HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Traffic Lights (Was: Colour perception )
Date: 9 Sep 92 10:19:33 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK

In article <BuAMCn.DJJ@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) writes:
>In article <n76pbzbc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
>>In article <Bu6BGB.Fy2@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) writes:
>>>  What if the lights are horizontal, like some here in Houston? (I've seen
>>>them horizontal in other U.S. cities as well.) I think that the left one's
>>>red, but I'm not sure. Then there are the ones with four or five lights
>>>on them, also...
>>
>>Ok, OK, I take it all back!  ;-) I was speaking from UK/Europe experience,
>>where all traffic lights are in threes, vertically, red amber green from
>>the top. BTW, I was in Houston a long time ago, and never saw any odd lights:
>>are they new? Where are they???
>>
>>The Wisp. [curiouser and curiouser...]
>
>  I believe that there are some on South Main like this. We also have
>some lights mounted on poles at the intersection, rather than over the
>street. They were great fun until I got used to looking for them there.
>They seem to be phasing these out though.
>

So *that's* why you Yanks drive so badly in the UK! Nearly all our lights
are mounted on poles at the intersections. (I'm only half joking: I
nearly got taken out by some git in a Cadillac flying through a red light
on the way in this morning. It had US plates, too (New York...)).

The Wisp. [shaken, but not stirred...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chris Williams <csuah@uk.ac.warwick.csv> aka <csuah@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
"Tony Greig in the slips, legs apart, waiting for a tickle"
                                      Brian Johnson (thanks to A. Simha 8^>)
From: bradn@tekig1.PEN.TEK.COM (Bradford H Needham)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Death cigarettes spotted
Date: 4 Sep 92 23:11:43 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.

From a blurb in the "Old Oregon" University of Oregon magazine, August '92:

    A breath-taking viewpoint: UO journalism graduate (and ex-
    smoker) Amelie Southwood '91, along with her father, Chuck,
    are marketing Death Cigarettes (package design pictured above)
    to dissuade smokers from lighting up.  The label warns that
    "Cigarettes are addictive and debilitating.  If you don't smoke,
    don't start.  If you smoke, quit."

A picture of a skull overlaying two crossed-bones is shown above.

I suppose you could write the magazine to get more details:
	Old Oregon Magazine
	University of Oregon
	Eugene, OR 97403   USA


Brad "how many of you have a Disney character for a mascot?" Needham
bradn@augsburg.pen.tek.com
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Just One Calorie...?
Date: 8 Sep 1992 19:44:10 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 29638@ultb.isc.rit.edu, bmb1021@ultb.isc.rit.edu (B.M. Buck ) writes:
> The book above is actually very good, going into a lot of detail
> surrounding why Coke changed it's formula, and the immediate aftermath
> of the change.

Dave Barry had a good column on this.  I think it was in the context of
an exam question for aspiring MBAs, and went something like:

Q: You are an executive at a major soft-drink company.  Your drink is
   the most popular in the world, and in fact is practically synonymous
   with the expression "soft drink".  Do you:
(a) Just keep raking in the money
(b) Suddenly change the formulation of your drink
(c) Set your hair on fire

[Answer: either (b) or (c) is good]

Brian "Still has Canadian and Bermudian Coke for snopes" Scearce
---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
From: avyfdvg@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (David Gatenby)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: British Paper Money
Date: 13 Sep 92 16:35:57 GMT
Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham

Detectives from Dorset Fraud Squad told my father (who then was in the
Regimental Police) that the ink on genuine British banknotes never dries. Is
this true?  Answers on a postcard or back of an envelope please to ...

*David Gatenby, Dept of Slavonic Studies  *                           *
*University of Nottingham, University Park* "Rasslab'sya, otechestvo" *
*NOTTINGHAM, England NG7  2RD             *   (pun, not misspelling)  *
*                         avyfdvg@unicorn.nott.ac.uk                  *
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
Date: 10 Sep 92 11:03:15 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <2549@israel.nysernet.org>, warren@nysernet.org writes:

>I think it's about time someone mentioned the Brown Recluse Spider ...

Sure thing. Here in San Diego, a woman died from a Brown Recluse
Spider bite two weeks ago.

Really.

The newspapers went on to mention that they're extremely rare and
anyway she was extremely allergic.

Then the local news showed us all what a BRS looks like. Ooooh.

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (I wasn't going to post this because I couldn't remember exactly
what the Brown Recluse Spider UL is, but if I'm going to get an
intro like that, I'll just do a general post and let people
disbelieve whichever part they want to)
-- 
  "Didn't expect to see me again,         | pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
eh, Svengali?"                            |  [Not a UCSD employee]
     -- Bugs Bunny                        |
From: creeper@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Wolfgang Kies)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Speeding in Iowa
Date: 9 Sep 92 06:51:39 GMT
Distribution: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center


	Hi, A friend of mine told me a supposed true story and I was wondering
if any of you had heard it and know if it was true. He told me that a state
trooper was seating on I-80 (which runs straight across Iowa) when all of
the sudden his radar gun flashed something like 140 or 150 but when he
looked outside he saw nothing. It was around 2 or 3 in the morning. The
same thing happened to another cop who also saw nothing. But it happened to
a third cop who radioed ahead and had squad cars block off the road way down
the line. And what supposedly stopped at the roadblock was a matte black
lotus with out it's headlights on. The driver was wearing all black and
was using light intensification goggles to see. Supposedly he was trying
to beat some record across Iowa. Anybody know if this is true?


*************************************************************************
|The amount of blood contained in the human body continues to startle me|
|I doubt if I'll get used to it, the way it seems to stick to your skin |
|trying to get back inside another body.                                |
|                             --Wolfgang Kies--                         |
*************************************************************************	
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pzs@ficus.webo.dg.com (Peter Z. Simpson)
Subject: Re: A bird in the hand v. 10 birds in the FAQ
Date: 10 Sep 92 10:30:10
	<1992Sep8.170356.8371@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
	<CINDY.92Sep8203525@solan10.solan.unit.no>
Organization: Data General Corp., Westboro, MA

>>>>> On 8 Sep 92 20:35:25, cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) said:

> Pointless tangent: Some languages also have two sets of plurals,
> one meaning "two and only two", and one meaning "three or more".
> English once had this system, at least in its pronouns.  

    I learned this bit of doggerel from my mother:
    
    "Two is a couple,
     Three is a few.
     Four is too many
     And five just won't do."



--
  Peter Simpson, KA1AXY       (508) 870-9837  fax: (508) 898-4212
  Data General Corp.  E236    pzs@ficus.webo.dg.com [128.221.228.82]
  Westboro, MA  01580         #include  <std_disclaimer.h>
From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Traffic Lights (Was: Colour perception )
Date: 9 Sep 1992 04:12:23 GMT
Organization: Rice University

In article <n76pbzbc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
>In article <Bu6BGB.Fy2@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) writes:
>>  What if the lights are horizontal, like some here in Houston? (I've seen
>>them horizontal in other U.S. cities as well.) I think that the left one's
>>red, but I'm not sure. Then there are the ones with four or five lights
>>on them, also...
>
>Ok, OK, I take it all back!  ;-) I was speaking from UK/Europe experience,
>where all traffic lights are in threes, vertically, red amber green from
>the top. BTW, I was in Houston a long time ago, and never saw any odd lights:
>are they new? Where are they???
>
>The Wisp. [curiouser and curiouser...]

  I believe that there are some on South Main like this. We also have
some lights mounted on poles at the intersection, rather than over the
street. They were great fun until I got used to looking for them there.
They seem to be phasing these out though.

-- 
Mike Swaim            | Canada will become the next world power
swaim@owlnet.rice.edu | and they will work to ENSLAVE all the nations
Disclamer: I lie      | of your planet. -Ricardo
Cthulhu in '92! The stars are right!
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Evita's body
Date: 9 Sep 92 02:38:34 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <laqh5aINN4dd@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM>, geoffm@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes:
>
>No.  Peron died before Eva.
>

Not according to _Evita_ . . . so I guess it's time to hunt down
some (gasp! heresy!) references.

<wanders to bookshelves, pulls out random volumes, shuffles
aimlessly through them>

Ah! Here we go! _Rumor!_, by Hal Morgan and Kerry Tucker (ISBN
0-14-007036-2), page 33 says:

** Exiled Argentine dictator Juan Peron keeps the embalmed body of
Eva Peron, dead for twenty years, in his Madrid home, where he props
her up in a chair to join him for dinner. (1971)

NOT TRUE.


I'll summarize the next 1.5 pages. Eva was first lady from 1946 to
1952, when she died of cancer at age 33. Dr. Pedro Ara took six
months to embalm her. Juan was overthrown in 1955, and anti-Peronist
leaders got Eva's body (although personally, I don't see why they'd
want it). For the next fifteen years, they kept the corpse hidden in
a packing case marked "radio sets", then a storeroom at the
Argentine embassy in Bonn, and then in a Milanese grave marked
"Maggi." In 1971, an altogether new government dug the body up and
presented it to Juan, who was probably somewhat surprised. Dr. Ara
(the one who embalmed her) helped unpack the body, and found it to
be in very good condition. The body stayed in Madrid for about a
year with the Perons (hence the rumor).

In 1972, Juan regained power, ruled for about 1.5 years, and died.
He was embalmed, and Eva was flown in from Madrid to lie with him.
They're in an official crypt, but since the current Argentinian
government is anti-Peron (again), people are suspicious that they
might've hidden Eva again (like sending her in a crate marked
"kangaroo meat" to Jack-In-The-Box).


Okay, so anyway, if you don't like _that_ reference, how about you
go find some reference explaining how Juan ruled in '72 when he'd
have had to have been dead. (Oh, _that_ was well phrased)

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
   (Or you could just GO LOOK IN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA FER "BOB'S" SAKE!)
-- 
  "Didn't expect to see me again,         | pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
eh, Svengali?"                            |  [Not a UCSD employee]
     -- Bugs Bunny                        |
From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Sinking libraries
Date: 13 Sep 92 19:42:46 GMT
Organization: Rice University

In article <1992Sep13.134044.14035@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>Anybody ever go to a high school with famous alumni, or know someone who did?

  I suspect that he's only well known in chess circles, but I went to High
School, with Stuart Rachels, who was the Alabama state chess champion at the
time. I was two years ahead of him, in the same class as his brother David.
I never played Stu, but David beat me badly at chess a couple of times.
  Anybody know how Stu's doing?



-- 
Mike Swaim            | Canada will become the next world power
swaim@owlnet.rice.edu | and they will work to ENSLAVE all the nations
Disclamer: I lie      | of your planet. -Ricardo
Cthulhu in '92! The stars are right!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Subject: Re: Mailing Coconuts
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 20:10:59 GMT


In article <1992Sep5.014623.8618@news.iastate.edu> glitto@iastate.edu (Scott M Klabacha) writes:

>>T. You can send a coconut thru the mail without any further wrapping. Yowser!
>
>I've wondered about this one for some time now. What are the details? What
>kind of implement do you use to write on a coconut? Do the stamps just stick
>on, or do you need to use glue? Would there be any use in writing "This End
>Up" seeing as how the thing's gonna roll around anyway?
>
>Seriously, though, what are the details about this? Why is it possible? What
>do you do if the people at the post office don't want to accept it?

I myself, personnally, have done this and saw the coconuts after they were
delivered.  Many gift shops in Hawaii offer this service, and when
vacationing there, I availed myself of this to send coconuts to my parents
and to a coworker (at the office, no less).  The addressing method used by
the shop I went to was to drill a hole near one end of the husk and anchor
a priority mail tag to the coconut with a wire run through the hole.  As
has been described in other responses to the original post, coconut husks
which are removed before most of us here on the continent get to see them,
is smooth, so you could address one by writing right on the husk with a
felt tip pen if you wanted too.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Kittypoopium-131
From: mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin)
Date: 10 Sep 92 19:22:21 GMT

jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) writes:

>Those who doubt this entry in the mighty FAQ should drop in on
>sci.physics, where they are currently discussing the proposed
>radioisotope therapy of somebody's cat.

>The Subject line is Radioactive Cat: How Dangerous is She? <LONGISH>

Now, if they put the cat in a box with a Geiger counter, and hooked
up the counter to a hammer positioned over a vial of baby scorpions...

Sorry, just some nerd humor.
-- 
Matt McIrvin, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 00:45:38 GMT

>In article <1992Sep4.083751.1706@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay) writes:
>>In article <laco87INN5rd@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM writes:
>>>OK, George, here's the WingDings mapping for the upper-case letters
>>>(courtesy of Joe Morris).  I'd like for you to come up with an
>>>alternate mapping, and then we can all have fun exhibiting *your*
>>>hidden agenda.
>>
>>	Well I'm not much into font layout/design.
>
>The request was a mapping, not a design. Take the Skull and Crossbones,
>put it somewhere, and we'll tell you what your problem is.
>
>>The problem is that
>>this sequence seems a bit too coincidental.
>
>not really. 2:1 against, that's about it.
>
>>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.

Someone did point out a while back that an alternative interpretation is
"convert all pirates to Judaism," or "all pirates like Jews." Now *that* makes
you wonder...

The Wisp. [getting sadder by the minute...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chris Williams <csuah@uk.ac.warwick.csv> aka <csuah@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
"Tony Greig in the slips, legs apart, waiting for a tickle"
                                      Brian Johnson (thanks to A. Simha 8^>)
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: One, Two, Many revisited.
Date: 14 Sep 92 00:22:50 GMT
Distribution: alt

Lessee -- if memory serves me correctly, Hebrew has a special plural
form for ``two'', and a different plural for any larger number.  The
special form has fallen out of use except for the obvious parts of the
body, which is how you tell the difference between baytzim and
baytzayim.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Subject: Re: stupid cop tricks & t
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:53:04 GMT

In article <26317@dog.ee.lbl.gov> jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov writes:
>Still, it's a nice Kafkaesque touch, sort of like the very badly
>smashed-up San Francisco pedestrian who was recently cited for
>jaywalking ($55) after the accidentand may have to make a court 
>appearance with life-support equipment attached.
>
>Joe "Bet they checked his registration sticker, too" Chew

They register pedestrians in California?  Furrfu!

Ted "how do you smash up someone very well?" Frank
-- 
           .........................................................
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
         here i sit looking for a warming smile in a house of cold wit
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csuley@cs.cornell.edu (Christopher Suley)
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 18:47:38 GMT

Maybe the Soviets were like chickens: they count 'one, two, many'.
Sure would explain the proliferation of 'third to be bombed' sites.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 20:05:43 GMT

	I heard alot of rumors about the celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Appearently (sp?), the
celebration organizers had planned for people to cross the bridge
on foot, much like the president and a bunch of Yoopers did the
other day in  Mackinac.  What I heard was that they started from
both ends of the bridge, met in the middle, and just stayed
there.   Something like 500,000 people (hey its a UL, I don't
know the actual number) on the bridge and the center bending 16
feet below normal.  Some bridge designer says they were lucky it
didn't collapse.  I guess they're lucky they didn't start singing
Louie Louie and jumping up and down.

	I can verify that 1) there is a Golden Gate Bridge,
2) it is 50 something years old, and 3) the President did visit
the UP recently (perhaps the most unbelieveable part).  Any truth
to the rest of the above paragraph?

For the sake of the geographically impaired:  "UP" refers to the
upper penninsula of Michigan.  This is a vast, mostly uninhabited
, cold and desolate place.  It is inhabited by Finnish, Norwegian
and Swedish immigrants known as "Yoopers".  "Mackinac" is the
name of the 5 mile long bridge that connects the UP with the rest of
Michigan.  The UP is wonderful source material for legends.

J.P. "Hey, before you say anything.  My Mom's a Yooper" Papai
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame)
Subject: Re: Death cigarettes spotted
Organization: Eastern Michigan University
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 23:10:42 GMT

In article <6863@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM> bradn@tekig1.PEN.TEK.COM (Bradford H Needham) writes:
>From a blurb in the "Old Oregon" University of Oregon magazine, August '92:
>
>    A breath-taking viewpoint: UO journalism graduate (and ex-
>    smoker) Amelie Southwood '91, along with her father, Chuck,
>    are marketing Death Cigarettes (package design pictured above)
>    to dissuade smokers from lighting up.  The label warns that
>    "Cigarettes are addictive and debilitating.  If you don't smoke,
>    don't start.  If you smoke, quit."
>
>A picture of a skull overlaying two crossed-bones is shown above.
>

Problem is, most of the people I hang out with would buy them because
they "look cool."

	-- Stewart "tempted to buy some and I don't even smoke" Tame

****************************************************************************
 I understand it's obligatory to mention Kibo somewhere in one's postings.
****************************************************************************
		Email:  stame@emunix.emich.edu
****************************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Not only do my opinions represent those of Eastern Michigan
University, but also those of Dan Quayle, Richard Nixon, Frank Zappa,
Pee-wee Herman, Bart Simpson, Tipper Gore, Murphy Brown, Maggie Thatcher,
and the Easter Bunny.
From: neil@ulysses.robots (& Townsend)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Notorious Toothpaste Skit
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:33:18 GMT
Organization: None evident here.
In-reply-to: styri@hal.nta.no's message of 11 Sep 92 08:17:02 GMT

--
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Argentine organlegging
Date: 14 Sep 92 02:11:37 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   

And here in Parade Magazine (yeah, OK, I'm slumming) we have a
report of a hospital operated, during the years of military
rule, as a Motel Hell for organ transplantation. Or maybe a
Roach Motel -- desparecidos check in and their corneas, kidneys, 
etc. check out in other people's bodies.  Their source is given
as the "British Medical Journal."

Joe "Ain't totalitarianism wonderful" Chew
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Subject: Re: One, Two, Many revisited.
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:02:56 GMT


In article <17218@ulysses.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>Lessee -- if memory serves me correctly, Hebrew has a special plural
>form for ``two'', and a different plural for any larger number.  The
>special form has fallen out of use except for the obvious parts of the
>body, which is how you tell the difference between baytzim and
>baytzayim.

Russian also has two different plurals: one for two *or* three, and one for
four or more.
From: fielden@spot.Colorado.EDU (j.a. fielden)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Evita's body
Date: 8 Sep 92 21:17:37 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

In article <1992Sep5.035437.11775@panix.com> jwp@panix.com (JongWoo Park) writes:
>Accoring to a little booklet found in CD of Evita ( american version ):
>
> .... But even in death she is denied obscurity.  The moment she dies the
> embalmers move in to preserve her fragile body to be "displayed forever",
> although this never happened.  The story of escapades of the corpse of
> Eva Peron during the quarter-century after her death is almost as
> bizarre as the story of her life.
>
>So, what happened to her body?
>
>-----
>Jongwoo "of expiring mind" Park                             jwp@panix.com

 I remember reading somewhere that Peron was very fixated about Eva.
Something to the effect that her embalmed body would be at the dinner 
table with him and his second wife. Any truth to this?
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban