HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: amorgan@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Crunchy Frog)
Subject: Re: Falling bullets on Marilyn's Parade
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 02:49:33 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.013957.8139@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> 
  billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>subbarao@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kartik Subbarao) writes:
>: 
>: Let's assume that the doors are labeled A, B and C. 
>: Assume A and C have goats 
>: in them, and B has the car.
>: 
>: Let's say you pick A. He shows you C. Switching will get you the car.
>: Let's say you pick C. He shows you A. Switching will get you the car.
>: Let's say you pick B. He shows you either A or C. Switching will get 
>: you a goat.
>: 
>: So is the line of reasoning like this? If you DO switch, there is a 66% 
>: chance 
>: (2/3) of getting the prize. Since 66 > 50, you should switch.
>: 
>: Right? Or am I missing something?
>
>Well, look at it this way. After you pick a door, there are 4 possibilities.
>Assume the doors are as you describe.
>
>Pick A and be shown C - switch and get a car.
>Pick C and be shown A - switch and get a car.
>Pick B and be shown C - switch and get a goat.
>Pick B and be shown A - switch and get a goat.

Interesting how, in a totally random situation, you pick the correct door
(B) twice as often as the others.  Makes one think you are wrong.

Which indeed you are.

>Work it out for yourself.

Might I suggest the same for you?

>Bill

Note: I am assuming that this is the Monty Hall puzzle which has been
done to death on rec.puzzles (i.e. Monty always shows you a door and
always shows you one with a goat behind it).

C "Switch" Frog
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: FURRJK@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: Lemurs
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 22:34:35 GMT

Kim L. Greer (klg@mc.duke.edu) stated an ObFact: Some lemurs escape every
so often, and will travel for quite a few miles.  I assume this is in
reference to the Duke University Primate Center (phone: 919-489-3364)
which Greer mentioned in the same post.  This raises some questions in
my mind, not least of which is, North Carolina being North Carolina, did
any of the lemurs wind up at barbecue restaurants performing tricks in
return for all the pork barbecue and slaw?

Did any of the lemurs show up in Fayetteville and try to enlist at Fort
Bragg?

What was the preferred means of transportation for the lemurs?  Hitchhiking?
From: morris@anasaz (Bob Morris)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Rocky Mountain Oysters (Was Re: Scallops: Seafood or Spinefood?)
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:09:52 GMT
Organization: Anasazi, Inc.  Phoenix, Az

In article <2678@monarch.array.com> kenm@array.com (Ken Murphy) writes:
>
>bulls = steers with testicles.
>
Although I suspect most people would say:

steers = bulls without testicles.

Bob "how do you get them to stay on?" Morris
aka morris@anasazi.com  (new address)
anasaz!morris@asuvax.eas.asu.edu (old address still works)
My opinions only, of course...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: denebeim@brtph254.bnr.ca (Jay Denebeim P025)
Subject: Re: Falling Bullets
Organization: Bell-Northern Research
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1992 23:17:50 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.134711.28085@sunova.ssc.gov> chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov (Chuck Adams) writes:
>the density of air is less.  The speed of sound at higher altitudes is 
>also higher, also due to the fact that the density of air at the higher 
>altitude is less, but the two are not directly related.

I don't have enough physics to back this up, but is there not a shock
wave at the speed of sound?  I would think this would tend to support
the object and prevent it from passing that speed.

When people started asserting that here, it was news to me, but
because of the shock wave, it made sense.

Jay
.sigless
From: morris@anasaz (Bob Morris)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The wacky, flakey State
Keywords: earthquake dam flood
Date: 6 Apr 92 16:56:12 GMT
Organization: Anasazi, Inc.  Phoenix, Az

In article <1992Apr5.060755.3774@willamette.edu> vbollen@willamette.edu (Victoria Bollen) writes:
>About 10 miles upriver from my home 
>is the bicentenial dam on the Santa Ana River.(I don't know the real name, we
>call it this because there is a huge red, white and blue 1776-1976 emblazoned
>across it.)  My dad says this dam is built a few miles from the junction of 3
>minor faults in the San Andreas system.

Bad news, Vicki.  Almost all dams are built *right on* faults.  You see,
rivers like faults because it's easier to carve a riverbed there.  You
just gotta hope the damn engineers (oops, dam engineers) know what they're
doing.  And anyway, there's not many places in that part of California that
aren't just a few miles from the intersection of 3 minor faults.  Sorry.

But there's good news, too.  The dam looks a lot better with the bicentennial
picture on it than it did before.  (Ask your dad).

Dam UL:  Boulder (aka Hoover) dam has survived a 5.4 earthquake and has
been struck by a light plant who couldn't pull up in time.  Although it
looks like a V from the front,  it's about the same from front to back
as it is from top to bottom.

Bob "I always wondered why they called it the Riverside Freeway" Morris
aka morris@anasazi.com  (new address)
anasaz!morris@asuvax.eas.asu.edu (old address still works)
My opinions only, of course...
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:12149 sci.skeptic:8054
From: joltes@husc4.harvard.edu (Richard Joltes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: The Philadelphia Experiment (?)
Date: 13 Apr 92 15:28:17 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Paul Houle writes:

["Philadelphia Experiment" science fiction story deleted...]

Hmmmm.  So you worked with Einstein and other fun folks like that, eh?  Not bad
for someone with an "undergrad" account...

Nice try...and fun, too.  Do you write for the Weakly World News?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dick "I smell baloney..." 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..."
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:11554 misc.kids:12383
From: jch@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (jeffrey.c.halle)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,misc.kids
Subject: Re: Walla walla bing bang (was Re: Worm song?)
Date: 6 Apr 92 13:24:33 GMT
Organization: AT&T

From article <92094.085253ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET>, by ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET:
(re: The Witch Doctor)
> David Seville, yes; the Chipmunks, no.  This was a minor hit in the late

The Chipmunks did record it.  Whether it was a single or only on their albums
I don't know.  It was later done (but probably not released outside the
New York area, fortunately for the rest of the world) by Marc Gastineau,
the former NJJets linebacker.

BTW, Seville's real name is Ross Bagdisarian, or something like that.
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Falling bullets on Marilyn's Parade
Date: 8 Apr 92 01:39:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpcvaac.1992Apr8.013957.8139
Organization: Hewlett-Parkard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA

subbarao@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kartik Subbarao) writes:
: 
: Let's assume that the doors are labeled A, B and C. Assume A and C have goats 
: in them, and B has the car.
: 
: Let's say you pick A. He shows you C. Switching will get you the car.
: Let's say you pick C. He shows you A. Switching will get you the car.
: Let's say you pick B. He shows you either A or C. Switching will get you a goat.
: 
: So is the line of reasoning like this? If you DO switch, there is a 66% chance 
: (2/3) of getting the prize. Since 66 > 50, you should switch.
: 
: Right? Or am I missing something?

Well, look at it this way. After you pick a door, there are 4 possibilities.
Assume the doors are as you describe.

Pick A and be shown C - switch and get a car.
Pick C and be shown A - switch and get a car.
Pick B and be shown C - switch and get a goat.
Pick B and be shown A - switch and get a goat.

Work it out for yourself.

Bill
From: stecz@hotwheel.Eng.Sun.COM (John Steczkowski [CONTRACTOR])
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: other fun mistranslations..
Date: 8 Apr 92 21:56:45 GMT
Reply-To: stecz@hotwheel.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: hotwheel

In article 22060@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz, comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen) writes:
> morris@anasaz (Bob Morris) writes:
> 
> >...OK, more detail.  When I was a kid near Los Angeles in the
> >1960s, it was a popular passtime (mostly among Mexican-Americans) to change
> >the suspension on their cars so that they would ride low...
> 
> Why?

Because.

That is a serious answer, they don't need a reason, they just want to.  The same
reason some people jack their pickups six feet in the air, give their cars monochrome
paint jobs, or put custom wheels on them, they simply WANT to.  It doesn't have
to accomplish anything practical, they just like the way it looks.

---
  John Steczkowski                            stecz@pencom.com
        65mph: it's not a good idea, it just the law.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
From: tolman%asylum.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Re: Geronimo!
Date: 11 Apr 92 17:43:23 MDT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Distribution: world,local

> Churchill anecdotes, and non-mathematical stories.

In his strapping days, Churchill served in the army.  His unit was captured,
and put into a prison.  He stayed in prison for a long time, and finally
decided to break out with some friends.  He was the only one who escaped,
and he got out into the midst of enemy territory.  He wandered around
trying to find food and not get caught (and escape) for days.  However, the
enemy was all over, and he had no luck.  Finally, he decided to turn himself
over, so he approached a house one night with lights.  That house turned
out to be the one spy for England in the region, and Churchill found help
here!

Hitler anecdote:

Hitler served as a messenger for his army, running back and forth between
camps with messages.  In one particular battle, his legion was suffering
heavily, and decided to retreat.  Out of hundreds of men, nearly all were
falling as they turned back.  Finally, only a few men were left of this
retreating force.  Some mortar fire took out all the rest, except Hitler.
He was the sole man to survive this encounter.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pfalstad@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Paul Falstad)
Subject: Re: The Monty Hall Problem: An Empirical Solution
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU
Organization: League For Fighting Chartered Accountancy
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 23:33:24 GMT

subbarao@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kartik Subbarao) wrote on Sun, 12 Apr 1992 23:10:18 GMT:
>
>/* I happen to like empirical proofs. Here's one for the Monty Hall

It's also a logical proof, if we clean it up a bit.

>        /* Choose a door */
>        choice = rand() % 3;
#ifdef USELESS
>        /* Figure out which one Monty will reveal */
>        do { reveal = rand() % 3; } 
>            while (reveal == choice || doors[reveal] == Car);
#endif
>        /* If the one we picked was a car, then we should stay. Otherwise
>         * we should switch.
>         */
>        if (doors[choice] == Car) stay++; else swtch++;

The code I #ifdef'ed out was pointless.  The value you compute there wasn't
used in order to calculate whether to stay or switch; the contents of
"reveal" does not affect the result.  The above code can be reduced to:

	choice = rand() % 3;
	if (doors[choice] == Car) stay++; else swtch++;

Not too hard to figure out what the result will be, given that, is it?
I already posted something like this, in fact.

-- 
Paul Falstad, pfalstad@phoenix.princeton.edu | 10 PRINT "PRINCETON CS"
[Your blood pressure just went up.]          | 20 GOTO 10
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: Free magazine from subsription services.
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway
Date: 7 Apr 92 08:28:34 GMT

In <1992Apr6.014733.8725@tellab5.tellabs.com> rgarg@tellabs.com (Rajesh Garg) writes:

>a free trial offer subscription for one full year with
>a purchase of any magazine.

Purchase price two-fifty, I suppose.

Warren "on the other hand, AFU really is free" Burstein
-- 
/|/-\/-\          The entire world		Jerusalem
 |__/__/_/        is a very strange hamantaschen
 |warren@         But the tzitzit maker
/ nysernet.org    is not worried at all.
From: linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: D-Day plans revealed in a crossword puzzle
Keywords: how about them 49r's
Date: 13 Apr 92 00:22:41 GMT
Organization: One man and his dog
NNTP-Posting-Host: positive

The subject came up a few weeks ago of some D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
code words appearing in a crossword puzzle.   There was the usual amount
of noisy and inaccurate huffing and puffing by people who had heard of the
story.  Here's the real facts.

The code words appeared in five different crossword puzzles in the Daily
Telegraph, during the month before D-Day.  The entries were:

        Clue:                       Answer:        D-Day code for:
3 down: Red Indian on the Missouri  OMAHA    Beach where US 1st infantry land
11 acr: -- but some bigwig like this
     has stolen some of it at times OVERLORD Masterplan for defeat of Germany
15 acr: Britannia and he hold to 
        the same thing              NEPTUNE  Initial assault plan
17 acr: One of the U.S.             UTAH     Beach where US 4th infantry land
11 acr: This bush is a centre of 
        nursery revolutions         MULBERRY Artificial harbor

The appearance of "OVERLORD" convinced the invasion planners that security
had been breached.  Scotland Yard detectives questioned the puzzle compiler,
Leonard Dawe.  Dawe was a physics teacher who compiled crosswords as a 
hobby.  He was completely at a loss to understand why he had been arrested
and was being interrogated.  Eventually the Yard drew the conclusion that
it was all an amazing coincidence, and Dawe was released.


But not before Churchill himself puked on his shoes.

ObUL:  Can anyone knowledgeable confirm or refute the theory that
squeezing the sides of a partly-consumed soda bottle to expel the air
before screwing the cap back, does not in fact keep the remaining
soda from going flat, if anything it speeds the process.


--
Peter van der Linden    linden@eng.sun.com
Have you got a light Mac?   No, but I've got a taupe-colored Sun.
From: scm@harvee.UUCP (S. Mudgett aka little gator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: We are not amused.
Date: 17 Apr 92 09:31:24 GMT
Organization: gators 'r us
X-Version: Rodney's UUCP modules 02/11/90 V1.18

In article <1992Apr16.184828.16184@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu
(Ted Frank) writes:
> 
> I heard the reason that Great Britain has no laws on the books against
> lesbianism is because Queen Victoria refused to believe such a thing
> existed when the Parliament passed its anti-sodomy laws, and the
> appropriate provisions had to be struck from the bill.
and i heard that that's what she *said*, but really it was beacuse she
was fooling around with florence nightingale.
--
-- little gator aka S. Mudgett     email: scm@harvee.uucp
-- friend of a gator is a friend of mine
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Cute-Not cute (was: "Cute" animals vs. Food animals 
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 15:34:36 GMT
Organization: Kolin Itelly's Brick Yard
X-Bytes: 

Peter van der Linden writes:
>
>
>I have heard [tm] of an intrepid explorer who made a point of 
>trying every possible source of protein.
>He said that the worst thing he ever tasted was a common housefly.

I obviously don't travel in as tony a crowd as Peter, but here in the
stroke belt, the worst thing anyone ever has actually not finished eating
a bite of was crow. "Eating crow" is not just for heresiarchs anymore. 
It tastes vile beyond belief. Cats will eat flies, but I've never heard of
anything unsegmented eating crow. 
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> 
You may think you know what you're dealing with here,
but believe me you don't.
From: rrauenza@zeus.calpoly.edu (Who, Me??)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: other fun mistranslations..
Date: 8 Apr 92 07:00:36 GMT
Article-I.D.: zeus.1992Apr08.070036.158288
Organization: Cal Poly State University -- San Luis Obispo, CA 93407



Several years ago I went to Neuss, Germany with some classmates as part
of a foreign exchange program.  (It was a German class).  Some students
decided to buy some presents at the airport before we left on our trip,
and one particular student bought a small package of candy and other
foods.  (He was the big spender of the group...)

When he happily presented this present to his German family he'd be
staying with, he didn't understand their initial reaction...  They
didn't seem very grateful for the present.

Why?  Well, the package had in large letters across the top, "Gift
Pack".  'Gift' means poison.  I guess he shoulda studied his vocab
more....

	Rich

-- 
+-------------------------- ----+- - - ----- --------- - -      -       -- -  +
| rrauenza@PolySlo.CalPoly.EDU  |  Hi!  I'm a  1         ( rest of sig under  )
| rrauenza@Ares.CalPoly.EDU     |            -----       ( construction until )
+------------ - -- - -  --- - - + - -         sin(Major) ( further notice...  )
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: mckenzie@cs.washington.edu (Neil McKenzie)
Subject: Re: Today's conspiracy theory
Summary: how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 19:56:01 GMT

In article <uspam.702715034@mcl> uspam@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu (Tom Maynard) writes:
>In <ku1q2tINN2ma@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:
>
>>    2.  The breast cancer rate tripled with the current generation
>
>One significant cause of "higher" incidence of cancer is the significant
>increase in life-span.  When people don't die of heart disease or tuberculosis
>or some other disease, you see cancer at later ages.  This doesn't mean that
>there _has_ to be an unnatural cause of this cancer, just that it was
>previously masked by early death.

Current stats I have read say that one in eight women will get breast cancer.
This implies (references, anyone?) that the previous generation had a
rate of about one in 25 (to me, believable).  I find the one in eight
figure shocking.  Many of these women are in their 30s and 20s.
This cannot be explained by just looking at increased life expectancy.

>>    3.  Carnivores are three times likelier to get colon cancer

"Diet For a New America" by John Robbins has significant evidence to
support claims like this.  Read the book; it would take too much
much bandwidth to post all the relevant bits.  Summary: cancer rates
correlate directly with fat intake.  Suffice to say that I eat differently
now since reading this book.

[What about Hanford?]

From time to time the local news in Seattle runs a story on people
from Hanford or Richland with high incidence of cancer/birth defects/
infertility/etc.  Anyone want to buy some down-wind real estate real cheap?

I fear the radioactive threat less than the chemical threat.  At least I
can detect radioactivity with a Geiger counter.  Toxic chemicals on the
other hand have lethal doses in the parts per million (or billion) range and
are thereby practically impossible to detect.
-- 
--Neil McKenzie 	Internet:     mckenzie@june.cs.washington.edu
			UUCP:        ..!uw-beaver!uw-june!mckenzie

To be or not to be -- that is a tautology.
From: hsr4@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Iron in blood setting off metal detectors
Date: 16 Apr 92 21:34:32 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

In article <1992Apr15.194212.29107@e2big.mko.dec.com>, moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
> 
> In article <1992Apr15.023602.8348@sleepy.UUCP>, chris@sleepy.UUCP (Chris Mills) writes:
> |>A friend of mine says he read somewhere that there are people that accumulate
> |>iron in their bodies to the extent that they set off metal detectors in
> |>airports.  Anyone hear this?  Is it an U.L.?  Is it true???
> 
> Not true.  The iron in your blood isn't metallic iron, it's a compound, isn't
> magnetic or conductive, and otherwise differs in many ways from metallic iron.
> 
> -Mike "but what about that steel plate in my head?" Moroney

However...  I recall a diagnostic test for malaria which relies upon the fact
that invasion of erythrocytes (red blood cells) by the parasite results in the
conversion of the iron component of haem (combines with globin to form
haemoglobin) into a magnetisable form.  The infected cells can be trapped
within the mesh of a steel wool ball surrounded by a very high magnetic field 
and back-flushed to provide a high concentration sample to be viewed under the
microscope.

Some years ago I was involved on the periphery of what was NMR and is now MRI
(magnetic resonance imaging - remove the word NUCLEAR and everyone's happy),
and research over here ground to a halt around the time that the above technique
was announced (coincidence, I think - at the time, someone who presented a 
paper at a conference apparently mentioned that they had induced the formation
of blood clots using very high magnetic fields, which gave everyone kittens).

I was told we wouldn't have to do haematology in this newsgroup...

+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Peter G. Q. Brooks HSR4@UK.AC.OX.VAX |   "If we get the technology right,  |
| Health Services Research Unit        |  then for male pattern baldness it  |
| Dept of Public Health & Primary Care |   could be a case of 'Gone today,   |
| University of Oxford                 |       Hair tomorrow...'"  Anon      |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.mcdonalds