HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: john@gu.uwa.edu.au (John West)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Cats bursting into flame (WAS: Re: Cars Bursting into Flame)
Date: 7 Jan 1993 05:42:40 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: mackerel.gu.uwa.edu.au

rhuss+@EDRC.CMU.EDU (Robert Huss) writes:

>Or perhaps, spontaneous combustion is not really spontaneous combustion,
>but just a nice way to off someone.  Knock em out, force Nitro Glycerin
>down their throat, stick a fuse in em, light it, and when the cops come, 
>say "Spontaneous Combustion!"  
>	I see lots of possibilities here.

>Bob "I will not explode" Huss
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

But now that you've discovered my secret...

Damn. I was hoping nobody would find out.

John West
-- 
For the humour impaired: Insert a :-) after every third word
--
For the humour impaired: Insert a :-) after every third word
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Amusing Street Names
From: derek@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 20:04:14 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <1993Jan8.002059.12100@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:
>
>ObUL2: Ever since I can remember, when the state finds a field of
>marijuana and confiscates, they estimate $1000 per plant as street
>value, no matter what the plant size, growing location or whatnot.
>This has been going on here for at least 15 years.

A quiz for the more matehmatically minded than myself (or those that care).
If the US police estimated a plant at $1000 dollars street value 15 years ago
and continue to do so today, by a process of inflation, supply and demand and
devaluation etc.  How many years long will it be before $1000 US dollars 
actually _is_ the street value of the Marijuana.

ObUL: I wonder how many people post to AFU after having subscribed for less
      than the suggested month?

Derek "I am horrified<tm> that so many people on USENET are so knowledgeable 
       about drugs" 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
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:33102 alt.folklore.college:3373
From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.college
Subject: Who Kresge was (Was: Re: Architecture (Was: Architect Suicides))
Date: 10 Jan 93 16:00:05 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service

Sebastian Spering Kresge, 1867-1966, established chains of retail stores.
In the 1890s he was a partner of John G. McCrory ("McCrory" stores are or
were until recently to be found in sad parts of declining downtown areas,
another victim of the shopping malls).  Eventually he became the sole owner
of his company.

Kresge stores had a policy of selling nothing priced over 10 cents, until
inflation caused the limit to be raised to 15 cents around the time of World
War I, and eventually to one dollar.  The company opened the first K-Mart
in 1962 and changed its name to K mart Corporation in 1977.  

(Until K mart changed its logo recently, you could see the two letters
"SS" in the vertical bar of the "K" -- the founder's initials.  I'm
surprised this didn't cause a UL to the effect that K mart was a front
for the Nazis, or for the band KISS.)

In 1924, Kresge started the Kresge Foundation, which has distributed
tens of millions of dollars for educational purposes.

This next fact will seem to be an AFU-oriented UL unless I quote it
directly from the source (Ency.Brittanica, 15th ed.):  "It [K mart]
also owns . . . the chain of Furr's Cafeterias in the Southwest."

Bruce "I'd like the lemur stew, please" 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
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: wolfi@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Wolfgang Schwanke)
Subject: Re: African-American-top
Organization: Techn. University of Berlin, Germany
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 13:22:03 GMT

bjackson@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Ben Jackson) writes:

>In article <1993Jan2.130701.3358@pollux.lu.se> magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>>In article <C07wIH.HHz@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> bjackson@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Ben Jackson) writes:
>>>Ahh, but you should also notice 'Der gute Mensch', clearly masculine.
>>
>>Sorry, but "der Mensch" means simply "the human" or "the person",
>>regardless of that person's sex. 
>
>Sorry, but "Der Mensch", regardless of what it means, is still masculine.
>I wasn't implying that it had to refer to a man, I was merely muddying
>the waters.

One of the distinctive features of German language is that grammatical
gender and natural gender have no connection at all. Even objects can have
any gender. 'Der Tisch' (the table) is masculine, 'die T"ur' (the door) is
feminine.

>>You may of course say that the German language is sexist, since it
>>assigns the masculine gender to _all_ human beings by default, as it
>>were.
>
>Actually, I've often wondered what a PC movement would do in Germany.
>The only thing I could think of was making all nouns neuter.  Other
>languages don't have neuter nous; everything is masculine or feminine.
>Then, I suppose, you might get a movement of people who would decline
>everything as feminine just to make up for years of "unfair declention"(sp?).

The equivalent of a PC movement in Germany are probably the feminists who
change the endings of words denoting persons.

For ex. the German word for fisherman (sorry :) is Fischer, but the ending
-er has a 'male' sound to it. Conservatives would argue that it includes
female fishermen (sic!! :) as well.

A female fisher would be a Fischerin.

So the PC form of all fisher(wo)men is Fischer(innen), or even more PC:
FischerInnen.

This plural form can be seen a lot in left wing papers or so, unfortunately
even with words that never can have an -innen ending:

AbgeordnetInnen (members of parliament)
MitgliederInnen (members of a club)

>Ben "I am a jelly doughnut" Jackson
>--
>"The direction of the eye, so misleading...
> The defection of the soul, nauseously quick." -- Pearl Jam, _Garden_
>Ben Jackson, ben@ben.com, bjackson@mentor.cc.purdue.edu

Cheers

Wolfgang

--
* Wolfgang Schwanke * Technische Universitaet Berlin * Germany * wolfi on irc *
* email: wolfi@cs.tu-berlin.de       *      wolfaefg@w250zrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de *

   Everybody needs a little love sometime; stop hacking and fall in love!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jamesh@netcom.com (James Hightower)
Subject: Re: AIDS: Rock Stars v. Roadies
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 11:10:02 GMT

styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo) writes:

>Just to keep the AIDS thread alive, here's a story I was told by a show
>biz friend:

>Rock stars (or Pop stars if you like) are less likely to get AIDS than
>the roadies. The latter pick up and sleep with more fans (of the star)
>than the star himself, and they usually get a lot of scratches and small
>wounds from their work. In addition, my friend claimed that a higher ratio
>of the roadies were junkies compared to `the stars'.

Yepper, your typical Roadie gets far more than your typical musician, due
mostly to better working hours (the band has to work when the fans are in
the venue, the roadies don't) and a general lack of anything resembling
a social concience. And 'Safe Sex' means checking her I.D. first.

Junk is making a comeback among musician types, but the roadies I know are
into alcohol and speed, which they swallow.

B.T.W Steve Adler (ex-Gn'R drummer) has sued his former bandmates,
claiming that they pressured him into using H in order to keep up the
bands image.

	-- James "Runs n' Noses" Hightower



Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: FIZZIES (was: Re: Cheese popcorn)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 21:01:58 GMT

jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker) writes:
: 
: Well, I've heard that camels are actually supposed to be pretty intelligent
: beasts. Am reminded of a story about some Arabian king-type person who had
: heard that camels were much like people, so he put it to a test: he blind-
: folded an adult male camel and it's mother, and let them "go to it" (ie,
: have sex). After the act, the blindfolds were removed and the camels, upon
: realizing that they had committed incest, acted so morose and ashamed (with
: a camel, how can you tell? But then, maybe that's why I'm not an Arabian king)
: that the king had them put to death out of mercy.

Yeah - right. Just like dogs and cats really care about the relationship. It
is just another case of anthropomorphization.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: malcolm@wrs.com (Malcolm Humes)
Subject: Re: CD Legends
Organization: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 21:16:08 GMT

jamesh@netcom.com (James Hightower) writes:

>thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:

>>I bought a couple of CD's the other day, and noticed some strange things
>>about them.

>>One, Nirvana's "Nevermind," has about ten minutes of silence on track 12
>>in between two songs -- the second song comes as a bit of a surprise if
>>one has left the CD player running.

>Mine doesn't, but I've heard this before. Did you buy it used? Perhaps
>it was only the first pressing that hed this feature.

Yes, it the "bonus track" was limited and appeared only on the first
pressing or something like that. 

>>Anyone have any interesting CD stories not involving green markers, or
>>know someone who does?

I can't recall the disc, but a friend had a cd with a track that was
hidden by indexing or something so that in normal play it skipped a track
but you could select the hidden track or somehow play it. 

Along the lines of the modem data story, Mike Oldfield has a release that
has some morse code message that is supposed to be an insult to the head
of his former record company. I'm very curious about any other releases
with imbedded data in the music - on a recent Brian Eno release I heard
stuff on one track that sounded like a fax machine or modem connect signal...

  - Malcolm  
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: Upside-down burglar
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 16:58:45 GMT

In article <CINDY.93Jan9171446@solan10.solan.unit.no> cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
>Ted Frank writes:
>>Indeed, the E-sharp over middle-C string is a crucial component for
>>exercising the infamous and shadowy New York Method.
>
>There is no such note as E-sharp.  

Perhaps that's why the New York Method is not all that widespread.

Ted "Sheesh!" Frank
-- 
ted frank                     | thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu 
standard disclaimers          | void where prohibited
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
never shout movie in a crowded firestation
From: wb8foz@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (David Lesher)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Cars Bursting into Flame
Date: 10 Jan 1993 01:50:35 GMT
Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex
Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher)
NNTP-Posting-Host: skybridge.scl.cwru.edu

My worst fears come to life..
There I was, stuck in line at the tollbooth. 
Behind a Pinto,
and right in front of an Audi 5000.
--
A host is a host from coast to coast..wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: datepper@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Aaron Tepper)
Subject: Re: goo-goo googol-y eyes
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 05:51:09 GMT

It was in Carl Sagan's _Cosmos_, but damned if I can find out where.

David A. "sure beats billions and billion, don't it?" Tepper
-- 
I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm all right | Dear Lord, give
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home.   | me chastity... 
I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life.   |    but not yet.
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone. --B. Joel| --St. Augustine
From: pmartin@efim.austin.ibm.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Jesus middle name
Date: 6 Jan 93 21:51:53 GMT
Reply-To: pmartin@efim.austin.ibm.com ()
Organization: IBM Austin

Jesus is properly referred to as "Jesus H. Christ", where the "H." is short for
"Haploid",  an inevitable side-effect of virgin birth.

Paul
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: hatunen@iat.holonet.net (Dave Hatunen)
Subject: Re: Machine Gun TV CAMERAS
Organization: HoloNet National Internet Access BBS: 510-704-1058/modem
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 22:20:34 GMT

Sand or gravel is used to provide a good contrasting
background for the video pictures. 

When I worked at the Wolf Creek Generating Station
(nuclear) everyone was amused when the designers
sent down a requirement for gravel for around the
perimeter fence and specified the exact color required.
They thought it was typical nuclear expensive overkill.

In fact, in dim light someone with the right camouflage on
might be able to sneak across the strip unnoticed by
those monitoring the video. The use of the gravel or sand 
is supposed to minimize this. Even an intruder's shadow
will show up better, assuming the intruder was camou'd.
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Conspiracy_Theory theory
Keywords: conspiracy
Date: 7 Jan 93 21:20:56 GMT
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor

In article <dolonsgh.726423563@unix1.tcd.ie> dolonsgh@unix1.tcd.ie (DL) writes:
>I am wondering why conspiracy theories make such good stories-what the
>attraction is that makes people almost want to believe them.
>
>Some ideas:
>-CT's help people deal with randomness by giving a pattern to seemingly
>patternless events.
>-they give people a vivacious "buzz" from supposed knowledge of secret
>or illegal actions.
>-real life drama?
>-a need for scapegoats-someone to blame for wars,depressions,etc.
>-paranoia?
>
>The point is,conspiracy theories,like all folklore,say more about the
>people who tell them than the people they are told about.
>
>Any suggestions?
>
>Donal O Loingsigh
>dolonsgh@unix1.tcd.ie

I remember that a day or so after Kennedy was shot, a rather young-looking
David Brinkley said something like "It's hard to believe that one punk with
a mail-order rifle could cause so much trouble".

Now, after thirty years, all the real evidence still points to the punk, but
a large majority of Americans believe that there had to be something bigger
behind it.  Your guesses sound good to me.

Phil


-- 
|play: phil@rahul.net
|work: (Under Construction)              | Phil Gustafson 408-286-1749      |
|         Opinions outside attributed material are mine alone.              |
|        Satirical matter is not necessarily identified as such.            |
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Three Times Unlucky?
Date: 7 Jan 1993 00:13:48 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

Once again, while reading a newsgroup that's not in the
ALT SEWER [tm], I came across something which I figured
we could corrupt^H^H^H^H^Hmment on.

This has to do with the story that's best explained in the
two items quoted below.

>> hmm, I was staying with a friend over the holidays, and 
>> her sister is in the British Army- I was told that 
>> someone had to be struck 3 times before
>> retaliation could be construed as self-defence.

> I had heard the same thing about eleven years ago.  It 
> was used by a judge in an Illinois trial for a policeman 
> using excessive force against an assailant.  The assailant 
> was using a baseball bat, the officer using his fists, the 
> officer was a black belt in an unknown martial art.  The 
> judge said that the officer should not have hit the 
> suspect after the suspect swung the bat the first time.  
> The officer should have waited "until the third time."    
> 
> Only heresay, from eleven years ago.

Any comments?


Terry "Does this apply to USENET?" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Yeah, right.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Sodium in gas tank ( was: Net's Funniest Kitchen Disasters)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 19:54:27 GMT

rhadden@isdres.er.usgs.gov writes:
: The sugar in the gas tank is carmelized when the gasoline is ingnited, coating
: the valves and chamber. Soon enough it will stop the engine with enough sugar

It cannot be carmalized - if it does not get dissolved and transported to the
cylingers in the first place.

The US government, as part of their "Guerrilla Warfare" studies, tried this
(among many other ideas). The found that it did not work. There was no damage
to the engines.

Bill
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:33040 alt.fan.lemurs:287
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.fan.lemurs
Subject: Re: Ring in the New Year with Some FAQs
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 93 11:16:35 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand

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

[Newspaper report of possible UL about cats and washing machines deleted]

> Derek "I still maintain the fire engine and cat story is true" Tearne

here we have it folks, both Derek and Kibo admit
that they are responsible for MAINTAINING urban legends. Here is the source.
"I still maintain the fire engine and cat story" is true - possibley indicates
that others moderate other urban legends.


ObLemur: Any lemur is welcome to have an account on my BBS. See below for
phone number.

ObFact: Any Lemur making collect calls to this number will be force-fed
twinkies until it explodes.

ObQuestion: Can I get Twinkies in New Zealand?


-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU

"I hate quotations." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rhadden@isdres.er.usgs.gov
Subject: RE: Sodium in gas tank ( was: Net's Funniest Kitchen Disasters)
Organization: U.S. Geological Survey
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 21:00:19 GMT

The sugar in the gas tank is carmelized when the gasoline is ingnited, coating
the valves and chamber. Soon enough it will stop the engine with enough sugar
added to it. The partizans in Norway did this to German cars in WWII, although
those cars ran on pretty poor grades of gasoline anyway. Didn't take much
to mess them up.
        I remember one story (true or not, now I can't remember), where on
an arctic adventure, the bad guy(s) put sugar in the gasoline to prevent
pursuit of the snowmobiles. The good guys drained the tanks, added water
to the gasoline, and shook it up. The sugar dissolved into the water, the
water was seperated from the gasoline by centrifugal force, and the gas
replaced in the snowmobiles and the bad guys brought to justice. If it
isn't a true story, at least the logic is good, even if the engineering
wouldn't work.
lee hadden
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Conspiracy_Theory theory
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 93 11:12:03 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand
Keywords: conspiracy

dolonsgh@unix1.tcd.ie (DL) writes:

> I am wondering why conspiracy theories make such good stories-what the
> attraction is that makes people almost want to believe them.
> 
> Some ideas:
> -CT's help people deal with randomness by giving a pattern to seemingly
> patternless events.
> -they give people a vivacious "buzz" from supposed knowledge of secret
> or illegal actions.
> -real life drama?
> -a need for scapegoats-someone to blame for wars,depressions,etc.
> -paranoia?
> 
> The point is,conspiracy theories,like all folklore,say more about the
> people who tell them than the people they are told about.
> 
> Any suggestions?

Conspiracy theories are promulgated by those in the know, and contain just
enough truth to be plausible, while at the same time acting to mislead and
confuse, so that the true plans can be implemented without detection.

Furthermore, like the boy who cried wolf, sceptics will fail to believe the
truth of any revealed conspiracy as they will think it is just another
conspiracy theory.


-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU

"I hate quotations." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:32789 rec.arts.startrek.misc:13358 talk.bizarre:43843
From: trsnyder@mcs.drexel.edu (Bob Snyder)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: Sex, the Final Frontier?
Date: 7 Jan 93 16:17:19 GMT
	<1993Jan3.222420.25595@news.uno <C0EyDp.A6I@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
	<1993Jan6.184028.14918@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Organization: ASCI

In article <1993Jan6.184028.14918@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:

   BZZZT.  I'm not a trekkie, like you people.  But I know I've heard
   'miles' and 'feet' used by the crew of the ncc1701 (no bloody a, b,
   c, or d).  I've never heard these useful units used on ST:TNG.

I believe I recall reading in one of the Trek history books that the writer's
guide said to use metric and other scientifically correct units when referring
to normal actions ("Put us 2 kilometers behind the alien vessel"), but to
use miles or feet when making exclaimations or necessary to help the
metric-ignorant US public ("That ship's over a mile in length, Captain!").

Bob "Shat Happens" Snyder
From: jeffrey@cygnus.com (Jeffrey Osier)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The Fame Game
Date: 10 Jan 93 03:32:21 GMT
Reply-To: jeffrey@cygnus.com
Organization: Cygnus Support, Mountain View, CA; +1 415 903 1409


>In article <63289@mimsy.umd.edu> sjsmith@cs.umd.edu (Stephen Joseph
>Smith) write
>s:
>>"who do you know that is famous?"
>

I've had a few brushes with the rich & famous:

- made cappuccino for Joe Satriani when I was a bartender in San Fran
   (decaf)

- also made cappuccino for Herb Caen at the same place
   (double, extra foam)

- tripped over Edwin Moses' legs at the same place whilst nimbly
  carrying two huge buckets full of wine bottles.  (I didn't fall,
  in case you were worried)

- when I was in high school, a friend of mine was a security person at
  a comic book convention in San Diego.  I was up visiting her and
  helping close the place up, and the last guy out of the place came
  over and started talking to us.  Turned out to be Mark Hamill... a
  very nice gentleman, even gave my friend a kiss before he left (to put
  this into perspective, she started the San Diego chapter of the Star
  Wars Fan Club...).

Ah, dancing with society's elite...

Jefro
--
    From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo:  When passenger of
    foot heave in sight, tootle the horn.  Trumpet him melodiously at
    first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with
    vigor.
      (Taken from "Anguished English" by Richard Lederer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc,alt.sex