HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dogbowl@dogbox.acme.gen.nz (dogbowl)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Eating Dogs
Summary: Chow down on a Chow!
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 16:58:10 Y
Organization: The Dawghaus BBS
Comments: Table dogs!

art@world.std.com (Al Thompson) writes:

>  [ paragraph deleted ]
>
> One day a friend of Joe's stopped by the coffee house.  He gave his pal
> Joe a Chow puppy from a recent litter.  When the friend left Joe was
> perplexed.  Because of his reduced circumstances he was living in the
> restaurant and had no place to stash the dog.  What to do?  Joe had a
> flash of insight.  Since Sam had been so nice watching the store when Joe
> went out he decided to give him to Sam.  Sam thanked him profusely.
> 
> A couple weeks later Joe dropped in on Sam and said, "Sam, how's the
> puppy?"
> 
> To which Sam replied, "He was delicious."
> 
> 

Chows were bred for the table in Imperial China, apparently they _are_
delicious, but I've never tasted one.
( A friend of mine was shocked when I suggested we use her dog for its
  intended purpose....I wonder if the blue tongue is tasty or not? )



dogbowl at The Dawghaus BBS  ( +64 6 357-9245 )


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien)
Subject: Re: Business Reply Cards & Junk Mail...
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 92 20:02:43 GMT
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Summary: why fill *my* trash can?

In article <26272@dog.ee.lbl.gov> TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
>btd43733@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (BTDonovan) writes:
> +
> +I once heard that one of the best ways to convince junk mailers to take your
> +name off their mailing lists is to attatch a large rock to a those 
> +"Postage paid by adressee" business reply cards.  Has anyone out there tried it
>
>Good idea, but the _Domestic Mail Manual_ says no dice when a mailing
>label is used improperly as in this case.  [check _More of the Straight
>Dope_.]


I've always found it effective enough to take *all* the materials in the
original junk mail, INCLUDING the envelope, and cut/fold as necessary to
fit it all into the business reply mailer.  Sometimes I even throw in a
fairly polite "please remove my name from your list" note.

Sometimes I omit the part that has my name/address if I just feel like
being a pain to them as they were to me. *this* is probably misuse in violation
of the _Domestic_Mail_Manual_, though.


Recently, I've been receiving solicitations from some software company where
my name is printed in three or four places on the envelope and maybe thirty
times inside.  I think maybe I'll write to them and tell them in any future
mailings, since it's my name, I shall charge them $10 per occurrance outside
of the mailing address and letter salutation.  It's *MY* name, and I intend
to enforce ownership.  Their use of it in a commercial mailing soliciting
business violates my copyright!  

"Robert M. O'Brien" (copyright 1957,1958,...1992 by Robert M. O'Brien)

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: tpehrson@javelin.sim.es.com (tim clinkenpeel)
Subject: Re: More FAQs than You Can Shake a Stick At, Nosmo King!
Reply-To: tpehrson@javelin.sim.es.com
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 19:47:21 GMT

speaking of the "Nosmo King" u.l., just yesterday my brother-in-law was
telling me about his co-worker/roommate who told him about a short-term
temporary he 'trained' with a strange name...

as the story goes, the BILRT's mother hadn't decided on a name for her new
child, even after the delivery.  she wanted something 'african' sounding --
AND was happily surpised when the birth certificate arrived with the 'name' she
read as 'Feemali' ... or 'Female' for the more literate and less naive.

however, the tale continues that 'Female' was actually the luckier of the
children, as her older sister got the name of a 'pretty word' her mother
espied on a visit to the doktor... 'Vagina'.
-- 
\clinkenpeel: aberrant analytical cynical agnostic idealist.  i exclusively /
/represent myself.  i do not offend anyone; however, some morons choose to  \
\offend themselves.  judge only those who you would have judge yourself.  i /
/don't practice what i preach - i'm not the type of person i'm preaching to.\
From: etlanar@slartibartfast.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Counterfeitin'
Date: 8 Sep 92 07:38:59 GMT
Organization: Ericsson Cellular Division

In article <1992Sep2.165412.8941@city.cs> matt@cs.city.ac.uk (Matthew G Sillitoe (Matt)) writes:
>
>UK notes only go down to \pound 5 but seem in another
>league (though the `computer aided' designers at the Royal Mint
>seem to have had a field-day on the number of fonts, typefaces
>and colours used on the new versions). French notes are quite nice
>too - the artwork really impresses the note's value.
>
>--

Hmmm, if you travelled a few hundred miles north, you'd find that in Scotland,
we still quite happily use 1 pound notes (in fact there's four different kinds
in common circulation)..


--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Arthur                                                        DoD #1314
EMail : etlanar@deep-thought.ericsson.se                  MEMO : ETL.ETLANAR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 9 Sep 92 05:17:13 GMT

I think it's about time someone mentioned the Brown Recluse Spider ...
-- 
/|/-\/-\       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: roger@uvmark.uucp (Roger MacNicol)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 9 Sep 92 16:11:23 GMT
Organization: Vmark Software, Inc.

bmb1021@ultb.isc.rit.edu (B.M. Buck ) writes:

>In at least two cities I've lived in (Charlotte, NC and Binghamton, NY),
>there is the claim that that city is "third" on the list of sites to be
>bombed by the Soviets (now that the Soviets are gone, I suspect that
>this legend had died, too), because of some strategic importance of the
>city.  The stated first two places (when pressed) end up being the
>missile sites, and Washington, DC.  After that, comes the current city.
>
>Is this legend wide-spread?  If you've heard it for your locale, what is
>the supposed reason for being third?

I thought that third place was taken by the safe containing the secret
formula for Coca Cola; it being well known that US troops can't fight
without the stuff ...

ObUL:	More Coca Cola was consumed during Desert Storm than the weight of
	munitions used


-- 
 Roger MacNicol, Software Engineer
 Vmark Software, Inc., 30 Speen Street, Framingham, MA 01701
 email: uvmark%roger@merk.com
 Phone: (508) 879-3311, Fax: (508) 655-8395
From: russ@bbxrbk (Russ Kepler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 8 Sep 92 19:41:45 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <26152@dog.ee.lbl.gov> jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov writes:
>>: In at least two cities I've lived in (Charlotte, NC and Binghamton, NY),
>>: there is the claim that that city is "third" on the list of sites to be
>>: bombed by the Soviets [. . .]
>
>Civic pride, I suppose.  With slightly over 30 000 weapons (including 
>both strategic and theater sizes) in Fragmented Soviet Union hands at 
>the present time, and about 20 000 under our presumably kinder, gentler
>control, there seems to be little need to ration out the apocalypse.

I'm not sure it's always civic pride.  Albuquerque is a fairly
unimportant town itself, but would likely be wiped in the destruction
of the nuclear warhead storage site south of the city.  Seems to me
that a few thousand warheads (and some of the associated cruise
missile hardware and stuff) might well be a high priority target.

The storage used to be in Manzano base (an interesting looking
mountain - looks like it has an 8 lane freeway around it but it's
really 4 fences, 2 electric), but it's now out in area Y of Sandia
National Labs (or out south of Kirtland AFB anyway) in a large 
underground storage park.

-- 
Russ Kepler, posting from home
Will hack unix for food 		(.sig stolen from dt - sorry, dt)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: Highest Channel
Date: 7 Sep 92 00:28:35 GMT

dtasman@dante.nmsu.edu (Dan Tasman) writes:
>When I went on a ride to Toronto, all the rooftop antennas were pointed toward
>Buffalo, which gave me some sort of indication about what Canadians thought of
>CBC and CTV.

Denigrate your own country, please.  Lots of Canadians watch Canadian
television stations.  So do lots of Americans.

(Besides.  Right now I'm sitting pointed towards Buffalo, but that doesn't
prove much.)
From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The Brady Bunch
Date: 9 Sep 92 21:06:40 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Sep9.141421.13621@javelin.sim.es.com> gfowler@javelin.sim.es.com (Gary Fowler) writes:
>>Uh, didn't Robert Reid (or is it Reed?  You know, the old guy) buy the 
>>farm about 2 months ago?  Cancer?  Liver trouble?  Rumors of AIDS?  
>
>Yes, he did die a short time ago.  I can't remember the cause though.


It was AIDS.  There was an article on the Bradys in People (where I
get all _my_ true info), and they mentioned it there.d

  

-- 
Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu

I believe we are on the irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy -- but that could change.   -- J. Danforth Quayle  
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson)
Subject: Re: Death cigarettes spotted
Reply-To: lawson@aldia.UUCP (Drew Lawson)
Organization: ACUSON, Mountain View, CA
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 20:32:11 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.

What happens when you type "NYC" on it, though?


Drew "connecting threads for no apparent purpose" Lawson
-- 
Drew Lawson                      If you're not part of the solution,
lawson@acuson.com                you're part of the precipitate
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: berger@atropa (Mike Berger)
Subject: Re: Price gouging in Florida and Guam
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:24:25 GMT

rboudrie@chpc.org (Rob Boudrie) writes:
>I'm not defending persons taking advantage of other's misfortunes, but
>could someone please explain precisely what law was broken by vendors
>adjusting their price to market conditions?  
*----
I'm just guessing, but wouldn't this be a violation of free trade?
It could surely be argued that the lack of competition in most areas,
due to the natural disaster, makes most surviving businesses monopolies.
They probably fall under all the applicable anti-trust laws.

I'd also bet that a lot of the businesses are violating local
licensing ordinances (and do you suppose they're reporting all the
sales tax?).

As a tangent, some localities are having the police confiscate
merchandise that is being sold at unreasonable prices.  5 policemen
were recently embarassed by allegations that they took electrical
generators confiscated under those circumstances for personal use.

--
	Mike Berger
	Department of Statistics, University of Illinois
	AT&TNET     217-244-6067
	Internet    berger@atropa.stat.uiuc.edu
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: One, Two, Many revisited.
Date: 14 Sep 1992 17:53:39 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 92Sep12173204@solan10.solan.unit.no, cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
> All of the following information is from _The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
> Language_, by David Crystal,

For those of you who want a more accessible book than the mighty
Cambridge Encyclopedia, Crystal also wrote a book simply entitled _The
English Language_, which is a companion volume to a BBC series of the
same name.  Excellent book, ought to be on the AFU book list.

---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: You are humble and loveable.  CHOMP!
Date: 4 Sep 92 23:00:49 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA

sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall) writes:
: 
: In article <1992Aug28.235335.29860@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com>, billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
: >Besides, a nickel would cost more to counterfeit than it was worth - unless it
: >was one of the rare ones.
: 
: Somebody actually did counterfeit nickels back in the '30s or '40s,
: and ultimately got caught.  Reference:  children's book "Story of the
: Secret Service," published early/mid 1960s, by Quentin Reynolds (?).
: 
: But then, that was when a nickel was a nickel (unless they were horses).

I wonder where the authors of the book got the story? It would be interesting
to see if it is actually based on fact, or an UL.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
goldberg
From: goldberg@techunix.technion.ac.il (Jacques Goldberg)
Subject: Re: What time is it at the North Pole?
Organization: Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 08:05:51 GMT

For the records at least, there also is a well known and exhaustive study
by Rabbi Menahem Mendel Kasher, the author of Torah Shelema.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal.
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 03:46:25 GMT

On Tue,  8 Sep 1992 14:52:15 -0400 , "Robert S. Huss" <rh50+@andrew.cmu.edu> said:

Bob> 	I wouldn't be surprised if the original bridge which
Bob> started the UL about bridges collapsing due to soldiers
Bob> marching in step had some other cause, but I believe the
Bob> possibility exists of "shaking" any structure apart.

I have an actual reference to a bridge being destroyed by soldiers
crossing in step.  A date and place are given in "Why Do Shoes Squeak"
with the standard resonance discussion.  This would indicate that it's
not an urban legend.  I remember the date as being in the 1800s and
the place somewhere in Europe.

Unfortunately, I've put the damned book somewhere in my house,
cleverly hidden, probably in plain sight.  I'll keep looking, but
maybe someone else can track this book down.  It's well-indexed, so
look under "bridge".

--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "There's no kill like a guns kill." LCDR "Hoser" Satrapa, gunnery instructor
                       "A kill is a kill."  Anonymous
From: tsmith@skat.usc.edu (Nep Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Wild Chicken Flocks
Followup-To: <tsmith@skat.usc.edu>
Date: 8 Sep 1992 13:57:07 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: skat.usc.edu
Summary: Chickens freed by accident still roam freeways
Keywords: chicken, freeway, flock, human flesh

Hi everyone!

I'm curious about the rumor that a wild chicken flock haunts the Four
Level on the Hollywood Freeway here in Los Angeles. For those of you
living elsewhere, I'd be curious to see if you'd heard of it, or if
you have similar legends about strange groups of animals lurking in
urban environments. The story, as I've heard it, goes like this:

A truck driver with a load of chickens took a freeway offramp a bit
too fast and spilled his load, so to speak, blocking traffic for a few
hours and freeing a gaggle of chickens. Now, authorities -say- they
got all the chickens back, but some people to this day claim that they
see chickens wandering around in the shrubery on the side of the
freeways.

Any details, or any idea where I might find confirmation of this? I'm
willing to dig deep myself, but I was hoping for some starting point.

Thanks a bunch.

Nep "Chickens in the Mist" Smith
at 'SC




-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Let's build a |  < Nep Smith >   |tsmith@skat.usc.edu -or-|"You've 
campfire, sing |I'm giving my body|921W30thSt.#6,LA,Ca -or-|got the
some songs..." |to science fiction|Ph#: (213) 747-8628 *<:)|right 1...
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ttech1@jetson.uh.edu (Jon Randolph in Houston)
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 16:51:00 GMT

In article <meethyourmaker@vadier.gr.osf.org>, emcmanus@gr.osf.org (Eamonn McManus) writes...
>I visited a friend in Italy who had a small methane-powered car.
>This was in Parma, which is not a particularly big city; there were
>nevertheless several stations where he could refuel, though not as
>many as petrol stations.
> 
>,
>Eamonn

Note  - a significant number of US cities now have one or more public
access natural gas filling stations (in addition to those run by some
fleets).  Mesa Petroleum (?) has a standing offer to fleets to pay for
the conversion of their vehicles (normally about $1500/vehicle) in
exchange for a contract to supply natural gas at prevailing gasoline
prices (natural gas is currently about one half the price of gasoline). 

ObUL: Inhaling natural gas lowers your voice two octives and gives you 
      an explosive temper.
Obfact: There are gas lines criss-crossing all over most cities - supply 
	shouldn't be much of a problem.

Jon "These tanks, officer?  Uh, scuba gear, thats right, just air" Randolph
                             , , , , , , , , , , , 
                            -----------------------
                           |     Jon Randolph      |
                           | ttech1@jetson.uh.edu <|
                           |      (micro-sig)      |
                            -----------------------  
                             ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bill.dehaan@rose.com (bill dehaan)
Subject: Sinking libraries
Organization: Rose Media Inc, Toronto, Ontario.
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 04:19:14 GMT
X-Gated-By: Usenet <==> RoseMail Gateway (v1.70)


Date Entered: 09-10-92 23:14
In message <1992Sep9.203802.17920@sunova.ssc.gov>, Chuck Adams
<chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov> writes:

CA>In article <1992Sep9.142802.27577@geovision.gvc.com> pt@geovision.gvc.com (Pa
CA>Tomblin) writes:

CA>>Sorry, I thought this group was for people interested in the _facts_ behind
CA>>ULs, not for the perpetuation of them.  If nobody wants any facts, then I
CA>>guess I'll go find another newsgroup.

CA>I hereby nominate this for afu "Quote of the Month".  Do I hear any seconds?

Second! (I'd say third but like the birds, I can't count that high).


----------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
Deus Ex Machina                   | Internet:   bill.dehaan@rose.com
Software Consulting and Gator Pit | Eradicate Hunger - Eat the homeless
----------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
---
   SLMR 2.1a   Up your accumulator.
   RM 2.00 : RoseNet<=>Usenet Gateway : Rose Media 416-733-2285
From: hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil (Dan Hoey)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Geek magic (Re: Notorious Toothpaste Skit)
Date: 15 Sep 92 22:44:03 GMT
Organization: Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC

stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame) writes:

> I think that, if this qualifies as magic at all, it's the sort known
> as "geek magic."  One gentleman I took a closeup class from brought in
> a small leghold trap and had it snap on his fingers.  We were all
> conviced there was a trick to it but he finally persuaded me to try
> it.  It really didn't hurt that much.  I was surprised.

The part about geek magic that hurts is taking your prey out of the
trap with your teeth.

Dan Hoey
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil

ObUL: ``Nerds'' were originally carnie workers who posed as audience
      members for the geek show.  Their job was to vomit during the
      show in case the regular audience wasn't sufficiently disgusted.
From: eck@panix.com (Mark Eckenwiler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Marching Band ULs needed
Date: 11 Sep 92 18:07:04 GMT
Organization: Superseding Information, Inc.

In <1992Sep11.172419.27003@panix.com>, pw@panix.com sez:
>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.
>
>The Yale band dropped their pants on network TV in the late 70's . . .

In one Charles Ives composition -- I think it's "Three Places in New
England" -- there's a passage in which two sections of the orchestra
play different marches in different tempos at the same time.  (Typical
Ives weirdness, you might say, and you'd be right.)  The lore I've
heard is that as a child, Ives witnessed 2 Fourth-of-July bands
(playing different marches, etc.) inadvertently converging at an
intersection, which experience so thrilled (scarred?) Young Chuck that
he incorporated it into his musical compositions.

Apologies if this is too erudite for a.f.u. . . . .


- Mark "Does erudite rhyme with crudite?" Eckenwiler

-- 
And one of theym . . . cam in-to an hows and axed for mete; and specyally 
he axyd after eggys.  And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude speke no
frenshe.  And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no frenshe,
but wolde have hadde egges.         Mark Eckenwiler     eck@panix.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: tel@adimail.uucp (Terry Monks)
Subject: Re: Faces of death
Organization: Automata Design, Inc.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 12:59:07 GMT

~WISP at CU~ (csuah@warwick.ac.uk) wrote:

: One problem: that's like saying cat, catapult, catastrophe and catch all mean
: the same thing because they have the same root: cat. That's bullsh*t (I claim
: the OED as my source, before you ask ;-> ).
: 
Well, my OED is at home, but my OUD clearly points out that 'cat', and 'catch'
have nothing in common with, and seperate roots from 'catapult' and 'catastrophe.'
And since the 'cata' part of the last two means 'against,' so is really a
prefix, you have actually done nothing at all to support your point.

Terry "Use to be a linguist, or some such title" Monks
-- 
Terry Monks        Automata Design Inc    (703) 742-9400