HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gottloeb@eel.dsd.trw.com (Jeffrey R. Gottloeb)
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Organization: TRW, INC.
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 23:14:26 GMT

In article <BtK10C.L6B@world.std.com> lmh@world.std.com (Larry M Headlund) writes:
>In article <1992Aug25.181531.25673@sunova.ssc.gov> Chuck Adams <chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov> writes:
>>I'm looking for mnemonics for stuff like "FUBAR" (f**ked up beyond all
>>recognition).  Is "SNAFU" a real word, or more of the same?  (It may stand for
>>screwed 'n all f**ked up, or then again it might be Strange, Nerdy
>>A.F.U'ers).............       ;-)
>>
>Situation
>Normal
>All
>F****d
>Up
>
>WW II vintage.  In fact,  there was a a swing song with that name.  No,  
>this isn't a "In the butt, Bob" story,  they rendered the F as Fouled.
>

By way of substantiation, Dr. Demento has played this at least once.
I believe it was done by Spike Jones and his band.  In any event,
I've got it on tape.


>Larry "I don't think Kilroy wrote it" Headlund
>
>PS. Anyone want to bet POSH is mentioned soon?
>
>
>-- 
>Larry Headlund  lmh@world.std.com    Eikonal Systems (617) 482-3345 


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csmith@blackplague.gmu.edu (Blackplague)
Subject: Re: Price gouging in Florida and Guam
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: George Mason University-IDO
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 16:32:33 GMT

There had indeed been a good bit of price gauging in South Florida in the
aftermath of Andrew.  Here price gauging is not sell at higher then a
competitor, but rather selling urgently needed supplies at a rediculous
price because the demand is so high and the supply is so low.

The Florida Attorney General has already put into action plans to prosecute
in several cases.  This relayed from family.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Highest Channel
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 18:02:04 GMT

glitto@iastate.edu (Scott M Klabacha) writes:


>All this talk of TV channels beyond 54 has gotten me wondering...

>What's the highest-numbered channel that has been used? Has any station
>ever really been Channel 83? The highest station I know of in Chicago is
>Channel 66, but somebody mentioned a 68 in Boston (or something like that).

In Toronto, where the laws about channel allocation are a virtual photocopy
of the US laws, we had a channel 79 (CITY TV) when I was there.  Soon after
I moved out, they changed their number to 57 because of the bandwidth
reallocation.  Their biggest offenses against the world at large were being
the originators of the Canadian music video channel (Much Music?) and FTV
(fashion TV), which was one of the only english shows I could get when I was
in Madrid last year.  (That and Sky News.)



-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@geovision.gvc.com
(This is not an official opinion/statement of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
Anybody who doesn't wear a helmet when biking probably _will_ have their head
examined - by a coroner
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: mjg51721@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Michael James Gebis)
Subject: Re: The Flat Earth Society???
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 17:38:47 GMT

Just so people know, there's a band called the Flat Earth Society, so if 
you've seen posters, pamplets, ads, etc., they were probably for the band
and not the inbreds.

Now, on the topic of the REAL FES:
I thought that some people (And I'll assume these are smart people who know
better but just feel like arguing against those who don't know better) used
the mathematical trick of 'mapping' to mathematically make a flat earth make
sense.  (Yeah, mapping.  Like you use when doing Jacobians.)  Unfortunately,
I can't seem to be able to come up with system that works.  Has anybody out
there seen anything like what I'm talking about, or am I just suffering from
delusions?

Mike "If you don't know what a Jacobian is, don't ask me, as I have only a
n elementary grasp of the concept myself, and any explainatino I'd give 
would likely be flawed" Gebis

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Spaghetti trees
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 07:51:44 GMT

In article <ZUXI1XF@taronga.com> arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:

>
>All That Glitters.

Thanks for the name.

>
>Nicely convoluted message, btw.  I followed most of it.

Easier to follow than C code (is Peter reading this :-)).

cjl
From: jcopelan@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (James c Copeland)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: classic commericals, was: Chef Boy-Ar-Dee
Date: 26 Aug 92 14:46:01 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University

This being the political season and all, my favorite disguised political
commercial is the one for Gates (automobile fan) belts.  The slogan was
(appropriately enough for today as in 1984 when it first ran)"After four
years, it's time for a change."  Who has ever heard of Gates belts before
or after this commercial ran?   Who has ever heard of any other fan belt 
maker advertising on national T.V.?

I find it hard to believe that it wasn't a dig at Ronny Ray-Gun.  I
certainly hope they bring it back for this year's election.


Lick Bush in '92.

jc
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Jim Copeland                                            COPELAND.5@OSU.EDU |
|									     |
|    I am not ahead of my time, you are just living in the past.             |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: Chef Boy-Ar-Dee commercial
Date: 24 Aug 92 01:00:42 GMT

dooley@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Kevin Dooley) writes:
>Anyway, the puzzle is, what were the lyrics to the song?

I think it was, Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement's.

Btw I always wondered if this commercial as aired a few years ago was identical
to the one some of us saw in childhood, or if they changed it.  It looked
similar, but it's hard to remember.
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Colour perception (was: Death by sneezing)
Date: 2 Sep 92 17:29:27 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

Cecil addresses this one in _More of the Straight Dope_.  Gladstone(!)
pointed out that abstract colour terminology is practically absent from
the works of Homer, and suggested that "the organ of colour [which
Cecil spells 'color', by the way, even when quoting Gladstone] and its
impressions were but partially developed among the Greeks of the
Homeric age".  This is certainly true for Homer himself, who was
blind.

In the late nineteenth century, Hugo Magnus, an opthamologist,
furthered the question by noting that among "primitive" tribes, there
*is* a paucity of colour terminology, but perception of colour is
unimpaired.  All that's missing is *names* for the recognised colours.

A recent study by Brent Berlin and Paul Kay (_Basic Color Terms: Their
Universality and Evolution_, 1969) notes that, although Magnus may be
right, there's still a pattern to how cultures assign names to
colours.  Cecil provides the following chart:

1. All languages contain terms for black and white.
2. If a language contains three terms, then it contains a term for red.
3. If a language contains four terms, then it contains either a term
   for green or a term for yellow (but not both).
4. If a language contains five terms, then it contains terms for both
   green and yellow.
5. If a language contains six terms, then it contains a term for blue.
6. If a language contains seven terms, then it contains a term for brown.
7. If a language contains eight or more terms, then it contains a term
   for purple, pink, orange, grey or some combination of these.

Well, I'm skeptical (throw him in the skeptic tank!).  This sounds like
it could be another "Eskimo words for snow" kind of argument.  It
puzzles me that blue and brown come so late in the game; couldn't you
just say "sky-coloured" or "dirt-coloured" to describe those things?
I'm presuming that the study chose not to count those as "terms", and
I'm wondering just how hard-edged the categories are.

Brian "*I* just use hue, saturation and value" Scearce
---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 15:04:20 -0400 
From: Dale.James@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Re: Kimberly Dunning, or "Whatcha talking about?"

Edward Crawford writes:

>In article <1992Aug25.195848.12212@cci632.cci.com> adw@cci632.cci.com (Allen Williams (co-op)) writes:
>>
>> While at a party, cancled tv shows became a topic that was ernestly discussed.>Someone made the claim that the actress who played "Kimberly" in "Diff'rent
>>Strokes" was arrested for holding up a convenience store.
>>
>> What was this actresses name? What possesed her to hold up a convenience
>>store? Was she on drugs, or simply out of work after her resuidals ran
>>out? Was she convicted, and/or served time or was otherwised sentenced?
>>What was the name of the convenience store - 7-11 ? How old is she? Did
>>she have an accomplice or was this a solo effort?
>>
>I know this answer, but her name escapes me at the moment...
>Although she did not rob a convenience store, rather a video store.

Dana Plato.  She did a nude layout in Playboy shortly thereafter.  The older
son (what the hell was his name?  The character was "Willis".) was also in
jail for attempted murder, or some serious drug offense, or something.

Cheers!
--Dale

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: davidb@uk.tele.nokia.fi (Dave Bending)
Subject: Re: Spaghetti trees
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications, UK
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 10:49:39 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.104927.8533@vax.oxford.ac.uk> banks@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:

>    Linking up with the flat earth thread, do any Brits or ex-Brits remember the
>    show which the newly-founded Central TV featured in the 70s.  There was a 
>    big build up to it for days if not weeks in mysterious trailers.  The show
>    itself was an investigative documentary into the space program, revealing the
>    mysterious disappearance of certain scientists (complete with footage of
>    cars standing abandonned in public car parks and people slamming doors in
>    the reporter's face, saying "I don't want to talk about it"), and
>    claiming that the landing craft pictures of Mars had been taken in a studio.

>    Finally it was 'revealed' that the US, the USSR and the UK had been
>    cooperating on a space program for years and had a fully functioning Mars
>    base established, only for some reason I now forget, had kept the whole 
>    thing secret.  Although broadcast at another time of year, the closing
>    credit revealed that the film had been made on April 1 197x.

There was an article about this in the latest Fortean Times.  The
program was called Alternative 3 and was made by Anglia TV.  The
scientists were played by actors who were not well known at the time
but have gone on to do other things (when I find the article again
I'll name names).  The show was fronted by a newsreader/current
affairs presented.

Apparently the switchboard was jammed by people a) outraged at the
joke, b) congratulating them on th joke and c) people asking if it was
true.

The article also mentions that the show was written up into a book
published in Britain and the States.

Regards,

Dave.
From: dolf@echo.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Counterfeiting (Was: You are humble and loveable)
Date: 27 Aug 92 12:18:23 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, E.C.H.O. development department

pdt@mundil.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Peter David THOMPSON) writes:
>Also lurking in my memory is the case of the people who use a color photo
>copier on the $100 note. (The color scheme is sort of pale green and blue on
>a light grey background, somewhat similar in color to the finnish 1000 mark\
>note, but much paler).

I have read the (UL ?) story that once a group of people (students ?)
counterfeited a Dfl. 2000,= note (dutch florin, nowadays 1 US$ = 1.60 Dfl).
Now there is no such thing as a Dfl. 2000 note so it was not really against
the law (maybe they have changed our laws since then).
The appearance of the note was such that it could have been a normal
banknote in our currency system. These counterfeiters were successful in
changing these (worthless) banknotes in Switzerland for real money. So
much for the Swiss banks :-) Although these people were caught afterwards.

Another counterfeiting story: years ago we used to have a Dfl 2.50 paper
bank note (which I think was aborted around the end of the 60'ies, now
we use coins for this). There has been one counterfeiter of this banknote
who made such good copies that even the experts could not tell the difference.
His false notes were better on each attempt. Apperently the bank published
the deficients in his false notes to warn the general public, but of course
the crook used this info to improve his notes. Finally the bank had to give
up as they couldn't tell the difference anymore either. On some (un)lucky
night the crook was captured by the police as the guy dropped for some
unknown reason his briefcase, on the Dam in Amsterdam, and from which parts
of his false press and banknotes dropped onto the ground. The policeman
on duty saw this and was curious about what he saw and arrested the man.
I think this must have been right before or after WWII.

ObUL: some german counterfeiters where so sure of their false banknotes that
      in stead of printing "Deutches Bundesbank" (sp ? German Bank), they
      printed "Deutches Bundesbahn" (sp ? German Railroad). No one noticed
      the difference.
-- 
   _ _
  / U | Dolf Grunbauer    E.C.H.O. Development    Digital Equipment Enterprises
 /__'<  dolf@echo.philips.nl  dolf@toet.echo.tds.philips.nl
88  |_\ mcsun!echo.philips.nl!dolf                         Was Dat voor niets ?
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: nasadk@vccsouth29.its.rpi.edu (Kristopher Martin Nasadowski)
Subject: Re: FD&C (was: Misapplied Physics in Advertising)
Reply-To: nasadk@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 07:21:36 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.015522.14256@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, vkochend@nyx.cs.du.edu (vance kochenderfer) writes:
|>   Food Dye and Coloring, I believe.
   
How about :

     Food, Drugs and Cosmetics

Which indicates where the dye is acceptable for use. Some types of dyes are
safe for food and drugs, but not cosmetics, and vice versa.

Nazman
<nasadk@rpi.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ahill@boi.hp.com (Andy Hill)
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 15:19:22 GMT
Reply-To: ahill@boi.hp.com
Organization: LaserJets by Bill & Dave
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay) writes:
> 	Well I'm not much into font layout/design.  The problem is that
> this sequence seems a bit too coincidental.   If the keymaps are like you
> posted, typing NYC would give:  Skull&CrossBones, StarOfDavid, ThumbsUp
> which is easily seen as "dead jew good", or "Only good jew is a dead jew"
> or some other anti-Semetic statement.  In a way, it seems like one of those
> things crazy people look for, like the KKK on the marlboro box that was posted.
> But when you consider NYC (New York City) is a well-known Jewish "center" in 
> the USA, it makes you wonder.
>
But realize that Microsloth is based in Washington (that's the state, folks),
and nobody out west knows anything about or cares a rat's *ss about the land
east of the Mississippi.  The whole region is pretty much classified as
"those city b*st*rds out east".  With this in mind, it's pretty obvious it
was a coincidence.
From: sasegb@toklas.unx.sas.com (Elizabeth Brownrigg)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: 'Dear Abby' -- Urban legend pusher
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:37:30 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: sasegb@toklas.unx.sas.com


In article <1992Sep2.144111@bnkc08.Bell.CA>, alex@bnkc08.Bell.CA (Alex Laney) writes:

|>      Dear Beckah: I hope Bill read the Bible cover to cover, for
|>      it contained much he needed to learn: "A foolish son is a
|>      grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him."
|>      (Proverbs 17:25)
|> 
|> 

I thought it was "How sharper than a thankless serpent is a toothless
child."

Elizabeth "Open up a Bible and you never know what'll fall out" Brownrigg
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Counterfeiting
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 01:23:36 GMT

In article <BtKrK6.AFE@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson) writes:
>Until 1964, U.S. coins from dimes to half dollars were made of 90%
>silver, 10% copper or other stuff.
>
>Shortly before then, the price of silver was such that Mexican
>counterfeiters could make 100% silver quarters at a profit.
>
>Things are different now.

I'm under the understanding that nothing smaller than $20 bills gets
counterfeited because it simply doesn't pay.

ObUL: The $1 bill is the smallest denomination of paper money in
      the developed countries.
-- 
             ......................................................
             ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | std disclaimers
             the university of chicago law skool, chicago, illinois
             it's log!  log!  log!  it's big, it's heavy, it's wood
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: wb8foz@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (David Lesher)
Subject: Re: Political ULs
Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher)
Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 20:37:18 GMT

Others said
# >UL: Dan Quayle is a real person.
# Could be.  I've never actually seen him in person and those Coke
# commercials that combine living stars with dead ones are getting pretty
# convincing.   Has anyone on the net actually _seen_ Dan Quayle with
# their own eyes?  

I was in San Jose, Costa Rica and heard Dandy Dan speak at the U. S.
Embassy. Glad I was there to do some work; he botched the name of the
CR President, or maybe the #1 in the opposition party; the fellow he'd
just come from meeting....

Not this is NOT proof that he is alive. I wonder.....
Would he pass the Turing Test?

# I always thought he was invented to give the late night
# comedians good monologue material.

That's included at no additional charge; but only if you order now -
don't delay....

Me? I've got my "Dan Quayle Quiz Book" somewhere in storage.

--
A host is a host from coast to coast..wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: IS TOLEDO GOING TO THE DOGS?
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 1 Sep 92 12:33:16 GMT

In <1992Sep1.060438.8808@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> ag445@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Scott Medlong) writes:

>NOT ONLY DOGS CAN LICK HANDS.

4.5 Shergolds.  One frozen chicken.
-- 
/|/-\/-\       In real life, the Vice President chastises Murphey Brown
 |__/__/_/     for her morals.  Bill Clinton plays the sax on "Arsenio
 |warren@      Hall."  Though "Batman Returns" is fiction, it's not too
/ nysernet.org much stranger than truth - Caryn James, The New York Times
From: kgg@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Kees Goossens)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Flat Earth Society
Date: 1 Sep 92 12:57:18 GMT
Reply-To: kgg@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Kees Goossens)
Organization: The Lavatory for the Foundations of Computer Science

In article <1992Aug31.164026.16296@cybernet.cse.fau.edu> michaelb@cse.fau.edu (Michael Rogero Brown) writes:
>"In Your Heart You Know Its Flat!"
>
>They have a quartlely mag and flat earth maps (North Pole 
>at the center, south pole the outer edge).  Many newspapers have articles on
>them on certain days like Columbus Day, etc.
>
>   $6 for Flat Earth Map, $10/year for newsletter; beg and plead for their inf

Could someone post a GIF of the map?

--
Kees Goossens                       Keep in Touch with the Dutch:
LFCS, Dept. of Computer Science     JANET: kgg@dcs.ed.ac.uk
University of Edinburgh, Scotland   UUCP:  ..!mcsun!uknet!dcs!kgg
Wiskunde is bouwen in de geest.	--- Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ChazL@county.lmt.mn.org (Chaz Larson)
Subject: Re: Death by sneezing
Reply-To: ChazL@county.lmt.mn.org (Chaz Larson)
Organization: LaserMaster Corporation
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 23:23:29 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.213933.17710@bert.eecs.uic.edu>, artn@bert.eecs.uic.edu 
(Ellyn Sandor) writes:
> 	Tried that description.  Her cheeks puff out.  Though I'll try the
> part about "as you would to blow your nose," but I think I tried explaining
> it that way once.  The problem seems to be describing how to get pneumatic
> leverage by pressing the back of the tongue against the soft palate.


How about this.

1. Close mouth
2. Blow through nose.
3. With fingers, slowly pinch nose; increase blowing pressure to compensate

I just tried this severral times, and it seems to help to gradually increase 
the amount of "leverage pressure" needed.

chaz

--


..must think...bubble pipe will relax me and I think...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: artn@bert.eecs.uic.edu (Ellyn Sandor)
Subject: Re: Death by sneezing
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 00:18:19 GMT

mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin) writes:
>lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>>Obul: we all don't see colors just the same way at all, but since we can't
>>describe it we are all assuming that we see it the same way.  In fact this
>>is a "natural conspiracy" because unbeknownst to us, we all have quite
>>different color vision [...]
>>cjl (is my red your green?)
>suddenly ask themselves around that time.  I'm fascinated by the
>fact that it's always *color* that is involved.  We don't tend to

>There's something abot color that seems more arbitrary.  Perhaps it's

	It may not be that odd a choice for discussing the phenomenon.
	I seem to remember reading that different languages use different
words for different chunks of the spectrum, and that this influences your
thinking about it.
	The specific example was some language (Scottish?  Gaelic? 
Something around the north-of-England area) which had a single word to
refer to what we call "Blue" and "Green", although their word for "Yellow"
sort of slopped over into "Green".  The practical upshot of which is
that they had two words for our three.  Something we call green, they
might call "bluish-yellow" or "yellowish-blue".
	I guess that's why we have so many different names for colors.
I, like many men (though not all, but this seems to be a cultural male-
female thing) can't seem to understand most of these names, like the
differences between salmon, rose, and coral, but the words are there.
And why we have Pantone colors, too.

			sbm
-- 
--
Stephan Meyers | artn@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu
(Art)^n Laboratories, inventors of the Stealth Negative PHSCologram
(312) 567-3762
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban