HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 17:50:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.134605.27644@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <18NOV199219512381@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov> dpm1960@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (snopes) writes:
>>There's no reason not to complain, as long as a better system is proposed.
>>Direct popular vote is not a better system.
>
>Why is it not?  Perhaps the spirit of the Constitution as most of the people
>understand it might actually be followed?

The spirit of the Constitution is the protection of small states from big
states.

Removing the electoral college would come close to disenfranchising them
completely.

>>To prevent people like George Wallace (or even Henry Wallace) from becoming
>>president.
>
>I don't understand the reference to George Wallace, other than to think of
>him as Perot's forerunner.  That year, a lot of people voted for Wallace
>as a protest of the two-party system.

Wallace won several Southern states by large majorities.  He was a 
regional candidate.

-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith)
Subject: Ankle-Slashing UL Resurfaces
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Summary: possible repost, sorry
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 17:38:25 GMT

(things are kind of screwy today, so this may be showing up twice.
I'm sorry about that.    Well, not really.)


I'm half-watching the 11PM news (17 November, WPXI-TV Pittsburgh) and
someone mentions something about ``rumors of gang activity in the parking
lots of area shopping malls.''  My ears perk up a bit---gangs are emerging
in the city of three rivers, with drive-by shootings and fun things like
that.

But then Margaret (the second-string anchorperson) gives her report---and
it's a NEW variation of the parking-lot-ankle-slashing-rapist UL.

Apparently, middle-class high school students throughout the city fully
believed that gang members, as part of their initiation, had to go to a
shopping mall (usually the Ross Park Mall) and hide under a car.
When the shopper returned, said gang person slashed the shopper's ankles.
The shopper would reach down and grab their ankles, at which point
the dastardly gang scoundrel would cut off the shopper's fingers.

Allegedly, this was going on all the time, and newly fingerless people were
flooding the area hospitals.

We saw interviews with concerned students, and with a local police official
who said that he's being flooded with calls about this UL, but it's not true.

Our intrepid reporter Margaret concluded by pointing out that she's checked
with local hospitals, police, and shopping malls, and there is no indication
that any such incident has occured.  She then pointed out how cramped it is
beneath a car, and how unlikely it is to actually happen.  

For once, the media act responsibly!

--Sean ``no kill ease, heal'' Smith

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

          posting from PITTSBURGH, the center of the AFUniverse!
******************************************************************************














Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 17:56:29 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.135819.27880@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <18NOV199220063414@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov> dpm1960@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (snopes) writes:
>>In article <1992Nov18.133516.26440@news.columbia.edu>, 
>>  lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes...
>>>I agree about Bush; my point is that Clinton doesn't have one, as a slew of
>>>alternate candidates would have gotten about the same results. 
>>
>>Absolutely unverifiable.  No other candidates went through all the primaries
>>and national campaigning, so there's no way anyone could possibly know how
>>other candidates would have fared.
>
>Do you seriously believe that Clinton was a distinguishable Democratic
>candidate?  

Yes.

>That *all* of the other Democratic candidates were so much
>weaker than Clinton that they would've lost to Bush?  

All of them?  No.  The vast majority of them?  Yes.

Kerrey would've lost to Bush.  So would Harkin.  And Tsongas (unless Perot
endorsed him, and even then).  And Wilder.  Brown might have finished in third 
place, as would have Jesse Jackson.  Mario Cuomo's a tossup.  Dukakis or
Mondale would've lost.  Pat Schroeder or Geraldine Ferraro would've lost.

Who did you have in mind?

>I contend that
>most of them were equal to the task; Clinton merely being the specific
>beneficiary of a weak Republican campaign, and a Democratic-favored climate
>due to overwhelming lack of confidence in Bush.  In short, virtually *any*
>candidate presented by the Democrats would've won.

I disagree.  Clinton put together the most impressive election campaign in
fifty years.  He also held a firm hand over the Democratic Convention, which
in past elections was a primary source of firepower for the GOP.

>Moreover, IMO, the sameness of them is one of the reasons for the Perot
>phenomenon, since many people apparently felt faced with no (for them) choice.

Clinton's much different the the last two Democratic nominees.  Gore ran
under a similar platform in the 1988 primaries and got whomped.
-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: furrfu??
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 19:48:46 GMT

: : >Why is it that when you rot-13 a messages in rot-n that contains the
: : >number n, it doesn't change to n+/-13?
: 
: It does, unless the number goes over 26 - that is why you can rot-13
: a rot-13 message, and get the original text back.
: 
: A rot-13 message would be the same as a rot-29 message.

Sorry, that should have been "rot-39".
: 
Bill "Sometimes rot(26*n-13) poster" Nelson

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: CDs cheaper to make than cassettes?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 08:31:49 GMT

In article <BxuEKt.LqB@egsner.cirr.com> datri@egsner.cirr.com (Anthony Datri) writes:
>>Along related lines (I know this one is true), it is cheaper to make certain
>>computer chips with math coprocessors than to make them without (since it costs
>> extra money to sever the line to the coprocessor).  But the ones with the
>>coprocessor cost more.  Of course in this case, you're paying for technology...
>
>>Are there any other blatant examples of charging more for something that is
>>actually cheaper to manufacture?

I understand that IBM 1401's were always containing something like 16K, and
the board came with a jumper to make it 8K.  When the field service guy left
you reenabled the 16K you weren't paying to have maintained (you purchased
it to have 8K, but got the 16K board with the disable jumper; the field
service contract specified to maintain an 8K machine).

There was a 360/30 option to allegedly have floating point hardware, at
extra cost, complete with a switch to "disable" it, but the switch didn't
do anything, since all of the delivered machines actually had the FP hardware,
even if you neither paid for it, nor paid to have it maintained.

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rdippold@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Subject: Re: Child Molestors - internationally organized?
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 18:28:00 GMT

billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)writes:
> According to some people from the UK - pedophilia seems to be fairly
> well established there.  It is not in the US.
> Here in the US - most child molesters are relatives of the child, usually
> the father or uncle.  There are no organized groups anywhere in the world,
> that has been documented.

There's NAMBLA. 
-- 
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:29406 alt.folklore.computers:16666
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: CDs cheaper to make than cassettes?
Date: 23 Nov 1992 19:23:45 GMT
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 140.239.3.202

maynard@leah.msc.cornell.edu (Maynard J. Handley) writes:
>Intel has long stated that its chips
>come in three versions, the standard version, the SX version which is a
>cheaper less powerful version of the standard, and the (SL? I'm not in the
>market for portables) chips which are low power versions of the standard.

"Long stated"?  You must be pretty young, since those nomenclatures
haven't even been around as long as the 80386.

Just wait, Intel's got even more variations in the pipe to add FUD.

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic,alt.drugs
From: ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu (Eli Brandt)
Subject: Re: Proposed FAQ:  LSD Tattoo Urban Legend
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 06:39:33 GMT

In article <1992Nov22.003141.27830@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes:
>>are perforated into squares (approx. 1cm x 1cm) which constitute a
>More like .5cmx.5cm.

Yup.  6 millimeters square, in one instance.

>Eric Rescorla, DoD#431 (Nighthawk S)              rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu

   Eli   ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rhadden@isdres.er.usgs.gov
Subject: RE: Gender denoting pictograms on restroom doors
Organization: U.S. Geological Survey
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:55:48 GMT

Even worse is a huting bar- pictures of dogs on the restroom doors. The
dogs are setters and pointers. Get it?
From: amdunn@mongrel.UUCP (Andrew M. Dunn)
Subject: Re: Gender denoting pictograms on restroom doors
Organization: A. Dunn Systems Corporation, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:29:35 GMT

In article <BxK4Cz.po@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> dooley@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Kevin Dooley) writes:
>
>There is a restaurant in Toronto which had, the last time I was there
>at least, two euphemism rooms (water closet, rest room, bathroom,
>salle de bain, whatever your favourite euphemism for toilet is).  The
>first was marked "MEN/WOMEN" and the second "WASHROOM".  

I've never heard of this in a restaurant.  Do you remember which
one?  Very strange...

Now, they do have coed washrooms in at least one building I know
of at University of Guelph.

And one high school in Chicoutimi.
-- 
:-------------------------------------------------------------------------:
:  Andy Dunn           <amdunn@mongrel.UUCP> or <dunn5177@mach1.WLU.CA>   :
:  "AT&T thinks Usenet is an Underground organization" - are we really?   :
:-------------------------------------------------------------------------:
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 14:06:08 EST
From: <WCE2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Halloween
 <zlsiida.398@fs1.mcc.ac.uk> <27390@dog.ee.lbl.gov>

OK, let's get a few things straight: the present Halloween has little or
nothing to do with the Celtic Samhain, which was a harvest festival and
opportunity for young farmhands to celebrate being let off work at last by
playing pranks.  The vandalism associated with the time is probably the
*only* "pagan" element that survives.  Probably the British Guy Fawkes Day
is a more direct descendent of Samhain, particularly as the "Old Guy"
usually burned is arguably the old agricultural year.  Virtually every other
custom now associated with the day was attached to it in the US during the
late 19th century and, increasingly, during the early 20th.  Trick or
treating was originally done at Christmas time, and ghost stories were also
published and narrated at this time.  (This tradition was still in vogue in
the early 19th C.  in both the US and UK, where special gift books were put
together for Christmas presents, so that the lucky children could scare
themselves silly under the tree.  Hawthorne's early tales and Dickens's
_Christmas Carol_ are part of this popcult tradition.

In the US especially these customs were attacked by the Puritans as "pagan,"
and people found hanging mistletoe or "mumming" (as trick-or-treat was
called) could be arrested and fined five shillings.  So many of these
practices died out, later to be revived and attached to other significant
dates.  Halloween was simply the recipient of more of these displaced
Christmas customs than any other date.  (Thanksgiving got the traditional
Yuletide banquet.)

Any discussion of Halloween that talks about Druids is simply indulging in
historical fiction.

Bill Ellis (wce2 @ psuvm.psu.edu)                 Editor, FOAFtale News
Penn State, Hazleton Campus                       Voice: 717-450-3026
Hazleton, PA 18201-1291                           Fax: 717-450-3182
"If I am the Devil's child, I will live then from the Devil.  The only right is
 what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Snuff film UL broken?
From: tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood)
Date: 17 Nov 92 20:46:58 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <mjenkins.721944270@cunews>, mjenkins@alfred.carleton.ca (Michael Jenkinson) writes:

> According to one report I read, police siezed a number of tapes,
> "including at least one snuff film."

How many times have we seen THAT in print?!?  Reminds me of the song:
"It Ain't Necessairly So" from the play "Porgy and Bess".

Terry "Sniff Sniff, I smell Snuff" Wood
-- 
        INTERNET: tjw+@pitt.edu         BITNET: TJW@PITTVMS
"Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy!"                        - Lord "John" Warfin
"There can be only one!"                                  - The Highlander
"There should have been only one. I want my money back!"  - Terry
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:28681 soc.culture.african.american:11135 sci.skeptic:19645
From: pmmst8+@pitt.edu (Paul M Mweene)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,soc.culture.african.american,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: AIDS and the CIA (was Question)
Date: 16 Nov 92 06:18:34 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Nov10.222416.5113@engage.pko.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
>Ummmm, don't know if this was mentioned, but the "AIDS is biological warfare
>created by the CIA to wipe out Africans/whoever" story is Soviet propaganda/
>disinformation _designed_ to make the US look bad in the eyes of the world
>(particularly Africa).
>-Mike

Your story is half true. Infact the Soviets picked this story from two French
scientists who did studies on the virus. They showed that there was no way 
the Simian (green monkey) virus could ever evolve into HIV. They felt that a
more likely source was combination of the luekemia causative agent and the
visna virus found in sheep. I happened to read this report way back in '87
or '86.

Similarly, German researchers debunked the monkey virus myth in 1988 (I will
bring the date of the New Africa magazine which has the story). Further more
an high powered group of German scientists undertook a trip to the Ituri rain
forest where models had 'shown' the aids virus to have originated. 

Having nailed the source of the virus to village in Zaire where the virus had
to have begun, they proceede to test all 15000 pygmies they found there for
the virus. They zero (0) infected with it.

According to Frenc hypothesis. AIDS was created at Ft. Detrick Maryland. The
powers that be elected to conduct tests on long term prisoners at a nearby
prison. They promised them freedom if they survived the test. 

Six weeks after infection, the prisoners suffered a mild flue which however
disappeared. The powers therefor released them. These people who were drug
addicts and homosexual subsequently infect others in the population, especia
lly in the New York area.

The dates all reconciled and this story seem to be true.


makala


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,news.admin
Subject: Re: Child Molestors - internationally organized?
From: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Organization: The Man With Ten Cats
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:13:09 GMT
Reply-To: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly)

I'm crossposting this to news.admin.  Just some more trivia for the
a.b.p.e thread.

In article <1992Nov20.135538.6837@ulysses.att.com>
                smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>Well, folks, there may really be a world-wide computer net of child
>porn afficianados -- naturally, funded in part by the U.S. government,
>though I don't think they realize that yet.  And what is the high-tech
>communications mechanism they use?  Why, it's netnews, of course,
>described in today's NY Times as ``a major computer bulletin board
>that is used internationally''.
>
>Yup -- according to the paper, a Cornell sophomore's dorm room was raided
>by the FBI; they're investigating whether he ``used graphics imaging
>technology to copy pornographic pictures of children onto computer files''.
>
>Someone, either the FBI agents or the reporter, doesn't have too much of
>a clue about what Usenet is:  ``Investigators say they think the student
>may have gained access to the bulletin board through Cornell's computer
>network.''  And one of the reasons they're concerned is that ``the files
>had appeared in several regions of the United States as well as "on
>another continent".  Well, yes, that is the way netnews works.

How was he discovered?  Who turned him in?

-- 

Rick Kelly	rmk@rmkhome.UUCP	unixland!rmkhome!rmk	rmk@frog.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.conspiracy,alt.politics.perot
From: dpm1960@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (snopes)
Subject: Re: Tomorrow's Conspiracy Theory, brought to you today.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Will pay money for food.
Date: 16 Nov 1992 12:57 EST  

In article <1992Nov16.134752.3585@CERIS.Purdue.EDU>, 
  jheath@CERIS.Purdue.EDU (Jim Heath) writes...

>What if some group, say the LaRouche (sp?) people, managed to get
>their people in as electoral college members in large enough
>numbers to elect LaRouche?  Would it be legal? 

Yes.

>Would he be allowed to take office?

There's nothing to legally prevent it.  That doesn't mean they wouldn't come up
with something, though.

>Would it matter that they had lied about who they were going to vote for? 

No.  It would be the fault of the party for selecting them in the first place.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson           Rocketdyne Systems       Chatsworth, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                             |
|        When brides are registered, only registrars will have brides.        |
|                                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: Obscene Functions
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 22:46:33 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.


In article <1992Nov17.164937.8897@udel.edu>, rapp@toffee.cns.udel.edu (Brian Rapp) writes:
> "and many times confused"
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Say, has anyone ever met anyone famous who has remarked that the
Paul Simon song from which that lyric is quoted, "American Tune", is
actually a German tune?  And didn't Procol Harum set "Whiter Shade of
Pale" to the tune of one of Johann Monty Bach's "3-Sided Inventions"?

ObUL:  "Procol Harum" is Latin for "Novus Ordo Seclorum".

Bruce "I enjoy hearing E. Pluribus Biggs play Bach" Tindall
-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Mgr., SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. 27513
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:28902 alt.folklore.college:3040
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.college
Subject: Re: SURVEY:  Crime Stories
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 02:04:24 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1e8ichINN6ua@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> bets@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Beth Schwindt) writes:
>I am doing a survey of crime stories for a class called American
>Folklore and Literature here at Kansas State University.  Please
>answer the below questionaire and return in to me prior to 11/20/92.
>
>4)  What is your affiliation to K-State?

Oh Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

ObUL:Isn't K-State something to do with Quantum mechanics?

Or do I mean diodes.


-- 
Derek Tearne.   --   derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz   --    Fujitsu New Zealand   -- 
Some of the more aware dinosaurs were worried about the environmental
consequences of an accident with the new Iridium enriched fusion reactor.  
"If it goes off only the cockroaches and mammals will survive..." they said.
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Water Tower Suicide.
Date: 22 Nov 92 09:21:51 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

>In article <1992Nov20.161844.18666@pony.Ingres.COM> sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney) writes:
>>>
>>Oh YEAH? There ahsn't been an artesian well in London since shortly
>>after WWII. Just where exactly was this, and what is your source?
>

I nominate "Oh YEAH?" as afu motto of the century.

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (Sez YOU!)

-- 
All just the opinions of pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: The Fabrikant case--did it happen?
Keywords: murder
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:02:00 GMT

thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:
>In article <Bxw60D.ICr@news.cso.uiuc.edu> mcwg9235@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Marsha Woodbury ) writes:
>>I need some information ASAP--
>>at what school did The Fabrikant case take place.
>Some Canadian school.

Concordia, in Montreal.  (SAme city as the Ecole Polytechnique, for those of
you with slightly longer memories)

>>Did it?

>Yes.  In fact, Fabrikant had been posting to the net for days.  Just
>think, the next poster you read could have a screw loose and be a
>homicidal maniac!  Bwahahahahahhaha!

No - he'd been sending email to several people (including my Computational
Geometry Prof) whose names he seems to have gotten from faculty lists from
Ottawa U, Carleton, and UofToronto.  After the event, somebody posted his
collected rantings to the net.  One of them had been mailed hours (or was it
minutes) before he started shooting.  "Yup, gotta catch up on my mail before I
start killing people - probably don't have net access in the pen."

>Disgruntled faculty member who (to tie together another a.f.u. thread)
>was upset that his research was being stolen for the use of senior
>faculty members.  He claims/claimed that he wouldn't play along, and
>they tried to dismiss him because of it.

I think he was bitching about having to give his seniors co-author credit,
not sole credit.  Since this is pretty widespread in academia, I guess every
research prof is a potential homicidal manic?

Paul "After I catch up on my newsreading, I'm gonna..." Tomblin
-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@geovision.gvc.com
(This is not an official opinion of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
"No matter what you've lost - be it a home, a love, a friend - like the 'Mary
Ellen Carter' rise again." - Stan Rogers - "Mary Ellen Carter"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban