HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: harris@drvax3.msfc.nasa.gov (Mitch Harris)
Subject: Re: Elevator DEATH!
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date: 23 Jan 93 06:45:43 GMT

stirling@ozrout.uucp (Stirling Westrup) writes:

>bwatson@nyx.cs.du.edu (bruce watson) writes
>>I know there have been injuries with people using an elevator
>>in other than intended ways (Is it called 'surfing' -- riding
>>on the top of the box?) and a woman was killed when the B-25
>>hit the Empire State Building, during WWII, and the cable
>>broke and the elevator fell into the basement, but have
>>there been fatalities in the course of intended usage?
>>
>The last time this discussion came up, someone actually had
>newspaper clippings that they quoted from and stuff, and I'm doing it all
>by memory, but here goes anyway:

>In recent years, there have been two elevator fatalities in Canada.  They
>happend about 6 months appart, one in Toronto and one in Montreal.  The one
>in Montreal involved an elevator which suddenly dropped one floor while a
>man was stepping into it.  He was almost cut in half by the roof of the
>falling car, and died instantly.  I think his wife was right behind him and
>witnessed the whole thing.  The incident in Toronto was similar.

>-- 
>||    BUNGEE SIDEWAYS!                              o   )))
>||                                                 /-- ///
>|P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\_  \\\      __ -_

A few years ago, while working at University Hospitals in Cleveland, an
employee was killed in a freak elevator accident. He was transporting a
patient somewhere...the doors opened, he pushed the patient in on his
stretcher, stepped in & hit the button. The elevator started to rise
with the doors open. He pushed the patient out (who was unharmed), but
fell in the doorway while doing this, and was crushed between the floor
of the elevator and the top of the doorway. The *real* pisser is it took
him about 20 minutes to die; the rescue workers were unable to free him
for about 2 hours. (This all happened around lunch time). I remember
this well, because his cousin was one of our nurses' aid's cousin, and
we took up a little donation for the family. The hospital had several
psychological counselling sessions for those involved/witnessing this
because it was so traumatic.>||    stirling@ozrout.uucp                                 ((( (_)T(_)
The hospital atrium was named after the employee...



....Posted for the missus (Beverly H.)

--
Mitch Harris                           |  New Technology Inc.
(205)-544-2846                         |  700 Boulevard South, #401
drvax3!harris@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov    |  Huntsville, AL  35802
From: linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Coke machine follies
Date: 21 Jan 1993 20:35:31 GMT
Organization: Some day, perhaps
NNTP-Posting-Host: positive
Keywords: Bite my shorts

The "students wire up their coke machine to a CPU" story is true.
It was done at CMU, and possibly elsewhere.   It was mostly done
because it was there, but also because it could be done, and because
it was fun, and did have some practical applications (involving which
coke had been sitting there longest, and hence was the most refrigerated).

But that's not important now.   What I would like to know is, is there
any truth in the "Coke machine phones home" story?   I believe I first
heard that on comp.risks, in the context of phone logs indicating 2am
calls, eventually traced to the coke machine.

Can anyone indicate whether there's a factual basis to coke machine
telemetry, by the coke supplier, on phone lines?   On the face of it,
it doesn't seem cost-effective.   You have to send a guy out anyway
to fill the machine -- so why not just send him out on a regular basis,
rather than pay $15/mo for a dedicated phone line?   If the machine
empties prematurely, you probably haven't foregone $15 in sales. and
you now know to refill more frequently.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: etlanar@yogi.ericsson.se (Chops)
Subject: Re: Aids in pizza
Organization: Ericsson Cellular Division
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 14:45:34 GMT

In article <1993Jan23.183000.8755@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>
>Doesn't beat "personal PIN identification number."
>

Yeah, but if they called it the PI number, everyone would use 3141 (or maybe
3 if the state had declared it so....)
--
--            CHOPS (c)              |   "Harsh but fair, smooth but even"    --
--  etlanar@deep-thought.ericsson.se |                                        --
--      ERICSSON Cellular UK         |      Standard disclaimer applies       --
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: spinaa@rpi.edu (Matt Garretson)
Subject: Toy Aladdin snake staff
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 00:16:14 GMT

Someone suggested to me that these things were haunted. Well, they *do* work
without the batteries installed, and the salesman at Toys'R'Us, surprisingly,
couldn't offer any explanation. 

This sounds like good UL fodder; is the jury still out on these fiendish toys? 
Sorry if this is a FAQ.

-Matt "First post" G. 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: davew@willow03.cray.com (Dave Wagner)
Subject: Re: Elvis & return to sender
Originator: davew@willow03
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 21 Jan 93 16:41:13 CST


In article <1993Jan20.172639.21025@news.eng.convex.com>, rotheroe@convex.com (Dave Rotheroe) writes:
> posted on one of our internal newsgroups:
> 
> >Heard on NPR's Morning Edition today:
> 
> >The Post Office is getting more than it bargained for after issuing
> >stamps of Elvis Presley.
> 
> >They're getting letters with the stamps sent to non-existent
> >places, with carefully inscribed return addresses, so people get the
> >envelopes back stamped:
> 
> >Return To Sender - Address Unknown
> 
The Post-Office here, when they ran out of Elvis stamps, put up a sign saying

"Elvis has left the building"
-- 
Dave Wagner                               "Tongue-tied and twisted,
davew@cray.com , uunet!cray!davew          just an earth-bound misfit, I"
(612) 683-5393                                  -- Pink Floyd
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (Jeremy Mathers)
Subject: Re: Is Tampax latin for Cigarette?
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 15:27:07 GMT

In article <1993Jan19.235753.19113@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne) writes:
>In a previous article (Alan Arthur) writes:
>>>
>>>Just heard an official spokesman on the Camilla-gate love-tapes (ie,
>>>The Prince-of-Wale's love-tapes). His analysis was very close to the
>>>following (only the last sentence is guaranteed verbatim).
>>
>>Does anyone have a transcript of the tapes that they might post (or mail)?
>
>I have such a transcript but I was wondering if the whole thing has been 
>misinterpreted.


For what it is worth (and for FAQ'r everywhere), the following showed up
in my mailbox a few days ago:

From chamberl@ihlpw.att.com  Fri Jan 15 08:52:12 1993
Subject: From the secret files of Prince Charles
Status: RO


My Contact in Britain, "Deep Goat", sends me this transcript of a 
tape recording made of Prince Charles and another "semi-unspecified"
person.

Tony

(Rated PG -- Parental guidance may be appropriate)





	From mlsma

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 93 04:20:05 EST
From: ggrieve%mlsma@att.att.com
>From att!vax1.tcd.ie!cnolan Thu Jan 14 10:30:21 1993
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Clinton's no Jefferson! (was: AMUSING SIGNS)
Date: 27 Jan 93 01:23:30 GMT
 <1993Jan27.000242.25299@samba.oit.unc.edu>
Organization: The Ohio State University

Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall) writes:

>But then, if Thomas Jefferson were alive today, *he* wouldn't be president
>either.  Look at his Packwoodesque record of sexual harrassment of his
>slave-mistresses.  Look at his vague religion, neither fundamentalist not
>mainstream Christian.  (etc. etc.)

Hell, look at his age.  The guy would be what: 240,250 years old?
Even Reagan wasn't that old when elected.

Jon "George Washinton slept here" Papai
.......

According to the 1830 U.S. census, 3,775 free blacks owned
a total of 12,760 slaves.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cooper@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (Ralph 'Hairy' Moonen)
Subject: Military phone use (wasRe: # and * on telephone)
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 09:00:34 GMT

In article <C1FE3J.C8C@x.co.uk>, clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather) writes:
> [The following culled from comp.dcom.telecom. Archives are kept
> somewhere or other, so don't ask me about it: find the original authors
> of this material.]
> 
> The pad that generates the tones is laid out in a 4 by 3 grid, and the
> frequencies of the tones match this (each tone consists of a high note
> giving the column, and a low note giving the row). The actual equipment
> uses four columns, with the entries in the right hand column usually
> being called "A", "B", "C", and "D". Some modems can even generate these
> tones.

Yup, and it's easy to re-wire your phone in such a way that it will also
generate these tones. Apparatus that make these tones are called silver
boxes in phone-phreakers jargon. (Almost) All the chips that make the tones
have the ABCD tones, they're just not hooked up to a key. All you would 
have to do is connect a 4 x 2 switch over these extra outputs and let's say
the 3, 6, 9, and # keys. Then with the switch in the normal position, you
would make ordinary phone calls, and with the switch in Magic position, they
would generate ABCD.

> US telephone equipment no longer in use used the ABCD tones to control
> calls, and generating them from your phone could be used to make free
> calls. Therefore AT&T used to watch out for these tones, and have you
> sent to prison for using them (this last may be a UL).

Not an UL, people have been arrested frequently for messing with the phone
system. Most notably, John Draper got busted for it. 

> Modern equipment
> separates the talk circuits from the control circuits, and so these
> tones have no effect.

Nearly correct, the tones have no effect now, because the control circuits
are secured as to not accept the tones. They are still there, for how else
could you make a regular phone call?

> The area code 710 is allocated to "the Federal Government". Allegedly,
> calls to this area code have priority handling, but can only be made
> from specific phones - all other phones will just give "number
> unobtainable". Certainly telephone company staff are very coy about 710,
> and have been known to make comments like "you're not supposed to know
> about that".

Well, it all depends. The phone network has become so complex, that it is 
impossible to state something for 100% sure. A very smart guy could
probably find out a way to make calls to 710-numbers. (MAybe, if he's smart
enough, he could do it and not get arrested :-)

But indeed, 710-numbers are reserved for military use.


--Ralph
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:35040 rec.music.misc:31141
From: gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.music.misc
Subject: Re: 54-40..what does their name mean?
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:53:16 GMT
Reply-To: gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor)
Organization: Heurikon Corporation, Madison, WI

stevep@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca (Steve Portigal) writes:
>I just always figured 54-40 was just some stupid band name (although
>a decent band), when Al Bundy used the phrase "54-40 or fight" (not
>in context, only as a sample phrase) on Married With Children.

My goodness. You are Knaydjen, not you are? The phrase refers to a
territorial dispute during ah...the late 19th century between your
baaad Canadian selves and little old us over the latitude at which
our northern border in the area of Warshinin and Briddish Klumbia
was to be drawn. It was such a heated argument that it produced a
slogan. Isn't history wonderful (perhaps I made this whole thing up)?
--
In the desert I prayed only for mercy, not happiness, not vindication, 
willing to settle. No price can be too high, no cruelty excessive if the 
end finds cruelty exhausted and mercy audible as a hammer's sound in rain.
Gregory Taylor/Heurikon Corporation/8310 Excelsior Drive/Madison WI 52717
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: parking meter nun smash
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:44:33 GMT
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario

rchao@netcom.com (Robert Chao) writes:
>Is there anything to do to a parking meter to cough up some time, apart
>from inserting slugs or opening the meter? (I doubt it.)

Well - a british 2p piece (value approx $.05) works very well in Ottawa
Airport parking meters as a looney (Cnd $1 coin).  Not that I'd ever do
something as illegal as that!

(So if anybody wants to mail me some tuppences, I'd be more than happy to
turn them in to the city one coin at a time...)

-- 
Paul Tomblin, speaking from but not for GeoVision Systems Inc.
"He who hasn't hacked assembly language as a youth has no
heart. He who does so as an adult has no brain."
    - John Moore (john@asuvax.eas.asu.edu) on rec.humor.funny
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Re: Mushrooms and the Cat---a live one!
Reply-To: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Organization: ACUSON, Mountain View, CA
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 16:02:20 GMT

In article <C19GGn.EHL.2@cs.cmu.edu> smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith) writes:

>My wife came home from a horticulture class last night with this great story
>her instructor had told her about something that had happened to a friend
>of the instructor's.


[deleted -- eat dinner, cat sick, stomachs pumped, cat had kittens]


This is almost exactly the same as one of the scenes in _Her Alibi_.

_Her_ (forget the name) makes dinner and leaves.  Everybody sits down,
plate of scraps given to cat.  After dinner, cat is rigid in the
laundry room.  The entire group swills epicac (may also go to the
hospital, I forget).

As everybody is leaving, the neighbor comes over and apologizes for
killing the cat.  Since there was company, he just put it inside the
back door at the time.


Drew "never tasted epicac" Lawson
-- 
Drew Lawson                      If you're not part of the solution,
lawson@acuson.com                you're part of the precipitate
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: Re: Snipers at Stalingrad
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 23:04:59 GMT

found in Newsgroups: sci.military

}From fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Frank Crary)

In article <C15y9p.K44@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> z_kupkams@ccsvax.sfasu.edu writes:
>    Also, John Denver ( Yes the Singer ) was a sniper in Vietnam, and I believe
>that he had 70+ confirmed kills. 80 to 100 does sound reasonable for
>Stalingrad.

>[mod note -- I asked Michael for confirmation of this, and he replied that
>he had read it in a non-military publication.  Can any other readers out there
>verify that John Denver was a U.S. Army sniper?

I don't know anything about Denver, but I have heard of another famous,
unlikely personality who was: Dr. Ruth (the sweet, grandmotherly, sex
"expert"/therapist/whatever) was a sniper in the Isreali army in the
early 1950s)... (Yes... I do have a source: P. J. O'Rourke's interview
with her...)

                                                  Frank Crary
                                                  CU Boulder


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bml@netcom.com (Brian Leibowitz)
Subject: Re: Coca Cola dissolves meat?
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 07:44:44 GMT


>> "If you put a piece of meat in a bowl of Coke overnight, the meat will dissolve
>> completely." Of course I never got around to trying it out ...
>
>The usual version of that story is that it will dissolve a tooth left
>in it overnight.

I saw an example of a partly disolved nail in a bottle of Coke
at a science fair plus a bottle with nothing in it that had a nail put in
it a few weeks before.  I havn't tried to reproduce it myself.
This was many years ago.  I don't know if the New Coke or Classic (not
really the same as Old Coke) Coke behave the same.
 
However, Coke is used by chemists I know to loosen stuck stopcocks in
lab glassware;  they soak it a day or two and they usually free up.
Coke supposedly works better than the comercially available products.
(I was told that it was the phosphoric acid in Coke that does it and the
carbination helps it work better.)

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.college
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: Tuition Refund
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 00:31:21 GMT

In article <1993Jan28.164706.29742@inmet.camb.inmet.com> porges@beretta.camb.inmet.com (Don Porges) writes:
>In article <1993Jan23.000411.4060@beaver.cs.washington.edu> graham@cs.washington.edu (Stephen Graham) writes:
>>
>>My father was a graduate student in sociology during Spring Semester 1970
>>at Kent State University in Ohio. 
>
>God, I feel old.

What's a 1970?

Ted "and who are these Wings folks, anyway?" Frank
-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: British Constitution
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 20:01:26 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

an1168@anon.penet.fi (keynes_tart) writes:
>but i suggest that you reread your history books, because the English/British
>constitution has been around since before Columbus discovered America.

I suggest you read your history books.  Columbus didn't discover America!

Apart from the Native Americans who wandered over there _way_ before Columbus
was a gleam in his very great-grandsires eye, There was this viking got 
there too - Leif Ericson I think his name was.  Or was it Steinar?

So therefore, seeing as Columbus didn't discover America Britain doesn't
have a constitution!


-- 
Derek Tearne.   --   derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz   --    Fujitsu New Zealand   -- 
 _______
 _______} This is a Usenet Condom<tm>.  Roll the condom over the .signature 
	  file before posting to protect yourself from .sig retro-virii
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Re: Peace Symbol
Reply-To: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Organization: ACUSON, Mountain View, CA
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:43:31 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.140943.1299@nntp.nta.no> styri@nta.no writes:

>Cindy may be more up-to-date on this than I am, she's been haunting the
>university library lately.


Wait.  She's no longer dead, but she's haunting the library?  I need to
learn more about he para-normal.


Drew "undead are people too" Lawson
-- 
Drew Lawson                      If you're not part of the solution,
lawson@acuson.com                you're part of the precipitate
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:35027 alt.folklore.computers:19383
From: dp@world.std.com (Jeff DelPapa)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Bambi meets Godzilla.
Keywords: bambi cute roadkill
Date: 27 Jan 93 07:39:17 GMT
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA

In article <1993Jan27.061049.7658@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <1993Jan25.220201.16899@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne) writes:
>>The well known film 'Bambi meets Godzilla' just came up in conversation.
>>
>>You know, the one were Bambi just prances around pronking and saying hi to
>>all the cute animals and then getting squashed underfoot by Godzilla.
>>
>>We were just wondering if it ever really existed.  Who were the producers
>>etc. and how much did it gross (out?). 
>>
>>We feel sure that CJL will be able to supply this information and perhaps 
>>tell us if Bambi tasted like chicken.  If not someone else must know.  
>
>Bambi vs. Godzilla is a famous VT-100 file.  Should I post it directly to
>the net, since most of us are reading this on a VT-100 family terminal
>(in 7-bit mode to avoid net stripping).
>
>cj "Also have Mr. Bill and Sluggo the field-service repairman" l

Bambi meets godzilla was a very short animated flick that very much
predated VT-100's. It is all of 30 seconds long, and was a cult thing
at mid 70's SF convention movie programs. (one of the organizers of
several con's movie programs liked to put it on before one of the big
events, so he could list in the program "bambi meets..." 20:00:00, and
the feature as starting at 20:00:30 just for hack value)

<dp>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker)
Subject: "...a drug on the market"
Originator: jlpicard@woofer.austin.ibm.com
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:19:58 GMT
Reply-To: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Object Technology Products


This has been bothering me for years: what is the origin of the
phrase "...a drug on the market."? As in, "<insert item here> is
a drug on the market." Additionally, my mis-spent youth forces me
to ask: does this mean it's selling well or badly?

Craig

Not the opinion of my employer.


-- 
-- "You will have the tallest,    Craig Becker, Object Technology Products --
--  darkest leading man in               Internet: jlpicard@austin.ibm.com --
--  Hollywood."                     IBM TR: jlpicard@woofer.austin.ibm.com --
--   - Merian C. Cooper to Fay Wray               VNET: JLPICARD at AUSVM1 --
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.college
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: Tuition Refund
Organization: NYSERNet, Inc.
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 04:11:31 GMT

In <C1D4o3.4q8@newcastle.ac.uk> S.A.McIntyre@durham.ac.uk (Scott A. McIntyre) writes:

    I seem to remember at UC Santa Cruz that if your roommate died you
    would receive an automagic pass for the year, and if they killed
    themselves you got something better than a pass.  Of course, I could
    be completely wrong.

Thaw out another chicken.
-- 
/|/-\/-\          This article is supplied without longbox
 |__/__/_/        and uses recycled 100% words, characters and ideas.
 |warren@         
/ nysernet.org
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: AFU West V
Date: 22 Jan 93 21:11:41 GMT
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor

In article <28585@dog.ee.lbl.gov> TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:

>DAMN IT!  If you're going to post stuff like this and give
>it away, at least put SPOILER WARNINGS IN THE SUBJECT LINE!

Rosebud was his sled.

Phil Gustafson
-- 
|play: phil@rahul.net
|work: (Under Construction)              | Phil Gustafson 408-286-1749      |
|         Opinions outside attributed material are mine alone.              |
|        Satirical matter is not necessarily identified as such.            |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.music.misc