HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: nolan@twg.com (Nolan Hinshaw)
Subject: Re: AFU WEST V - TAKE II
Reply-To: nolan@twg.com
Organization: Fabbrica Condimentia, SpA
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 19:56:55 GMT


In article <28611@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
[praeludium deleted]
|>   Still not finalized, but there's talk of a Polish restaurant
|>   where the proprietor supposedly knows the Pope in Los Altos
|>   (down near Mountain View, Sunyvale, Palo Alto and all those
|>   other rinky-dink towns in the valley).  At any rate, it won't 
|>   be far from there if it's not.

How intimately did Eugene know the Pope in Los Altos? Or is Eugene The Pope of
Los Altos? At any rate, it's a dandy place for AFU meetings., and the prop.
tells marvelous stories.

|>SOME CONFIRMED LUMINARIES:
[list of the illustrious deleted]
|>   Nolan Hinshaw (well, maybe this is the wrong category for him).

Yes. I'm above all that since my apotheosis.

[more lists deleted]

|>SOME FOLKS WHO PROBABLY TASTE LIKE CHICKEN:
|>
|>   Ted Frank

It's OK as long as he's kosher

|>I will personally bring a can of sardines with a picture of 
|>either Haakon or Phil's ancestor on it as a gesture to our 
|>transatlantic neighbors, and perhaps an effigy of Bruce
|>Tindall we can burn.

And we could all take turns bashing Phil's Saab, too.

[stuff deleted]

|>Please RSVP by the 19th so we can reserve adequate space.  But 
|>if you want to drop by anyway and take your chances,  do so.

Count me in. And order a bottle of Krakus for me.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney)
Subject: Re: Chocolate Protein Content
Keywords: chocolate cockroaches
Reply-To: sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:23:33 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.181523.13546@watson.ibm.com> motani@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>Can anybody confirm this and cite allowable levels in the US and
>Canada with references?
>
No references, but I quit eating doner kebabs after discovering
that in the U.K there is a "permitted faecal content" for kebab meat.
[one of the permitted offals is intestines, and you can only wash
them so thoroughly...]
>________________________________________________________________________________
>Muiz Motani
>IBM Canada Lab                  motani@vnet.ibm.com
>Distributed System Products

Tony "No Shit!" Sweeney.
From: smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: John Denver (Re: Snipers at Stalingrad)
Keywords: I'd like to buy a vowel, please
Date: 22 Jan 93 14:37:56 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <JTCHEW-210193110257@b50-afrd5.lbl.gov> JTCHEW@lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:

>As for John Denver, the folk singer, being a Marine sniper... Sheesh!

Back in college (the first time), when crowds gathered nightly
in the TV room to watch ``Jeopardy'' and ``Wheel of Fortune,'' the rumor
spread that host Pat Sajak (no idea if I'm spelling that correctly) was
a Drill Instructor in the Marines.

--Sean ``give me two-fifty, maggot!'' Smith

******************************************************************************
                         sean.smith@cs.cmu.edu
                     carnegie mellon computer science

          posting from PITTSBURGH, the center of the AFUniverse!
******************************************************************************
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:35163 rec.arts.startrek.misc:14519
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Date: 28 Jan 93 00:46:39 GMT
 <28678@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Organization: The Ohio State University

DE>   de@moscom.com (David Esan)
TC>   twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)

DE>Fruufu!

TC>Wow!  That's a mouthful.

DE>Pluto's orbit is extremely eccentric in relation to the other planets.  There
DE>is a short time during each orbit that it is closer to the sun than Neptune.
DE>We are in that time period.  In a short time we will no longer be.  The
DE>memnonic is good for most of a 248 year period.

I guess Terry hasn't heard of the recent change in the order of
the letters in the word we were used to calling 'Furrfu'.  For a
period of time extending from Jan. 27, 1993 to about Feb. 29, 2000,
the first 'r' and 'u' exchange places, and the second 'r' becomes a 'u'.
This change occurs for only about 7 years of every 248.

Jon "But how do we pronounce it?" Papai
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame)
Subject: Re: AFU SOUTHEAST
Organization: Eastern Michigan University
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 00:11:13 GMT

In article <C1CFEF.ACM@andy.bgsu.edu> jdraper@andy.bgsu.edu (johanna draper) writes:
>AFU Southeast sounds great to me as an alum, not of Duke, but of
>Science & Math down the street. (Hey, where else but NC could 
>you go to a school called S&M?)
>
>Could I suggest sometime between March 20-28?
>
>Another thread, that of amusing signs: My favorite was seen on a
>trip from Toledo to Ann Arbor:
> 
>"Prison area. Do not pick up hitchhikers."

Hey, that sign is one of the things that lets me know I'm nearing home
(Eastern Michigan University.)

		-- Stewart "never hitchhiked in my life" Tame

****************************************************************************
 I understand it's obligatory to mention Kibo somewhere in one's postings.
****************************************************************************
		Email:  stame@emunix.emich.edu
****************************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Not only do my opinions represent those of Eastern Michigan
University, but also those of Dan Quayle, Richard Nixon, Frank Zappa,
Pee-wee Herman, Bart Simpson, Tipper Gore, Murphy Brown, Maggie Thatcher,
and the Easter Bunny.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: Re: Snipers at Stalingrad
Organization: The Ohio State University
 <1jtg2fINN736@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 21:05:46 GMT

carolo@cse.ucsc.edu (Carol Osterbrock) writes:
>Gee, back in, ummm, mumble, when I was a teenybopper and John Denver
>first became a star, I remember reading in 16 Magazine about him, and
>he *was* in the army.  It would have been in the early-mid sixties,
>I think, coz he got started in show biz around 1968 or 9 or so, so
>he *could* have gone to Vietnam.  I vaguely remember that he had some
>kind of mighty revelation on a mountain in Colorado and changed from
>whatever he was before that into a peace-loving songwriter, and also
>changed his name to John Denver in commemoration of the event.

If he was in 'Nam, then he may have been exposed to Agent
Orange, and that would explain his sterility.

-J.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen)
Subject: Computer Writes a Book??
Organization: SMU - School of Engineering & Applied Science - Dallas
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 00:20:52 GMT

I saw the following in the Books column (by Olin Chism) of the Dallas
Morning News Sunday January 24, 1993. Copied without permission. It
concerns a computer program that allegedly wrote a book in the style
of Jacqueline Susann. 

I think this is a stunt. I don't really believe a computer program
wrote this book. However, if anyone has any information about this
book or the author that would give this some credibility I would like
to hear about it. Comment on the general idea would be interesting as
well. I don't think the idea itself is impossible, it just seems like
this case is a little far fetched. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Birch Lane Press of New York says that Scott French, a
free-lance writer and computer consultant from California, invested
eight years and $50,000 to develop a computer program that writes like
Jaqueline Susann. Mr. French's electronic novelist has output Just
This Once, a 256 page sizzler that Birch Lane will publish next
summer."

      "The first thought of any good skeptic is that Birch Lane is
pulling a fast one. Remember "Naked Came the Stranger", the potboiler
that Lyle Stuart published back in the 60's? And how Penelope Ashe,
its author, turned out to be a whole committe of jokesters? Well, Lyle
Stuart is a subsidiary of Carol Publishing Group, which also owns
Birch Lane."

      "Suspicians are not allayed by the tone of the commentary in
Birch Lane's catalog: "Scott French, a self-professed fan of
mega-selling author Jacqueline Susann, imagined what it would be like
if she were still alive. Secretly he hoped that, following her
premature death, Susann had be frozen, a la Walt Disney. The doctors
could thaw her out by setting a giant microwave to the Low/Defrost
setting, then cure her cancer and put her back in front of the
typewriter where she belonged...""

---
* Ted Pedersen                                  pedersen@seas.smu.edu * 
* Department of Computer Science and Engineering,                     *
* Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275      (214) 768-2126 *
From: VBCSC03L@VAX.CSUN.EDU (snopes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: UFOs
Date: 21 Jan 1993 22:44:05 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

 derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne) writes . . .

>The article lists the following questions to answer if you thinkyou may have
>been kidnapped by space aliens.

>1. Have you ever woken up paralysed with a sense of a strange person or 
>   presence in the room?
>2. Have you ever 'lost' an hour or so and can't remember where you were?
>3. Have you ever felt you were flying - and couldn't explain it?
>4. Have you ever seen unusual balls of light?
>5. Have you ever found puzzling scars on your body?

  Heck, I experienced all these things on my last flight on Delta Airlines.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   "If Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune.  And if   |
|    someone pulled him out, that, I suppose, would be a calamity."           |
|                                                                             |
| Benjamin Disraeli, asked to distinguish between a misfortune amd a calamity |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   David P. Mikkelson   Calif. State Univ., Northridge   Northridge, CA  USA |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: VBCSC03L@VAX.CSUN.EDU (snopes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: John Denver
Date: 28 Jan 1993 00:43:54 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

  andyh@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andy Holyer) . . .

> But for Ronald Reagan's personal intervention, Jonh Denver would have been
> the extra crew member on the shuttle Challenger instead of Crista MacAulliffe
> (sp?)... 

  I recall something like this, but I don't think he was ever seriously 
  considered for any NASA mission.  As I remember, he was negotiating with
  the Soviets for a ride on their equivalent of the shuttle, and they
  turned him down after initially asking for a good chunk of hard cash.

  - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|               "Welcome to Jack In The Box.  May I kill you?"                |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson   Calif. State Univ., Northridge   Northridge, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: limes@straylight.eng.sun.com (Greg Limes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Coke Machines
Date: 27 Jan 93 21:41:09
Organization: Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (Mountain View, California,
	USA)
	<1jlukkINN989@uniwa.uwa.edu.au>
NNTP-Posting-Host: straylight
In-reply-to: john@gu.uwa.edu.au's message of 21 Jan 1993 10:41:24 GMT

In article <1jlukkINN989@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> john@gu.uwa.edu.au (John West) writes:
|   There was also a story of a pizza command on a machine somewhere. They had
|   a fax machine attached to the computer, and the program sent a fax for the
|   order to local pizza place, including time-dependant descriptions of how
|   to get to the place (various doors being locked at certain times). Someone
|   posted the man page to a.f.c some time ago.

Not an urban legend.

Somewhere around Sun, someone gatewayed an email address to a Fax modem.

Someone (same someone? different someone?) also built pizzatool.

For many months, it was possible to pop up pizzatool from /usr/local,
build a pizza or three using a GUI interface (I'll take some extra GUI
Cheese on mine), and send a fax to a particular pizza place nearby
that (a) would accept FAX orders and (b) deliver.

We made use of this service during the late nite lab sessions
developing the SPARCserver 600MP series machines.

At one point (sniff sniff) the FAX modem was taken off line,
apparently permanently, and the tool ceased to be a cornucopia of
pizza godliness.

I just checked to see if the tool was still around ... and I find, to
my absolute delight, that it appears in /usr/openwin/demo/pizzatool on
my workstation, which was recently installed directly from the Solaris
2.1 CD-ROM, so we might even be shipping it as a demo of the NeWS
display handling.
--
   Greg Limes						[limes@eng.sun.com]
Not speaking for Sun Microsystems Computer Corp., Mountain View, California
From: jane@soave.swdc.stratus.com (Jane Beckman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: References sought on coriolis effect
Date: 23 Jan 93 00:48:12 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc., San Jose, CA

I asked my (British) husband about "Pole to Pole" and its
veracity.  He looked at me peculiarly.  I told him that they
"demonstrated" coriolis effect.  (This was after we had a
great time watching the water go down the drain in our bathtub
in a *clockwise* direction, and he told of watching it reverse
itself, sometime last week.)  He laughed.  Apparently,
anyone with intelligence ignores the stuff on "Pole to Pole"
because "they'll do anything to make a point."  
--
  Jilara   [jane@swdc.stratus.com]

"Every now and then, a big rock falls out of the sky, and everyone has 
a *very bad* day."  --from the PBS "Dinosaurs" special.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: Glitch at the Dog Track
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 20:42:34 GMT

In article <JTCHEW-200193163754@b50-afrd5.lbl.gov> JTCHEW@lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:
>It contains a third-hand tale, attributed to
>the BBC, about a dog track where a computer glitch allowed spectators to
>place bets after a race was over and the results were available...
>
This reminds me of a "Twilight Zone" episode with Burgess Merideth and
a Linotype machine. Linotypes were perhaps the neatest gadgets our species
had produced, up to 1940 or so.

>...and supposedly 139 people bet on losers anyway!

This reminds me of an old ethnic joke. "Hey, Luigi, wanna bet on the
instant replay?"
>
>Joe "That dog won't hunt" Chew

Phil "How much molten lead in a megabyte?" 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
From: mhr@hpuerca.atl.hp.com (Mike Reaser)
Subject: Re: Acronyms & Funny names
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 21:08:46 GMT
Organization: a stone mountain of Kudzu

In <C1H435.LvL@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> kristyp@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kristy Patterson) writes:

>>START - START Talks = Strategic Arms Reduction Talks Talks

>Actually, I thought this one was Strategic Arms Reduction TREATY Talks.

No, if you go back to Reagan's original announcement of the talks, it
stood for Strategic Arms Reductions Talks.  The "Treaty" (or TREATY,
since you're yelling :-) wasn't finalized until quite recently.

>I like: ATM Machine = Automatic Teller Machine Machine
>        ATV Vehicle = All-Terrain Vehicle Vehicle
>        CBS Broadcasting System = Columbia Broadcasting System Broadcasting
>       (or any other TV network)  System

Yeah, these are good.

--
=======================================================================
 Mike Reaser, Hewlett-Packard N. Amer. Response Center - Atlanta
 Internet:  mhr@hpuerca.atl.hp.com
 NBCS: B5 f t w g+ k s              I barely speak for myself, so
 #include <standard.disclaimer>       don't make me speak for HP
=======================================================================
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Universal Disclaimer
Date: 26 Jan 93 22:42:15 GMT
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor

T. Coraghessan Boyle starts his bizarre and fascinating novel _Water Music_
with the following apologia.  I know an afu'er or two who might adopt parts
of it as his or her disclaimer.

  As the impetus behind _Water Music_ is principally aesthetic rather than
  scholarly, I've made use of the historical background because of the joy
  and fascination I find in it, and not out of a desire to scrupulously
  dramatize or reconstruct events that are a matter of record.  I have been
  deliberately anachronistic, I have invented language and terminology, I
  have strayed from and expanded upon my original sources.  Where historical
  fact has proved a barrier to the exigencies of invention, I have, with
  full knowledge and clear conscience, reshaped it to fit my purposes.

Copyright TCB 1980, 1981, quoted here under fair use.

Note the effective use of the split double infinitive.

Phil "Not me, of course" 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.            |
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:34492 alt.discordia:724 alt.slack:3812
From: blowfish@centauri.unm.edu (rON.)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.discordia,alt.slack
Subject: Re: Jesus' name (was Re: Late breaking potential UL!)
Date: 22 Jan 1993 05:27:43 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
NNTP-Posting-Host: pioneer.unm.edu

In article <H.eg.QXZFGT3GDys@harvee.billerica.ma.us> scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us writes:
>>Is anyone else related to someone famous, or knows someone who is?
>i know mel gibson's cousin.

I am Mel Gibson. 
At least I was last tuesday.
r.
From: jseymour@medar.com (James Seymour)
Subject: fact is... (was: Re: Jesus' name)
Organization: Medar, Inc.     Farmington Hills, MI
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 18:35:31 GMT

In article <csmith-140193140335@cyrano.gmu.edu> csmith@blackplague.gmu.edu (Christian Smith) writes:
>In article <930112232413.2062@VAX.CSUN.EDU>, VBCSC03L@VAX.CSUN.EDU (snopes)
>wrote:
>> 
>> In article <1993Jan12.193339.3119@cbnewsd.cb.att.com>, 
>>   barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards) writes:
>> 
>> >>ObFact? OBFACT? Where are your sources, please? I was always taught to
>> >>write James' dog when I wamted to write about the dog belonging to James.
>> 
>> >From The Chicago Manual of Style, paragraph 6.12:
>> 
>>   [citation deleted]
>> 
>>  Please, children, if you learn nothing else from this group, please remember
>>  that phrases such as "style", "common knowledge", "it was in all the papers",
>>  "an expert told me", etc., do not mean the same thing as "fact".  A "style
>>  guide" is merely that.  It establishes nothing as being "correct" or
>>  "incorrect"; it merely reflects various people's opinions about language use.
>
>Surprisingly enough, neither does the fact that something is a FACT.
>
>def. fact -> Something presented as objectively real.
>
>Examples of facts:
>
>The moon is blue.
>The moon is green.
>Your mother wears combat boots.
>Your father wears a pink tutu to bed.
>2+2=4
>
>All of the above are facts.  Some may be true, some may be false.  Neither
>truth  nor falsehood has any actual relation to fact.
>

I don't think so Christian.

def. objective (as used in the context above) -> 1. Of or
having to do with a material object as distinguished from a
mental concept.  2. Having actual existence or reality.
3. Uninfluenced by emotion, surmise, or personal prejudice.

Thus a fact must, by the definition of objective, be true.
So it follows that "true fact" is a redundant statement and
"false fact" an oxymoron.

As far as the five statements above, only #5 is generally
accepted to be a fact (or is it?), whereas numbers 1 thru 4 are
not proven to be facts and therefore are merely assertions.

>Christian Smith

Jim "your reality may vary" Seymour

-- 
Jim Seymour                       | "If NT is the answer, it must
...uunet!medar!jseymour           |  be a really silly question"
jseymour@medar.com                |      Warner Losh
CIS: 72730,1166  GEnie: jseymour  |      Computer Power Software
From: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: AFU WEST V - THE MOVIE
Date: 21 Jan 93 18:16:35 GMT
Reply-To: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Organization: Amdahl

In article <28504@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) 
writes:
>  Possibilities include:
> 
>   - Terry Carroll, who might give you free legal advice (Well,
>       for the first consultation maybe).

I know this is a joke, and I chuckled.  However, since people have been kept 
out of the bar for lesser things, let me say for the record, I don't give 
legal advice, not being licensed for the practice of law.

(Gheezh, I hate being such a weenie, but I have to post something like this)

Terry Carroll - tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com - 408/992-2152
This article may contain opinions which are not shared by my employer.
My cat agrees.
From: hwt@bcarh11a.BNR.CA (Henry Troup)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: countdown
Date: 24 Jan 93 18:01:22 GMT
Reply-To: Henry.Troup@BNR.CA
Distribution: world
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada

In article <C0wIqu.JKA@news.rich.bnr.ca>,
woodcock@crchh427.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Gregg Woodcock) writes:
|>seconds* or so after the injection.  The way this hospital did surgery
|>was they put you out with SP and then used some other "gas" to keep
|>you out for the duration of the surgery.  So no counting for me.

I've had the same combination - sodium pentathol and something else -
but they did ask me to count backwards from 100.  I think I hit 97 the
first hit, and 93 the second time. SP gives me the sensation of a smell
of onions and a loud rushing noise.
                                 
Henry Troup - H.Troup@BNR.CA (Canada) - BNR owns but does not share my opinions
			     "I am Salman Rushdie"
From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: "...a drug on the market"
Date: 25 Jan 93 19:10:07 GMT
Organization: Virginia Center for Lemur Fandom, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA (subscribe to alt.fan.lemurs TODAY)

In article <C19H9A.1620@austin.ibm.com> jlpicard@austin.ibm.com writes: >
>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? 

I have always heard it as "a drag on the market" and understood this to
mean it was selling badly.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban