HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: neath@brazil.psych.purdue.edu (Ian Neath)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Jimmy the Greek
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:06:28 GMT
Organization: Purdue University

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

> In the New York area, we have had at least two similar incidents:

> There was a local weatherman who was a quick-drawing artist called Tex
> Antoine for many years.  He is alleged to have said something like "if
> rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it" as some parable relating to some
> impending bad weather.  He got a chance to appear on the air again and
> give a public apology, but was subsequently fired.

The original quote about rape came from the Republican candidate for
Governor of Texas, whom Ann Richards beat.  I believe the quote was
about increased taxes:  they are just like rape...

--
    Ian Neath, PhD     | There are four kinds of people in this world:
neath@psych.purdue.edu |    cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics.
 neath@purcvvm.bitnet  |                       - Umberto Eco 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Subject: Re: Mis-applied physics in advertising
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 20:03:32 GMT

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <6927.2A69A7E6@psycho.fidonet.org> jra@f160.n3603.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jay Ashworth) writes:
>>Charles Lasner, to All on Saturday July 18 1992:
>> CL> Or Ivory's pseudo-scientific notation claiming to be "99 and forty-four
>> CL> one hundredths percent pure"?
>>
>>Actually, this one's accurate.  Quantative analysis has been performed on Ivory bar soap, and only .56% by weight was other than cleaning agents.

>That's not the problem here: it's that unwieldy language that inflates the
>perceived claim.  Why not just say 99.44 percent, when you can drag it outs
>to 99 and 44 one hundreths.

I think that way of saying it was common back when they started
talking about Ivory's purity (in the 50's?).  Most people understood
fractions.  Anyway...

>Or, the "health-fad" problem where high-sugar foods are misleadingly marked
>as "cholestorol free" or "fat free" when the product inherently is not a
>fat source, but is problematic as a carbo source because it's high in some
>form of sugar.

My favorite version of this was an oil product (coconut oil I think) I
saw at a local grocery store.  It had "No Cholesterol!" printed in
large letters on the label.  I muttered a "no kidding" and flipped to
the nutritional information panel:

			  98% saturated fat.

Sigh.

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
From: anson@netcom.com (Anson Kennedy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: that'd be in the butt, bob
Date: 24 Jul 92 01:43:32 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

artn@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Ellyn Sandor) writes:

>	OK, cutting through the noise of what constitutes "proof" or not,
>A friend of mine whose truth and memory I trust claim to have seen the
>episode.  He estimates the date between 1986 and 1988, not a rerun, and
>the wording was a little different from what has transpired in this
>discussion: (I just spoke to him about this last night, but I am not sure
>of the wording)

>	Where is your favorite place to make whoopie?

>	That'd be in the butt, bob.

>	Some people have been arguing that censors would never have let
>that go by.  Why?  There are no dirty words, and the content is such that
>one would already have to know about how that sort of thing works 
>in order to understand:  in other words, a child young enough to require
>protection from such a statement would not understand it in the first place.
>	I, too, would like to see a tape, but I think the numbers of
>direct witnesses in this case leads me to believe it really happened.

The timeframe corresponds with what I remember and the question is close
enough to what I remember.

Also, if it was not a rerun, then it was the "New Newlywed Game," a second
incarnation of the show which began in '85 or '86.  According to my TV
show encyclopaedia, it was essentially the same as the original *except*
they allowed more risque stuff on the air.  Which would make the comment
in question even less extraordinary and the censors argument even less
likely.

I'm now getting the books snopes claims establish this did *not* happen.
If it didn't happen, then I want to know what's wrong with my memory (no
comments, please :-); if it *did* happen, I want to find out how it's
become established as an UL.
-- 

Anson Kennedy                                                   anson@netcom.com
Secretary of the Georgia Skeptics (but don't even THINK I speak for them!)

"If you don't watch the violence,    \           "If I had been the Virgin Mary,
you'll never get desensitized to it."  \                I would have said 'No.'"
-Bart Simpson                            \  -Margaret "Stevie" Smith (1902-1971)
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Craig Shergold GIF
Date: 21 Jul 92 06:50:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: dog.24740
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Organization: Craig Who?
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

In article <1992Jul20.215552.13772@twg.com> nolan@twg.com writes:

 +Forfend! How could we forget Him?  BTW, ennybuddy out thar scanned an image of
 +him lately that you could post (for purposes of making a poster, of course)?

It's been quite a while since I've taken a look at it, but there's one
at Jason Heimbaugh's a.f.u. ftp site.  (deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu, 128.174.53.10).
The original scan was by Phil Kernick from an Australian edition of 
_Readers' Digest_ (I think) and is of so-so quality.

 +How 'bout taking up a collection so Our Poster Boy can Post?

Terry " Then he can go for the most get well e-mail notes huh?" Chan
--
Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov                           I disclaim all disclaimers.
From: "michael benveniste" <michael.benveniste@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: mis-applied physics i
Date: 29 Jul 92 20:42:35 EST
Reply-To: "michael benveniste" <michael.benveniste@channel1.com>
Distribution: alt
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

CL>Or all meat products commercials that say "is 93% fat free" which
CL>merely means that the rest is totally fat, when there is clearly an
CL>attempt to get "extra credit" by causing a perception that since most
CL>of it is free of fat, perhaps the rest is only containing an
CL>"ordinary" quantity of fat, not the actual situation where it's
CL>entirely fat.  Ditto for 97% caffeine free coffee.

Several years back, in response to similar claims from other coffee
retailers, Sanka (brand) changed it's claim from 97% caffeine free
to 99.7% caffeine free.  The formulation of Sanka did not change.
One explanation that was offered -- The process removed all but 3%
of the caffeine, but the product ended up with only .3% caffeine.

Needless to say, the new ads didn't make the stuff taste any better.
---
  DeLuxe 1.21 #10918  Sleep is the opiate of the proletariat
--
Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Who invented the airplane?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 02:50:15 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.230803.26097@brtph560.bnr.ca> denebeim@brtph254.bnr.ca (Jay Denebeim P025) writes:
>In article <1992Jul15.182421.18774@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>>Not to be confused with the ripoff Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty
>>Jalopies, 1969, also with Terry-Thomas but starring Tony Curtis, husband
>
>Actually, I believe that you're confusing 'the great race', this was
>with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood.  
>
>jay@deepthot.cary.nc.us

No, Tony Curtis was in both movies.  However, Terry-Thomas was in both of the
"Those" movies, while Tony Curtis wasn't in the airplane one.  Admittedly
all three movies are similar.  Critics generally consider the Jalopies
movie to be a rip-off of the "style" of the flying machines' movie though.
The great race is a movie apart from this, and of overall higher quality.
Perhaps Tony Curtis got somewhat typecast in the process.

These movies paved the way for the wacky racers, Penelope Pitstop, The Gumball
Rally, and any movie with Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise.  Which is the
one with Roger Moore as one of the racers?

BTW, there was some random movie with Roger Moore playing a lawyer for the
mafia.  In one scene, he is asked to do some random task, and utters the
line "who do you think I am, 007?"

cjl

Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:19673 alt.folklore.college:2044
From: dolf@echo.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: UL Sighted
Keywords: n
Date: 24 Jul 92 07:07:17 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, E.C.H.O. development department

perry@Unify.Com (Perry Clarke) writes:
>More years ago than I care to contemplate, when I worked at Motorola, we
>were given badges to celebrate the release of the new 68030 microprocessor
>(isn't marketing a sad profession?) which, besides the main message about
>the 030, had a phrase written in Japanese characters.  I managed to start
>a rumor that cropped up in all sorts of odd corners of the company that
>alleged that the Japanese words were: "Intel Sucks".  I believe that
>the message was actually a very worthy one concerning Quality (with a
>capital Q) but most people prefered my translation.

Just read in the paper that some Asian country (Brunei I think) is
burning and returning (the not burnt ones) tyres made in Japan. Turns out
that the grooves in the surface of a tyre is some rude text in thier
language (arabic ?)..
-- 
   _ _
  / U |  Dolf Grunbauer dolf@echo.philips.nl or ...!mcsun!echo.philips.nl!dolf
 /__'<   E.C.H.O. development         Digital Equipment Enterprises B.V.
88  |_\  There is no use in denying that you've just read this line :-)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Mis-applied physics in advertising
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 20:29:08 GMT

richard@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) writes:
: 
: >10 MHz is 1E7 So in each clock period light goes 3E3 m.
: 
: 30m.
: 
: >However electrons are going to move rather slower
: 
: Yeah, < 1 mm/s.

It is really that slow? In coax, the propogation rate is usually greater
than .6. --  30 x .6 is 18 m/cycle.  I don't think the propogation rate
in even micro-traces gets below about .3.

Are there actually some substances where the propogation rate is .0000000003?

Bill
From: rgm@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Rob Menke)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Price is Right T & A?
Date: 20 Jul 92 22:00:11
Organization: TEAM CS -- Making Tomorrow's Mistakes Today!
NNTP-Posting-Host: cory.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: jfreter@triton.unm.edu's message of 20 Jul 92 02:00:44 GMT

In article <w-cmtgn@lynx.unm.edu> jfreter@triton.unm.edu (The Myth) writes:

   ...it looked like someone took a magic marker and drew a bar on the
   screen.

Did it improve the clarity and sharpness of the sound?
--
If the "New Kids on the Block" and the 	|  Robert Menke
"Guys Next Door" were to get into a	|    rgm@cory.berkeley.edu
knife fight on TV, who would win?	|    ...!ucbvax!cory!rgm
    a) New Kids  b) Guys Next Door  c) The American viewing public
From: salantel@dssv01.crd.ge.com (E. L. Salant)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: catching bullets with the teeth
Date: 29 Jul 92 21:13:47 GMT
Reply-To: salantel@wsqtb9.crd.ge.com
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center

I heard from coworkers, that on tv they showed a man who could 
catch a bullet fired from a gun with his teeth.  Supposedly the
gun was statically mounted and carefully aimed, and the bullet 
would pass through things like a piece of paper or a glass pane
to prove it was no sleight of hand.

While I believe that these people saw this on tv, I can't believe 
that someone can really catch bullets with his teeth.  Anyone
got the scoop on this?

OBUL:  The man started out working with howitzer shells and worked
his way down to small caliber projectiles.

==============================================================================
Eliot (How does he practice) Salant
==============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jerryg@ssd.intel.com (Jerry Gaiser)
Subject: Re: A non-UL, but stupid, question
Organization: Supercomputer Systems Division, Intel Corp.
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 20:13:10 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.000427.14879@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> Robyn.C.Reed@dartmouth.edu (Robyn C. Reed) writes:
>How long do posters stay posted in this newsgroup?  In other words, how
>long can I not read a.f.u before I miss a thread, or significant
>portion thereof, entirely?
>
Well, I resigned my positions with Intel the first of April and started this 
contracting job at the end of June, and basically the same threads were running 
at both ends. All the Terries and all the snopes and PvL, who I haven't seen 
since I've returned. Is Elvis missing again too?

-- 
Jerry Gaiser
         Usenet: jerryg@ssd.intel.com
        Fidonet: 1:105/380
           PBBS: n7pwf@n7pwf.or.usa.na
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Re: Chelsea Clinton Fan Club
Keywords: continental drift, get me?
    <Brpx9z.1H5@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <1992Jul22.024943.4601@midway.uchicago.edu>
Organization: Loose Affiliation of Millionaires and Billionaires and Baby
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 12:12:35 GMT

thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>Phil Gustafson writes:
>>>Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> 
>>>Member of the Chelsea Clinton Fan Club  
>>
>>I get the feeling that she's going to be rather a babe in a few years.
>
>Well, let's hope those braces work.  She'll be legal sometime in
>Bill's second term.  

Gentlemen, I must enter a clarification here. Yes, the young Ms. Clinton
is as attractive as 12 year olds get. But, the true fandom here is
Spiritual, admiring her normalcy in the face of High Octane Ambitions.
Consider what the usual Child in the Limelight becomes. (discount this
week: Capital Letters. Get 'em while they're hot!)

As for braces, that is a Sore Subject. My own 12 year old, it seems,
is due for metal work that will rival the intricatest wirings of
a Cray Y-MP. At least in cost. Future references to braces should
be made in only the extremest need. Please.
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> 
Coach of the Fighting Thundercats 
Member of the Chelsea Clinton Fan Club  
From: kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Chris Dollin)
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 10:13:38 GMT
Subject: Re: Mandatory negatives (was Re: Agnostics and Athiests)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.books,rec.arts.sf.misc

In article ... brad@clarinet.com (Brad Templeton) writes:

   I'm not saying at all that "you don't have to" means "you must not."

   I'm simply describing the facts.  The people who call themselves
   agnostics do not believe in god.  They make the very fine point that
   this is different from the atheist's viewpoint "I believe there is no
   god."   I understand this difference just fine, thanks.  No need
   to get insulting.  I just argue that it is not very meaningful.

   The agnostic when asked, "is there a god?"  might say "I don't know,"
   rather than "I think not."   SO WHAT?   That's about the only difference.
   The agnostic does not go to church, or follow any moral code because it was
   handed down by some god.  The agnostic does not worship or have specific
   plans for the afterlife or any of the things that distinguish the faithful.

One distinction I would draw is that the atheists claim there statements are
about the world (``There is no god'') whereas the agnostic makes claims about
their beliefs (``I don't believe in God'', or ``I don't know if there is a
God''; or perhaps the stronger ``It is not possible to know if there is a God
or not'', which makes claims about knowing beings). This can promote a
difference in behaviour. Since I haven't explored the question of belief with
my locals, I can't be sure. (For the record, I'm agnostic.)
--

Regards,    | ``In fingers of trees, and valleys of gold    | Judy Tzuke
Kers.       | I watch as you outshine the charlatan foe.''  | Higher & Higher
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: Anyone heard this one? New UL?
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 11:49:16 GMT

In article <24807@dog.ee.lbl.gov> TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
>As pointed out by Bill Nelson, your story is a classic urban 
>legend.  Jan Harold Brunvand uses the term "Hilarious Accident"
>stories (other terms include "Red Wagon stories" and "Mack 
>Sennets").  From the stories I have seen I think a likely link
>between your story and Kevin Alexander's is the amusing accident
>that leads to the injury (although Kevin's is somewhat less
>amusing, perhaps because it strikes closer to home?).
>
>A common motif (as Bill also points out) is the ending of the
>story with some injury caused by the relaying of the story to
>someone carrying the fellow's stretcher and thus dropping him.
>
>In _The Vanishing Hitchhiker_, JHB relays 4 treatments of the
>story:
>
>1.  (also known as "The Exploding Toilet").
>
>2.  A guy was using a rope tied around his waist which was tossed [...]
>
>3.  The bottomless female skier in a story better read in the original.[...]
>
>4.  A story where a would-be gasoline thief is found sick to his stomach[...]

5. I thought the classic one was the one where:
	A. Wife asks husband to fix sink.
	B. Husband calls plumber.
	C. Plumber starts working underneath sink.
	D. Wife sees bottom half of plumber, starts "administering"
	E. Plumber, in surprise, bangs his head on the pipes.
	F. Ambulance comes and drops the stretcher with the plumber.
I could swear Ann Landers/Abby repeated this one as "true" in their column
once.
-- 
                      ....................................
                      ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
                      the university of chicago law school 
                      official member of the cultural elit
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Kilroy
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 23:11:17 GMT

In article <1992Jul25.121703.4425@acme.gen.nz> kilroy@acme.gen.nz (earthbound misfit, I) writes:

>
>The annoying thing is that I definitely remember reading about it in a
>publication of some kind somewhere (well *that* narrows it down!). Very
>possibly a Reader's Digest, so it's most likely bogus (the above paragraph
>looks like the most completely bogus thing I've ever written) but at least
>it might give us some references to try and verify.

The earliest reference I can personally confirm is that it is in at least
one random place in Mad or Panic comics.  Since there were only 23 Mad
and somewhat less Panic issues, this can be dated at approx. 1957.  The
reference was in turn made as if the phrase were well known from some
earlier time.  Thus, the latest it would make sense to use it was if it
originated in the Korean War, so the WW II story is quite plausible.  Also,
Korea isn't likely because it was not a well-liked war (although not as
publicly disliked as Vietnam), and the Kilroy message definitely has a 
happier "ring" to it, to be more associated with a popular war like WW II.
(Mad wouldn't use that form of controversy at that time; they dropped the
phrase in a manner not unlike Notary Sojac if someone can explain that one.)
(My use of "popular" above refers to public opinion about the war effort.
WW II was probably the last pre-90's war where the public was squarely
behind the action.)

cjl

Organization: Fifth yr. senior, Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 22:24:12 -0400 
From: Mary Rose Campbell <mc3d+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: generic drugs
	<1992Jul28.192028.1@eagle.wesleyan.edu>

 dayrton@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes :

>Nope.  No difference for Over The Counter drugs, and aside from a very few
>special drugs, no difference between name-brand prescription drugs and their
>low cost generic equivalents.  "All aspirin is alike."  Well, almost.  The
>difference is in the buffers and stabilizers used in aspirin, which is
somewhat
>unstable and tends to break down into acetic acid and, oh, something else.


Asprin (Acetysalicic acid) is synthesized from acetic acid and salicyate
(in the form of sodium salicylate) so it would break down into those
components if not stabelized.

mrc
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,comp.dcom.modems
From: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Re: Modem tax back
Reply-To: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Organization: ACUSON, Mountain View, CA
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 17:05:05 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.165903.11124@mdd.comm.mot.com> jackb@mdd.comm.mot.com (Jack Brindle) writes:
>In article <1992Jul20.191903.7530@acuson.com> lawson@aldia.UUCP (Drew Lawson) writes:
>>In article <1992Jul18.061630.25536@bang.uucp> bam%bang@trout.nosc.mil writes:
>>
>>>MEMBERS URGED TO FIGHT "MODEM FEE"
>>>
>>>  (16-Jul-92)
>    ^^^^^^^^^^^  Looks like a date to me...
>
>>>  A commissioner with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently
>>									^^^^^^^^
>>
>>Oh, the trouble that could be saved if people would bother to put DATES
>>in these things when they create them.  At least it makes it easier to
>>detect bad data.
>
>The article appeared on Compuserve within the last week or so. According
>to the article and other info on that system, the FCC is thinking about
>it AGAIN. They went on to urge subscribers to AGAIN write their
>congressmen. The article also referred to the earlier attempt and discussed
>why it was abandoned and what is needed to cause that to happen again.
>
>Oh the trouble that could be saved if people would bother to READ things
>before they flame on them...
>
>Jack Brindle

The date shown above was clearly the date that the announcement was
added to the login messages on CompuServe.  It is not the date that the
FCC commissioner did whatever the article says he did.  Every
government press release that I have seen or heard quoted is clearly
dated.  All I was saying was that without the information, I have no
reason to believe that this is not just another resurrection of the old
(1978?) story.

I still haven't heard about it other than from the CIS banner, though
I'm a bit out of touch at the moment.

Face it, if some one posted a message that said, "a terminally ill boy
_recently_ requested get well cards," would you believe it was real, or
a ghost of Craig brought to the present?

I don't know where you read this posting, but I found it in
alt.folklore.urban, where it is easy to assume that it is the result of
misinformation.

-- 
Drew Lawson                      If you're not part of the solution,
lawson@acuson.com                you're part of the precipitate
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban