rain.com
This was a test of the Emergency Signature System. If this had been an actual
signature, profound wisdom would have been included in the message above...
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:33110 talk.politics.medicine:531
From: klg@panda.mc.duke.edu (Kim Greer -- rjj)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,talk.politics.medicine
Subject: Re: Why care what percentage?  (was: Gay Likelihood)
Date: 10 Jan 93 17:57:17 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: Duke University, Nuclear Medicine

In article <C0K2J1.141@panix.com> ilaine@panix.com (Liz Stokes) writes:

>	I don't know how they test, but when you go to give blood they
>ask you some *very* personal questions and make you mark down the answers
>on the sheet and sign it. then they give you two bar-coded stickers - one
>for 'transfuse my blood' and one for 'don't transfuse my blood'. That way
>if you think you might be at risk for having HIV you don't have to tell 
>anyone, and you won't put anyone in danger. They make it clear that thought
>they test the blood, the testing isn't perfect and it's up to you to be
>responsible. 
>	Liz "take my blood, please" Stokes

  Besides all the questions and the bar-coded sticker, you are also given a
card with a phone number on it.  You call the number if you change your mind
about whether your blood should be used.  Pretty extensive checking, but a
lot of it still goes back to whether or not the donor supplies honest
answers.  This allows several times for the donor to indicate that the blood
should not be used.

k "I shot a blood-worm in my pajamas.  How it got in them I'll _never_ know" g

-- 
Kim L. Greer                       
Duke University Medical Center		 klg@orion.mc.duke.edu
Div. Nuclear Medicine  POB 3949		 voice: 919-681-5894
Durham, NC 27710  		         fax: 919-681-5636
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker)
Subject: Re: Phone Calls at 2/3 the Speed of Light
Originator: jlpicard@woofer.austin.ibm.com
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:36:56 GMT
Distribution: alt
Reply-To: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Object Technology Products
Keywords: phone, telephone, speed


dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning) writes:
> jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker) writes:
> >dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning) writes:
> >> 0.66C isn't too bad for phone cables, I've seen much worse.
> >> 
> >> It's mainly due to the interna; capacitance and the inductance of the cables.
> 
> >Aside from propagation delay, I thought there were also significant delays
> >associated with going through the switching circuitry, etc. Taking them
> >into account, 440M mph sounds a little high.
> 
> Then, of course, there's the delay between the words leaving your mouth and
> reaching the mouthpiece and the delay at the other end when the sound leaves
> the earpiece before hitting your eardrum. Then you have the delay between
> the signal striking your eardrum and you brain processing that sound.
> Now THAT'S slooowww.
> 
> I'd imagine the delays in in a digital exchange would probably be around 10
> to 20nSecs fixed.                                                        ^^
     ^^^^^^^
Hmmm? I believe it's considerably more than that (somewhere in the 
millisecond range, at least) (ref: Clifford Stoll in _The Cuckoo's 
Egg_ trying to figure out how far away the "Hanover Hacker" was).

Craig
-- 
-- "You will have the tallest,    Craig Becker, Object Technology Products --
--  darkest leading man in               Internet: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com --
--  Hollywood."                     IBM TR: jlpicard@woofer.austin.ibm.com --
--   - Merian C. Cooper to Fay Wray               VNET: JLPICARD at AUSVM1 --
From: klg@panda.mc.duke.edu (Kim Greer -- rjj)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Microwave Fun
Keywords: microwave, explosion, danger
Date: 7 Jan 93 14:08:25 GMT
Organization: Duke University, Nuclear Medicine

In article <C0G0LB.MAw.1@cs.cmu.edu> rhuss+@EDRC.CMU.EDU (Robert Huss) writes:
>	Someone recently told me about a neat trick done in a Steven Segal
>movie. (probably the one where he's a tough, nasty, good guy, who does
>all it takes to get the bad guys... which one is that?)  
>	He took a cup, put some steel wool in it, filled it with alcohol,
>put it in the microwave, and turned it on.  A while later, a bad guy opens
>the microwave, and BOOM! 
>	I think this would actually work, but boy is it nasty.  The steel 
>wool would get very hot in the microwave, but it wouldn't burn if it was
>immersed in alcohol. ( no oxygen)  The alcohol would also heat up, and
>would boil out, but if you have an air-tight microwave, the pressure would
>build up inside, so all the alcohol wouldn't boil.  This way, the steel wool

  Only thing is, I can't say as I've ever seen an airtight MW oven. 

ObDoubleNegative: That's not to say that someone couldn't build one.

  They all seem to have fans installed that carry out moist air.  Why would
you need or want an airtight MWO for ordinary cooking?

k "in the microwave, no one can hear you scream" g

-- 
Kim L. Greer                       
Duke University Medical Center		 klg@orion.mc.duke.edu
Div. Nuclear Medicine  POB 3949		 voice: 919-681-5894
Durham, NC 27710  		         fax: 919-681-5636
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jdnicoll@prism.ccs.uwo.ca (James Davis Nicoll)
Subject: Re: Amusing street names
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 21:15:59 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.191741.26982@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> pwhitman@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Philip N Whitman) writes:
>Can anyone identify a major city for me that does not have a street named
>after Martin Luther King, Jr.?
>
>-Neal

	Toronto, Tokyo, Hong Kong,  Minsk,  and Paris  come  to mind.

							James Nicoll
From: bill.duetschler@hal9k.ann-arbor.mi.us (Bill Duetschler) 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Amusing street names
Date: 6 Jan 93 18:03:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: HAL 9000 BBS, W-NET HQ, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Reply-To: bill.duetschler@hal9k.ann-arbor.mi.us (Bill Duetschler) 

DT > * How did "Avenue Street" in Toronto get it's name?    
  
Perhaps from the same place as "Street Road" in Bucks County, PA.   

---
 . JABBER v1.1 . Are you into casual sex -- or should I dress up?
                                                    
----
+------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| HAL 9000 BBS +1 313 663 4173 or 663 3959 | Four 14.4k v.32bis dial-ins |
| Public Access QWK-to-Usenet gateway      | With PCBoard 14.5aM & uuPCB |
+------------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Why care what percentage?  (was: Gay Likelihood)
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 23:06:06 GMT
 o-state.edu> <1993Jan6.224454.19887@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1993Jan6.224454.19887@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> dsegard@nyx.cs.du.edu (Daniel Segard) writes:
>
>
>
>In article <1993Jan6.185944.15328@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> wvhorn@magnu
>.acs.ohio-state.edu (William VanHorne) writes:
>>>       I guess I haven't been paying attention to the public service
>>>broadcasts....   Please explain how those of us who don't fool around w
>th
>>>anyone and don't do drugs, etc are going to contract AIDS?  Or has ther
>>>been a news release that I missed announcing that AIDS is carried by
>>>misquito bits or something?
>>>
>>No, AIDS is only carried by the naughty bits.
>>
>>Sorry.
> 
>      Ah, so the claim that everyone was in danger from AIDS was not true
>then?  I thought that sounded like it might have been an urban legend....

Of course not _everyone_ is at risk from AIDS.  The remaining Japanese
soldier in the Philipines who hasn't been in contact with people or vaccines
or blood transfusions or anything like that since before the CIA invented
HIV is probably quite safe.  Which is small consolation as he will be quite 
old now and is probably near death anyway.  Just about everyone else is at
risk though. 

Derek "Your risk may vary" 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
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: vince@cadence.com (Vince Gibboni)
Subject: Re: Flammable Cars (Was: Re: Mother Lifts Car Off
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 18:55:40 GMT

rocher@husc8.harvard.edu (Jean-Marc Rocher) writes:
> joltes@husc10.harvard.edu (Richard Joltes) writes:
>>
>> True.  A friend who used to live in Revere, Mass(achusetts) (but he's much 
>> better now, thanks) ...
>> Of course, these officers were from the same force as those who broke into a
>> local ATM one night about 10 years ago.
>>
>    ATM? I thought they broke into a CVS drugstore. Maybe they were
> busier than I thought...
>
>            ...Jean-Marc Rocher, former Stoneham, MA resident
>
        Actually, if my (gin-soaked) memory is correct, the Infamous CVS 
    Incident took place on the outskirts of Cambridge (in that little Beirut-
    like area near the Alewife T station). There was an actual crime going
    on - it was late at night and someone had broken into and was robbing 
    a CVS (a drugstore with delusions of being a K-mart). Due to some bizarre,
    incomprehensible accident, the police actually showed up at _a place where
    a crime was being committed_. Anyway, naturally being a tad nonplussed 
    about how to get out of situation without, all in all, having in some way 
    contributed to the public good, the police (no doubt) looked at each 
    other and said, "Hey, we's can steal some of dis stuff!" I forget
    whether the police had to let the actual robbers go, or if it they had just
    never caught them in the first place, but they (being trained professionals)
    then proceeded to steal much more stuff than the "actual criminals".



            ...Vince "Never leave Marblehead" Gibboni, 


--
                                                         vince@gda.cadence.com

    Sometimes pushing all the buttons
    Sometimes pulling out the plug
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: alewis@gibbs.oit.unc.edu (Andrew Lewis)
Subject: Re: CD Legends
Organization: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 11:17:14 GMT

In an almost completely different direction (from slashing music to the
bone), there is the example of the old Dead standard, Dark Star.  First
appearance, two minutes and spare change (on the first album, I think). 
Later version, twenty minutes plus (the European tour album?).  No change
in the words (four lines), just sort of musical whacking off extended to
the ultimate.  Any more examples of musicians going for maximum ego-boo in
padding songs?

Andrew "not one of Jerry's Kids" Lewis
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: alopez-o@neumann.uwaterloo.ca (Alex Lopez-Ortiz)
Subject: Re: A twist on the "Eskimos have 100 words for snow" UL
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 19:03:21 GMT


What about adding one line to the FAQ

Major Urban Legends

F: The Bible


Alex 


:-) :-) :-)

-- 
Alex Lopez-Ortiz                              alopez-o@maytag.UWaterloo.ca
Department of Computer Science                      University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario                                                   Canada
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: "Back in the African-American"
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 17:36:33 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.140946.27003@Princeton.EDU> smaxwell@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Sara Maxwell) writes:
>In article <1993Jan4.234445.19800@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>>In article <1993Jan4.154741.3068@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> ashall@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Andrew S Hall) writes:
>>>I saw a newspaper retraction that apologized for saying that the city's
>>>finances were now in the African-American.
>>
>>Mm-hm.  And so have people in Toronto, Amherst, and San Jose.  
>>
>I too am skeptical, but if it helps any mad researcher, my mother sent
>me a clipping to this effect, I think from Herb Caen's column in the
>S.F. Chronicle, attributing the retraction to the Sacramento Bee. He had
>it written out as if quoting verbatim.    (All in CA, of course.)

Okay, that's four newspapers it has allegedly happened to.  And in all
four, it involved city's finances.  I think Herb Caen was had.   
-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
From: cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Ring in the New Year with Some FAQs
Date: 4 Jan 93 20:12:12 GMT
Organization: /home/ludviga/cindy/.organization

>OFFICIAL AFU MASCOT
>  - My pet King snake, Elvis
>  - Peter's pet dalmatian dog, Pixel
>  - snopes' pet cat, Snopes
>  - little gator's non-biological gator, harvee (sorry, no use of
>    the "s" word here)
>  - Cindy's pet troll, Steinar

No, no, no, no..... Steinar is my pet Norwegian.  Stein is my pet
troll.

I had no idea this was so complicated.

-Cindy Kandolf (still not dead)
 cindy@solan.unit.no
 Trondheim, Norway

P.S. Steinar named Stein.  That's the confusing part.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: alopez-o@neumann.uwaterloo.ca (Alex Lopez-Ortiz)
Subject: Re: One more for the FAQ
Keywords: In article <C0EHH2.L5B@taligent.com>, cep@taligent.com (Christophe Pettus) writes:
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 03:46:16 GMT

In article <C0Fz9s.L2z.1@cs.cmu.edu>, rhuss+@EDRC.CMU.EDU (Robert Huss) writes:
> |> >Add to the science section of the FAQ
> |> >
> |> >F. 10% of the population are homosexuals.
> |> >   [The origin of the figure is a missaplication of a 1930's study]
> |> >
> |> >Recent studies say 3-5% of men are homosexuals, and about half as many 
> |> >for women.
> |> 
> |> How do these "recent studies" define "homosexual"?
> |> --
> |> -- Christophe
> |> 
> |> "Bad analogy!  No biscuit!"
> 
> And what sort of error do these "recent studies" have?  How do they compensate
> for the tendency of homosexuals to hide their preferences? Etc, etc, etc...

I do not have the qualifications to properly evaluate the reports. Although
I have read several times that there is basically just one study from which
the 10% figure was WRONGLY inferred (and not by the author of the study, but 
by some other person). On the other hand, as I said most studies tend to agree
in the half as many women as men, and in the 3-5% homosexuals. (Another UL
in France is: 70% of all french men had had homosexual encounters at least
once).

Still, as your following comment shows this issue may be too sensitive for 
some, even to the point where they would prefer not to quote the truth (TM).
To me, it definitely seems to be in line with most of the Missapplication of
Science UL's quoted in the FAQ.


> 
> 	Personally, I don't think the percentage of homosexuals in the
> population  should be on the FAQ one way or another. It's not an UL.
> 
> Bob "90% of all statistics is bunk" Huss
> .
> 

-- 
Alex Lopez-Ortiz                              alopez-o@maytag.UWaterloo.ca
Department of Computer Science                      University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario                                                   Canada
From: de@moscom.com (David Esan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: One more for the FAQ
Date: 6 Jan 93 21:01:13 GMT
Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY

In article <1993Jan6.033729.26161@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne) writes:
>In article <C0EEH2.G0y@math.uwaterloo.ca> alopez-o@neumann.uwaterloo.ca (Alex Lopez-Ortiz) writes:
>>F. 10% of the population are homosexuals.
>>Recent studies say 3-5% of men are homosexuals, and about half as many for
>> women.
>Other recent studies show that 10 percent of Males in London have had some 
>form of Homosexual encounter (New Scientist after Nature - sometime in 1992).

Of course, this just goes to prove what Archie Bunker had to say about England.


[For those of you who have forgotten, or never saw Archie due to distance from
the US, or lateness of birth (and a pity it is), Arch said: "Well, now England
that's a fag country."  Fag in US parlance means homosexual. ]

-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -->     David Esan      de@moscom.com  
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: A chip on the shoulder
Date: 12 Jan 93 14:03:54 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre

In article <ll40l0INN1am@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:

>Any guesses on the origin of the phrase "a chip 
>on the shoulder"  -- meaning to be embittered about
>something?

>It doesn't seem to have an obvious physical origin, unlike
>all the other chip expressions: fish and chips, when the chips
>are down, a chip off the old blockhead.

Isn't there a silly old story about macho guys wandering around with small 
pieces of wood on their shoulders, daring people to knock them off?
Or should I call the men in white coats myself to save time?

        Never believe an experiment until it is confirmed by theory 
    Dave Budd, MCC, Oxford Rd, Manchester, England    (44|0)61-275-6033  
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: AFU person of the year?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 00:03:08 GMT


I saw the Time magazine selection of W. Clinton as their 'person
of the year' recently.  There must be someone out there worth
honoring as the AFU 'Mann of the year' for 1992. Nominations
might include.

1. Edwin (some last name).  The Filipino man who convinced the
world media that he was pregnant, till exposed as a hoax.

2. The Schoo's of suburban Chicago, who must have seen Home
Alone and thought it acceptable to leave 4 and 9 year old at
home while on vacation.

3. Cindy Kandolf, who was assumed by a large part of Usenet to be
no longer biologically active.

4. The guy who made the movie with plot including UL's.

5. Craig Shergold, Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jon "What would be the reward, a Shergold statue?" Papai
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:33395 talk.politics.medicine:553
From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (J. Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,talk.politics.medicine
Subject: Re: Why care what percentage?  (was: Gay Likelihood)
Date: 12 Jan 93 21:39:04 GMT
Followup-To: talk.politics.medicine
Organization: Virginia Center for Lemur Fandom, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA (subscribe to alt.fan.lemurs TODAY)

In article <ioF8wB2w165w@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz> system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall) writes:
>ilaine@panix.com (Liz Stokes) writes:
>
>> anyone, and you won't put anyone in danger. They make it clear that though[t]
>> they test the blood, the testing isn't perfect and it's up to you to be
>> responsible. 
>> 	Liz "take my blood, please" Stokes
>
>Hmmm, well as a donor, having gone through the personal questionnaire process,
>I can't say that they made it clear to me that the testing isn't perfect.
>An alternative explanation was that they didn't want the expesne of testing
>and collecting useless blood. But not being a complete dummy, I did consider
>it most likely to be a testing problem.
>
>HOWEVER, I would like to say that IMO governments, hospitals, etc do NOT
>makie it clear that blood is still a risky product. They make statements like
>"it is safe - we test all our blood". I consider that misleading, although
>pragmatically I can understand it.
>
>ObUl: Blood goes into a blood pool, and thus dilutes HIV to the same level as
>found in saliva, rendering it harmless.
>-- 
>  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
>
>"I hate quotations." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Please take the interminable AIDS thread out of alt.folklore.urban and
into talk.politics.medicine.
From: Tom.Rettie@p828.f70.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Tom Rettie)
Sender: Uucp@blkcat.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: google??  Try Googol
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 10:00:04 -0500

Suddenly, as if by the hand of God Himself, there blazed across the sky a
message from Matt Rice: 

  MR> I thought a google was 10^10, and a googlePLEX was 10^100.
  MR> 
  MR> I also think that the number is used/was coined to help deal with
  MR> molecular level math stuff, ie modelling canonical ensembles for
  MR> statistical mechanics and other heady stuff like that.  And maybe to
  MR> help deal with distances or stars or something when talking about
  MR> astronomy.

Don't know about a google, but a Googol is 10^100.  A Googolplex is the name
for 10 to the power googol.

Regards,
 Tom "with the goo-goo-googly eyes--what is this guy, a fly?" Rettie
From: wvhorn@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (William VanHorne)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Norman Travels??
Keywords: Spaghetti,Hastings,TheBlackHand,1066
Date: 8 Jan 93 15:24:12 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University

In article <rhamilt.726445888@husc.harvard.edu> rhamilt@husc10.harvard.edu (Rowan Hamilton) writes:
>I recently heard someone claim that the Normans (of 1066 fame), before 
>arriving in northern France, were in fact for awhile based in Sicily. The
>claim was that they based themselves in Sicily while marauding in the
>Mediterranean, and then moved to France when they found better pickings 
>in the North. Can anyone out there confirm/deny this?

The "vikings" consisted of:
1) Danes, who conquered, er, settled in Iceland, England, Germany, etc.
2) Swedes, who conquered, er, settled in Russia ("Rus" meant Swede)
3) Norwegians (Normans) who conquered, er, settled in France, England, Africa,
   and yes indeed Sicily.

The Normans who settled in Normandy, a pay-off from the French "king" to get
them to stop raiding inland, are not the same Normans who settled in North
Africa and Sicily.  

References? On AFU? Ha!

---Bill VanHorne
(It's spelled "Bill VanHorne", but it's pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove")