HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Kidnapping at Disneyland
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 04:32:41 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1992Sep13.053638.15394@NeoSoft.com> arielle@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:

>
>But wait, I forgot.  This is September.  Does it still count?

I heard an Urban legend recently that something terrible happened in 
the Northern Hemisphere (especially USA) every September causing an enormous
lowering of the signal to noise ratio of Usenet.  I have noticed some strange
postings recently (is the north pole a big lump of iron and has anyone taken 
core samples (sci.geo.geology)) etc. and wondered if this was part of that 
phenomena.  What is the cause of this?  How long does this phenomena last?





-- 
Derek Tearne. -- derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz --  Fujitsu/ICL 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.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: baudais@bnr.ca (Michael Baudais)
Subject: Fuel misers
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.,
Distribution: alt
Date: 8 Sep 92 08:49:24


After months of a.f.u monitoring, it's time to add something to the
FAQ.  I read something along these lines every couple of years.

Someone somewhere has invented a new engine/car/carbeurator/
fuel-injector that will allow cars to achieve 100 to 200 miles per
gallon.  The only reason we aren't driving these things is that the
Big Bad Oil Companies (BBOCs) have bought out the inventors to
preserve their markets.

Anyone heard the same, and can we add it to the FAQ as a Fb?

Mike "and they go from 0 to 100 km/h in under 5 seconds" Baudais
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: heathh@cco.caltech.edu (Heath Ian Hunnicutt)
Subject: Re: Annuit Coeptis
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 04:45:50 GMT

tel@adimail.uucp (Terry Monks) writes:

>Heath Ian Hunnicutt (heathh@cco.caltech.edu) wrote:

>: 
>: 	One of the Latin phrases means "from one, many."
>: 
>Not quite. Er, that would be "E pluribus unum," Bob.
	Enough already!  I made a boo-boo, and we all know it.  Of
course, I meant "from many, one..."

Heath "I don't speak Latin, and will never try to again" Hunnicutt

-- 
--
From the Home for Amnesiac Computer Scientists....
  heathh@cco.caltech.edu
From: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Stupid Cop Tricks & the Reagan Office Hours
Date: 12 Sep 92 00:54:03 GMT
Organization: Just put everything on the floor; I can find it.


>I heard a couple of suspiciously ULish "news" stories on one of the
>local radio stations over the weekend.

>In the first one, a Washington DC cop was writing up a car for a
>parking violation when a thief came along and stole the license tags.
>The cop watched the whole thing and then proceeded to write up a
>second ticket for driving without tags.

Well, just about the first thing written on any type of ticket is the license
plate of the car.  I'd like to know how the cop explained being able to write 
up a parking ticket, including the license number, of a car with no plates.

- snopes

+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|    NOTE:  This signature for adults only.  Sale to minors prohibited.       |
|    All characters 18 years of age or older.  For private home use only.     |
|    Any other use, copying, reproduction or performance in public, in        | 
|    whole or in part, will be prosecuted.                                    |
|                                                                             |
| +  David Mikkelson  Digital Equipment Corporation, Culver City, CA  USA  +  |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
From: curtw@euler.jsc.nasa.gov (Curt Wiederhoeft)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Rice versus Birdseed
Date: 11 Sep 1992 19:42:29 GMT
Organization: LESC

In article <1992Sep11.031912.12545@rose.com>, bill.dehaan@rose.com (bill dehaan) writes:
> In message <BuBo8x.236@hatch.socal.com>, richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich
> Greenberg) writes:
> 
> RG>Enjoy your wedding with whatever grain(s) you feel are appropriate.
> RG>The "rice exploding birds stomachs" is a genuine take-no-immatation
> RG>Urban Legend.  After all, how many dead birds with exploded stomachs
> RG>heve you seen around churches lately?
> 
> Funny you should mention that. I  was at a wedding last Saturday,  and I
> actually noticed  three dead  bird type  things (ex  sparrows; make that
> seriously ex) on the way out  of the chapel. Didn't think about  it much
> at the time, but now I wonder.
> 
> Bill "insert dead parrot quote here" de Haan

I can debunk this one. The change from rice to birdseed is a way for
churches to minimize their exposure to lawsuits. You see, if somebody
slips on some rice on the sidewalk, the church can be held liable. Since
they know people will want to throw SOMETHING, they'll 'permit' birdseed.
The seeds are more likely to be carried off in VERY short order.

Curt "Barbara Bush uses Mrs. Fields' cookie recipe" Wiederhoeft
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: duncan@yc.estec.esa.nl (Duncan Gibson)
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 07:30:08 GMT
Organization: ESTEC/YCV, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

In a previous article, williamsk@gtephx.UUCP (Kevin W. Williams) writes:
>
>Of course, since Bellevue, Nebraska was the home of Offutt Air
>Force Base, central headquarters of the Strategic Air Command,

I watched a program on UK TV several years ago that looked at the
scenario of *one* bomb getting through to nuke this area (chosen
because of SAC and because it's central). It claimed that the number
of cases of radiation burns and associated sickness due to the fallout
would exceed the entire hospital bed capacity in the US.

So, don't worry about being instantly vaporised under the third bomb...
-- 
Duncan Gibson, ESTEC/YCV, Postbus 299, 2200AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Preferred email:  duncan@yc.estec.esa.nl    or  ...!sun4nl!esatst!duncan
Desperate email:  dgibson@estec.esa.nl      or  dgibson@ESTEC.BITNET
From: WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
Date: 8 Sep 92 16:04:30 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

In article <BAUDAIS.92Sep8084924@bmerh160.bnr.ca>, baudais@bnr.ca (Michael
Baudais) says:
>
>Someone somewhere has invented a new engine/car/carbeurator/
>fuel-injector that will allow cars to achieve 100 to 200 miles per
>gallon.  The only reason we aren't driving these things is that the
>Big Bad Oil Companies (BBOCs) have bought out the inventors to
>preserve their markets.

What about the guy in Utah who invented a car that ran on hydrogen.  The gas
was stored in tanks in the form of a metal hydride to be released by heating
the tank.  I remember seeing a TV program about it where they demonstrated how
much safer than gasoline the new fuel was and that the byproduct of its
combustion was water.  (The inventor placed a beaker under the tailpipe of a
running car, collected 100 ml or so of the stuff that dripped out and "down
the hatch" it went.)

As I recall the mileage wasn't fantastic (about like my '69 Mustang) but the
fuel was reasonably inexpensive, readily available and non-polluting.

Did the BBOC (Big Bad Oil Companies) squash this one too?

Brian Waugh                       |    "What's for dinner?"
WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU    |        Lazlo Toth
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Sex on the Train
Date: 7 Sep 92 14:26:59 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <43226@skye.dcs.ed.ac.uk>, dwb@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Baines) writes:
> In article <1992Sep1.160246.8614@vax.oxford.ac.uk> banks@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>>I've long since junked my old newspapers, but someone somewhere should
>>still be able to dig out the relevant story.  The couple worked for the 
> 
> Well, in my newspapers to be recycled pile I found The Scotsman of Friday 7th
> August 92 which contained the following report.
> 
>             Have-it-awayday couple puffed out after sex show.
> 
> Travellers packing a hot and humid British Rail train turned a blind eye as a
> couple on a works day-trip to Margate treated them to a full sex show, a court
> heard yesterday.

[etc]

Well, the Victoria Wood joke makes me suspicious of this, as does the fact that
it happened on a Sainsbury's warehouse works outing. (Does anyone know if
Sainsbury's Warshouses---or anywhere else for that matter---still has works
outings?) There is a notorious British hoaxer called Paul Ryan (or something
like that) who specialises in planting stories in the press. I suppose the only
way to resolve the issue is to dig up the Horseferry Road Magistrate's Court's
records for the day in question.
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   Remember what happened to the dinosaurs!
wilcox@maths.oxford.ac.uk  |    I did---and look what happened to me.
From: Peter.Hammond@brunel.ac.uk (Peter D Hammond)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Craig Shergold is back (at school)
Date: 15 Sep 92 09:13:10 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

Hi all.
I thought you might be interested in the following snippet from last nights
local (london) TV news:
Craig Shergold, the boy who as we all know is in the Guinness bok of records
for his card receiving, went back to school yesterday, after 3 years away
fighting cancer. He is now 13. The school is a special needs one in a south
london borough, but I cant remember which one now. Drat, I was hoping for
some factual input. Oh well.


-- 
BFN, Pete.

 Dept. Materials Technology | Disclaimer: SERC pay me | You sometimes have to  
 Brunel University          | to report my opinions,  |    listen to
 Uxbridge                   | not for theirs or the   | A lot of useless talk.
 Middx, UB8 3PH, UK.        | the university's.       |         N. Peart. (RUSH)
From: eck@panix.com (Mark Eckenwiler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Exploding potty (was: Sinking libraries)
Date: 13 Sep 92 17:45:41 GMT
Organization: Superseding Information, Inc.

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

Careful, boys, we don't want any "friendly fire" kills here.


>ObUL: Someone swore to me as true the story about a husband throwing
>      a lit cigarette into the toilet, and having the commode explode.
>      But the real catch was that when the ambulance came to get him,
>      the stretcher attendants heard the story and started laughing so
>      hard that they dropped the stretcher and broke the guy's leg!

ObLegalFolklore: If the husband wanted to sue his wife, he could
recover for *all* of his injuries, including the broken leg inflicted
by the guffawing attendants.




- Mark "What if Ted set up a chicken-loaded spring gun?" Eckenwiler

-- 
	     Every time you think, you weaken the nation.
				- attributed to Moe Howard

	Mark Eckenwiler    eck@panix.com    ...!cmcl2!panix!eck
From: phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au (Phil Kernick)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Briant Gumble and NBC
Date: 8 Sep 92 02:10:02 GMT
Organization: University of Adelaide, South Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: adam.adelaide.edu.au

I heard a story that just smacks of being a UL, so I thought that I would
throw it to the net for support or debunking!

So the story goes...
Briant Gumble was a janitor working at NBC, and at a time when it was
politically expedient to have a negro working in front of the camera, was
given the option of presenting the news.
The rest is history...


Any truth?

Phil.


P.S.  It was difficult to phrase the UL in a way that did not sound racist.


-- 
   _-_|\    Phil Kernick                        "Sleep all day,
  /     \   University of Adelaide               Party all night,
  \_.-*_/   E-Mail: phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au    It's fun to be a
       v    Phone:  +61 8 228 5914               Vampire!"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Subject: Re: Colour perception (was: Death by sneezing)
Organization: Rice University
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 11:14:58 GMT

In article <n76pbzbc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
> BTW, I was in Houston a long time ago, and never saw any odd lights:
>are they new? Where are they???
  As a matter of fact there's a great one on the corner of Rice at South
Main and Sunset. The lights are mounted horizontally, and the light for the
left turn lane has TWO red lights, a yellow one, and a green one. As best
I can tell, they're being phased out in favor of more traditional lights.
>The Wisp. [curiouser and curiouser...]

-- 
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: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Annuit Coeptis
Date: 9 Sep 92 14:38:35 GMT
Organization: Right Bleedin' Church of Libertine Obfuscatology

In <1992Sep9.000114.28865@cco.caltech.edu> heathh@cco.caltech.edu (Heath Ian Hunnicutt) writes:

>	Also, I heard the pyramid with great eye is meant to represent
>the watchful eye of God over the 13 colonies.  (Note that the pyramid
>contains 13 levels, one for each colony.)

A convenient coincidence.  The 13 levels have other numerological
significance. The eye, is the all-seeing eye of god, though.

>	One of the Latin phrases means "from one, many."

You need to bone up on your latin.  You are thinking of "E pluribus unum"
which translates as "from many, one"
-- 
    / \      Reverend fnord                 | "King Kong died for your sins!"
   /   \     fnord@panix.com                | 
  / <0> \                                   | "Don't just eat a hamburger, 
 /_______\   Church of Obfuscatology, Inc.  |  eat the HELL out of it!"
From: pw@panix.com (Paul Wallich)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Marching Band ULs needed
Date: 11 Sep 92 17:24:19 GMT
Organization: Trivializers R Us

In <BuE2nn.H9u@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) writes:

>In article <1992Sep9.005631.9338@bsu-ucs.uucp> 00mlschmalz@bsu-ucs.uucp writes:
>>
>>I'm looking for urban legends concerning Band, Drum and Bugle Corp, etc.
>>A friend of mine told me a "rifle twirler dies during routine" story
>  The Rice marching band has been banned from the Astrodome since the early
>'70's for a halftime show that upset the owners.
>  Also when the Texas A&M mascot died a few years ago, the MOB did a bit
>making fun of him, and they needed a police escort from the stadium to
>protect them from the angry Aggies.

The Yale band dropped their pants on network TV in the late 70's, but
I don't know if you'd exactly call them a marching band. They also
made a recruiting film that featured the drum major sitting apparently
nude in the middle of a field cracking eggs into his lap.
From: cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Briant Gumble and NBC
Date: 10 Sep 92 18:36:34 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

mccoy@cayman.com (Michael McCoy) writes:
> Phil Kernick (phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au) writes:

> >Briant Gumble was a janitor working at NBC...
> >P.S.  It was difficult to phrase the UL in a way that did not sound racist.

> And you almost made it. Really.

Phil has been taking a lot of heat about his posting becase the UL he
cited is racist.  Now I don't think he actually believes the UL, nor
have I seen evidence that he is actually racist.  But it is important
to realize that this particular UL resonates with racist feelings
ingrained in our society.  All ULs resonate with one or another deeply
ingrained belief or attitude, that's why they become ULs.  The
importance of the story that Phil quotes is that because it resonates
with racist societal attitudes, it tells us something about those
attitudes in our society.

--Scott
From: ENVIRON@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: A bird in the hand v. 10 birds in the FAQ
Date: 9 Sep 92 00:23:44 GMT
 <1992Sep8.170356.8371@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
 <CINDY.92Sep8203525@solan10.solan.unit.no>
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

In article <CINDY.92Sep8203525@solan10.solan.unit.no>,
cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) says:
>>ObFACT : In 1906, a Pygmy was sold to the Bronx Zoo to sweeten a
>>deal for a chimpanzee.  They believed the Congolese man, named
>>Ota Benga, to be closer on the evolutionary scale to monkeys than
>>to humans.  Clergymen raised a fuss, and he was removed from
>>display after ten days and placed in an orphanage for black kids
>
>"Closer on the evolutionary scale to monkeys than humans"?  Monkeys
>are not simply "less evolved" humans.  Humans and monkeys evelved
>from a common ancestor... humans did not evolve from monkeys.
>Sorry, but i have a hard time accepting this story, and part of
>the reason is that claim.  Independent confirmation?

     Well, you have to remember that in 1906 science of the day probably
wasn't advanced enough to determine that monkeys are our cousins rather than
our forefathers... Whether or not I believe the story is true, I would
be inclined to believe that at least that part is possible.

Brett
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: stupid cop tricks & t
Date: 15 Sep 92 23:55:08 GMT
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

>And your theory is that the cops wouldn't be able to tow the car
>away because it wasn't illegally parked? Foo.

Foo-bar.  My theory is that if the car _is_ illegally parked, they
might not be able to tow it without first ticketing it.  

I seldom hear about a car being towed without being ticketed. Some 
traffic-court Solomon might have reasoned that if the car is not 
parked illegally, you have no grounds for towing it, and conversely, 
if it IS parked illegally, you have no excuse for not ticketing it.

This hypothesis is actually clear and straightforward by governmental
standards.  Whenever a Minor Public Servant does something that comes
across as both highhanded and inexplicable, you have to consider that
maybe he or she was boxed in by ironclad rules that you, blissful
civilian, never even heard of.  And chances are that M.P.S. doesn't
like it any better than you do and has about as much chance of getting
the rules changed.

Then again, there's always the Simple & Cynical explanation:  parking
control is a bigtime profit center for the municipality, so the default
is always to write the ticket.  Several years ago, I read that the
typical San Francisco meter ma... er, Parking Control Officer cost
about $70k a year to put on the street and brought in some $250k. 
Rather a better deal for the City than for motorists.

I donated my share when I lived in SF, and, like most everybody else,
shrugged it off as a sort of semi-hidden tax.

Joe "You'd better log off and feed the meter" Chew
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh)
Subject: Re: Sinking libraries
Reply-To: hal@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Hal Wadleigh)
Organization: Interleaf, Inc.
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 18:24:28 GMT

Perhaps this "sinking library" story is a perversion of the true story about
Mexico City (and others) where the soil is actually an old soft peat bog.  The
older buildings that once had steps leading up to the doors now have steps
leading down.  The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has a special foundation that
makes it more like a boat than a normal building, and does not creep downwards.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: mgfrank@avernus.com (Marc G. Frank)
Subject: Re: Annuit Coeptis
Organization: Maryland Appreciation Society
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 21:52:25 GMT

In article <992Sep9.0004.28865@cco.caltech.edu> heathh@cco.caltech.edu (Heath Ian Hunnicutt) writes:
>spg@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Stephen P. Guthrie) writes:
>	One of the Latin phrases means "from one, many."

Does not.  That's "e pluribus, unum."  "Annuit copetis" means "he [God]
favors our undertakings."  "Novus ordo seclorum" means "new order of
the ages."

+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
| Marc G. Frank                                  mgfrank@avernus.com |
|                   I'd rather be in Eldersburg.                     |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lmh@world.std.com (Larry M Headlund)
Subject: Re: Marching Band ULs needed
Summary: Wealy coverup for stupid mistake. 
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 16:08:40 GMT

>In article <BuFsL2.KK1@world.std.com> lmh@world.std.com (Larry M Headlund) writes:
>>I have heard a similar story about the late composer Glass.^H^H^H^H^HCage
>>
>>Larry "I observed 4:50 of silence when I learned of his demise" Headlund
>
>I think this was Disraeli.  Maybe Cage.
>
>Ted "if you play 4'33" backwards, you can hear satanic messages" Frank
>-- 
	I was playing it slower on a Magic Markered CD to catch all the
hidden meanings.  Its satanic influence made me type the composers name
wrong.

Larry "I'd buy the single,  but not the album" Headlund

-- 
Larry Headlund  lmh@world.std.com    Eikonal Systems (617) 482-3345 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Just One Calorie...?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 15:00:23 GMT

In article <CINDY.92Sep4184928@solan10.solan.unit.no> cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
>
>This one's too easy... Water.  I drink it every day.
>
>(And if i remember correctly, coffee and tea if you don't add sugar
>or milk.)

What if you add lard and sugar?

cjl
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The Wildebeast
Date: 15 Sep 92 13:35:58 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK

In article <dignan.716521330@husc10> dignan@husc10.harvard.edu (Thomas Dignan) writes:
>
>	Does anyone know what it really is? Is it just a british word for
>yak, or is it something totally seperate. I don't really care but this guy
>here is bugging me about it.

Its for real (spelled wildebeest, BTW). It's an alternative name for the gnu,
that hideously malformed antelope(???) cum cow that roams the plains of
East Africa, looking for lions to feed...

The Wisp. [gmoooo...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     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^>)