HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: For a close, circular shave (was: Unchanged FAQ List
From: mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Matt McIrvin)
Date: 12 Dec 92 05:42:15 GMT
Keywords: lather, rinse, repeat

fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis) writes:

>I've seen Occams Razon used in argumentation a lot and its use has
>always baffled me. It seems merely "reasonable" rather than conclusive, but 
>I've seen it used as proof in works like Hawking's history of time to...well...
>this argument about crop circles.

If someone uses it as proof, watch out.  What it really is is what you
suspect: a good rule of thumb for picking out reasonable hypotheses.
Without using it in some form, scientists would spend all their time
looking for the invisible leprechauns that push planets around.

But it can be extremely treacherous in some situations.  As Matthew
Wiener once said on sci.skeptic (in an argument about quantum mechanics),
"Remember that Occam's barber serves many clients."  What seems like
unnecessarily multiplied entities to one person may not to another.

Sometimes a better rule of thumb for such purposes is the thing they
shout a lot on sci.skeptic:  Extraordinary claims require extraordinary
evidence.  In the case of crop circles, this is a useful rule to follow.
-- 
Matt McIrvin
From: hwt@bcarh11a.BNR.CA (Henry Troup)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: ring-pulls/ cats-eyes/ zips/ etc...
Date: 17 Dec 92 13:44:28 GMT
Reply-To: Henry.Troup@BNR.CA
Distribution: world
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada

In article <1992Dec11.103022.605@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, henry@dcs.qmw.ac.uk
(Henry Bloomfield) writes:
|>>> > ... cat's eyes (the motorway kind),
|>boundary of every motorway (and major road) in the UK. I can't
|>remember from driving in the US whether they're on American

We don't use them much in Canada - we have lots of snow and snowploughs
and cats-eyes don't mix that well.  For one thing, the holes in the
asphalt (tarmac/macadam) accumulate water and then freeze-thaw cycles
(plus the slat we apply in tonne lots) destroy the road surface (even more).

There are cats' eyes on one curve in the road on our grounds here at BNR
Ottawa, though.  They're not like the UK ones - the hole is square and
the reflector seems to be a flat rectangle mounted vertically.
                               
Henry Troup - H.Troup@BNR.CA (Canada) - BNR owns but does not share my opinions
	       Legislated morality is the enemy of true morality
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: moroney@world.std.com (Michael Moroney)
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 02:25:15 GMT

markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger) writes:

>Over the weekend, I heard a network news commentator say that high winds  
>and a full moon caused (or made worse) the higher-than-usual tide that  
>caused so much damage along the northeast coast. What does a full moon  
>have to do with it? I find it hard to believe that a full moon has any  
>effect on the tides. The mass of the moon, and hence its gravitational  
>pull on the ocean doesn't change, nor does its distance from the earth (at  
>least not because the moon is full). The only thing that really changes is  
>that we on earth can see more of the moon. Is this an urban legend or  
>what?

There are 2 sources of tides - the moon, and the sun.  The tides from the sun
are smaller than that of the moon (about 1/3 I think).

During a full (or new) moon, the tides from the sun and moon add and the tides
are much higher.  During the first and last quarter the sun and moon aren't
lined up and the tide from the sun reduces the tide from the moon.

-Mike
From: alanmoore@yang.earlham.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Conductivity of water
Date: 14 Dec 92 20:32:44 GMT
 <Bz2Cnr.JDw@helios.physics.utoronto.ca> <10DEC199221565567@csa3.lbl.gov>
Distribution: world
Organization: Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

In article <10DEC199221565567@csa3.lbl.gov>, jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:
>>   That would defeat the purpose. The question was, why are firefighters
>>not afraid to use leaking hoses near large voltages, but treating the
>>subway as your bathroom could be unwise? 

Ah, but we DO worry!

Alan Moore                         alanmoore@yang.earlham.edu
Training/Safety Officer            (317)983-1437
Boston Community Fire Department   (317)935-2449
Boston, IN
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: Manhattan Bridge
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 10:10:43 GMT

In <1992Dec9.032449.204@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

>a large simian creature once known to inhabit the Empire State Building.

in?
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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: klg@panda.mc.duke.edu (Kim Greer -- rjj)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Guess what's not in this dictionary?
Date: 20 Dec 92 22:06:47 GMT
Organization: Duke University, Nuclear Medicine

In article <JTCHEW-171292125822@b50-afrd4.lbl.gov> JTCHEW@lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:
>
> fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis) wrote:
>
>>  This sand, will it never end.....
>
>Truly a beau jest.

  I thought it was a jest, Beau.

>Joe "I hate it when it does that" Chew

k "you mean -->_THAT_<--?" g


-- 
Kim L. Greer                       
Duke University Medical Center		 klg@orion.mc.duke.edu
Div. Nuclear Medicine  POB 3949		 voice: 919-681-5894
Durham, NC 27710  		         fax: 919-681-5636
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.drugs
From: mjharris@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mike Harris)
Subject: Re: UL: Monumental LSD overdose taken (was: Re: Brands of LSD)
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 22:00:59 GMT

sl31+@andrew.cmu.edu (Stephen M. Lacy) writes:


>I just want to say that the apparent knowledge of drugs on the network
>and the volume of people that have significant knowledge makes me
>utterly sick.  Is there something about computers that forces you all to
>take drugs, or do you just hang out with people who and that's how you
>get your knowledge.... anyways, you'll tell me that YOU don't really DO
>them, but I won't believe you.

>This whole discussion of LSD has gone too far and is upsetting me more
>with every post.

>Steve


>"I can't understand what makes a man hate another man, help me
>understand." -Depeche Mode

You seem like a nice guy Steve. I suggest you start with William Blake.
Then check out Aldous Huxley's (yeah the guy that wrote the perennial
philosophy). Also Tim Leary's Flashbacks if you can find it. Some of us
believe that drugs are tools for self learning and consiousness raising.
Funny how many come to this conclusion after a little experimentation.
They aren't for everyone though and if we bother you were sorry. Still
it's easier for you to unsubscribe to this news group than for us to quit
discussing our convictions in our sometimes irreverent ways. Or read on
... the choice is yours. BTW I like your .sig



--
Mike Harris 			>>>>> In stereo where available <<<<< 
InterNet: mikeh@tenet.edu
Organization: Junior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.drugs
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:35:16 -0500 
From: "Stephen M. Lacy" <sl31+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: UL: Monumental LSD overdose taken (was: Re: Brands of LSD)


I just want to say that the apparent knowledge of drugs on the network
and the volume of people that have significant knowledge makes me
utterly sick.  Is there something about computers that forces you all to
take drugs, or do you just hang out with people who and that's how you
get your knowledge.... anyways, you'll tell me that YOU don't really DO
them, but I won't believe you.

This whole discussion of LSD has gone too far and is upsetting me more
with every post.

Steve


"I can't understand what makes a man hate another man, help me
understand." -Depeche Mode

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Only One Cure for This Body of Mine (was: Monumental LSD overdose 
Keywords: Good Career Movement
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 17:14:06 GMT
Organization: Austerlitz, Gershovitz, and Carmichael

Wisp writes:
 
       [on the lethal possibilities of marijuana]

>
>Of course, you'd pass out long before you smoked
>that much, then running the risk of aspirating vomit and pegging it a la
>Elvis...
>
The Late Great Kang weighed so much, had bolluxed his digestive
system w/ so much terrible food, had disrupted peristalsis with such
a Big Tent inclusiveness of opiates, and had stressed his CNS with
conflicting quantities of depressants and stimulants, that to say
he died by aspirating vomit is an insult to his memory. He died, in as
dignified way as possible, straining at stool reading a book on the 
search for the historical face of Jesus. No wonder a shroud still
lingers around his death.
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> Don't be a stranger.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: trk@palm15.cray.com (Tim Kirby)
Subject: Re: Conductivity of water
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: 13 Dec 92 20:15:18 CST

Terry Manley (manley@optilink.COM) wrote:
: In article <10DEC199221565567@csa3.lbl.gov> jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera) writes:
: >
: >What I want to know is the rationale behind the big, big voltages ...
: 
: Now why not run the third rail at lower voltages ? ...

Hmm. If memory serves me correctly, the overhead catenery lines in the UK
(the wires that run above the track) are 25kV AC. The "third rail" used
extensively on the south east UK commuter lines is around 700V ... DC, I think
(though I might be wrong - anyone know for sure ?). The locomotives that run
on the 25kV service contain a pile of exquipment to convert the electricity
to a lower voltage DC supply suitable for the drive motors.

Tim

--
Tim Kirby --------- Cray Research Inc., Eagan, MN, USA ----------- trk@cray.com
Disclaimer: I disclaim, therefore I am. Cray Research is not responsible for me,
my views or anything I say ............... They do, however, pay my mortgage ;-)
When all else fails, Immortality may always be assured by spectacular error(JKG)
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Amusing signs
Date: 15 Dec 92 08:16:06 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <1992Dec15.034130.9845@netcom.com>, obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien) writes:
>
>Of course, many of you have seen such sign and figured out by now what they
>say, but I'll just leave some of the others wondering...
>
>	Bob "just one of the 'Dips'" O'Brien

Somewhere in California (Ha! Can't get much more exact than THAT!)
is a great sign along those lines:

     DIP
Next 30 Miles

Dunno whether it's one long dip, one extremely deep dip, or,
perhaps, a great many dips in a row.

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (It's in the desert somewhere. as far as I could tell, the road
was _flat_, but I could only see a few miles of it, so perhaps the
dip wasn't evident yet)
-- 
All just the opinions of pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu.
From: maupb@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr J L Saunders)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: I Live to FAQ!
Date: 15 Dec 1992 05:39:20 -0000
Organization: Computing Services, University of Warwick, UK
NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.csv.warwick.ac.uk

In article <Bz6J4E.Ew8@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> jkshapir@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Kivi Shapiro) writes:

%ObUL:  Um...if you accidently swallow a seed, it can get lodged in your
%digestive tract (throat, say), and GROW!

Yeah, when I was a boy I wouldn't eat tomatoes for that reason, so it must be
true!

Jason
-- 
    "Merry Xvob!"      Jason L Saunders [ RouE ]       "Merry Xvob!"
                     email: maupb@csv.warwick.ac.uk
snail: Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31454 sci.skeptic:21466
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: Wwy is the sky blue? (was Re: Daytime Stars - Not Donahue or Oprah)
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 19:39:10 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1992Dec15.171305.9563@nntp.nta.no> styri@nta.no writes:
>
>Hmm... Maybe it's possible to see dayime stars through a hole in the ozone
>layer? (Standing in a well to avoid skin cancer.)

I just went outside and checked.  You can't

Derek "Ozone layer - we don' need no steenkin Ozone layer" Tearne




-- 
Derek Tearne.   --   derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz   --    Fujitsu New Zealand   -- 
 _______
 _______} This is a Usenet condom<tm>.  Roll the condom over the .signature 
	  file before posting to protect yourself from .sig retro-virii
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: Re: I Live to FAQ!
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 00:18:27 GMT

	In reading the FAQ, I noticed an ommision in the
automotive section.  A story comes to mind:

1) Man get's really drunk, and decides to drive home late at
night anyhow. Is relieved to make it safely home, but finds
small child plastered to grille of car in garage next morning.

	I believe Ann Landers or her twin were fooled into
	printing a letter containing this one even though:
	a) why would a little kid be out late at night.
	b) a little kid would not get stuck to a grille.
	c) No cases with names, dates attached.

I suggest this be investigated before the following addition:

F.  Drunk driver finds small child plastered to grill of car next morning.

While Ann Landers is the topic, she reprinted the story last week of the
Ohio woman who was in the basement doing laundry, decides to wash
the dress she has on, so takes it off and is naked.  Notices a
leak in ceiling, so puts on sons football helmet.  Hears sound,
and turns to see meter reader, who says "I hope your team wins, lady."

J.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: peterm@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Peter Mardahl)
Subject: Re: Alzheimer's and Aluminum pots and pans
Summary: roast of dan
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 20:22:36 GMT


Jocelyn writes:
>>However aluminium cooking utensils probably are in the clear, as I've heard
>>of no studies showing a higher incidence of Alzheimer's among people who use
>>them (unlike the drinking water).

  I'd like to see citations of the studies linking aluminum in the
drinking water to Alzheimer's.  And just because YOU haven't seen any studies
'incriminating' cookware, doesn't mean there aren't any.

dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk writes:  
>Tea. Little old ladies in the UK drink lots of it. Lots of little old ladies
>get Alzheimer's. Tea has a high concentration of naturally occuring aluminium.
>Water in the UK is regularly dosed with high levels of alum.
>
>Tea + UK water = Bauxite soup
>
>Dave
>

  This is supposed to be an argument?   Well, here's another one:
"Lots of people in the US drink beer.  Beer has a high concentration
of alcohol.  Beer drinkers have more heart attacks, on average.
Therefore alcohol causes heart attacks."  It's not really quite
as simple as that is it?

  Your argument isn't exactly analogous, but it als doesn't address any of
these issues:

  Old men in England drink tea also.  Do they show a higher rate
of Alzheimers?

  Could genetic factors in the English population predispose them
to getting Alzheimers?

  If the water has elevated concentrations of aluminum, how come
little old men don't get alzheimers at a higher rate also?

  Is aluminum really the cause of alzheimers?  Perhaps there's
another factor which causes it?  Like air pollution?

  Do the little old ladies you speak of actually have a higher
rate of Alzheimers than average?  Such is your implication, but
you don't say so.

  The only reason aluminum was linked to alzheimers in the first
place was because aluminum was "found" in the plaques.  Do you
have any solid evidence other than this, which shows that aluminum
causes alzheimers?  Would you care to cite these studies?

For the record, the article I cited from the Chronicle only implies
that aluminum doesn't cause alzheimers, it doesn't state it.
Aluminum now seems a less likely cause, but it has not been ruled out.

Peter Mardahl
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Gay Likelihood
Date: 20 Dec 92 20:36:02 GMT
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand

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

> A recent survey of sexual habits carried out in the UK recently (results
> published in Nature) came to the conclusion that almost 12 percent of all
> males in London have had some homosexual experience.

One of the reasons the methodology of these studies is being questioned, is
that they are based on cities. It is already known the schizophrenia has
a higher incidence in cities, and some very small surveys consistently give
a lower level of homosexuality in the countryside.

This may be because homosexuals congregate in cities to be in a more accepting
environment, with other homosexuals, or it may be because the city environment
is attractive to homosexuals, or the city environment promotes homosexuality
(referring to studies with rats living in overcrowded communities), or it may
be the people in the countryside don't admit to such activities.

More work is required to resolve these issues. OBVIOUSLY they are
generalisations applying to a class of people and have no bearing on
individual behaviour.

I just comment; I am neither offering my opinions or judgement.

OBUl: Someone is buried on the premises of the Bank of England.



-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
  This .sig unintentionally left blank.

Hello! I'm a .SIG Virus. Copy me and spread the fun.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: Why the sky is blue (was: Daytime Stars)
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 22:52:46 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.


In article <Bz9Ayq.2Ds@polaris.async.vt.edu>, jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel Furr) writes:
>Tell me what makes the sky so blue
>[...]Rayleigh scattering makes the sky so blue
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is also known as the "Tyndall effect," after the English
physicist John Tyndall (1820-1893) who described the mechanism.

Bruce "not as good a physicist as John, but a much better speller" Tindall
-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Mgr., SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. 27513
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.skeptic
From: maynard@leah.msc.cornell.edu (Maynard J. Handley)
Subject: Re: Wwy is the sky blue? (was Re: Daytime Stars - Not Donahue or Oprah)
Organization: Cornell-Materials-Science-Center
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 08:35:50 GMT

>>The sky is blue because of scattered light. It was right the first time.
>
>
>>Air molecues are approximately the same size as the wavelength of blue
>>light (~ 4000 Angstroms) so blue light is scattered more strongly than
>>red. Incidentally, this is why the setting and rising Sun looks red. At
>low
>
>Not quite.  Typical molecules in air (N2, O2, CO2, Ar, etc.) are a good 
>deal smaller than this (more like 2 to 5 angstroms).  
>If air molecules were about the size of light wavelengths then
>any molecule appreciably larger than an air molecule would be easily
>visible
>with a light microscope (think diffraction for a moment and this should
>be clear).
>
>The frequency dependence of the scattering, at least for things like air
>molecules, doesn't depend much (if at all) on the size of the molecule
>doing 
>the scattering. Scattering's caused by the electrons in the molecule and
>the 
>frequency dependence falls out of the equations relating the interaction
>of the
>e- with the light wave.  
>

Well I'm skimming through the relevant section of Jackson and the basic
idea is this: Light through a homogeneous medium would not be scattered.
But air is not homogeneous, having both atoms with vacuum between them, and
statiscally distributed regions of above and below average density. We
write down Maxwell's equations for the system assuming non-homogenous
dielectric constant and get an awful mess. Assume scattering is small and
use the Born approximation to clean this up. Assume light has long
wavelength compared with scattering object (easily true in this case) and
we have a scattering that goes as omega^4. Now do some statitics on the
distribution of scatterers in the air to get either Rayleigh scattering
(elementary) or Einstein-Smoluchowski scattering (critical opalescence and
such). 

The bottom line is that the scattering looks like long-wavelenght dipole
moment scattering and thus goes as omega^4, ie high frequencies (blue)
scattered much more than low (red). The reason for the omega^ dependence is
because the induced dipole has strength proportional to omega^2, and
radiates with a strength proportional to omega^2*dipole_moment.

So I'm not sure quite what the above dude means by electron scattering in
molecules not being affected by frequency. Maybe this statement refers to
resonant scattering, whereas what we care about is non-resonant.

Maynard
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.computers
From: morris@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Mike Morris)
Subject: Re: Jackpotting ATM's for $$$$
Organization: College Park Software, Altadena, CA
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 05:39:20 GMT

jgoldber@todah.chem.utoronto.ca (Joel Goldberg) writes:

>In article <92340.091128MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> <MIWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
>>During the L.A. riots I watched a video taken from a helicopter of about
>>six very pissed-off guys rip an ATM out of a wall. They used nothing more
>>technological than a crowbar, threw the machine on top of a shopping-cart
>>and casually wheeled the thing down the sidewalk.

> The (Toronto) Globe and Mail, Dec. 8, 1992, page A9

> THIEVES LASSO BANK MACHINE
>    Canadian Press
>FORT ERIE, Ont. -- Thieves lassoed a bank machine yesterday and dragged
>it off through the streets of this southern Ontario town, police said.

>  The thieves likely used a tow truck or a pickup truck to haul the
>Royal Bank machine away after breaking a large plate-glass window at an
>IGA supermarket at about 1:15 a.m., police said.

>  "They chained the machine and pulled it right out of the store,"
>said Constable Maurice Seguin of Niagara Region Police.

>  Police followed the vehicle's tracks and a trail of pices broken
>off the machine for a few kilometres before losing the tracks in fresh
>snow, he said.

>  Police didn't know how much money was inside the machine.

Earlier in this thread a person (sorry, didn't keep it and the article
has expired) commented that the average ATM is 3000 pounds.  True.

But there are two basic sizes of ATMs - the in-wall monstrosities, and
the ones that you use inside a branch.  These smaller ones are about the
the size of a large podium.  I don't have current knowledge of ATMs as
my banking background is > 8 years ago, and then I was working on
minicomputer based CD and Bond tracking.  A couple of guys from ATM
systems and programming joined our lunchtime forays and we talked shop
occasionally.

I guess I diverged from my main point - the ATM that was tossed into a
shopping cart by 6 guys could have been a mini-ATM.

-- 
Mike Morris   WA6ILQ   | This space intentionally left blank.
PO Box 1130            | 
Arcadia, CA. 91077     | All opinions must be my own since nobody pays
818-447-7052 evenings  | me enough to be their mouthpiece...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: doctor1@cbnewse.cb.att.com (patrick.b.hailey)
Subject: Re: chelsea clinton (was re:
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 07:13:12 GMT

>She's in fact named for the song "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea",

No, no, no.  She's named after Chelsea Manchester, that Tigr of a Spitfire.

  Thanks awfully,
            Patrick "cryptic" Hailey