HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ap1i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Andrew C. Plotkin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: SHOCKING STORIES
Date: 25 Aug 92 19:05:04 GMT
	<1992Aug25.155818.7703@tc.fluke.COM>
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


[somebody:]
}> I read an article in an issue of Scientific American a few years
}> back about an innovative physics teacher (don't remember his name,
}> sorry) who took this demonstration to more of an extreme.  He would
}> dip his entire hand in some sort of hot melted metal substance.  Very
}> quickly, of course, and after he had thoroughly soaked his hand
}> in water first.

Excerpts from netnews.alt.folklore.urban: 25-Aug-92 Re: SHOCKING STORIES
Norm Strong@tc.fluke.COM (1858)

> It was probably one of the bismuth alloys that melt at less than 100C,
> such as Wood's or Rose's metal.  In addition to their low melting point
> they have a very low specific heat--maybe on the order of .02--so that
> it's pretty tough to burn yourself.  

Nope. I've seen the videotape of this guy (or an equally courageous
physics teacher) doing this trick. The liquid metal was, in fact, lead. 

It wasn't a large pot, but it had at least two or three inches of liquid
lead in it. The guy wet his hand, and then jammed it into the pot -- far
enough to touch the bottom -- and yanked it out.  He didn't dawdle
around in there, though; he was moving fast enough to splatter some lead
out onto the lab bench.

His explanation was the one given earlier in this thread -- the water
vaporizes, providing a vapor barrier between flesh and lead. Steam has a
low enough temperature and heat capacity that it won't burn you
immediately.

He added that the lead has to be considerably above melting point. If
it's just barely above melting, the cooling provided by the water will
cause a layer of lead to harden around your fingers, and cling there as
you pull them out. You should have just enough time to think "oops"
before the last of the water vapor escapes and you start to char. Kids,
don't try this at home -- or at least test it with a hot dog first.

(On the same videotape, the guy demonstrated touching a hot frying pan
with wet fingers, holding liquid nitrogen in his mouth, and walking
barefoot across hot coals. Who says high school is boring these days?)

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
From: ltf@ncmicro.lonestar.org (Lance Franklin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: You are humble and loveable.  CHOMP!
Date: 2 Sep 92 20:26:02 GMT
Organization: NC Microproducts, Inc.

In article <1992Aug31.143842.3884@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> me@csri.toronto.edu (Daniel R. Simon) writes:
}In article <1992Aug29.083742.21613@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
}>I understand that the 18xx era nickels with the Roman numeral "V" on it were
}>gold-plated and passed off in the old West to unsuspecting people as the
}>government's new five-dollar gold piece.  (I think it doesn't say "cents" on
}>it anywhere.)
}
}....and the unsuspecting people who had never before heard of this
}non-existent five-dollar coin nevertheless knew enough to chomp on it
}to verify its authenticity, on the principle that this imaginary coin
}would necessarily have been made of pure gold, and hence relatively
}soft?

It was my impression that the technique of chomping on a gold coin was
not, as is commonly beleived, to see if the gold would take the tooth
prints, and thus test out as pure gold, but to see if the coin was lead
plated with gold.  Lead would be one of the few metals that (a) was
cheap enough to make counterfeiting with it worthwhile, (b) had the
requisite weight to fool the receiver.  However, lead is soft, and
a coin made of lead plated with gold, although the weight and feel
would be right, would take teeth impressions.  Gold coins, made of a
alloy of gold and one or more other metal, wears quite well, and would
not easily acquire toothmarks.


Lance

-- 
Lance T. Franklin            +----------------------------------------------+
(ltf@ncmicro.lonestar.org)   | "You want I should bop you with this here    |
NC Microproducts, Inc.       |    Lollipop?!?"                 The Fat Fury |
Richardson, Texas            +----------------------------------------------+
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Price gouging in Florida and Guam
Date: 2 Sep 92 17:36:43 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 010992123048@cyrano.gmu.edu, csmith@blackplague.gmu.edu (Blackplague) writes:
> Here price gauging[sic] is not sell[sic] at higher then[sic] a
> competitor, but rather selling urgently needed supplies at a
> rediculous[sic] price because the demand is so high and the supply is
> so low.

Hey!  That's basically the whole medical profession, isn't it?

---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: Re: Russian dog-mines in WWII
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 00:57:00 GMT

B.F. Skinner also trained pigeons to direct guided bombs.  You can read about
Operation Pigeon in his autobiography (vol. II I am recalling).

>>	If the atomic bomb had not worked, this plan would 
>>	have been used, and Japan most probably would have been burned
>>	to the ground.  A different ending, but the result would have
>>	been the same.  

Not likely to have been nearly as effective.  It's an island which is far
more rainy than the test area.  Also approaching a cold wet winter.

>I think that the B29 incendiary raids did a pretty good job of burning large
>parts of Japan to the ground,

Yeah, I would say so.  My Mom (an American citizen) was there underneath
them when they did it.  (Tokyo.)

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Resident Cynic, Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene
Second Favorite email message: Returned mail: Cannot send message for 3 days
A Ref: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, vol. 1, G. Polya
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Spaghetti trees
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:04:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: dog.25783
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

>Apparently, back when TV was first becoming popular, some wise-acre ran
>a "documentary" on where spaghetti comes from.  It showed all these happy
>Italian farmers, using their pitchforks to harvest spaghetti from the
>spaghetti trees.  Anybody else ever see this gem?  

I never saw that (and wouldn't have, given the date you mention), but
it sounds very much like a pasta commercial of the present day.  I took
the commercial to be a well-deserved parody of those ads for muesli 
cereals.  You know, the ones with the hearty, healthy, folk-costumed
Zorba-the-Greek types frolicking in the golden morning sunlight with 
their bowls of honey-roasted walnut shells.  But maybe the pasta tree 
has deeper roots than that!

ObUL:  Muesli and Omoline horse feed are identical.  A friend, who has 
sampled both, claims that this is so.  Yea or neigh?

--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,atl.locksmithing
From: richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg)
Subject: The lady with 7 locks
Organization: Hatch Usenet and E-mail.  Playa del Rey, CA
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:54:17 GMT

Some email on another topic reminded me of a FOAF-tale that I
had heard a while ago.  Posted to a.f.u because I suspect that its
a UL, and to alt.locksmithing because it concerns locks.

		The "lady with 7 locks" story:

Once upon a time there was a woman who lived in a low rent
part of New York City.  The lock on her apartment was constantly being
picked and the apartment was being burgled on a regular basis.  She
added a second lock, still burgled.  Added more for total of 7, still picked
& burgled.  Started leaving some locked, some open.  many times
came home to find pattern of locked/not locked different, but no more
burglarized.

Truth or urban legend?

IMHO, its a UL because:
 1) It would be more likely that the burglar would just kick the
    door in than pick the lock(s).
 2) After the first few times,  whats left to be stolen?

-- 
                
Rich Greenberg - N6LRT - 310-649-0238 - richg@hatch.socal.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame)
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Organization: Eastern Michigan University
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 22:42:22 GMT

In article <1992Aug29.205524.1@cstp.umkc.edu> rdale@cstp.umkc.edu writes:
>> ObUL: POSH comes from "Port out, starboard home"
>
>	Wahhhhhh, I don't know what ObUL means!
>

ObUL (or obol, as it is sometimes spelled) is (or was) a Greek unit of
money.  All postings with no urban legend content must include one obol
net-wastage tax or face severe flaming.

ObUL:  The above is actually true.

		-- Stewart "President of the Victor Lustig fan club" Tame

****************************************************************************
 I understand it's obligatory to mention Kibo somewhere in one's postings.
****************************************************************************
		Email:  stame@emunix.emich.edu
****************************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Not only do my opinions represent those of Eastern Michigan
University, but also those of Dan Quayle, Richard Nixon, Frank Zappa,
Pee-wee Herman, Bart Simpson, Tipper Gore, Murphy Brown, Maggie Thatcher,
and the Easter Bunny.
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Counterfeiting
Date: 29 Aug 92 01:12:55 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 25849@dog.ee.lbl.gov, jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) writes:
> U.S. currency is printed on a truly deluxe paper [...]

If I remember correctly, the material is mostly a combination of linen
and cotton, and might almost be better described as "cloth" than
"paper".  I've been looking through my Cecil books, and couldn't find
the recipe, so I must have read it somewhere else.

Of course, a person might guess this since if you forget to empty your
pockets before you wash your pants, all the assorted scraps of paper
are turned into mush, but the money stays almost perfectly intact.

Brian "Laundering Money" Scearce
---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: wb8foz@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (David Lesher)
Subject: Re: Tom Lehrer (was Re: Mnemonics)
Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher)
Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 20:28:09 GMT

A friend insists that T.L. gave up performing because Werner Von
Braun had sued him & won. Anyone else ever hear of such a suit?
--
A host is a host from coast to coast..wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Semen, NOT sailors!
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 23:23:40 GMT

ltf@ncmicro.lonestar.org (Lance Franklin) writes:
: 
: Well, normally, that would be correct....but recently, I heard from a
: Friend in a Position to Know (FPK) that Acidheads have a high concentration
: of Strychnine in their semen...it apparently slowly builds up in their
: Vital Juices(tm) from the long term use of LSD, but doesn't affect them
: because of the small amounts in each dose spread over a long period.

Well, your friend lives in the strychnine universe then. There is no such
contamination is LSD on this planet.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame)
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Organization: Eastern Michigan University
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 23:07:53 GMT

In article <1992Aug29.173058.15215@husc3.harvard.edu> rocher@husc8.harvard.edu (Jean-Marc Rocher) writes:
>In article <1992Aug28.010638.26158@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>>
>>Ted "what's Nova an acronym for?" Frank
>>-- 
>
>	Speaking of novas, that reminds me of a story from several years ago. It seems the marketing bigwigs at Chevy couldn't figure out why sales of the
>Chevy Nova were so poor in Latin Amreica. Finally, an advertising executive who
>had actually made it through high school realized that in Spanish, 'no va'
>means 'doesn't go' (or perhaps just 'no go', I took French :) ). Does anyone
>have any similar stories of mistranslations in advertising (or anywhere else,
>for that matter)
>

Coca-Cola means, in Chinese (I think), "Bite the wax tadpole."

BTW, didn't Monty Python once release a three-sided record?

		-- Stewart "dead parrot" Tame

****************************************************************************
 I understand it's obligatory to mention Kibo somewhere in one's postings.
****************************************************************************
		Email:  stame@emunix.emich.edu
****************************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Not only do my opinions represent those of Eastern Michigan
University, but also those of Dan Quayle, Richard Nixon, Frank Zappa,
Pee-wee Herman, Bart Simpson, Tipper Gore, Murphy Brown, Maggie Thatcher,
and the Easter Bunny.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: iam30974@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Happershanz)
Subject: Re: The Flat Earth Society???
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 06:43:57 GMT

smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>In article <l9q3n1INN88p@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce) writes:
>> It *is*, in
>> fact, a very interesting phenomenon that most of us think that the
>> Earth is spherical, and almost none of us have direct experience of its
>> roundness, or even know anybody who has direct experience of its
>> roundness.

>Umm -- depends on what you mean by ``direct experience''.  There's a
>lot of evidence other than simple circumnavigation, such as the horizon
>effect.

Not really.  FE's would probably believe in mountains, so why wouldn't
they believe in a convex pie-plate earth?

--
-ivan	pie-plate earth society?  bah.. must be a gimmick to sell more
	domestic cars...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering)
Subject: Re: Smallest denominations of paper money (was: Counterfeiting)
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 92 14:32:53 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <1992Sep3.063601.27701@sq.sq.com> msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>
>I think the question is better restricted to denominations still being
>issued.  I'm trying to remember what the smallest bill in common use was
>during my visit to Portugal this past spring; I rather think it was 500
>escudos.  They certainly have coins as large as 200 escudos.  So if my
>memory is right, Portugal doesn't qualify under this definition.  And,
>in fact, I can't think of a bill under $1 US that's still in common use
>in any country I've been to.

Well, as of a week and a half ago, 1000-lire bills were in common use in
Italy, and the exchange rate was about 1030 lire to the dollar.  Case closed.

Larry "expert on everything" Doering
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: North Pole (was: The Flat Earth Society???)
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 92 05:32:37 GMT

Eugene N. Miya (eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov) writes:
> I have taken to asking knowledgeable people if you know the latitude
> of the North Pole [P.S. My JHS was named after Robert Peary].

ObUL: Peary led the first party of men to reach the North Pole.
-- 
Mark Brader			"How can we believe that?"
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto		"Because this time it's true!"
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com		-- Lynn & Jay: YES, PRIME MINISTER

This article is in the public domain.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ansok@cco.caltech.edu (Gary Ansok)
Subject: Re: Just One Calorie...?
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 14:39:33 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.182845.4426@ultb.isc.rit.edu> kls4344@ritvax.isc.rit.edu writes:
>In article <mcirvin.715035613@husc8>, mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin) 
>writes re. whether TAB still is around.
>
>I can't remember where I had my most recent TAB, but I did have it in the last
>year (maybe Chicago?)....  What I want to know is whether Fresca still is made
>and sold.  Where is it?  

Tab has been sold all along (well, at least for the past four years or so)
here in the Baltimore area.  I even drink the stuff occasionally.  I am
curious whether Caffeine-Free Tab is being sold anywhere, though -- I
saw some briefly, but never in wide distribution.

Fresca recently reappeared (to my great surprize) and can now be found
easily around here.  It's even cloudy, just like Real Fresca used to
be way-back-when (unlike the clear Sprite-oid stuff they had for a while).

ObUL:  All Coke can be reduced to a 4-bit binary number.  8 = Cherry,
       4 = Caffeine-Free, 2 = New (non-Classic), 1 = Diet.  Proof:
       "New" Coke is even being renamed "Coke 2".  (Tab is, of course,
       Coke 1 -- Diet Coke is 3.)

Gary "Gimme a 13" Ansok
From: rdale@cstp.umkc.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Date: 30 Aug 92 02:55:24 GMT
 <1992Aug11.233948.24558@midway.uchicago.edu> <1992Aug14.005007.20576@nezsdc.icl.co.nz>
Organization: UM - Kansas City, Computer Science

>>>Didn't someone once make a three-sided record?
>>I think it was Mad Magazine.  But it had eight grooves on the same side.
>>That's the only one I know of.
> 
> Wasn't there a thread once with an infinite groove at the end? How will
> this be done on the CD-ROM distribution?

	Mad made a very short record of some type, but it wasn't
	three-sided.  Kenny Price did "This Is The Shortest Song
	In The World".  That was the whole song, too.  I believe
	it was the flipside to one of his 45's.  Monty Python did
	"Matching Tie and Hankerchief" which was three-sided.  You
	had to maneuver the needle into the proper starting groove.
	It was murder on the record and the needle.

	The infinite groove?  I think that was one of Frank Zappa's
	records. . .maybe it was John and Yoko's.  Someone like that.
	The Eagles' live album closes with the applause going into the
	closeout groove.  You hear applause, then it suddenly stops
	(or slows down and stops with cheaper turntables).  Album
	liner notes say something like "The closeout groove is NOT
	effective".

> ObUL: POSH comes from "Port out, starboard home"

	Wahhhhhh, I don't know what ObUL means!

rdale@vax2.cstp.umkc.edu
From: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us (S. Mudgett aka little gator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Death by sneezing
Date: 2 Sep 92 23:11:52 GMT
	<1992Aug28.232329.5288@lmt.mn.org>
	<1992Sep1.175459.20183@news.columbia.edu> <mcirvin.715389607@husc8>
Reply-To: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
Organization: gators 'r us
X-Software: HERMES GUS 1.03 Rev. Apr 14 1992

In <mcirvin.715389607@husc8>, Mcirvin writes:
>lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>
>>Obul: we all don't see colors just the same way at all, but since we can't
>>describe it we are all assuming that we see it the same way.  In fact this
>>is a "natural conspiracy" because unbeknownst to us, we all have quite
>>different color vision [...]
>>cjl (is my red your green?)
>
>This idea is something I came up with, so far as I know, independently
>when I was about nine, and from talking to many people it appears to
>me that the "is my red your green?" question is something many kids
>suddenly ask themselves around that time.  I'm fascinated by the
>fact that it's always *color* that is involved. 



no it isn't.  i remember at about that age wondering why some people liked 
mustard, and coffee, and other things that tasted nasty to me.  i wondered
)and still do) whether these things tasted different to those that liked 
them.

little"it *isn't* always color, so there" gator
-- 
-- little gator aka s. mudgett     email: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
-- friend of a gator is a friend of mine
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.tv
From: ahill@boi.hp.com (Andy Hill)
Subject: Re: Kimberly Dunning, or "Whatcha talking about?"
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 22:38:47 GMT
Reply-To: ahill@boi.hp.com
Organization: LaserJets by Bill & Dave
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

katbea@auto-trol.com (Kathy Beatty) writes:
> You folks must all be using too much dope and alcohol at the same time.
> 
HAH!  Just because you have purple fronds growing out of your head, you
think you're somebody special or something?

Andy "Have you ever really, like really, looked at your thumbnail?" Hill
From: jfreter@triton.unm.edu (The Myth)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Gold coins (Was: Re: You are humble and loveable.  CHOMP!)
Date: 1 Sep 92 19:54:57 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1992Sep1.171040.12127@engage.pko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
>
>If we're going to discuss commemorative coins, the US still mints them as well.
>The US Mint comes out with gold and silver commemorative coins to celebrate
>such things as the Olympics, 500th anniversary of Columbus's landing, 200th
>anniversary of the US Constitution, etc.  The gold coins have a gold content of
>1oz, 1/2 oz or 1/10 oz, and the 1oz ones have a legal tender value of $20, but
>sell for something like $500.  The 1oz silver ones have a face value of $1 I
>think and sell for about $25-$30.  They are all proof coins.

Well, as far as I remember, those coins that you claim were minted by the
US Mint were actually minted by the Marshall Islands, a US Protectorate.  
They are, technically, legal tender in the US, but they aren't produced
by the Mint.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: berger@atropa (Mike Berger)
Subject: Re: Chef Boy-Ar-Dee commercial
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 01:55:42 GMT

doctor1@cbnewse.cb.att.com (patrick.b.hailey) writes:
>So, I wonder if anybody makes and sells tapes of great old commercials?
*----
The Clio Awards honor the best commercials every year, and make an
annual collection available.
--
	Mike Berger
	Department of Statistics, University of Illinois
	AT&TNET     217-244-6067
	Internet    berger@atropa.stat.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: amconn01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Subject: Of Butterflys and Hurricanes
Organization: University of Louisville
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1992 15:23:01 GMT

Several days ago, while waiting in the dentist's office, I picked up a copy of
Reader's Digest (it was that or Time) and read an article on why weather was
difficult to predict. One of the reasons given was (and this is a paraphrase, I
don't commit Reader's Digest to memory): A butterfly fluttering in Tokyo can
cause a storm in New York two weeks later. I realize that this is a gross
oversimplication of sensitivity to initial conditions in any long-term,
multivariable modeling system, but is there any truth to this at all, if _all_
variables can be accounted for? When I sneezed two weeks ago, did that cause
Hurricane Andrew?

ObUL: In the early 1980's, an eminent educational researcher showed that the
use of computers in elementary and high school retarded learning. The
researcher was bought off and the research suppressed by IBM and Apple.

         (
Andrew "  O  " Connor
           )

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban