HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 11:18:47 -0500 
From: "Stephen M. Lacy" <sl31+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Major scams since 1980


Ok, I was thinking, and here are a few words to get you started:
"Ultrasonic Humidifier" and "The Back Chair"  It seems to me that these
are basically huge scams, to the effect that "product X does nothing for
the consumer at all, but we've convinced them that they _really_ do want
it, so they buy it, and we're rich"  I havn't seen either of these two
products in any store whatsoever for about 2 years, but for a while they
were everywhere.  What other things like this are there?  These were the
only two that I could easily think of, although the name RonCo seems to
be associated with a lot of other things that seem to fall in the same
category.

Steve


"No matter what happens, never believe that you have learned something
you were not supposed to know." -Steve Lacy
From: limes@straylight.eng.sun.com (Greg Limes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Abducted by UFOS or hard night on the town?
Date: 27 Jan 93 18:55:05
Organization: Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (Mountain View, California,
	USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: straylight
In-reply-to: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz's message of Wed, 20 Jan 93 02:04:33 GMT

In article <1993Jan20.020433.27836@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> 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.
...
|   It seems to me that all these are symptoms of a hard night on the town
...
|   Does this mean that space aliens wait outside pubs and nightclubs to abduct 
|   people?

These must be the same space aliens that take the money out of our
wallets and put wool socks over our tongues late at night!
--
   Greg Limes						[limes@eng.sun.com]
Not speaking for Sun Microsystems Computer Corp., Mountain View, California
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: References sought on coriolis effect
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 17:29:39 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand

renault@CAM.ORG (Pierre Renault) writes:

> Maybe it's just the way toilets (crappers, loos, etc.) are built in the 
> southern hemisphere.
> 
> I had a guest staying with me for a month. Said guest was from New Zealand.
> 
> First comment on after taking a crap: "Hey, the water goes the other way
> here!"

THIS from a continent where unsuspecting visitors find that the toilets
(oh, EXCUUUUUSE me, the BAAATHROOM - likle, I REALLY want a bath?) don't
flush, they SUCK.

This can take on by surprise.

Wayne "NOT that *I* would KNOW" MACdougALL


-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU

"I hate quotations." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
From: uni@acs.bu.edu (Shaen Bernhardt)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Epileptics and computer games
Date: 28 Jan 93 08:05:31 GMT
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

In article <1993Jan27.190553.7600@Cadence.COM> vince@cadence.com (Vince Gibboni) writes:
>j_manes@vger.nsu.edu writes:
>> This very story came over the AP wire today at the radio station where I
>> work.  The story mentioned that such warnings were already common in the
>> USA, and that putting warnings on Nintendo games sold in Europe was a
>> fairly recent development.

[Stuff Deleted]


>    A few days ago there was a fairly definitive piece on this on CNN.
>    They actually showed footage of several different children having
>    seizures while playing (I think) Sonic Hedgehog. This was not home
>    video footage, but some sort of laboratory-like situation (i.e. there
>    were guys in white coats standing around observing). Of course,
>    placing a seizure-prone child into a sezure-inducing situation seems

[Stuff about Doctors and liability deleted]

>    I think about it, all this really proves is that Sonic Hedgehog does 
>    not _prevent_ seizures. 

[Deleted again]

>                                                         vince@gda.cadence.com
> 
>    "The last government program that worked was World War II."
>        - David Brinkley

It's funny that this comes up.  A few days ago, I was watching someone play
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and I reached for a butcher knife, and before I knew
it I had killed the dog and two mice who once made their home in the
woodwork.

No, not really... but it did strike me as VERY funny when I read the 3
paragraph warning inside the front cover of the Sonic instruction.
I had heard before that certain pulse rates of colored lights can cause
seizures in people who had previously not had any symptoms before...

I'll try to get a copy of the Sonic warning, it's just.... Funny.


-- 
uni@acs.bu.edu  ->  Public Keys by finger and/or request
Soverignty is the sign of a brutal past.
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Chinese food
Date: 27 Jan 93 08:05:28 GMT
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Distribution: world,local
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

psraah@uta.fi (Rami Ahonen) writes:
  +
  +I heard a story last saturday that sounded awfully lot like a UL.
  +Let's see what you people have to say....
  +
  +      A girl goes to Chinese restaurant in Helsinki (That's in Finland
  +      in case you didn't know!) and orders chicken. She eats and
  +      leaves the place, but later feels like she's got a bone stucked
  +      in her throat. So she goes to see a doctor who removes the 
  +      bone and after having studied it says that the bone is not 
  +      from a chicken. Later girl goes to the restaurant with some 
  +      officials to check the place. They found a freezer full 
  +      of rats. Now the restaurant is closed.
  +      People who told me the story couldn't remember the name 
  +      of the place but they said that this happened just few 
  +      months ago.
  +
  +I know there are stories about people eating all kinds of stuff, but 
  +what I'm interested in founding out is that has anybody (hopefully not 
  +everybody) heard about the bone and the doctor.

This story is a classic food contamination urban legend.  The
common motifs of a foreign restaurant, pet or human remains,
or other dreadful contaminations is very common.  In _The
Choking Doberman, Brunvand discusses these legends more 
thoroughly under "More Dreadful Contaminations."

Rats, cats, and dogs lead the list of dreadful contaminations.  
Human parts less so (but still very common).  They commonly 
arise in Chinese, East Indian, or Italian restaurants where
curries, stews, or other forms of cooking where the nature of
the food is physically less obvious.

Another common characteristic is the uncovering of whatever
contaminate in the refrigerator/garbage cans/or samples right
out of the food (as in your case).  Brunvand has a nice story
where an archeologist or veterinarian has a meal in an ethnic
restaurant.  He decides to take a bone from the delicious stew
for analysis and discovers that it's a cat bone.  Another 
variation has the traveller in Greece or Italy and chokes on
a bone which turns out to be from a rat.

Brunvand also mentions that in 1972, the English journal 
_Lore and Language_ asked its readers for legends regarding 
Chinese restaurants and animals.  They received many 
"substantially similar" stories from readers throughout
Newcastle, Edinburgh, Whitby, York, Leeds, and many other
areas of Britain.  English-heard versions from Germany were
also sent in.  Also in 1978, an Australian version from 
the 1880s was also sent in.


Terry "And it always tastes like chicken" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Yeah, right.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.music.misc
From: motani@watson.ibm.com
Subject: Re: 54-40..what does their name mean?
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 16:09:20 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.17c by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: motani@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In <1k1lhvINN5cp@shelley.u.washington.edu> nicolett@carson.u.washington.edu (Nicolette Roberge) writes:
>A negotiated settlement was reached that established the border west of the
>Great Lakes at the 48th parallel.

Actually, they settled on the 49th parallel from the west side of Lake Superior to
the Strait of Georgia. There was a dispute about how the boundary should be drawn
out into the Strait, and eventually the parties settled on the current border which
gave the Gulf Islands to Canada (actually Britain) and the San Juan Islands to the
U.S.

>  The Pig Wars resulted when a pig
>wandered over this negotiated border and was shot as a trespasser.  This
>is the only war, as such, between the US and Canada, and occurred in Point
>Roberts, WA.  Point Roberts is located on a peninsula that has its only
>land access through Canada. 
>

This, in fact, was not the only war between the US and Canada. The war of 1812
was fought in Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) over what were
euphamistically called border disputes, but in fact was the desire of the US
to expand into British Territory and keep the British in check.

________________________________________________________________________________
Muiz Motani
IBM Canada Lab                  motani@vnet.ibm.com
Distributed System Products
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:34686 alt.conspiracy:14553
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Hepatitis and Taco Bell Scare.
Date: 24 Jan 1993 07:22:23 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Distribution: world,local
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

  +Well, there are reports in the Tuscon Daily Star of a batch of poisoned
  +burgers from Jack in the Box burgers making people REALLY sick and killing
  +some kids.

Well, to be a little more accurate, Clarinet and an LA Times 
story carried in today's _San Francisco Chronicle_ reported 
that 149 people became sick and a 2 year old Seattle, Washington
boy died.  The outbreak affected Washington state and Boise,
Idaho.  Symptoms include bloody diarrhea and severe abdominal
cramps.

Both stories said that the state health dept. believed that the
patties were infected by fecal matter at the slaughterhouse.
They had investigated the supplier (Vons Cos.) and all seemed in
order.  Clarinet reported high levels of coliform contamination
in 2 of 10 samples collected.  

The stock values of both Jack-in-the-Box's parent and Von's fell.


Terry "You are what you eat" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Yeah, right.
Organization: Hidden - I don't speak for them...
X-Stuff:      <This should be witty, but I'm too tired right now.>
Reply-To:     dhorvath@mail.sas.upenn.edu
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 13:30:48 EST
From: David B. Horvath, CDP <MBADBH@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Red Zinger dissolves ancient coffee crud
 <lm9jnfINNlmp@exodus.Eng.Sun.C <1993Jan26.165651.25280@hemlock.cray.com>

In article <1993Jan26.165651.25280@hemlock.cray.com>, dtj@caffeine.cray.com
(Dean Johnson) says:
>
>A guy at work called me over one time to show me a styrofoam cup that had it
>inside surface pitted by some tea that he had tried. Unfortunately, you don't
>see the pitting until after you drink the tea or pour it out. This is why
>I drink my cheapy tea out of a quart "Hofbrauhaus Munchen" glass stein.
>
>        -Dean

   Lemon juice in any kind of tea will disolve styrofoam cups.  When I get
   bad colds I tend to load up on strong tea with 3 or 4 lemon wedges.  The
   cups disolve before my eyes...

      - David
        dhorvath@mail.sas.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: julie@eddie.jpl.nasa.gov (Julie Kangas)
Subject: Re: Okay, if you're so smart ...
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 15:56:57 GMT

In article <1993Jan20.223029.13796@acuson.com> lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson) writes:
>In article <CINDY.93Jan18135851@solan10.solan.unit.no> 
>cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
>>Paul Harvey (?) writes:
>>>Hmm. Arguing about Aramaic vs. Hebrew is like arguing about French vs.
>>>English. They (Aramaic and Hebrew, you dolt) are both ancient Semitic
>>>languages, closely related.
>
>>Bit different than French vs. English, then.  While French and English
>>are both Indo-European languages, they belong to different groups.
>>(English is Germanic, and French is Romance, in case you're
>>wondering.)  Related, but not "closely".  Closely related would be
>>Spanish and French, or Frisian and English.
>
>That depends on how you mean related.  Structurally, English is
                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>certainly germanic.  A great deal of the vocabulary, however, is
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>romance.  It filtered in after the Norman conquest.

That is why I the verb at the end of this sentence put.

:)

Julie
DISCLAIMER:  All opinions here belong to my cat and no one else
From: carolo@cse.ucsc.edu (Carol Osterbrock)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Bugger It
Date: 28 Jan 1993 06:12:13 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
NNTP-Posting-Host: arapaho.ucsc.edu

In article <1993Jan28.005445.13395@rose.com> bill.dehaan@rose.com (bill dehaan) writes:

>In message <930125220657.12ab@VAX.CSUN.EDU>, VBCSC03L@VAX.CSUN.EDU
>(snopes) writes:

>snopes>How do you make a collect call to an adjacent phone booth?  Wouldn't that
>snopes>pretty much be a local call?

>Actually, you _can_ do this, although it takes a pretty warped mind to
>bother.

[...WOW!  It certainly takes quite a mind to come up with the stuff
    that I took out...]

Actually, all you have to do is dial 0 before the phone number and
tell the operator it is a collect call.  I used to do it all the time
when I had my pager -- you stop at a pay phone and have no change,
what are you going to do?  If whoever paged you doesn't want to pay
a quarter to talk to you, it probably isn't that important.  It only
works on pay phones that allow 0+ dialing though.

-carol "unchanged" o


-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Carol Osterbrock       *       Such a long, long time to be gone
carolo@cse.ucsc.edu    *         And a short time to be there...
===============================================================================
From: booter@Autodesk.COM (Elaine Richards)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The Ultimate Circumcision
Date: 29 Jan 93 02:21:48 GMT
Organization: The Autodesk Menagerie - Housecat Division

In article <930125221902.12b4@VAX.CSUN.EDU> VBCSC03L@VAX.CSUN.EDU (snopes) writes:
>>I Recall reading about a medical mishap back in the late 70s (I think).
>>A doctor slipped up during a circumcision of a bouncing baby boy, and
>>recommended to the parents that he should have a sex change operation
>>and be rasied as a girl. Seems that the kid's fledgling manhood was
>>beyond repair.
>
>  Alright, somebody enlighten me:  Why is it "better" to be a woman with no
>  breasts, ovaries, or vagina (and still with such undesirable male
>  characteristics as facial hair, a deep voice, and testicles), than to be
>  a man with a damaged penis?  Wouldn't it be more sensible just to resort
>  to some sort of prosthetic and/or reconstructive surgery than to undergo
>  a complete sex change?


Actually, they would feed the kid hormones at a certain age to emulate
puberty and the kid would have to take them until her(his?) late
50s.

I do see your point. Why not patch the kid up as best as possible
and hope surgical technology continues to improve so that when the
kid is in his late teens, when it really matters a lot, the kid
can be reconstructed.

I have seen photos of before and after for sex change surgery and
they are able to build penises that look penis-ish enough. (Not
quite as functional, as the patients still must sit to pee.)

ER
--
Great apes are ok. It's the mediocre apes and the baboons and especially
the lemurs that are trouble.
 	-Henry Troup (alt.folklore.urban)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: alopez-o@neumann.uwaterloo.ca (Alex Lopez-Ortiz)
Subject: Re: Headlight Dimmer Switch
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 02:53:25 GMT

In article <1jkkerINN55m@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM>,
geoffm@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes:
> 
> For years, American cars traditionally had floor-mounted dimmer
> switches.
> Starting in the Seventies, they gradually began migrating to the column
> mainly because of the European influence on American autmobile design,
> which was also responsible for such things as amber rear turn signal
> lenses (amber front lenses were mandated by the National Safety Council
> starting in the 1963 model year).


Ans as it has been pointed out many times in rec.autos.driving amber back
turn signals should also be mandated.


Alex


-- 
Alex Lopez-Ortiz                              alopez-o@maytag.UWaterloo.ca
Department of Computer Science                      University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario                                                   Canada
Organization: Hidden - I don't speak for them...
X-Stuff:      <This should be witty, but I'm too tired right now.>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:40:24 EST
From: David B. Horvath, CDP <MBADBH@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: starting a car takes more gas that idling
Reply-To:   dhorvath@mail.sas.upenn.edu
 <1993Jan25.115216.19777@husc3.harvard.edu>


> My 1978 Pinto's manual said "do not idle car for more than 2 minutes."  I
> can't
> recall if my 1985 Isuzu I-Mark's book included any such remark, but I'll
> check my 1992 Mazda Protege's manual next time I have a chance.

   Having worked on my wife's (then girlfriend's) 1979 Ford Pinto and
   my Grandmother's 1975 1/2 Pinto, from what I understand the idling
   restriction was not to save fuel or because oil pressure was low,
   but to save the catylitic(sp?) converter.

   While the car was idling, it tended to run rich.  The converter
   converted the unburned gasoline and oxygen in the air (pumped in
   by the air pump - belt driven) into CO2 and H2O.  In the process,
   heat was produced.  Idling too long could over heat the converter
   and cause it to melt-down inside - or - set leaves on fire.

   Converter melt-down was not a concern while driving because it was
   cooled by air passing underneath the car.  Supposedly the newer
   converters don't have as much of a problem...

       - David

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: alopez-o@neumann.uwaterloo.ca (Alex Lopez-Ortiz)
Subject: Re: tuition refund ul?
Organization: University of Waterloo
Distribution: alt
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 21:11:50 GMT

In article <C18Kx0.A5E@math.uwaterloo.ca>, alopez-o@neumann.uwaterloo.ca
(Alex Lopez-Ortiz) writes:
> > In article <1993Jan21.338.26781@execnet>, al.sorhaindo@execnet.com (al
> > sorhaindo) says:
> > >
> > >Not only did I hear their that there was an "official" rule printed
> > >in the student handbook allowing students to leave if a professor
> > >was more than 10 minutes late.
> 
> 
> Well this is certainly the case in the National University of Mexico.
> Back
> in my times in high school (yes high schools are part of the university
> in
> Mexico), I was a student leader so I got a hold of the complete set of
> laws
> and rules of the University. I read them carefully, and what it was my
> surprise when I found the aforementioned rule.


The reason for this rule is that once a professor who had a (political)
disagreement with his students, scheduled a several hours long examination.
He didn't show until the last five minutes of the alloted time period. Of 
course by that time everybody was gone, and so he failed the students.

I suspect the case was appealed, but I don't know about that part. In
any case, to avoid future mishapps like this the senate approved said
rule. 

Alex

-- 
Alex Lopez-Ortiz                              alopez-o@maytag.UWaterloo.ca
Department of Computer Science                      University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario                                                   Canada
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Drug on the market
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 16:14:32 GMT

Someone asked yesterday about the phrase "drug on the market."  It means
something that is unpopular, not selling well, Zoe Baird, etc.  The Oxford
English Dictionary is uncertain whether it's related to the word "drug" 
(as in "medicine") or not.  It could mean a product which, like a
notoriously ineffective patent medicine or a bad-tasting medicine,
is unpopular; or it could be that in this phrase the alternative
spelling of "drogue" as "d-r-u-g" is being used.  

Bruce "definitive" Tindall
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
From: mycroft7@vesta.unm.edu (Cliff Coy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Acronyms & Funny names
Date: 25 Jan 1993 23:34:18 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: vesta.unm.edu



> HIV - HIV virus   - Human Imm.. Virus virus
> ICBM - ICBM missile - Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile missile 

> HARM - HARM missile - High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile missile
> (anti-radar)

My favorite has always been a govt poster describing a battleship's
defenses.  It included such lovelies as the anti-anti-missile-
missile. ;-)

--Cliff
From: linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Jesus' Birthday
Date: 22 Jan 1993 18:02:48 GMT
Organization: Sun
NNTP-Posting-Host: positive

Joke:
> Well, he was born on Easter, so we'd have to look it up and find out 
> whether it fell in March or April that year.

"Doesn't get it" (prob. Jik-dick)  #1
> No - Easter was set as the date of his resurrection. It has nothing to do
> with the supposed birth date. 

From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) "doesn't get it" #2:
> What was the joke meant to be?

If you are "resurrected" you are "born again" -- you have another birthday!
So you can sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Xmas day and at Easter!

(Did you ever notice how humor loses something when you explain it?)

-- 

The four Prefix brothers: Yocto, Zepto, Atto, and Femto
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Cuttin' the Rug
Date: 28 Jan 1993 05:35:21 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

Phil "Call Me Ishmael" Gustafson writes:

  +>One could apply mathematical induction to this.
  
To which pseudo-cynic, postmodern, deconstructionalist (but polite) 
	EE wanna-be Bruce Tindall opines:

  +AFU hipness alert:  diodes are out, coils are in.

Oh yeah?  Sez who?  _Capacitate_ magazine or something?

Terry "Still rectifying last year's diodes" Chan  
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Yeah, right.