HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Please help a dying young boy...
Date: 30 Aug 92 23:35:41 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

In article <1992Aug30.231225.16668@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay) writes:
>He would like to do this as 'The Person who has collected the most 5 dollar
>bills.'  If you would like to help his cause, send a genuine five dollar
>(US) bill to:

I'll send you a five dollar bill.  It'll only cost you two fifty.
-- 
             ......................................................
             ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | std disclaimers
             the university of chicago law skool, chicago, illinois
             consequences, shmonsequences, as long as i'm rich - dd
From: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Geographic Terms (was: Whither Manhattan?)
Date: 24 Aug 92 21:22:42 GMT
Reply-To: lawson@aldia.UUCP (Drew Lawson)
Organization: ACUSON, Mountain View, CA

In article <1992Aug23.205217.28901@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal) writes:
>sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall) writes:
>>since the World Trade Center was not "in" North America, but "on an island off
>>the coast of North America."  Smartass.
>
>Surely North America is the general region, and not merely the main island.
>Would Asimov claim that the continental United States (or whatever the term is
>for the 48 states other than Alaska and Hawaii, plus Washington D.C.) is not
>in North America?

That would be the contiguous or lower-48 states.  A fairly common error
(and root of various "trick" questions) is leaving Alaska out of the
continental states.  The continent is North America, and Alaska is on
North America (don't know about the Alutians, though).

BTW, Manhattan (and the other islands of NYC) is resting on the North
American continent.  The continental shelf extends quite a way on the
Atlantic side.

Drew "I love altases" Lawson
-- 
Drew Lawson                      If you're not part of the solution,
lawson@acuson.com                you're part of the precipitate
From: lpb@florida.swdc.stratus.com (Len Bucuvalas)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Brolikens and Other Demons
Date: 27 Aug 92 21:16:07 GMT

I need information that falls in the realm of Celtic mythology
concerning the Broliken (sp?).

As well, if there are any Christian mystics on this group, I
need information concerning the realm of demonology regarding
incubbi and succubi or anything else that one might term an
energy drain..

This is a serious call for research help.  Please Email all
responses to:

	lpb@stratus.swdc.stratus.com

Thank you for your kindness,

Len
--
*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*
The accountability of government has gone to the point where the very
use of the law is the instrument of illegality.
		-- Ralph Nader @ Harvard Law School, 1/15/92
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: You are humble and loveable.  CHOMP!
Date: 25 Aug 1992 18:14:11 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 12825@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu, me@csri.toronto.edu (Daniel R. Simon) writes:
> I find this explanation quite implausible.  Gold coins haven't been in
> common circulation for a very long time (if they ever were),

Indeed, but have you ever seen a person bite into a coin?  It seems to
me that it's one of those bits of cultural luggage that long outlives
its applicability, but still gets lugged along -- like outhouses having
crescent moons cut into the doors.

> The idea is similar to that of "silvered pennies", meant to be mistaken
> for dimes, of which I have actually seen an example in my lifetime.

I'm pretty sure that there were a series of chrome pennies (or cents)
minted in Canada (or the US) around 1943, due to copper shortages.  Are
you sure it wasn't one of these you saw?

---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
From: joltes@husc10.harvard.edu (Richard Joltes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Russian dog-mines in WWII
Date: 28 Aug 92 15:51:30 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl) writes:

>|> I think that the B29 incendiary raids did a pretty good job of burning large
>|> parts of Japan to the ground without flying mammilian help.  BTW, Dave Barry
>|> wrote a column about the bats once, don't remember exactly when...
>|> 
>|> Tom Zych   tjz20735@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
>|> 
>
>I seem to remember the US doing the same thing to Dresden, Germany 
>also.  More people were killed in Dresden and Tokyo than Nagasaki
>and Hiroshima.

The attitude about both events was pretty interesting, though.  I wrote a paper
on the attitude of Americans toward the Japanese and Germans during WWII, and
recall that there were few "real" articles about the bombing of Hamburg and
Dresden--there was one in the NY Times that said "the port of Hamburg is 
burning furiously, and no ships are permitted to approach."  Reports of the
firebombing of Tokyo, however, produced sensational headlines, and there was
one quote (can't recall who said it) that said, verbatim, "properly kindled,
Japanese cities will burn like autumn leaves."

A lot of racism was in evidence...there was some sympathy with the Germans,
and a sense of sadness that such old cities were being destroyed.  But the
reports of Tokyo's destruction were rife with anti-Japanese invectives and
almost a sense of glee.  Pretty weird, overall.  But at that point there was
little understanding of Asian culture in the U.S., and more animosity than
anyone would probably like to admit to.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dick "research?  In AFU?  HA!" Joltes			joltes@husc.harvard.edu
Hardware & Networking Manager, Computer Services 	joltes@husc.bitnet 
Harvard University Science Center

"Mind you, not as bad as the night Archie Pettigrew ate some
sheep's testicles for a bet...God, that bloody sheep kicked him..."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Subject: Re: You are humble and loveable. CHOMP!
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 00:38:03 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

Well, people usta cast fake quarters from lead, back when a
couple quarters could buy you lunch (as late as the '30s).
A lead quarter would easily be nicked by a bite. So Shoeshine
Boy's act is an ironic comment on his opinion of his customer,
and an old holdover from less-inflated times.
From: lane@duphy4.physics.drexel.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Imponderables (Yawn)
Date: 28 Aug 92 16:06:08 GMT
Distribution: all
Organization: Drexel University Physics

In article <BtoKGv.7qM@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, iam30974@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Happershanz) writes:
>
> Pardon if this is well-worn ground:
>       The reason for why people yawn at similar times (at least, the one
> I grew up with) is supposedly linked to the basic fact that people with
> similar schedules of activity get tired at similar times of the day.  One
> yawn could just remind your system that it too is needing an extra boost
> of O2.

I think it's a common perception, but not necessarily true.

Take a look at the little book "The Science of Everyday Life" by Jay Ingram
(Penguin pbk, ISBN 0-14-015285-7), page 167ff "This Chapter is a Yawner".

"But one of the few psychologists researching yawns, Robert Provine at the
University of Maryland, has found that changing the levels of carbon
dioxide or oxygen seems not to affect yawning.  Breathing _pure_ oxygen
didn't make subjects yawn less, and breathing air high in carbon dioxide
didn't make them yawn more."

There's an interesting footnote on p 171:

"There have been cases where a patient with an arm paralyzed by a stroke
or other brain damage has miraculously moved that paralyzed limb while
yawning!  They have no control over the movement: the arm just stretches
on its own as it would normally do to accompany yawning."

This indicates to me that yawning behavior is hard-wired into the brain
at some really low level. In fact, if a cat with a brain the size of a
walnut :-) yawns, then it MUST be a very primitive function!


--- Chuck "I posted an ISBN, does that make me a Terry?" Lane

"There's only one way Bush is going to win this election: he has to
pull something out of his hat.  Preferably a brain."
From: ptyaxel@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Seymour Axelrod)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Why crescent moons? (was Re: You are humble and loveable. CHOMP!)
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:42:00 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: SUNY at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

>TruFaxDept.:  An astronomy instructor of mine mentioned that the crescent 
>moons shown on outhouse doors in the comic strip Lil' Abner were always 
>backwards.  Such depictions, in any context, came to be known in astro-
>nomical circles as "Dogpatch moons."

Backwards?  Aren't waxing crescents concave to the left, and waning ones 
concave to the right?  Or is the point that "crescent" literally means
"growing", i.e., waxing?  Or what?

Seymour Axelrod, Psychiatry, State University of New York at Buffalo
PTYAXEL@UBVMS.BITNET                    PTYAXEL@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 15:59:55 EDT
From: <WCE2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Quayle-isms
 <87098@netnews.upenn.edu> <1992Aug27.163726.9583@natinst.com>
 <87219@netnews.upenn.edu>

A chain letter circulating among UFO buffs states that extraterrestrials and
Nazis originally smuggled into the US by Nelson Rockefeller* are conspiring
to create chaos and a police state by circulating rap songs that subliminally
incite people to riot, etc. etc.  The capstone of this evil plot will be the
assassination of George Bush next March, making "Dan Quale" president.
    Gee, folks.  I thought this was paranoid nonsense until I heard his
speech at the Republican convention.

Bill Ellis
FOAFtale News
"Henny Penny was right"

*BTW, this can't be right.  I thought all the Rockefellers were in cahoots
with the International Jewish Bankers Conspiracy.  Anyone else know about
his alleged Nazi ties?
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Date: 30 Aug 92 19:34:28 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <1992Aug30.054552.7590@midway.uchicago.edu>, thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>>In article <37452@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins) writes:
>>>   (Five points to anyone who knows where the "Joy! . . . happiness!"
>>>quote is from)
>
>Bill Murray.  Or maybe Stimpy.

(I was just waiting for someone to say Stimpy)

Actually, it's about as far from Stimpy as you can get.

_Remembrance of Things Past_, by Marcel Proust. Nyeah.

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (And it doesn't appear to be tongue-in-cheek there, either. The
speaker is actually pleased. Maybe it's a poor translation, but I
don't care.)
-- 
  "Windle shook his head sadly. Five      | pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
exclamation marks, the sure sign of an    |  [Not a UCSD employee]
insane mind."                             |
     --Terry Pratchett, _Reaper Man_      |
From: eck@panix.com (Mark Eckenwiler)
Subject: Re: Bathroom Embarrassment UL
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 21:03:47 GMT
Organization: Superseding Information, Inc.

In <804@dsbc.icl.co.uk>, abw@dsbc.icl.co.uk sez:
>
>So she hoiked herself up onto the sink which promptly came away from the
>wall, propelling her onto the bath upon which she hit her head and knocked
>herself out.  Upon hearing the commotion, the family ran upstairs and 
>eventually had to knock the door down to find her flat on the floor in 
>a state of various undress with a sink no longer attached to the wall.

Actually, something similar happened to a male FOAF.  The difference
is that someone else in town had flushed down the toilet a pet
candiru, which thereafter made its way into the sink drain into which
said FOAF was relieving himself.

Completing the story is left as an exercise for the credulous.


-- 
Morally and artistically, Henry Miller had MORE right to free speech than
Walt Disney and [Father] Coughlin because Miller was an honest man whereas
Disney and Coughlin were liars.   - Ed Nilges
	   Mark Eckenwiler    eck@panix.com     ...!cmcl2!panix!eck
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bwatson@nyx.cs.du.edu (bruce watson)
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 17:41:42 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.220107.9959@rat.csc.calpoly.edu> dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross) writes:

[Interesting post]
>
>Also, a Coors contamination rumor (mice, I think) started to spread in the
>midst of union problems and other political problems at Coors.

It was a mouse. The perpetrator lived in Florida and created the hoax
because he was involved in a traffic accident with a Coors truck and
didn't like the way he was being handled by the insurance company.
Coors' union problems were a long time ago--the boycott was lifted
when Coors permitted unionization. Political problems? The Coors
family is rather conservative.

I took a tour of the plant years before the mouse incident. We went
to the room where the beer is cold filtered and shown what happens
to fresh beer when it is put into a container that is just less 
than perfectly clean. There would have been virtually no beer
in a can containing the slightest amount of contamination.

I don't know about happens to Colas but I would believe that 
cockroaches in soft drinks are also a.f.u-s.


--
 ___________________________________________________________________________ 
|wats@nyx.cs.du.edu |   "To the extent that it doesn't use mathematics;     |
|   Bruce Watson    |                 it is no science."                    |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jerryg@ssd.intel.com (Jerry Gaiser)
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Organization: Supercomputer Systems Division, Intel Corp.
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 19:53:56 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.180643.14314@news.media.mit.edu> tsmaster@media.mit.edu (David LeCompte) writes:
>In article <Bu27wA.H5A@mail.boi.hp.com> ahill@boi.hp.com writes:
>>But realize that Microsloth is based in Washington (that's the state, folks),
>>and nobody out west knows anything about or cares a rat's *ss about the land
>>east of the Mississippi.  The whole region is pretty much classified as
>>"those city b*st*rds out east".  With this in mind, it's pretty obvious it
>>was a coincidence.
>
>No, no. I'm from Washington (no, if I meant DC, I would have said that!)
>and you're wrong. It's east of the rockies. Maybe the cascades.
>

Well I'm from Oregon and it is east of the Cascades.
-- 
Jerry Gaiser
         Usenet: jerryg@ssd.intel.com
        Fidonet: 1:105/380
           PBBS: n7pwf@n7pwf.or.usa.na
From: mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The Flat Earth Society???
Date: 25 Aug 92 19:23:39 GMT
Distribution: alt

sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall) writes:

[on the Flat Earth Society]

>Oh, it's not so incredible.  It's probably something like the "Man
>Will Never Fly Society," which meets each year at the site of, and 
>on the anniversary of, the Wright Brothers' first flight.  Of course
>the members don't *really* believe that man will never fly, although
>they put on a good deadpan show for the news media.  It's really 
>just an excuse for a bunch of guys to get together and have a drunken
>party. 

The Flat Earth Society's president appeared on "Real People" back
in the seventies, a show which apparently got hoaxed at least
several times.  Whether or not the Society was what it said it
was, it did have a president, and whether or not he really believed
the world was flat, he was quite willing to say it was on TV.
I remember that he endorsed TWA as the Flat Earth airline because,
as he said, "they use flat earth maps."
-- 
Matt McIrvin, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: keithd@bigguy.timeplex.com (Keith Dickinson)
Subject: Re: You are humble and loveable.  CHOMP!
Organization: Ascom Timeplex Inc.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 08:20:09 GMT

In article <l9ku3jINN7ge@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM writes:
>I'm pretty sure that there were a series of chrome pennies (or cents)
>minted in Canada (or the US) around 1943, due to copper shortages.  Are
>you sure it wasn't one of these you saw?

The US printed STEEL change during 1943 but the public opinion of it was
so negative that they returned to copper and silver.

L8r G8r
 Keith
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|The content of this message    | "He's a special effects man! His whole
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|workers or reality in general! | Timeplex Customer Support (813) 530-9475
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Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:00:23 -0400 
From: "Jonathan R. Ferro" <jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
	<802@dsbc.icl.co.uk>

sut@dsbc.icl.co.uk (Secure Unix Team KID01) writes:
> In article <BtKFFE.5sE@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson) writes:
> >In article <25736@dog.ee.lbl.gov> TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
> >>
> >>Terry "How about 'posh'?" Chan
> >
> >It was a contemptuous term used by the staffs of British ocean liners to
> >refer to First Class, where the passengers were rude and the tips scanty.
> >
> >It stood for "Portly Old Sod's Heaven".
> 
> What, you mean like "Port Out Starboard Home"?

Didn't Monty Python once make an album with three sides?

--
Jon Ferro		MIT Transportation Modelling Research Center (TMRC)
jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu	"We can hack it!"
SGNTR VRS VRSN 3.1B: Strppd nd cmprssd fr qckr trnsmssn! nfct yrs tdy!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: stirling@ozrout.uucp (Stirling Westrup)
Subject: Re: Spaghetti trees
Organization: Andre P. Ozrout
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 12:29:10 GMT

crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford) writes
>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.  My folks saw this; my mom believed it.  I have no idea
>what my dad thought; he's not saying.  

Many years ago, a famous British Radio Announcer by the name of Richard
Dimbleby (or was that Dimpleby?) did a radio documentary about the
spaghetti plantations of the Po valley.  My father taped (on an old
reel-to-reel machine) the re-broadcast of the documentary that the Brits
made when the guy died.  From what I remember, they claimed he was the
first one to pull off the joke.

-- 
||    BUNGEE SIDEWAYS!                              o   )))
||                                                 /-- ///
|P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\_  \\\      __ -_
||    stirling@ozrout.uucp                                 ((( (_)T(_)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: 666 (was Re: Highest Channel)
Keywords: 666,mark of the beast
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 05:44:33 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.025349.24793@tamsun.tamu.edu> daugher@cs.tamu.edu writes:

>ObFact:  I read one preacher's newsletter about the end of the world and
>smiled to see his return address--Box 666.
 
ObFact: Some years ago, a Byte advertiser offered a multifloppy copy
of the King James Bible.  Just punch reader service number 666.

Phil "I don't make these things up, you know" Gustafson

-- 
|play: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG; {ames|pyramid|vsi1}!zorch!phil                |
|work: (Under Construction)              | Phil Gustafson                   |
|         "Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile."                     |
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Counterfeiting
Date: 3 Sep 92 00:26:08 GMT
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University

In article <dizedz6@Unify.Com> ceb@dbrus.Unify.Com (Caroline E. Bryan) writes:
>In article <1992Aug31.093111.6305@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug28.012336.26921@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>>>
>>>ObUL: The $1 bill is the smallest denomination of paper money in
>>>      the developed countries.
>>
>>Is the U.S. a developed country?  1863-5 US 50 cent and 25 cent paper money
>>exists (I have one of each of the socalled "fractional currency").
>
>Mark it false anyway.  This summer I briefly had in my possession a 20-escudo
>bill.  At the time US$1 was about equal to 130$00, so 20 escudos was worth
>about 15 cents.

Which country is the escudo used for currency?  Some may argue that it's not
a "developed" country, so my example is perhaps more robust.  Moreover, I
currently have these bills.  The US Government will gladly swap them for
current coins at face value :-).  Curiously, the $.25 one is worth more to
collectors than the $.50 one, apparently due to relative rarity.

AltOBUL the smallest paper money denomination issued at Disney World is
$1.00.

cj ("Craig, after you set your next world's record, where are you going,
Disney World?") l
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght)
Subject: Sinking libraries
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 15:18:29 GMT

In relation to the sinking library tale, Clemson University had a
sinking stadium problem.  The university built a stadium where the lower
deck is dug down inot a bowl in the ground but the upper decks were
above ground.  One upper deck was built ove rthe edge of an old
landfill area from construction of previous campus buildings.  The
stadium was to heavy and slowly began to sink into the ground and tip
over backwards.  The School had contractors come in; they dug holes
under the supports to the upper deck and pumped in concrete until it
lifted the deck back to its original position and was now strong enough
to hold it.  This is not legend and is true, there are pictures of this
all over the civil engineering building and the engineering students are
shown a video of it there first year here.

Also related, University of South Carolina has a stadium problem.  Their
upper decks are not supported right and are capable of building a
standing wave like the Verazono Narrows Bridge.  If a band performs the
song "Looey looey" (sp?) then the people start swaying back and forth
and this happens to hit the frequency that gets the deck rocking.  I was
in the Clemson Band when we played this song at their stadium and sure
enough we saw the decks waving up and down.  It is amazing!  The now
have a rule banning that song and some others that hit that smae
resonant frequency from being layed in their stadium and the inform
every band performing there i advanc ethat these songs are banned.

Jim

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.tv
From: barker@dmpe.csiro.au ( David Barker)
Subject:  The Emmy Awards
Organization: CSIRO. Div of Mineral and Process Engineering.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:32:15 GMT

Does anyone have  the details of the winners of all the Emmy's?

Please email if you have them..

Thanks in advance...

David Barker
<barker@dmpe.csiro.au>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban