HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jennings@tran.fishkill.ibm.com ()
Subject: Re: Pranks and Jokes FTP site.
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 15:15:43 GMT
Distribution: alt.shenanigans
Reply-To: jennings@tran.fishkill.ibm.com ()
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In article <1992Nov10.021427.10324@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>,
mcrosby@nyx.cs.du.edu (Matthew Crosby) writes:
> In article <1992Nov09.205553.31205@watson.ibm.com>
jennings@tran.fishkill.ibm.com () writes:
> >In article <0_n1bvk@rpi.edu>, johnc@porsche.cs.rpi.edu (John
Colasante) writes:
> >> 
> >> Hi folks, I've been scanning here for a while and there has been some
> >> good stuff posted; lots of funny pranks and shenanigans.  For those
> >> who are interested, there is an FTP site that has an electronic
> >> archive of pranks and practical jokes.  The internet host is
> >> FTP site 127.0.0.1.   Under the /pub/pranks directory you will
> >> find 2 files, pranks.doc and shenanigans.txt.  Both contain numerous
> >> sidesplitting practical jokes and pranks you can play on your
> >> family and friends.  Try it out!
> >> 
> >> John C.
> >> --
> >
> >Hmmmm........127.0.0.1????.......looks like the local loopback to
me.........		
> That is the idea, silly!  He was trying to perpetrate prank (not really a
> shenenigan) number whatever on this group, and you HAD to ruin it!  Sigh.  I
> was hoping that *SOMEONE* would post the obvious!
> 
> (BTW:  This was a pretty good one.  A little obvious, but pretty good anyway.
> Great possibility!  Especially as it actually works!)
> 
> --
> -Matt
> Mere anarchy is loosed upon the net!
> mcrosby@nyx.cs.du.edu  -or-  crosby@cs.colorado.edu

Yes Matt, I *know* what he was trying to do......just that a I suspect a
more clever and subtle approach than this sledgehammerish one is
needed.......		

I do admit that it was *good* try and very much in the spirit of this
group......		

bill the cat (in need of a .sig.....)
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: gerg@netcom.com (Greg Andrews)
Subject: Re: telephone joke
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 06:31:32 GMT

In article <4446@svin09.info.win.tue.nl> gigawalt@info.win.tue.nl writes:
>
>Today, Paul and I had a little plan. A teacher we know has his own SUN
>computer in his room. What we did was this: I logged in remotely on this
>particluar SUN and started playing a sample of a famous Dutch comic
>which goes like this (translated): "telephone telephone telephone
>telephone.. etc." (sung by the comic). At the same time, Paul called him
>up on the phone :) Shenanigan? Too bad we weren't at the scene..
>

If he logs in as root, you should change his prompt to:

root:1% rm -r *

(The "root:1%" part is identical to his normal prompt,
whatever it is)

He'll be afraid to press return! (even though it won't really
erase all the files on the drive)


-- 
 .------------------------------------------------------------------.
 |  Greg Andrews   |       UUCP: {amdahl,claris}!netcom!gerg        |
 |                 |   Internet: gerg@netcom.COM                    |
 `------------------------------------------------------------------'
Xref: sparky alt.shenanigans:406 alt.folklore.urban:27855
From: russ@bbx.basis.com (Russ Kepler)
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Urinal and electrical NO NO's
Date: 9 Nov 92 18:04:43 GMT
Organization: BASIS International, Ltd., Albuquerque NM USA

In article <BxCwx0.91L@unix.amherst.edu> mcspinks@unix.amherst.edu (Snarfblat) writes:
>I'd just like to add something under "the laughs aren't worth the risks"
>category. At a party in the town next to mine, a high school senior had the
>MISFORTUNE to get drunk and pass out. He thought he was among FRIENDS, but 
>drunk people do some DAMN STUPID THINGS. They thought it would be FUNNY if 
>put a wire in his DICK and the other end in an ELECTRICAL socket. Then they 
>sat there LAUGHING as he got FRIED to DEATH. Imagine how STUPID they felt when
>they sobered up and realised they had KILLED one of their FRIENDS. 
>Don't Drink and Electrocute

Classic Urban Legend.  So classic that I'm crossposting this response
to AFU for dissection.

ObShenanigan: a friend of mine got everyone in the his dorm to save
the seeds after cleaning their latest finds, and eventually saved up
about 5 gallons of seeds.  In the spring he and a friend drove all
over the place, distributing seeds by the handfull wherever it looked
as though they'd grow.  They're still growing in some areas at the
last check.

-- 
Russ Kepler, Basis International Ltd. russ@bbx.basis.com  phone: 505-345-5232

                 Do not throw rocks at this signature
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: scottv@rs6422.ecs.rpi.edu (Vaughan K. Scott)
Subject: emergency showers
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 18:15:06 GMT

	Has anyone ever thought of pulling a shenanigan with emergency
showers?  You know, the industrial type you find in a lab or shop with a
pull chain, to be used in case you get chemicals etc on yourself.  A couple
of suggestions might be to walk in to an unknown lab in your bathrobe, with
your soap, shampoo, and back-scrubber, and proceed to take a shower!  
Alternatively, just get those self-adhesive soap-holders and stick them onto
the wall behind the shower, complete with soap, etc., and a sign that says
"Sanitary wrapped for your convenience"

Vaughan Scott
scottv@rpi.edu

Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: good@pixar.com (Hello?  Is this thing on?)
Subject: Re: urinal
Organization: Pixar - Pt. Richmond, CA USA
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1992 19:16:19 GMT

In article <1992Nov2.215720.11028@dragon.acadiau.ca> 890530m@dragon.acadiau.ca (Darren MacKenzie) writes:
:if the urinal is holding the positive charge of the current, and say, for
:example, the floor (or whatever) is shorted to ground, THEN, and ONLY THEN
:when he has a piss will he feel a jolt.

It has become obvious from reading this thread that experience with electric
fences is no longer commonplace.  If the voltage is sufficiently high, your
body is all the "ground" that is really needed to feel quite a shock.  Note,
for example, that there is no effort to complete a "circuit" when using a
cattle prod.  For an extreme example, try (carefully) playing with a tesla
coil some time.  But *please* not near a urinal.

		--Craig
-- 
	good@pixar.com
"... history shows that all conquerors who have allowed their
subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own fall."
	-- Adolph Hitler, March 18, 1938.
From: norbert@wpi.WPI.EDU (Timothy James)
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
Subject: Fun with animals
Date: 10 Nov 1992 22:09:59 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu
Keywords: Meeses...


Here is my all time favorite shenanigan....
As are all good shenanigans this one is rather simple...

1) Go to a pet store...

2) Buy a bunch of those little white mice they sell
   for feeding to snakes and things...they usually
   run about 1$ each.

3) Take them to the school/dorm/building/mall/business
   and watch 'em go!

Disclamer:  For all you "Be kind to animals" nuts out there...
	    I believe it to be much more humane to let
	    the poor little guys loose somewhere, than to
	    leave them to the fate they had in store...at least
	    they'll have a fighting chance!

You should see the expressions on peoples faces!  Some people really
have a thing against small rodents!


-- 
--------------
Timothy James Mcinerney 
tmcinern@feds26.Prime.com    "If at first you don't succeed...
norbert@wpi.wpi.edu           Try spooin' on it"
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: jallen@athena.mit.edu
Subject: test
Organization: MIT Athena
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 03:43:21 GMT


testing this thing.
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: webb@chopin.udel.edu (W Webb Pickersgill)
Subject: Re: parking meters
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 17:33:35 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.162310.24258@news.weeg.uiowa.edu> tlund@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (Thomas Lund) writes:
>	Ever feel sorry for those poor parking meter cops who have to give
>tickets all down that line of cars downtown?  Help them out a little next
>time you see them by putting a nickel in every (expired) meter down the
>street.
>
>-o-<<

	Hate to be the one to break this to you but, that is ILLEGAL.
Iv'e heard stories of people doing that and getting tickets and fines
and arrested for interfereing with the duties of an officer.  
DO NOT TRY THIS.  Hate to hear that someone was arrested from the net
because of this post.

					Webb

Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst)
Subject: Re: parking meters
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 03:34:02 GMT
Organization: The Programmer's Pit Stop, Ann Arbor MI

In article <10NOV199212000296@cc.utah.edu> mgb5528@cc.utah.edu (Beck, Michael Gregory) writes:
>  Why is feeding the meter illegal?  I don't understand.  All that you are 
>doing is giving the people who are parked some more time. 8^)

Well, at least in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it is illegal to park in a
parking space for more than the maximum amount of time on the meter,
even if you come out periodically and feed it.  So, for example, if
you park in a space with a one-hour meter on it, put an hour's worth
of time into it, and then come back an hour later and put more money
in the meter so you can stay there another hour, you are NOT LEGALLY
PARKED for the second hour.

Think they won't catch you?  Ann Arbor parking enforcement folks will
chalk your tires from time to time; if they come around an hour later
and the chalk is still there, you get a ticket, even if there's time
on the meter.

-- 
Marc Unangst, N8VRH         | "There are two ways to solve this problem:
mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us   | the hard way, and the easy way.  Let's start
                            | with the hard way."
                            |   - W. Scheider, from a Physics lecture
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans,alt.folklore.urban
From: jheath@CERIS.Purdue.EDU (Jim Heath)
Subject: Re: Urinal and electrical NO NO's GIVE IT UP GUYS!!
Organization: Center for Environmental and Regulatory Information Systems, Purdue University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:59:54 GMT

From article <1dp1jeINNgdi@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, by rxh6@po.CWRU.Edu (Randall Holt):
> 
> 890530m@dragon.acadiau.ca (Darren MacKenzie) points out,
>  
>>You're all missing the point here...this started out with a urinal, and
>>now we're doing high voltages.  Originally, it was about 9 volts or so.
>>This is not a lot of potential.  There's not a doubt in my mind that 10,000
>>volts can travel up a stream of urine...but how about sticking to the
>>original article, eh?  Better yet, let's drop it...I'm sure everyone's
>>getting tired of debating it.  I'm still skeptical that it happened, but
>>IF IT DID, IT HAD TO BE UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS (conductors, etc.).  Okay?
>  
> In last week's episode of Ren 'n' Stimpy, Stimpy and Ren's Old Country Cousin,
> Sven, play the ever popular board game, "Don't Pee on the Electric Fence (tm)"
> (by Blammo - the makers of "Log (tm)").
>  
> Maybe cat or chihuahua urine makes the ideal conductor? 
> Does this imply that kitty litter is the ideal insluator? 
> Is there a Nobel in Physics or Chemistry in this somwhere?
>

Pissing on an electric fence is definitely a _bad_ idea.  I have
seen guys do it and they _did_ get shocked.  
-- 
"Land of song, said the warrior bard,           Jim Heath
Though all the world betrays thee.
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, (The Minstrel Boy)
One faithful harp will praise thee."         (Thomas Moore)
From: J.Theodore.Schuerzinger@dartmouth.edu (J. Theodore Schuerzinger)
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
Subject: Re: Fun with animals
Date: 13 Nov 92 03:44:36 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

Here at Dartmouth, dogs are ubiquitous; they often end up in places
they're not supposed to go, like the library, or (more importantly for
my purposes) Kiewit, the computer center.  So a day or two ago, the
computer center put up a bunch of signs saying: "The only animal
allowed in Kiewit is a mouse!" referring, of course, to the mouse that
comes with a computer.

Ha ha.

I remembered that someone posted a shenanigan involving going to a pet
store, buying a bunch of snake-food mice, and letting them free
somewhere.

I really must try that at the computer center.

More later if I do.

--Ted Schuerzinger
email: .zed@Dartmouth.EDU
"I should have realized it would be bad vodka when all the label said
was 'Russian Vodka'."
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: etlanar@yogi.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur)
Subject: Re: car trouble
Organization: Ericsson Cellular Division
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 10:42:32 GMT

In article <BxGtBE.IGL@rice.edu> rep@is.rice.edu (Robert Pietsch) writes:
>In article <mumble>, etlanar@yogi.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur) writes:
>|> 
>|> Alternatively put a stone inside one of the cars hubcaps.. (works best
>|> if the hubcap is metal) This makes a good noise that gets worse as the
>|> car speeds up, and soon sounds very 'terminal'... schnicker...
>
>Wrong, As the car picks up speed the rock will stop making noise
>caused by centrifugal force.
>This is still a good shenanigan though. It just works at low speeds.
>
>Bob Pietsch   Unix Consultant   Rice University  Houston, TX  (713)285-5321

OK, what I actually meant was, as the car speeds up from a halt it gets worse
(I realise it stops at a certain speed, but usually people have leapt out
the car thinking they've dropped the gearbox on the road, before then!)


--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Arthur                                                        DoD #1314
EMail : etlanar@deep-thought.ericsson.se                  MEMO : ETL.ETLANAR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: mgm@world.std.com (michael g moncur)
Subject: Is fraud/theft a shenanigan  - was Re: a couple of classics
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 03:47:35 GMT

chrispi@microsoft.com (Chris Pirih) writes:

>From the American Heritage Dictionary:

>shenanigan:  1. Prankishness; mischief.  2. Treachery; deceit.

>prank:  A mischievous trick; practical joke.

>By definition #2 of shenanigan, I would say that fraud is
>indeed a shenanigan.  Switching labels in a store to avoid
>paying full prices is more of a shenanigan than a prank.

But we don't go by the dictionary definition.  Actually, sense 1 of the
definition is reasonably accurate, but we could hardly call the newsgroup
alt.shenanigans.american.heritage.sense-1, now could we?

There was never a word that clearly describes what I refer to as
shenanigans.  We have adopted the word "shenanigan" for this purpose.  If
the word "hacker" can be corrupted into having a new meaning or two, then
we can do it to the word "shenanigans." 
 
I would call switching labels in a store a shenanigan, so long as you
DON't actually buy the merchandise, but leave it to fool other people. 
Granted, it's slightly harmful, but not malicious.  
 
Switching them "to avoid paying full price", though, is not a shenanigan. 
"shenanigans" (My definition, not the dictionary's) are usually done in
order to be funny, at least to yourself.  I've seen alot of people try to
get away with switching prices, at the store I used to work at.  They
didn't do it as a joke - they did it to save money.  If that's a
shenanigan, then so are shoplifting, and armed robbery of convenience
stores.  We have to draw the line somewhere...

Actually, I've never looked "shenanigan" up in a dictionary.  I was kind
of worried that it might mean something like "A species of crayfish unique
to Australia.".  Turns out, it's probably the closest thing to what we
meant to discuss...

Just say "ni" to dictionaries.


-- 
--------------------- 
Michael Moncur      mgm@world.std.com (preferred)
                    sysop@onlybbs.via.mind.org
---------------------
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: kridnix@faraday.rice.edu (Alan Cheville)
Subject: Re: Fun With Lasers
Organization: Rice University
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 01:48:47 GMT

In article <1992Nov8.210517.23436@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>, haljibur@coos.dartmouth.edu (Halim F. Aljibury) writes:

|> Well, when a couple of my friends were shining a laser from our 4th floor
|> window onto the pavement, it made a spot easily 3 inches in diameter. Not
|> exactly the size you want a targetting laser to be.  The reason the light 
|> spreads out is because of imprecision in the diameter of the tube.  A thin
|> lasing tube will produce less spreading, but will not be as bright as a 
|> thick tube.
|> 
|> Merlin@Dartmouth.edu

Just the opposite actually.  The beam spreads out due to many reasons, but
the best you can do is the diffraction limit- a larger aperature will produce a
beam that is MORE collimated- i.e. spreads out less.  

-- 
Alan Cheville   	 # For this is the school of Babylon
Electrical Engineering	 # And at its hands we learn
Rice. U.		 # To walk into the furnaces
Houston		 	 # And whistle as we burn.
		 	 # 		-T. Blackburn
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: hunter@iastate.edu (The Hunter)
Subject: Re: Is fraud/theft a shenanigan  
Followup-To: alt.is.changing.price.a.shenanigan
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 07:41:41 GMT

  mgm@world.std.com (michael g moncur) writes:
> 
>I would call switching labels in a store a shenanigan, so long as you
>DON't actually buy the merchandise, but leave it to fool other people. 
>Granted, it's slightly harmful, but not malicious.  

I can think of where price switching can be a shenanigan as this
group's charter describes it:

1) Go to your local general-type store (a WAL-MART or KMART for example) and
find something really expensive.  I used a large safe when I did this.  I
mean uh, when a friend I used to know but haven't heard from since did
this.  :)

2) Remove price sticker from item (works only with those price
stickers that have the bar codes on them).

3) Place sticker on bottom of a cheap item, such as a $1.00 box of
Little Debbie cakes.

Voila!  You are done shenaniganing (new word?  We'd better get a
definition for it fast!).  Imagine someone's surprise when the
bill for their picnic or lunch is over $130!

-- 
+---- The Hunter ---------------------------------------------------+
+   Mail to:                    "Have you seen the bridge?"         +
+  "hunter@iastate.edu"            -- Led Zeppelin                  +
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: norris@athena.mit.edu (Richard A Chonak)
Subject: Re: parking meters
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 06:02:00 GMT

In article <BxIGs0.3Iv@news.udel.edu>, webb@chopin.udel.edu (W Webb Pickersgill) writes:
|> In article <1992Nov9.162310.24258@news.weeg.uiowa.edu> tlund@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (Thomas Lund) writes:
|> >	Ever feel sorry for those poor parking meter cops who have to give
|> >tickets all down that line of cars downtown?  Help them out a little next
|> >time you see them by putting a nickel in every (expired) meter down the
|> >street.
|> >
|> >-o-<<
|> 
|> 	Hate to be the one to break this to you but, that is ILLEGAL.
|> Iv'e heard stories of people doing that and getting tickets and fines
|> and arrested for interfereing with the duties of an officer.  
|> DO NOT TRY THIS.  Hate to hear that someone was arrested from the net
|> because of this post.
|> 
|> 					Webb
|> 

It's not illegal everywhere.  In my hometown in New Hampshire, the 
Chamber of Commerce hired somebody to feed nickels in the meters.
From: birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag)
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
Subject: Re: Classroom shenanigan
Date: 13 Nov 92 05:13:52 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Screaming in Digital, the Queensryche Digest

lyons@hubcap.clemson.edu (Eric Lyons) writes:

>A friend of ours is a forestry graduate student and teaches an undergraduate
>forestry class at 2:00 on Tuesday/Thursdays.  Anyone have a good idea
>for a shenanigan?  Our only ideas were to send a "gorilla-gram" or
>something like that....

That would be good if they deal with african forests... for American forests,
a sasquatch-gram would be more applicable... Of course, they're not usually
found in the southeast, so maybe you should just send them a redneck-gram. ;)

-Shag

-- 
Shag                    | Operator, ShagNET | Editor of "Screaming in Digital" 
birchall@pilot.njin.net |  Rutgers / NJIN   |  The Queensryche E-mail Digest 
birchall@njin.bitnet    | dialup access for | queensryche-owner@pilot.njin.net
shag@most.other.places  | Burlington County | Anything Queensryche, every week
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: Fun With Lasers
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 19:25:46 GMT

In article <80===bC@engin.umich.edu> ftit@minorca.engin.umich.edu (Sergej Roytman) writes:
> My friend, you're forgetting one detail: Sweden is rather far from Ann
> Arbor.  Besides, by the time the laser got to where it could do its
> dirty work it had spread out too much to look like anything with which
> you would want to sight a gun.

Wanna bet?

The lasers used in sights are exactly the same ones used in laser pointers.
Here's two models: handgun model: <1mW, rifle model, <5mW. The laser pointer
models are all in the same range.

I still think it's a legitimate prank, though.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  <peter@sugar.neosoft.com>.
 `-_-'   "Meglelted mr ma a farkasodat ?"
  'U`    "Zure otsoa besarkatu al duzu gaur?"
Das kann nicht mein Zimmer sein, denn ich atme kein Ammoniak.
From: mkohlhaa@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (mike)
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
Subject: Re: Fun With Lasers
Date: 6 Nov 92 22:20:35 GMT
Organization: Indiana University


	When I was in high school, a guy in my English class brought in a very
small hand-held laser.  I guess that it's legitimate purpose was to use as
a pointer for presentations or something like that.

	Anyhow, it was small enough that during class he could discreetly shine
the red dot onto the teachers forehead during lecture.  Since the beam was
so concentrated, none of the light went into the teacher's eye and he 
remained oblivious to the shenanigan.  Seeing the teacher standing before
the class with a bright red dot about the sized of a quarter smack in the
center of his forehead was to much -- everyone in the class was unable
to contain their laughter and the teacher eventually uncovered the shenanigan.

-- 

					-- Mike
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans
From: mdw@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh)
Subject: Re: Fun With Lasers
Organization: Cornell Theory Center
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 22:18:48 GMT

In article <1992Nov8.210517.23436@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> haljibur@coos.dartmouth.edu (Halim F. Aljibury) writes:
>Well, when a couple of my friends were shining a laser from our 4th floor
>window onto the pavement, it made a spot easily 3 inches in diameter. Not
>exactly the size you want a targetting laser to be.  The reason the light 
>spreads out is because of imprecision in the diameter of the tube.  

Yep. When scientists directed a laser at the Moon, the diameter of the 
circle of light was about a mile in diameter on the surface.

I wish I could remember where I read that.

mdw

-- 
Matt Welsh    mdw@tc.cornell.edu        +1 607 253 2737
Systems Programmer, Cornell Theory Center
  "She's like jelly roll, like sculpture!"
Newsgroups: alt.shenanigans