HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Plan 9 from outer bell labs (WAS Re: Faces of death)
Date: 13 Aug 92 15:14:53 GMT

In article <7012@charon.cwi.nl>, sander@cwi.nl (Sander Plomp) writes:
> "Plan 9 from Bell Labs" is for real. It is an experimental operating
> system. It is named after that particular movie, an internal joke I guess.
> The windowing system is named 8 1/2. That's the name of another movie.
> 
> Bell labs brought us C and UNIX, so Plan 9 might prove interesting. I
> think Plan 9 is partly an attempt to make an OS as simple as UNIX once was

Indeed.  It's also an attempt to create an operating system that takes
cognizance of today's technical realities (cheap processors, the need for
networking, etc.) and economic realities (systems administration is
expensive, replacing dozens of workstations at a time is expensive, etc.),
and to create an operating system that scales well -- that can handle a
few people or a few thousand people, on one extended system.

Those who are interested can ftp /dist/plan9doc/* from research.att.com.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: tsmaster@media.mit.edu (David LeCompte)
Subject: Re: That'd be In the Air, Phil
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 19:27:41 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.150408.14634@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> kristyp@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kristy Patterson) writes:
>Standard disclaimer: Apologies if this has been discussed to death.
>
>I've been curious for awhile as to the "true" origin of the song
>"In The Air Tonight," by Phil Collins.  The various stories I've
>heard are:
[3 drowning stories mentioned]

The way I heard it:

Phil's wife/girlfriend was raped by someone, and Phil saw the guy in the
act or getting away or something. Rapist is tried [I think] but not
convicted. Later Phil saw this rapist drowning, and did nothing to help.

Some time ago, Phil was on Donahue, and someone specifically asked if
there was any biographic factual-type basis to the song, and Phil said
that the song was totally fictional. No details were mentioned on the
show.

If I were Phil and any of the above 4 stories were true, I'd probably
deny it on national TV, too.

				-Dave "In the rain tonight" LeCompte

-- 
Your Mom!       The Carburator!         |I'm not paid to HAVE opinions.
Your Shoes!     A gardenhose!           |
You got to got to got to got to ...     |This sig can be yours; send $15 to
SCUD MISSILE!!!	-"Scud Missile", Grunge |tsmaster@athena.mit.edu
From: salantel@dssv01.crd.ge.com (E. L. Salant)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Structures 101 (was College Pranks)
Date: 14 Aug 92 19:54:48 GMT
Reply-To: salantel@wsqtb9.crd.ge.com
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center

Okay, I've read all these silly arguments about how if a floor can
hold pressure exerted by a 200 lb man wearing siletto heels, then it can 
hold 1 foot of water etc.  Come on folks!  This is a silly argument.  
Does anyone out there expect a 5 lb weight on top of a pin to collaspe a 
floor, even though the psi is incredibly high?

From simple mechanics, lets look at the loading on a strip of the floor which
can be approximated as a beam on supports.  (This is actually overly
conservative
since the end connections would really be fixed, and there is some
rigidity along
the side of the beam, but let's ignore that).

For a distributed load, (such as water on the floor), the shearing force =
the total weight of the water along the strip, and therefore the shear stress
would be the highest at the center of the beam and equal to 1/2 the total 
weight of the water/cross-sectional area of the floor beam.  I don't
have a structures
handbook in front of me, but estimate a floor length, and look up the
cross-sectional
area of say an I-beam.

Similarly one must examine the bending stress.  Anyway, the moral is the 
psi for a point load is not important, but rather the overall load.

==============================================================================
Eliot (An embarassment to McGill Engineering) Salant

==============================================================================
From: frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz (Bruce Clement)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Distribution: world
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 12:23:50 GMT
Organization: Private System

styri@nta.no writes in article <1992Aug12.140232.19995@nntp.nta.no>:
> Usually a.f.u would love to discuss a few days lost, but almost 400 years?

The peer review process took slightly longer than usual ... the final version
wasn't published untill three hundred & something AD.

--
Bruce "Where can I get a signed first edition" Clement    
(frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz  SNEWS/2,  UUPC 1.11q)
From: eksa02@castle.ed.ac.uk (P J Hutton)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Imponderables (Yawn)
Date: 19 Aug 92 10:46:03 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) writes:
> dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright) writes:
> 
> >   -- Why is yawning contagious?
> 
> Here are some guesses:  If yawning is an effort to increase oxygen intake,
> it may be that the air in the room in question is oxygen-depleted,
> affecting everyone at about the same time.  Or, it may be a common
> reaction to something that both people are observing.

I can buy this, but it doesn't explain why I (and other people I know)
start yawning when someone says the word yawn. Or even when I read the
word in the original post. Or very time I type it... 

Paul

No... I'm not going to type the y-word again
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: catstyle@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (CatStyle )
Subject: The Brunswick Affair
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 02:49:13 GMT
Keywords: A quart?!

About 10 years ago I saw a filler on HBO on something called the Brunswick
Affair.  Apparently, a tv station in Canada was broadcasting some weird
signal during certain commercials that caused people to go out and buy
ridiculous amounts of the product being advertised.  I only saw it once
and wasn't able to determine if it all was some kind of joke.

I haven't been able to find anything pertaining to this since then,
anybody see the HBO filler or see something similar?

CatStyle
jrh@uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 08:30:51 GMT

In article <1992Aug17.054551.27668@PA.dec.com> snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:
>
>In article <1992Aug13.103236.8249@vax.oxford.ac.uk>,
>  hsr4@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes...
>
>>(As an example of the hardened AFU mentality one has only to look at the
>>postings about eskimo words for snow; a poster pulls up a list of 30-odd from
>>a dictionary, and the response is to quote some esoteric argument about word
>>roots.
>
> Yes, and never mind the cited articles written by career linguists who have
> spent years and years studying eskimo languages, that explain just how and
> why this claim is balderdash.  If the evidence doesn't fit your theory, just
> ignore it.  You can "prove" anything that way.
>
> - snopes

You should know...

The Wisp.
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chris Williams <csuah@uk.ac.warwick.csv> aka <csuah@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
"Tony Greig in the slips, legs apart, waiting for a tickle"
                                      Brian Johnson (thanks to A. Simha 8^>)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Right-Left
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 21:28:03 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1992Aug11.115851.4518@cavebbs.welly.gen.nz> lesley@cavebbs.welly.gen.nz (Lesley Walker) writes:
>derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne) writes: 
>>
>>There are also some motorway entry/exit ramps here which feed from or to the 
>>outside (overtaking, fast) lane.  
>
>I don't think so... unless it's been changed recently the official
>definition of a motorway states that it doesn't have any such corners.

I would like to see this official designation of a motorway then.
There are two in Auckland. One is the Nelson? street city exit which leaves 
the right hand lane of the Northern Motorway.  Go past it every day on my 
way home.  
The other connects the Western motorway to the Southern Motorway and feeds 
sort of from the middle of the motorway and enters the right hand lane of the 
Southern.       | | |  \
		| | | \ - Newton Road
		| | | |\-                            Not too Scale
      Western	| | | \        | | | |               
      Motorway	| | |  \       | | | |               In American or Continental
		| | |-\ \      | | | |               Europe etc. place small 
		| | |  \ \     | | | |               mirror to right of screen 
		| | |   \ \    | | | |               and view reflection.
		| | |    \ \   | | | |
		| | |     \ \  | | | |  Southern 
	      City Exits   \ \ | | | |  Motorway
	                    \ \| | | |
	                     \   | | |
		              \  | | |
		               | | | |
>>Derek "We always drive on the left here" Tearne
>
>Lesley "doesn't everyone?" Walker

Derek "Why can't all those foreigners be more like us" Tearne
-- 

Derek Tearne. -- derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz --  Fujitsu/ICL New Zealand -- 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: perry@Unify.Com (Perry Clarke)
Subject: Re: SSN ULs (was: Credit Card ULs)
Keywords: n
Organization: Unify Corporation
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 17:06:50 GMT

lawson@aldia.UUCP (Drew Lawson) wrote:
>
>[discussion about fake Social Security Numbers]
>
>This is listed in "The Compleat Computer", including the name of the
>woman whose card was used.  The article states that the IRS and/or SSA
>computers are programmed to check for this number because of the number
>of people who used it.  You'll notice that such sample cards now show
>the number 000-00-0000.
>

Here is a quote (without permission) from the Social Security Number
Frequently Asked Questions list (the topic under discussion is what to
give as a SSN when some junior tyrant insists on it in an inappropriate
situtation):

	If someone absolutely insists on getting your Social Security Number,
	you may want to give a fake number.  There is no legal penalty as long
	as you're not doing it to get something from a government agency or to
	commit fraud.  There are a few good choices for "anonymous" numbers.
	Making one up at random is a bad idea, as it may coincide with
	someone's real number and cause them some amount of grief.  It's
	better to use a number like 078-05-1120, which was printed on "sample"
	cards inserted in thousands of new wallets sold in the 40's and 50's.
	It's been used so widely that both the IRS and SSA recognize it
	immediately as bogus, while most clerks haven't heard of it.  It's
	also safe to invent a number that has only zeros in one of the fields.
	The Social Security Administration never issues numbers with this
	pattern.  They also recommend that people showing Social Security
	cards in advertisements use numbers in the range 987-65-4320 through
	987-65-4329.

The list is maintained by Chris Hibbert (hibbert@xanadu.com) and I got my
copy from the newsgroup "news.answers".  I recommend the article if you
are interested in knowing more about your SSN (I recommend news.answers as
the best respository of fascinating info I have come across in a long time).

Perry "FAQs-R-Us" Clarke

--
Perry Clarke                   perry@unify.com                 (916) 928 6287
Unify Corporation, Sacramento, CA                   I speak only for Me, Inc.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Organization: Just put everything on the floor; I can find it.
Date: 16 AUG 92 22:26:33    


In article <BsvKD8.881@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, 
  jvmg9796@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (doc) writes...

>The filmmakers said it was real, that the FBI had found the film in a
>bedroom in the raided house.  You just dont want to believe anything, snopes.

 Oh, the *filmmakers* said it was real?  Well, I most humbly apologize.  I 
 mean, what more incontrovertible proof could you want than that?  Heaven 
 forbid anyone should actually make a false claim in order to sell a product to
 the public.  Not in this country.

 Actually, the filmmakers made no such claim; it was the people who compiled
 "Faces of Death" who made the claim.  

>I think you just like being contrary.  Well, as far as Im concerned the
>burdern of proof has now shifted to you to prove that the film is a fake.

 I asked some guy, and he said it was a fake.  That's the same level of 
 "proof" you've provided.  

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  NOTE:  The signature contained in this posting is proprietary and embodies |
|  confidential technology.  Possession, use, duplication or dissemination of |
|  this signature is authorized only pursuant to a valid written license.     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|    David Mikkelson  Digital Equipment Corporation, Culver City, CA  USA     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo)
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Reply-To: styri@nta.no
Organization: Bohemians and Globetrotters, Unlimited
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 17:00:18 GMT

In article <BsvJvw.818@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, a student known as doc writes:
>
>Faces of Death has real death scenes in it.  Period.  You can take all the
>cheap shots and flames at me you want, like this one:
>  [snopes' reference to Cindy's keyboard and a flame from doc deleted]

Well, Cindy's on vacation and snopes busy sorting out apostrophes. Guess
we should find some useful work for doc...

In article <BsvKD8.881@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, doc writes:
>
>The filmmakers said it was real, that the FBI had found the film in a
>bedroom in the raided house.

How about digging up dates and some references on this. We'd love to
verify, even if turns out to be outside the a.f.u definition of snuff.
We're not satisfied with a reference to something printed on the back
of the video cover.

---
YuNoHoo
From: jvmg9796@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (doc)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Date: 12 Aug 92 20:35:19 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo) writes:

>How about digging up dates and some references on this. We'd love to
>verify, even if turns out to be outside the a.f.u definition of snuff.
>We're not satisfied with a reference to something printed on the back
>of the video cover.

Okay, Ill try to dig something up.  First Ill have to find a video store
around here that had FoD and rent it again, and Ill try to listen for
some dates or clues, or maybe Ill just write to the producers and ask
them.  Might take a while, but if I dig anything else up Ill post it.

In another reply, someone asked if FoD had murders in it that were for
the pleasure of FoD viewers.  My understanding of the horror of a snuff
film is that you or I might be kidnapped and killed for no other reason 
than the production of a film.  A scary thought indeed.  The cult-killing
scene in FoD was not made for FoD...the producers of FoD got ahold of it
after the FBI confiscated it.  However, the young woman murdered in the 
film =was= murdered for the sake of the film.  Its intended audience
was originally other cultists.  If that doesnt scare the hell out of
anyone here, youre braver than I.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva)
Subject: Re: SHOCKING STORIES
Organization: Taronga Park BBS
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 21:08:14 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.134938.19820@nntp.nta.no>, styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo) writes:
> In article <7S8IOYI@taronga.com>, Stephanie da Silva writes:
> >
> > dip his entire hand in some sort of hot melted metal substance.  Very
> > quickly, of course, and after he had thoroughly soaked his hand
> > in water first.
> 
> Melted metal, er - was it mercury?  (Probably dangerous, but less painful.)

No, it was definitely hot.  The guy related how one time the
experiment sort of failed when he burned himself under one of his
fingernails where the water missed a spot.

-- 
Stephanie da Silva                        Taronga Park * Houston, Texas
arielle@taronga.com                           568-0480   568-1032   
 "If I had to be a breakfast roll, I'd rather be a cheese danish!" -- Monty
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Russian dog-mines in WWII
Date: 18 Aug 92 13:34:40 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

In article <#h0m_!c.obrien@netcom.com> obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien) writes:
>Time: World War Two
>Place: Soviet Union
>Concept: Dog-mine
>Device: backpack filled w/explosive strapped to dog
>Trigger: antenna-like projection above pack
>Theory: train dogs by feeding them *only* under tanks
>Trial: works great
>Deployment: hungry dog(s), live explosive, safety(s) released
>Problem: Russian tanks Diesel, German tanks gas, don't *smell* anything alike
>Result: unknown number of Russan tanks destroyed
>
>
>I'll be back w/more *if* I find references

Sounds suspiciously like the bat-explosives the United States tried
during World War II.
-- 
             ......................................................
             ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | std disclaimers
             the university of chicago law skool, chicago, illinois
             you can't throw me to the lions -- i'm charlton heston
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:21787 comp.dcom.modems:12295
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,comp.dcom.modems
From: mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman)
Subject: Re: Modem tax back
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 21:36:29 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <1992Aug18.215229.10449@ssc.wa.com> tad@ssc.wa.com (Tad Cook) writes:
>In article <1992Aug14.011442.4969@xn.ll.mit.edu> olsen@xn.ll.mit.edu writes:
>>tad@ssc.wa.com (Tad Cook) writes:
>>>I am saying that Compuserve ... pays NOTHING (other than for the
>>>point of presence) while other carriers pay the tarriffed rate.

>>Compuserve and its subscribers pay standard local rates for standard local
>>calls.  If you persist in calling this 'nothing', then I'm afraid it's
>>pointless to argue with you.

>AT&T and Sprint subscribers pay their local phone bills too..

But they do not pay for the call to the AT&T/Sprint network.
Compuserve users pay for the call to the Compuserve network.  If
Compuserve is going to have to pay extra then its custoemrs shouldn't
have to pay to call it.



-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not an official Oracle spokesman.  I speak for myself and no one else.
From: dcoder@u.washington.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Tom Lehrer (was Re: Mnemonics)
Date: 17 Aug 92 21:46:15 GMT
Organization: University of Washington

In article <1992Aug15.175253.22840@ssc.wa.com> tad@ssc.wa.com (Tad Cook)  
writes:
In article <1992Aug9.005323.29922@tamsun.tamu.edu> daugher@cs.tamu.edu writes:
>In article <1992Aug8.225316.5210@zip.eecs.umich.edu> stame@emunix.emich.edu  
>(Stewart Tame) writes:
>[lines deleted]
>| Gee, as long as we're talking cumbersome mnemonics a good way to remember
>| the names of the first 102 elements (not in order) is to memorize Tom
>| Lehrer's song "The Elements."  
>
>Great parodist and great performer!  Here's a possible UL:  When I was in
>graduate school at Harvard, it was said that Tom Lehrer had been enrolled
>in a graduate degree program at Harvard several times but his booking agent  
>kept coming up with extended tours which prevented him from finishing enough  
>courses to graduate.   Anybody know for sure?


I thought Tom TAUGHT at Harvard.  Math, I believe.

righto (as of a dozen years ago); he also taught american musical comedy at  
UCSC

from his student days at Harvard we have Fight Fiercely Harvard (among other  
delights.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: Re: zest (re: pure soap)
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Distribution: alt
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 19:48:15 GMT

In article <1992Aug16.1303.30599@dosgate> "colin mcgregor" <colin.mcgregor@canrem.com> writes:
>
>guppy@wixer.cactus.org (Jennifer Mery) writes:
>
>JM>Is Zest lower in calories than Lifebouy?
>
>I don't know that, but I do know that Zest is not a soap let alone a
>pure soap. Zest and all of these other products that talk about how they
>do not leave a soap film in their ads are detergents NOT soap (chemically
>quite differeent I gather). Why the marketting people don't just come out
>and say this is detergent not soap is the next question.


Because they're afraid to come out and tell you that Zest is a
teratogen.




-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Schroeder	                |  Warning: prolonged exposure to this
schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov         |  .sig may cause retinal damage and 
Brookhaven National Laboratory  |  blistering skin rashes. 
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:21473 sci.electronics:14394
From: reading2@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: SHOCKING STORIES
Date: 14 Aug 92 09:29:07 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <7S8IOYI@taronga.com>, arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:
> I read an article in an issue of Scientific American a few years
> back about an innovative physics teacher (don't remember his name,
> sorry) who took this demonstration to more of an extreme.  He would
> dip his entire hand in some sort of hot melted metal substance.  Very
> quickly, of course, and after he had thoroughly soaked his hand
> in water first.
> 
> -- 
> Stephanie da Silva                        Taronga Park * Houston, Texas
> arielle@taronga.com                           568-0480   568-1032   
>  "If I had to be a breakfast roll, I'd rather be a cheese danish!" -- Monty

An old ironworkers' trick was to plunge an arm into a crucible of molten iron
(after wetting it) - the trick was done for one of the Georges when he visited
a steel works this century.

A safer equivalent (try this one for fun, kids) is picking an object out of a
bucket of liquid nitrogen (DON'T wet your hand first, though)


IJ (i_johnston @ uk.ac.open.acs.vax)