HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
Subject: Re: Speed of gravity
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:22:46 GMT
Organization: Right Bleedin' Church of Libertine Obfuscatology

In <1992Sep30.120331.430@ecc.tased.edu.au> ecc_jim@ecc.tased.edu.au writes:

>Tom Van Flandern posted a VERY interesting paper in sci.physics a while back
>which indicated that gravity travels *instantaneously*. He showed that if it
>didn't, the gravitational centre of the sun would pull the earth out of orbit.

Whoa nelly!  Then why aren't we working on a communications system based on
oscillating masses rather than oscillating charges?  Would the changes in
gravitational field be imperceptable?  What would we have to do to detect
it? Or would the inertia of the mass used as the transmitter become a
problem.  Doesn't instantaneous gravitational propagation pose big problems
for special relativity?  What about general?  This is physics a bit
advanced for me, but I am quite curious about it.

-- 
    / \      Reverend fnord                 | "King Kong died for your sins!"
   /   \     fnord@panix.com                | 
  / <0> \                                   | "Don't just eat a hamburger, 
 /_______\   Church of Obfuscatology, Inc.  |  eat the HELL out of it!"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science,alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: "Normal" body temperature
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 25 Sep 92 06:26:29 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.science

In <1992Sep24.184646.14743@bradley.bradley.edu> gremlin@buhub.bradley.edu (Stephanie Udry) writes:

    my mother, in the sake of accuracy, used to take my temperature with 3
    thermometers....one in each armpit..and one in the mouth....

If they didn't agree, did you get punished for lying?
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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.science
From: jhl28500@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jae Hyung Lim)
Subject: jokes?
Summary: looking for any science/math related jokes puns welcome
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 16:07:49 GMT
Keywords: jokes, math, science


Hi,

I'm looking for math and science jokes people might have on hand.  It's both
for my own enjoyment and for the purpose of annoying friends =).

So if you've got 'em either mail them to me or post them here (I'd prefer email
rather than post though.)

Oh yes if you have puns which are science/math related or if the jokes are 
heavily dependent on puns they would be more than welcome.  Just send them to
me, I'll make a good home for them.

thanks

J

jhl28500@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
From: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: o.k. scifi
Date: 28 Sep 92 19:38:40 GMT
Reply-To: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <KETIL.92Sep27222303@svale.ii.uib.no>, ketil@svale.ii.uib.no (Ketil M. Malde) writes:
>Are you saying that you use more oxygen when the water is cold?  Or
>that the person involved would freeze to death?

Hypothermia is, indeed, the problem here.

>The water holds 4 deg C at the *bottom* of the ocean.  At least, it
>has its highest density at that temperature.  I suppose volcanoes and
>the like could change the temperature somewhat.  Locally.

When did they replace the oceans with distilled water?

>I would think water would ger *warmer* not colder, due to increased
>pressure.  This is just a feeling I have, may be wrong.

Only if work was done on the water as the pressure was increased.  Water's
pretty incompressible.  I don't think the increased pressure would have a
noticeable effect on temperature.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: CARL@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL

Disclaimer:  Hey, I understand VAXen and VMS.  That's what I get paid for.  My
understanding of astronomy is purely at the amateur level (or below).  So
unless what I'm saying is directly related to VAX/VMS, don't hold me or my
organization responsible for it.  If it IS related to VAX/VMS, you can try to
hold me responsible for it, but my organization had nothing to do with it.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: xeno@iastate.edu (Gary L Snethen)
Subject: Re: Phony SCIFI on TV and in Movies
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 05:54:55 GMT

In <2ac1ecaewnr070@ark.abg.sub.org> ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan) writes:

>st17y@rosie.uh.edu (Belding, Troy C.) writes:
>> > 
>> >>Speaking of holodecks: do you know how much !@#$% energy it takes to
>> >>create matter?!!
>> > 
>> >	mc**2?
>> > 
>> 
>> They don't create matter on the holodeck.  It is interacting holograms and 
>> electromagnetic force fields.  The only place matter gets created is in 
>> the replicators.  (food, phasers, etc. (inanimates))  Also, how much energy
>> is liberated in a matter-antimatter reaction?

>    mc**2?

>8) --ralf

I'd have to disagree...  I recall them explaining a holodeck as a device
which creates temporary matter and works on similar principles as the
'teleporters and replicators' except that the matter created is unstable
outside the environs of the holodeck...

But mc^2 hardly makes the holodecks impossible...  Like the replicators,
they do not create matter, but 'merely' rearrange it...  Therefore,
they do not require mc^2 energy to create holodeck matter anymore than
I do to make chocolate chip cookies... ;)

Please note that they DO require enough energy to create stable nuclear bonds
and that this is of the order of typical fission and fusion bombs...  These
bombs do NOT take 20kg of plutonium and convert it to 20*c^2 joules of energy.
They mainly release the nuclear bonding energy inherent in the nuclei of the
atoms.  This makes up a VERY VERY small portion of the mass of the plutonium,
(which demonstrates how truly powerful a true mc^2 explosion would be)...
Matter/anti-matter reactions approach perfect mc^2 energies...  So, in
theory at least...  they have PLENTY of energy for the conversion of
any substance to any other substance...

---Xeno
Organization: K.U.Leuven - Academic Computing Center
Date: Thursday, 1 Oct 1992 17:17:27 +01
From: <FFAAC03@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Speed of gravity
 <1992Sep29.113212.1802@eng.cam.ac.uk> <1992Sep30.120331.430@ecc.tased.edu.au>
 <HOD.92Sep30225150@amazon.chem.columbia.edu>

would an exploding object in space cause a gravity wave?  The gravity
center of all the bits and pieces stays the same, and the total mass
stays more or less the same (if mass is converted into energy, does the
energy cause a gravity field?).

Erik Broeders
From: craig@cs.washington.edu (Craig Anderson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Metal Foil and Fillings
Date: 1 Oct 92 01:02:05 GMT
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle

In article <29SEP199213372882@rigel.tamu.edu> enw2049@rigel.tamu.edu (WALKE, ERIK N) writes:
>       It is one hell of a jolly good thing that no excess mercury 
>       evaporates inside your mouth-because mercury vapor is INCREDIBLY 
>       more toxic and dangerous than even the liquid metal.  Breathing 
>       even a small amount of mercury vapor is very bad for your health.

Actually, every time you bite down on a mercury filling, very minute amounts
of mercury are released.  This effect is measurable - people with fillings
generally have higher blood mercury levels than people who don't,
other things being equal.  There is some debate on as to whether
amalgam fillings are safe - unfortunately, many of the people who
say they aren't are making a killing by scaring people into having
their fillings replaced by composite or other types of fillings.
-- 
Craig Anderson
craig@cs.washington.edu                              Visualize World Spam
From: ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Diamonds in my floor wax
Date: 04 Oct 92 10:00
Organization: Magick Shoppe, Gurth City

ccuppern@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Cyndi Cuppernell) writes:
>[...]
> How many different ways are there to distinguish a real diamond
> from a fake, acrylic or glass? -- 

Diamonds "disappear" when put in CS2 (Carbon disulfide) because of the
same refraction index and they stick on fatty surfaces which is how they
separate them in the mines from the junk.

--ralf
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: using green marker on CDs
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 17:28:59 GMT

bzs@ussr.std.com (Barry Shein) writes:
: 
: I am very, very skeptical of this green marker effect.
: 
: However, to play the devil's advocate, something I see missing in
: these experiments which claim identical bit streams is timing. Timing
: of the bits and how they hit the speakers can be very critical in the
: quality of the sound perceived, even if the bits when taken as a whole
: are indistinguishable.

It appears you do not understand compact disc circuitry. The bit stream
does not get to the speakers. The binary bits (which form discrete
numbers) are run through a digital to analog converter/filter system.
This analog signal is then amplified before going to the speakers.

... deleted ...

: Have possibly small differences in timing been taken into account in
: these experiments involving reading disks, with and without the green,
: on macs etc?

Why should they? They can have no effect. 

: A timing effect can of course be local (e.g. within some group of bits
: timing is affected, but a group is not affected when taken as a whole,
: so gross measures such as how long a section took to play would not be
: meaningful.) For example (to avoid confusion), a single track may take
: the same amount of time on both, but the bits within that track might
: be scattered a little causing an effect on sound quality.
: 
: Just a thought, however unlikely.

See above. As long as the streams are identical, and the stream is read
fast enough that the buffer is not emptied, then timing will have zero
effect on the result.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: frank@rover.uchicago.edu (Frank - Hardware Hacker - Borger)
Subject: Re: Phony SCIFI on TV and in Movies
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Reply-To: frank@rover.uchicago.edu
Organization: Joint Center for Radiation Therapy
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 15:22:00 GMT

In article <KETIL.92Sep27215358@svale.ii.uib.no>, ketil@ii.uib.no writes...
>Oh, that could be interesting...what if you want to just fire a
>warning shot?  "Ooops, I was aiming above your head, but the automagic
>targeting system corrected my aim.." not to mention that while *you*
>want to hit the zorg, your gun may prefer targeting the coffe-machine
	Or the reverse, as in the classic scene in Dr Strangelove where
	Kenan Wynn wants to blow up the coke machine to get money so he
	can dial in and say stop the atom bombers, you want to blow the
	lock off the box containing the goodies, but the laser vaporises
	the strongbox and the jewels/money.

   Frank R. Borger - Physicist    __       Internet:  Frank@rover.uchicago.edu
Michael Reese - Univ. of Chicago |___      Phone : 312-791-8075 fax : 567-7455
  Center for Radiation Therapy   | |_) _   America is a large, friendly dog in
                                   | \|_)  a very small room. Every time it wags
    "Birthplace of Softball"          |_)  its tail, it knocs over a chair.
					   Arnold Toynbee
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: mtpins@icaen.uiowa.edu (Michael T Pins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: o.k. scifi
Date: 6 Oct 92 02:31:25 GMT
Organization: University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick) writes:

>In article <1ao8ujINN29t@gap.caltech.edu>, jittlov@gumby.cs.caltech.edu (Mike Jittlov) writes:

>Mike:  How long can the human body be immersed in a heat sink at the freezing
>point of water before hypothermia sets in?

I may not own a green jacket, but....
Quite a while, actually.  I used to cool off in glacier run-off for 10-15 
minutes at a stretch with no problem, and it wasn't much over 5 degrees C.

-- 
*****************************************************************************
* Michael Pins                |   Internet: amigapd@isca.uiowa.edu          *
* ISCA's Amiga Librarian      |         #include <std.disclaimer>           *
*****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science,alt.folklore.urban
From: rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Subject: Re: Metrication and "normal usage"
Reply-To: rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Organization: U of Cambridge, England
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 09:30:32 GMT


In article <1992Oct5.191730.18345@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz>,
comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen) writes:
|> [...]
|> Of course non-standard metric culture is growing independently of the
|> official rules.  Everyone but me says 'kiLOMiter' --- I, of course,
pronounce
|> it correctly as "KILLomeet'er", as the rules say --- and then have to
|> explain what I mean half the time!  "KEE-LOH" universally means kilogram,
|> leading some people to say "KEElogram".  And so forth.  Takes three
|> generations to settle down, I reckon.  NZ has been metricating for only
|> about twenty years now.

I've taken to making a point of pronouncing the other measure
`milLIMiter' to appropriate loons, in response to this odd piece of
practice.  Where does it come from?  (I hope it's not the USA, in view
of what I've said above and the overwhelmingly US readership of this
group ;-)  My assumption has been that it derives from the crazy
accentuation that the talking heads on the television and wireless
employ - things like pausing in the middle of a sentence on a heavily
accented `the'...
--
Robin (dump Brian Kay) Fairbairns                    rf@cl.cam.ac.uk
U of Cambridge Computer Lab, Pembroke St, Cambridge  CB2 3QG, UK
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: glitto@iastate.edu (Scott M Klabacha)
Subject: Re: o.k. scifi
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 12:00:59 GMT

mtpins@icaen.uiowa.edu (Michael T Pins) writes:
>glitto@iastate.edu (me) writes:
>
>>diverson@phys.ksu.edu (David Iverson) writes:
>->Disclaimer:  I thought 'The Abyss' was a pretty cheesy movie.  But the
>->science part of it is really pretty good  (except anything having to do with
>->the aliens, sigh...).
>->
>
>>           there was a point when one of the characters dove into the water
>>and swam from one craft to the next...never mind the fact that I tried to 
     hold
>>my breath along with the movie and couldn't (but then again, I wasn't
>>physically exerting myself at the time, and the character was)...the water
>>must have been really close to 0 degrees C (I'm guessing between 0 and 3
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>degrees; but that's only a guess)...the character was a goner before he got
>>halfway there...
>
>>(Although I must admit that this never occurred to me until I read Michael
>>Crichton's entertaining novel _Sphere_, where one of the characters attempts
>>something similar, and is nearly killed by his under-30-second trip...)
>
>Are you saying a person is unable to stay under water for more than 
>30 seconds without coming up for breath?

No.

>I used to frequently stay under for up to 2 minutes while swimming.

I've done the same. In pools; in water that was more than twice the temperature
of the water involved in the movie and book.

>While very cold water will shorten this time, 30 seconds is simply not a 
>problem for someone in decent shape.
>

Are you speaking from experience here? Did you ever swim in water that was
within a degree or two of freezing? Underwater?

Both the character in 'The Abyss' and the one in _Sphere_ entered the water
far enough below the ocean surface that the water should have been just over
32 degrees (I wish I had _Sphere_ with me...I have this nagging doubt in my
mind that the water was even that warm; I'm thinking it might have been even
colder [and still not frozen] due to the pressure). The character in _Sphere_
entered the water to rescue another character; the effort nearly proved to be
fatal. The character in 'The Abyss' made a much more extended trip (more than
a minute long)...and left the water with no ill effects. It ain't right.

>-- 
>*****************************************************************************
>* Michael Pins                |   Internet: amigapd@isca.uiowa.edu          *
>* ISCA's Amiga Librarian      |         #include <std.disclaimer>           *
>*****************************************************************************

Sorry if I was unclear the first time, fellow Amigan.

   gLITTOfERN
glitto@iastate.edu
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.science:3530 alt.folklore.urban:24341
From: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us (S. Mudgett aka little gator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science,alt.folklore.urban
Organization: gators 'r us
Subject: Re: "Normal" body temperature
Keywords: Great 98.6 it's good to have you back again, Keith
	<1992Sep23.190035.11661@cbnewsd.cb.att.com>
Reply-To: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
X-Software: HERMES GUS 1.03 Rev. Apr 14 1992
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 05:04:40 -0500

In <1992Sep23.190035.11661@cbnewsd.cb.att.com>, barth.richards writes:

>(Perhaps the original author picked 98.6 because it works out to a round
>number in degrees celsius?  98.6 degrees F = 37 degrees C.)
the popular ul is that mr farenheit wanted normal body temp tp be a nice 
round 100, but he had a fever the day he adjusted the scale.  i don't know
who picked 98.6
-- 
-- little gator aka s. mudgett     email: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
-- friend of a gator is a friend of mine
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
Subject: Re: oversampling (was Re: using green marker on CDs)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 16:20:09 GMT
Organization: Right Bleedin' Church of Libertine Obfuscatology

In <1992Oct1.060544.6804@ucc.su.OZ.AU> hedley@metro (Mark Hedley) writes:

>>There's no
>> way to interpolate reasonable values since you don't have sufficient
>> information to do so (thank you, Mr. Nyquist), so what to do?  Since the

>Wrong!! With Nyquist sampling (which can be assumed for CD) the time domain
>can be perfectly reconstructed - it is called sinc interpolation.

Time to review your notes.

2 Things:
1) sinc interpolation can ONLY restore the time domain signal if the
signal was bandlimited in the first place. In standard digital audio, we
cut-off pretty close to 22Khz.  There is information at higher frequencies,
but the argument is that the ear cannot hear them, and it is at very low
amplitude.  Mad dogs and audiophiles can in fact hear this information.

sinc interpolation can perfectly restore everything that was in the 0-22KHz
range. 

2) sinc interpolation is completely impossible in any physical system, it
is only a mathematical theory.  It assumes ideal sampling, and the ability
to build a filter that can't be built with any known components.   When you
take your sample and map it onto an 8 or a 16 bit number, you get what is
called a quantization error.  Remember also that a sinc wave corresponds to
an ideal filter.  1 in the passband, 0 outside, vertical cutoff.  Anyone
with an EE degree can tell you that such a filter cannot be realized.

-- 
    / \      Reverend fnord                 | "King Kong died for your sins!"
   /   \     fnord@panix.com                | 
  / <0> \                                   | "Don't just eat a hamburger, 
 /_______\   Church of Obfuscatology, Inc.  |  eat the HELL out of it!"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science,alt.folklore.urban
From: eachus@Dr_No.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)
Subject: Re: "Normal" body temperature
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
	<1992Sep24.112128.16933@infodev.cam.ac.uk>
	<1992Sep25.194708.11692@cbnewsd.cb.att.com>
	<1992Sep25.214704.5476@news.acns.nwu.edu>
	<1992Sep27.145854.21702@infodev.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 14:48:10 GMT


     The Farenheit temperature scale used salted ice water for zero,
and average body temperature for 100 degrees.  Of course back then the
average person was likely to have a cronic infection of some sort...

     The same effect is happening again.  As environmental and
infectious attacks on our bodies diminish, the "average" body
temperature keeps dropping.

--

					Robert I. Eachus

with STANDARD_DISCLAIMER;
use  STANDARD_DISCLAIMER;
function MESSAGE (TEXT: in CLEVER_IDEAS) return BETTER_IDEAS is...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: ketil@svale.ii.uib.no (Ketil M. Malde)
Subject: Re: Phony SCIFI on TV and in Movies
Reply-To: ketil@ii.uib.no
Organization: student of computer science at the University of Bergen, Norway
Date: 27 Sep 92 21:53:58

In article <144@newave.newave.mn.org> john@newave.newave.mn.org (John A. Weeks III) writes:

   From: john@newave.newave.mn.org (John A. Weeks III)
   Date: 19 Sep 92 19:35:49 GMT

   In <16SEP199210515749@rover.uchicago.edu> frank@rover.uchicago.edu writes:
   > STTNG	Thy all have these little phasers, and fire from their
     waist. Horribly 
   > inaccurate. (no wonder they never hit the borgs.) Totally impossible to
   > kneel, cross your left arm for support and aim to improve accuracy.

   Minolta makes a wonder autofocus camera today.  Perhaps the phasers have
   the ability to automatically target whatever is in the general direction
   that it is being aimed in.

Oh, that could be interesting...what if you want to just fire a
warning shot?  "Ooops, I was aiming above your head, but the automagic
targeting system corrected my aim.." not to mention that while *you*
want to hit the zorg, your gun may prefer targeting the coffe-machine
nearby. 


--
 = Ketil Malde                     In real life:  ketil@ii.uib.no =
 = Nuke the whales!                    Honk if you love unicorns! =
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: cshort@nmsu.edu (Spmg*d, Lord of Potted Meat Product)
Subject: Re: Phony SCIFI on TV and in Movies
Organization: Computing Research Lab
	<1992Sep19.024911.9054@ccu.umanitoba.ca> <37172@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu>
	<Bv6wIK.15G@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 09:42:35 GMT

>>>>> On Sat, 26 Sep 1992 14:35:07 GMT, kabreuer@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Klaus Breuer) said:

Klaus> jma@reef.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) writes:

>   > One of the worst uses of Science knowledge is the visible 
>   > phasor beams. We shouldn't be able to see it if its some 
>   > kind of directed energy beam.  Yes-No?

of course you would be able to see the beams. the standard power
rating of a mark II hand phaser (measured at 1000 cm from beam
emergence) is ~450 watts cw. the is certinally enough to ionize
atomosphere and/or the trace gases of space.

c.
--

                                                                      |S
  |------------------------|                                          |P
  |don't fear the hippie   |-------------------------------           |L
  |he's got mind control-dm|    spamgod is: cshort@crl.nmsu.edu       |E     
  |------P|-----i was driving at the speed of light and turned on my  |E
         E|   headlights. the light piled up on my windshield like----|N ----|
         A|   wet toilet paper.            ----------------|Yak Cheese Abuser|
	 C|				                   |-----------------|
         E|