HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: strat@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Steve Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Computer theft
Date: 2 Jan 1993 23:37:56 -0600
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

bml@netcom.com (Brian Leibowitz) writes:

>I heard this story many years ago and was wondering if it really happened.

>A programmer at a bank changed the interest calculations on accounts
>to round down instead of rounding to the nearest penny.  All the fractions
>of pennies were put in a dummy account and then withdrawn.  The bank did
>not notice for a while because the amount of interest paid was still correct
>and the books balanced.

Why, this is a crucial sub-plot to Superman III!

Stratocaster

-- 
	   Steve Davis (I'm a student, not a spokesperson!)
      strat@cis.ksu.edu - Kansas State University - Manhattan KS
				   
We encourage employees who create, achieve, increased value for share holders.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien)
Subject: Why care what percentage?  (was: Gay Likelihood)
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 08:49:39 GMT

In article <BzJ0nJ.1Ip7@austin.ibm.com> jlpicard@austin.ibm.com writes:
>
>JTCHEW@lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:
>...
>> I've always heard it as common knowledge that "10% of the population
>> is gay."  It may not be true, and I don't know what the origin of the
>> belief might be (probably some combination of the Kinsey and Masters 
>> and Johnson research and the derivatives thereof), but I'd say it is 
>> very widely held in the US.
>
>Who cares about real life? What I'd like to know is what percentage of
>the _net_ is gay.
>

What I'm wondering is, does it make a difference to you?  If, say, 2% of
the population is all, then would that excuse ignoring or discriminating
against a group?  If 20% of the population were gay, then they'd be
a lot harder to ignore eh?  I'm sure some people are just curious, which
is fine, but I worry that many of those who care about the proportion
of some minority within the population care because they'd have a different
level of respect based on that proportion - flawed reasoning, in my mind.


I've read many times that 12% of the population is left-handed, and you
can bet there's discrimination still present, though most of it is
unintended.  If we were only 1%, there'd be people wanting to eliminate
us.  If we were 50%, most people would begin to understand it's just a
difference.  Not better not worse, not more, not less, just different.

I got this out of someone's .sig:
    "If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person
    were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified
    in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would
    be justified in silencing mankind."
                                                      -John Stuart Mill
A

	Bob "some think me left-handed, but I'm really ambisinistral" O'Brien
--
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: randle@nosc.mil (Mike Randle)
Subject: The Ultimate Circumcision
Summary: Doctor goofs, recommends sex change
Organization: /etc/organization
Distribution: alt.folklore.urban
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 22:40:03 GMT
Expires: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 10:00:00 GMT


I Recall reading about a medical mishap back in the late 70s (I think).
A doctor slipped up during a circumcision of a bouncing baby boy, and
recommended to the parents that he should have a sex change operation
and be rasied as a girl. Seems that the kid's fledgling manhood was
beyond repair.  If I'm right, the doctor was in the military, and the
hospital may have been Trippler (Hawaii).  Can anyone confirm this
incident, or is this just another urban legend?  If it is true, whatever
became of him/her?  What happened to the doctor?

Mike "I'm waiting with my legs crossed" Randle
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien)
Subject: Re: Honest Engineers
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 06:09:40 GMT

rrd@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ray Depew) writes:
>From AIChExtra, December 1992 (typos are mine):
>
>While only 12 percent of people polled say honesty and ethical standards 
>are high for US senators and congressional representatives, 45 percent 
>think that description fints America's enginers.  As reported in the 
>October 1 issue of 'USA TODAY', doctors were the only professional group
>to outrank (at 54 percent) engineers in the honesty and ethics sweepstakes.
>College teachers tied with engineers.  Journalists came in at 26 percent;
>lawyers, 22 percent [apologies to Dick Schulze]; business executives, 21
>percent; and building contractors, 20 percent.
>
>
>Merry merry.
>Ray


[typos ack'd, but I'm'a gonna fun' em anyway]


I'm sure I speak for, well, myself, when I reply that I, for one, am really
_finted_ about this.  Absolutely, Unquestionably, Wholeheartedly.

How high are honesty and ethical standards among poll respondents these days,
anyway?


Oh, and that looks like a 10&1/2D to me, so it sure does... I guess I will.


	Happy! Happy!      Joyous! Joyous!
	Bob "Honest engin'!" O'Bob
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: renfro@geewhiz.ssc.gov (James Renfro)
Subject: RE: Ethnicity & Soc.Secur.No.
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 16:50:00 GMT

In article <92360.195253MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> <MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET>  
writes:
> The story I heard is that the 1950s era government rigged the  
social security
> system so that any government agent or knowledgeable employer or  
banker could
> tell the ethnicity of someone by the middle two numbers. An -06-,  
-52-, -32-,
> -12- or any other EVEN middle number belongs to Blacks, Hispanics,  
Jews,
> Asians, etc. Any ODD middle number (e.g.  -67-, -43-, -07-) shows  
its owner
> to be a WASP of reasonably pure upbringing.
>    I asked around and could find very few odd middle numbers. My  
results:
> 
>      * EVERY even-numbered peson was either, Black, Hispanic,  
Jewish, Asian,
>        Roman Catholic, Greek, or other Eastern European.
>      * EVERY odd-numbered person I found was white. A few were half  
Jewish
>        or half Roman Catholic.
> 
>     Coincidence or not, I would like to know what other people have
> found about this and the results of their informal surveys.
>     I do know that the Social Security System has records to do  
such
> encoding, they used to know about ethnicity before the various  
rules of the
> 70s disallowed such mandatory questions.
> 
>                                Rick Yukon, post-modern Spelunkerist


I think is must be a coincidence.  My SS number has 52 as its middle  
digits, and I am white, anglo-saxon, baptist, native born USA.

Jim Renfro
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: A FAQ for the Holidays
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 04:30:25 GMT

In article <28124@dog.ee.lbl.gov> TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
>lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes in response
>  to comments on the FAQ by Joel Furrfu^H^H::

>  +What about me?  I traveled 30 years into the future to be added to the FAQ
>  +and I don't get any credit either.
>
>Well, if you travelled 30 years into the future, then that means you
>didn't exist from the time after you left, therefore you're not really
>here and so you can't be put in the FAQ.  What do you think this is?
>rec.arts.startrek.misc or something?

But I should be in the 1962 edition of the FAQ.  Thus, since the FAQ
never deletes anything, but merely updates, etc., my entry should still be
there in 1992.

cj "FAQ to the future part 4" l
(how many jigawatts does that need?)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ivanra@microsoft.com (Ivan Rancati)
Subject: Oscillation of skyscrapers
Date: 18 Dec 92 16:14:20 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

I heard that high buildings move a bit because
of the wind (1-2 meters in the top).
Does any wise on the net know some detail about
concrete (i.e. Empire State Building) and metal
(i.e. Tour Eiffel)?

(I was thinking that the death of Rasputin was
another nice topic, but I don't want to overdo with
the 1st post)

Ivan
From: sean@cobra.dra.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Ethnicity & Soc.Secur.No.
Date: 27 Dec 92 17:16:48 CST
Organization: Data Research Associates, Inc.

In article <92361.094224MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, <MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
>     Let me offer 12-hours worth of phone calls as a refinement to this
> theory. Beside calling everyone in my book, including old girlfriends I haven't
> spoken to in five years (and now I know why) I found the following:
> 
>     * Six extremely white, old-money type people had even middle numbers.
>     * Again, NOT ONE PESON had an odd middle numberthat wasn't white.
>       (excuse the double-negative)
>     * EVERY African-American, Jew, Hispanic had an even middle number.
>     * Very few even numbers exist, yest ALL of their owners were white, with
>       the sole exception of a very white ex-girlfriend who had a Grandmum from
>       Cuba from before the Revolution.
> 
>     Just judging from the ratio of even:odd numbers v.s. the number of people
> I spoke to, and using my fading knowledge of crap that I pieced together and
> adapted from Merzbacher's book (which is probably all wrong considering how
> much goofing off I did in grad school) I would say something kinda scwewy
> is goin on.

You can call the Social Security Administration, or visit your local government
depository library and read the SSA's "Program Operations Manual."  The
SSA also has a pamphlet called "The Social Security Number" which explains
how the SSN is constructed.  There is also a pamphlet called "Social Security
Numbers Guide" by National Employment Screening Services published by Source
Publications in 1991.

But here are a few quick basics.  The nine-digit Social Security Number is
divided into three basic parts.  The area number (first three digits), a
group number (middle two digits), and a serial number (last four digits).  

The area number is a good indication of WHERE the SSN was issued.  Before 1972
it was based on the issuing SSA office, after 1972 it is based on the mailing
address given on the application.  Some exceptions are railroad workers
covered under the Railroad Retirement Act, applications processed at U.S.
embassies, and occassional overflows of numbers in an area due to a lot of
applications (i.e. Vietnamese and other refugees in California between 1975
and 1979 were assigned 568-30 through 568-58, which may explain some of this
urban legend).

The group number is a good indication of WHEN the SSN was issued.  The order
of assignment is odd numbers under 10, even numbers over 9, even numbers
under 9 and finally odd numbers over 10.  Different parts of the country use
up numbers at different rates, so some areas will be running mostly on even
numbers, others mostly on odd numbers.

The serial number isn't an indication of anything.  They are not assigned
sequentially (but usually seem to be).
-- 
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@sdg.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Trademarks (was Re: ...film at 11...)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 19:49:32 GMT

norlin@midway.ecn.uoknor.edu (Norman Lin) writes:
: 
: : There is no way to
: : trademark a commonly used term. For example, Bayer lost their "aspirin"
: : trademank due to common usage.
: 
: Is that right?  Well, I have a can of Lipton Iced Tea (bought out of the
: coke machine), and it says:
: 
: "Brisk (tm) Iced Tea"
: 
: which seems to imply they have a trademark on (of all things) the word
: "Brisk."  Ludicrous, yes, but there is the "tm" subscripted right below
: the word "Brisk" and before the word "Iced."  Bizarre.

Hm. Must be context sensitive. For example, if I said "I think I will go
for a Brisk walk!", Lipton could not sue me for violation of trademark.

The reason Bayer lost their trademark, was that aspirin came to be a 
generic term for over-the-counter painkillers, so they could not limit
the usage to a particular brand of analgesic.

Bill
From: cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: African-American-top
Date: 3 Jan 93 12:55:21 GMT
	<1993Jan2.130701.3358@pollux.lu.se>
	<1993Jan3.032804.13413@samba.oit.unc.edu>
Organization: /home/ludviga/cindy/.organization

Bruce Tindall writes:
>In article <1993Jan2.130701.3358@pollux.lu.se> magnus@thep.lu.se
>(Magnus Olsson\) writes:
>>You may of course say that the German language is sexist, since it
>>assigns the masculine gender to _all_ human beings by default, as it
>>were.
>>On the other hand, the Swedish word for 'human', 'M"anniska', always
>>takes the feminine pronoun.
>
>And to round things out, in German, following the logical rule that
>all
>diminutives are neuter, girls have no gender at all.  Das Fraeulein
>(neuter)
>is the diminutive of "die Frau" (the (feminine gender) woman).

In Norwegian, the word for "the person", no gender specified, is
"mennisket" - which is neuter!  Fortunately, the word is almost always
used in the plural, so there's no problem about pronouns.  I've never
heard anyone use the pronoun "it" when using the singular, however -
people chose "he" or "she", depending.

-Cindy Kandolf (i'm not dead yet)
 cindy@solan.unit.no
 Trondheim, Norway
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:32233 talk.bizarre:43060
From: ocr@orasrv.cit.dubna.su (Constantin F. Ocrainets)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: Walking Between Rain Drops !!!!
Date: 28 Dec 92 17:34:27 GMT
Organization: COMPASS Information Tech. Ltd

In <72404@cup.portal.com> lordSnooty@cup.portal.com (Andrew - Palfreyman) writes:

:Welcome to talk.bizarre on this wunnerful christmas day, Gospodin.
Thanx meine herren
:Kak vi pozhivayete? ...Da, Khorosho. Have a crisp ferret?

where did you get this 'khorosho', filthy it's the word.
Wind, frost, especially vodka. Did you hear that "only
vodka from Russia is the geniune russian vodka" ?
(Citing from label on a bottle of russian vodka )
i expected more bizarrity, as to say ... that's why
i'd thought that my reference, being added to this thread
will result in smthg really strange, as it deserves(thread i mean),
and as i can see you had a fun.

:The magazine "Quantum" was of course very popular here in the States.
:As I recall, the article to which you refer was replaced by two smaller
:ones: "How To Wax Your Skateboard And Shorts" and "What It's Like To
:Have Really Hot Sex With Madonna !!" There was always an extra-interesting

Thanks commy - they fenced me against such replacements.
Strange enough, got acquainted closer with US mass culture i
got an impression, that old buddy Brezhnev wasn't quite wrong
not allowing its penetration in SU.
My condolescenses to you there in the States.
-- 
 Const. Ocrainets
From: dt@yenta.alb.nm.us (David B. Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: CD Legends
Date: 29 Dec 92 19:01:28 GMT
Organization: yenta unix pc, rio rancho, nm

I believe that I have one of the few CD's of Gerry Rafferty's
"City To City" album that has the songs recorded at the correct speed.

Whenever I hear "Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line" on the radio,
they are a half step sharp, as compared to my CD.  When I have called
the radio stations, they swear they are not messing with the pitch
control on the CD player and I believe them because I listen to these
stations all the time and everything else is at the correct speed.

[In case you haven't guessed yet, I have perfect pitch.  My claims are
easily verified without the need for perfect pitch.  I'm just more likely
to notice a slight variation since the last time I heard a song.]

I have theories as to why the record company might have done this.
I also have my reasons for believing that my copy is at the correct speed,
as opposed to the radio stations' copies.  But I'll save all this until
I'm sure that the difference exists.

Does anyone have a CD of this album purchased in 1990 or more recently,
to compare with my 1985 copy?  I'd pay for the phone call to play our CD's
together and compare speeds.  If I'm right the difference will be unmistakable.
(It's cheaper for me than buying the album!)

David "of course I'm an excellent musician and this is not my underwear" Thomas
-- 
I'm a poet and I'm unaware of it.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: AFU Flan Cub
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 07:35:37 GMT

In article <ljhfnvINN54l@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM writes:
>Good, isn't it?  Remove the feathers from your pillow.  Count them.
>The number you get will be evenly divisible by three (unless your
>pillow was improperly stuffed).

I read somewhere that two-thirds of all feather pillows are improperly
stuffed.  Sigh.  Whatever happened to quality American workmanship?

Ted "misses having a girlfriend who would have allergic reactions to
     his feather pillow" Frank
-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31898 rec.food.cooking:23734
From: glazier@isr.harvard.edu (Andrew Baker Glazier)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Cheese popcorn
Date: 22 Dec 92 20:06:33 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

>>Have you ever tried to buy the cheese stuff they use to make cheese
>>popcorn?  They don't have THAT at my grocery store.  Maybe we
>>should cross-post to alt.conspiracy......
>
>>Tom "I Wanna Make My OWN Cheese Popcorn" Johnson
>
>I wanted to make my own cheese popcorn once, and got the brainstorm of
>using one of those packets of orangey cheese powder from a box of
>macaroni and cheese.  It worked!  I just dumped it in the pot (I make
>popcorn the old fashioned way of using a pot on the stove) after the
>corn was all done popping, put on the lid and shook it all up till it
>coated the popcorn.  Don't ask me why I got the urge to do this,
>but it can be done!
>
>Debbie

Just use about 1/2 cup of butter for every 1/2 cup of (1/2 before it's
popped, that is) popcorn. After the popcorn's ready, pour the butter over
it, add grated romano or parmesagn and mix it together
-- 
"A horse! A horse! Somebody give me a horse, man, because|glazier@ 
I come to bury this dirtball, not to praise him. Whaddya |harvard.isr.edu
think I am? Whether it's nobler for the mind to make people suffer with all
these totally outrageous arrows arrows for a fortune, or what!" -- D.R.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: userDHAL@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (David Halliwell)
Subject: Re: Amusing street names
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 04:29:18 GMT


   Manitowaning, Ontario has a street named "Sunova Beach Road". Yes, it
is located along the water...


Dave Halliwell
Department of Geography
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: philo@orion.IntelliCorp.COM (Philip R. Obermarck)
Subject: Re: CD Legends
Date: 30 Dec 92 19:37:51 GMT
Reply-To: pobermarck@intellicorp.com
Organization: IntelliCorp Inc.

dt@yenta.alb.nm.us (David B. Thomas) writes:

|> I believe that I have one of the few CD's of Gerry Rafferty's
|> "City To City" album that has the songs recorded at the correct speed.
|> [...]
|> Whenever I hear "Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line" on the radio,
|> they are a half step sharp, as compared to my CD.  When I have called
|> the radio stations, they swear they are not messing with the pitch
|> control on the CD player and I believe them because I listen to these
|> stations all the time and everything else is at the correct speed.
|> [...]

|> David "..." Thomas

My guess is that the songs in question were just a hair too long, so in
order to ensure radio play, the record company pressed some albums with
a slightly faster speed.  Most people would never notice.

Many radio stations have a policy that they will not play any song longer
than <a certain length> (3.5 minutes?).  This is, of course, because we, the
listening public, have such short attention spans that if they play anything
longer, we will change the station. ;-)



  Philip R."Just play the first 30 seconds-- I'm in a hurry." Obermarck
  PObermarck@IntelliCorp.COM 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: john@newave.newave.mn.org (John A. Weeks III)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Skyscraper FALLS DOWN.
Date: 28 Dec 92 07:33:03 GMT
Organization: Newave Communications, Ltd, Lake Wobegon, MN

In <Bzx2F4.AJM@NeoSoft.com> arielle@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva):
> I don't know about skyscrapers, but about 10 or 12 years or so ago, there
> was a radio tower being built in Missouri City, which is a few miles
> southwest of Houston.  At completion, it was going to be the tallest
> radio tower in some large geographic area around here -- 1000 feet tall
> or maybe it was 2000 feet.  

I worked for GE when this happened, it was in 1982 or 1983.  If I recall,
the tower was going to be 2200 feet, with the current tallest being 2063 feet
(located in North Dakota).

> What's really freaky about all this is when the tower was near completion, 
> it did fall when one of the guy wires snapped.  Two construction workers 
> who were on it when it fell died, and at least one radio or a television 
> station that was already broadcasting from it went off the air.

When towers are constructed, they use a device called a "jib pole".  It is
a small rod that is attached to the top of the tower and stick up in the
air about 20 feet.  The jib pole is used to raise a section of tower and
hold it while it is being bolted in place.  Once a section of tower is put
up, the jib pole is raised, and the process is repeated.

Since the jib pole is moved dozens of times during construction, it needs to
be very light.  They are designed to hold the weight of one tower section.
The mistake that was made is that two construction workers decided to ride
up to the top of the tower on the tower section that was being lifted up
by the jib pole.  The jib pole was not strong enough to carry the additional
weight, and it collapsed.  When it did, the load fell to the ground, killing
the two workers who were riding on the load.  The sudden change in tower
loading coupled with the fact that the final supports were not in place yet
caused the tower to collapse.  The tower folded up much like an acordion.

The final accident report blamed the construction supervisor for allowing
the two workers to ride on the load that was being hoisted even thought it
was against OSHA rules.  Had they followed the rules, the accident would
not have happened.  In fact, they were very lucky that more people were not
killed.

-john-

-- 
==============================================================================
John A. Weeks III		(612) 942-6969		    john@newave.mn.org
Newave Communications, Ltd.			    ..!uunet!tcnet!newave!john
From: jvarley@crash.cts.com (J.J. Varley)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: FAQ list...Q
Date: 3 Jan 93 01:49:09 GMT
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA

Where can I find or get a list of the FAQ for this group? Could someone
post it up, or E-mail it to me if possible? 
E-mail with reply, thanks