HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gkatz@csws15.ic.sunysb.edu (Gerald W Katz)
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 01:26:01 GMT

In article <Bz3n49.830@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> schamber@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Sylvain Chamberland) writes:
>
>I'm no astronomer, but back in high school, people told me Pluto is the
>9th planet and was discovered only because of ambiguities in Neptune's
>orbit...
>
>>  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
>>  This .sig unintentionally left blank.
>
>-- 
>Sylvain Chamberland           INTERNET: schamber@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca   
>Dept. of Biology          -----------------------------------------------------
>University of Waterloo    |  "Biochimiste un jour, biochimiste toujours!"
>Waterloo, Ontario, Canada |                               - anonyme

Actually, Neptune and Pluto switch positions due to the
orbit of Pluto.  While Pluto is the ninth planet most of
the time, its orbit makes it eigth in distance from the sun.
It's orbital path doesn't collide with Neptune's because
the solar system is in three dimensions, not two.
Anyway, this happend in the 1970's.  However, sometime
in the late 1990's, from what I remember reading, Pluto
will once again be the ninth planet again for a very long time.

gkatz

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.computers,alt.config,news.groups
From: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Subject: Re: Mark Brader Posts!  (Was: Re: Amusing Signs)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University CS Dept.
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:25:23 GMT

In article <BzD884.89K@polaris.async.vt.edu> jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel K. Furr) writes:
>Um, Mark, I thought that you couldn't get anything in the alt. hierarchy.  And
>yet, here you are.  Kinda blows Jay Maynard's whole argument out of the water,
>doesn't it?

No, it doesn't.  It's a crosspost which includes a non-alt group in the
header.  Such crossposts often reach places where postings made just to the
alt group don't.
--
"the bogosity in a field equals the bogosity imported from related areas, plus
the bogosity generated internally, minus the bogosity expelled or otherwise
disposed of."  -- K. Eric Drexler

Ken Arromdee (arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu, arromdee@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu)
      The truth is still the truth even if you choose to ignore it.
From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Making Urban Legends - Carjacking
Date: 13 Dec 92 10:51:47 GMT
Organization: Escape from Blacksburg, VA

12DEC199217521364@csa3.lbl.gov>
Organization: Escape from Blacksburg, VA

In article <12DEC199217521364@csa3.lbl.gov> jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per
 aspera) writes:
>>> Son of wealthy furrier
>> He was not the son of a wealthy furrier
>
>I know the truth can be changed in many ways as it becomes urban legend,
>but a furrier transform?

We transform all the time.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: VOTE ACK: comp.society.folklore unmoderation
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 08:36:27 GMT

tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood) writes:
: In article <Bz0zwn.8tu@rice.edu>, cathyf@is.rice.edu (Catherine Anne Foulston) writes:
: 
: > Followups to news.groups since I doubt the folklore people need any
: > more cross-posted flamewars.
: 
: We're collecting them!  If we get enough of them, a poor dying 7 year old
: boy in England get's free kidney dialysis!
: 
: Terry "ABSOLUTELY TRUE" Wood

Yeah! Just who do she think she is taking seriously - anyway?

Bill "Who Me?" Nelson
Organization: Hidden - I don't speak for them...
X-Stuff:      <This should be witty, but I'm too tired right now.>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 10:54:59 EST
From: David B. Horvath, CDP <MBADBH@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Underground Fires (was: Re: Mnemonics & Now - Burning Mines)

In article <Bz3osM.AA8@austin.ibm.com>, bwilson@austin.ibm.com (Brad Wilson)
says:
>
>
>Now, I have a question about burning mines - I have heard a story about
>a coal mine that caught fire, and they couldn't put it out so it was sealed
>off, but still is burning (this has been years now) and it will continue
>to burn for a few more years.  They say in winter snow will not stay on
>the ground over the mine, because of the heat, and so you can find it in
>the winter quite easily.
>
  In upstate Pennsylvania, there is one mine fire that has been burning since
  the 1950's in a town called Centrailia.  Apparently an old mine was close
  to the surface and had broken through (a new opening caved in).  This opening
  was under the town dump.  In the old days (before environmental protection),
  town dumps were cleared by periodic burning.

  The local fire company performed this function and hung around to put it out
  if it got too intense or spread.  One time, this fire ignited coal under the
  ground.  The underground fire was not immediately noticed.  At about the same
  time, a similar fire started between Centrailia and the next town up the
  road (Mount Carmel).

  The Mt. Carmel fire was extinguished by creating a firebreak in the ground -
  great trenches around the fire, and letting it burn itself out.  This
  process took years and many $$.  The Centrailia fire would have cost even
  more $$ at the time, so the state decided against putting it out (and
  probably hoped it would burn itself out).

  Eventually, enough damage was done to the town (sink holes, smoke coming
  through the sewers and though cracks in basement walls) that the federal
  government got involved.  The Feds are buying up any house in the area
  that they can, tearing them down, and shoring up any ajoining houses
  (they're all row homes).  There are a lot of people who just will not
  move out - in some cases their grandparents were born in that house.

  Where does the coal get O2 to support combustion?  Old mine shafts,
  cracks in the ground, and in some cases not at all.  Coal will 'burn'
  (react is a better word) in the absence of O2 - that's how Coke used
  in steel production is made (gross simplification).

  I can probably provide more details if desired.

      - David
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Gay Likelihood
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 92 20:07:58 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1992Dec16.063051.296@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
>twcaps@dante.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) queries:
>
>>For some reason, Jane Beckman's recent post reminds me of a
>>story I recently heard.  A friend of mine recalls seeing in
>>_The Daily Cal_ (student newspaper of the Univ. of Cal.,
>>Berkeley) in the 1960s, a story that "10% of the student
>>population" was gay.
>.....
>>"10% of all people are gay."  Then he recalled seeing it written
>>up in other papers.
>>
>>Has anyone heard any similar stories?  Can anyone shed any light
>>on the veracity of the stat?
>
>	yes and yes.
>
>	Oh. Something more complete?  I always assumed these were
>from Masters and Johnson, and that their methodology was
>inadequate.  Recent reports indicated the number is probably half
>or a little less than half of "10 %".

A recent survey of sexual habits carried out in the UK recently (results
published in Nature) came to the conclusion that almost 12 percent of all
males in London have had some homosexual experience.


-- 
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
From: neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Gravity
Date: 17 Dec 92 07:17:40 GMT
Organization: University of Toronto Physics/Astronomy/CITA

In article <1992Dec17.015644.14322@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
>gawne@stsci.edu in Newsgroup: sci.military  writes:
>
>>Try dropping a hammer and a feather at the same time from the same
>>hight.  If you do it on the moon (as some astronauts did once) both
>>will hit the ground at the same time.
>
> I don't remember astronauts taking feathers to the moon.
>
   I was just a wee lad at the time, but I've seen film clips of it since
then. In fact, the recently broadcast "Space" series seen on PBS a couple
of months ago included the film clip. I think it was Apollo 17, and the
objects were a falcon feather and a hammer. They hit the moon at the same
time.

>This does bring to mind the story that Galileo did not actually
>drop stuff off the leaning tower of Pisa, but simply claimed the
>results that different sized stuff would fall at the same rate,
>without bothering to find out.
>
   According to my copy of Weinberg's _Gravitation and Cosmology_ he did
the experiments with inclined planes, rolling masses and pendula to
calcel rolling friction effects. My memory is that he never did drop
weights off the tower of Pisa, but he did verify his prediction
experimentally, rather than just quoting it "without bothering to find
out."


-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | Entropy isn't what it
 neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca    Ad astra  | used to be.
 utzoo.utoronto.ca!generic!cneufeld              |
 "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Unchanged FAQ List from 1 November 1992
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 13:43:12 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand

curt.tucker@ehbbs.gwinnett.com (Curt Tucker)  writes:

> 
> Wayne McDougall writes:
> 
> WM>Yup. Furthermore, it seems odd to be that two geriatric jokers admit to
> WM>having made some circles, and thus that explains ALL cirles in England [fo
> WM>all time?] when similar circles also appear in places like, South America.
> 
> WM>Occams Razor should apply here, methinks.
> 
> Yes.  And it says there have been many pranksters.  That's a lot
> simpler and easier to swallow than the other explanation.

WHAT other explanation?

And while I'm here...I haven't responded to those who have cast doubts
previously, to save bandwidth. Basically, I'll keep quiet, do some 
research, and get back to you. This is an omega priority project...

-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
  This .sig unintentionally left blank.

Hello! I'm a .SIG Virus. Copy me and spread the fun.
From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel K. Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: The El (Was: Re: Conductivity of water <plus a story from Uncle Dave>)
Date: 19 Dec 92 22:46:13 GMT
Organization: Escape from Blacksburg, VA

In article <13695@optilink.COM> manley@optilink.COM (Terry Manley) writes:
>I lived in Chicago for a while quite near the "L".  For those of you
>who don't know the "L" is an (extremely noisy) electric train system
>employing a third rail.  

Interestingly, it's called the El because it's an elevated train.  Not the
"L"... the El.
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: And that number again is....oops! (was: Gay Likelihood
Date: 19 Dec 1992 01:50:16 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 8951@ms.uky.edu, fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis) writes:
> If the number comes out of Kinsey [...]

Kinsey was a genius.  He made a *living* tabulating Purity Test scores,
whereas I have to hold down a Real Job(tm).

> And this is all Pre-AIDS.

I though AIDS started in the 1950's (, Darryle)?

Brian "Is that 10% by weight or by volume?" Scearce
---
Brian Scearce                                           bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
              The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
                  "You can't fit the truth on a t-shirt, man."
                                 "That'd fit."
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Date: 17 Dec 92 15:16:09 GMT
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs

In <42578@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins) writes:

>>	Bob "just one of the 'Dips'" O'Brien

There's a street not far from where I live in Jerusalem with
bumps placed in the road to discourage fast driving.  The sign is
bilingual, with the English reading "ROAD HUMPS AHEAD".
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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.urban,alt.folklore.college
From: tb13@ellis.uchicago.edu (leon joel gross)
Subject: Re: College Libraries Funded by the Trivial
Reply-To: tb13@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 18:24:37 GMT

In article <1992Dec13.025333.20653@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1992Dec12.211326.10263@midway.uchicago.edu> N.W. Choe <nwc1@midway.uchicago.edu> writes:
>>The Regenstein Library here at the University 
>>of Chicago (home base of Nobel Prizes) was 
>>paid for by the Regenstein Family... who 
>>invented/made those enveloped with
>>clear plastic windows in them... 
>
>I'm curious whether this is true, or just an urban legend of its own.

I've heard this told many times here by tour guides and others, so it
must be true (AFU motto of the day)

>The reason I ask is because I was told as a credulous student at Brandeis
>that the Gerstenzang Library was funded by the man who invented Q-Tips.

>Do other colleges have libraries allegedly funded by the inventors of the
>mundane?  Are either of these stories true?  

>Ted "they never let me into the Reg because law students never carry
>     their registration cards because the law library isn't anal" Frank

BTW, there is a building at the Lincoln Park Zoo called the Regenstein
Large Mammal (or Large Primate) house, which houses apes, chimpanzees,
monkies and the like.  

(And I have pictures of me and other U of C alums in front of the Reg
monkey house, but they're not on line)

Leon "I'm at the Reg, so I must be radioactive" Gross
I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
From: johnson@ut-emx.uucp (Karen J. Morgan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Keywords: KIBO = Knowledge In Bozosity Out
Date: 16 Dec 92 21:45:20 GMT
Organization: U. Texas Center for Space Research

In article <10DEC199216565473@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov> bdsuba@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (PANDAMAN) writes:
>In article <1992Dec8.025721.12120@midway.uchicago.edu>, thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes...
>>Does anyone know any interesting mnemonics for remembering things
>>(as opposed to the other kinds of mnemonics)?
>> 
>I have never learned the mnemonic "thirty days hath September.....".

	"Thirty days hath September,
	 April, June and No Wonder.
	 All the rest have thirty-one,
	 Except Pasadena,
	 And it has the Rose Bowl."

That's the way I learned it from my aunt, the English teacher.

Karen

-- 
        karen@louise.ae.utexas.edu   -or-   johnson@emx.utexas.edu
From: pfritsch@skid.ps.uci.edu (Paul Fritschle)
Subject: Re: More on "Thad"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: Miskatonic University Department of Computer Science
Distribution: usa
Date: 17 Dec 92 22:04:12 GMT

starfish@stein.u.washington.edu (Sarah Skovronsky) writes:

>I am listening at the moment to a newsradio interview with the people who
>are analyzing "Thad's" letter.  According to the experts, there is a certain
>amount of doubt regarding the fact that this letter was written by a child,
>and a certain amount of suspicion that the whole thing is quite bogus.

>(One of the people on the radio was checking the handwriting, and it has
>some signs of an adult trying to imitate a child's writing.)
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You mean like the odd combination of upper- and lower-case letters?
Soon as my roommate and I saw that on the news we both said "Hoax."

>The Port Angeles, WA police department is still treating the letter as if
>it were real, and they are continuing the search for the mystery child...

Doesn't hurt anything for them to, so long as they aren't wasting
resources needed elsewhere, though, of what I recall of that area,
there isn't too much up in that neck of the woods.
--

Paul Fritschle                                         pfritsch@skid.PS.UCI.EDU
                 Have you hugged YOUR shoggoth today?
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: "in bed" - the origin of.
Date: 20 Dec 92 17:45:51 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service

In article <1992Dec19.338.25426@execnet> "tom betz" <tom.betz@execnet.com> writes:
>In Queens, NY, "between the sheets" has >long< been appended to 
>fortune-cookie fortunes.

Shouldn't that be "between da sheets" in Queents?

Bruce "between da furrfu" Tindall

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 03:24:07 GMT

In article <t7R=Jf#@engin.umich.edu> ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering) writes:
>I noticed some weird street signs last summer when I was in Berlin.  
>It was odd, but about one out of every three streets seemed to be
>named "Einbahnstrasse."  I have no idea how Berliners find their
>way around.  

I didn't know jelly doughnuts migrated.

Ted "ich bin ein deux trois" Frank
-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 07:26:06 GMT

In article <7939@news.duke.edu> klg@panda.mc.duke.edu (Kim Greer -- rjj) writes:
>
>But you seem to be correct that there is not one in "Connecticut" [sic].

How about Lowell Weicker?

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lowe@fnx.uucp (Phill Lowe)
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Organization: I/Ovations
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 13:13:14 GMT

markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger) writes:

>Over the weekend, I heard a network news commentator say that high winds  
>and a full moon caused (or made worse) the higher-than-usual tide that  
>caused so much damage along the northeast coast. What does a full moon  
>have to do with it? I find it hard to believe that a full moon has any  
>effect on the tides. The mass of the moon, and hence its gravitational  
>pull on the ocean doesn't change, nor does its distance from the earth (at  
>least not because the moon is full). The only thing that really changes is  
>that we on earth can see more of the moon. Is this an urban legend or  
>what?

Low pressure (caused by several things) means that there is less pushing
down on the water.  The relative positions of the moon and sun are
what cause the variations in the tides.  If the sun and moon are on
the same side of the earth there is a greater combined pull on the
water.  If they are on opposite sides there is some canceling out of
the effect.  Full moon means that the earth does not cut off the light
from the sun on the moon...... ie the moon is not on the opposite side
of the earth from the sun.  

Not an Urban Legend!  I've seen an additional 2 feet of tide caused by
the combination. Very impressive if your folks have a beachfront cabin
that's only two feet above the normal max high tide!
From: JTCHEW@lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Guess what's not in this dictionary?
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Date: 17 Dec 1992 20:56:43 GMT
Organization: Honest Ernie's Used Ions
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.252.152

 fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis) wrote:

>  This sand, will it never end.....

Truly a beau jest.

Joe "I hate it when it does that" Chew
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: starfish@stein.u.washington.edu (Sarah Skovronsky)
Subject: Re: Thad's Letter to Santa Claus
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:22:45 GMT

<WCE2@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>According to an AP release, postal officials in Port Angeles, Washington
>(state) opened an unstamped letter to Santa Claus and found a pathetic plea
>from "Thad" for Santa to come and take him to "Heven" so "My mom an dad woud
>not have too by things for me no more." Seems dad has been unable to find
>work and "We don't get many food now.  . . We got candils.  A city man took
>the lights a way.  It looks like we don't live heer no more.  We do."

[rest of Thad story deleted]

Yup...since I'm up here in the Seattle area, I've been hearing that damn
story on the news for days (weeks?).  No, they haven't located "Thad" yet,
and it doesn't seem that they will (Port Angeles is not exactly a bustling
metropolis, and I believe that they have exhausted all possible locations
where Thad might live or go to school).  About all I can add is the
comment from the Port Angeles sheriff's station after being overloaded
with phone calls:  "Look out your window and help some people in your
own neighborhood!"

>Anyone with definite knowledge: please e-mail direct, as I often can't check
>this listing daily.

Sarah "I beat Pasado, and now Thad" Skovronsky

-- 
************************************************************************
*            Sarah Skovronsky     starfish@u.washington.edu            *
*                    MiSTy #17978--and proud of it!                    *
**********fnord!********furrfu!********hi-keeba!********meep!***********
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: styri@balder.nta.no (YuNoHoo)
Subject: Re: The reports of my death (wasRe: Decision on "official language" in 
Organization: Norwegian Telecom Research
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 92 23:17:40 GMT

PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
: References: <1992Dec8.234558.24228@bmw.mayo.edu> <27883@dog.ee.lbl.gov> <CINDY.9
:  <27898@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
: [...]
: 	The National Association for the Posthumous believes
: that since the deceased are really only sleeping until
: Judgement Day, it is not right to defame its clients by using
: such language as 'dead end' or 'deadbolt'.
: 	This language, they say is politically incorrect and
: makes being dead seem negative somehow.

You are dead right.

---
YuNoHoo  "striving always to be politically correct (at least that's
          simpler that to be grammatically correct)"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban