HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jane@soave.swdc.stratus.com (Jane Beckman)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: dealing with "meat" bees
Date: 11 Sep 92 23:03:19 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc., San Jose, CA

I'm not quibbling with your dealing with a problem hive of
bees.  I'd just like to observe (as a beekeeper) that if
you're going to put out delicious poison-cocktails for the
bees, make sure that's not poisoning the bees of the beekeeper
down the road.  We get rather grinchy when our bees suddenly
start falling over on the floor of the hive, and poison in the
honey is also one of those things that doesn't make for happy
campers.  Commercial beekeepers have been known to file
lawsuits for indiscriminant poisoning.

The bottom line is make sure your bait is damned close to your
problem hive.  Not where every bee in the neighborhood is
going to imbibe.

Personally, I recommend calling up the ag bureau and seeing
if there's a local ag supplier that sells PT-110 Resmethrin
areosol spray, a popular way of disposing of problem hives.
--
  Jilara   [jane@swdc.stratus.com]

"Don't be so open-minded your brains fall out."  --Barry
Shein, on the net
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: slow@ferrari.cray.com (David Slowinski)
Subject: Re: How big is an acre, Really?
Reply-To: slow@ferrari.cray.com (David Slowinski)
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.  Eagan, MN.
Distribution: usa
Date: 9 Sep 92 19:14:20 CDT

In article <HOLLEN.92Sep9152210@peg.megatek.UUCP>, hollen@megatek.UUCP (Dion Hollenbeck) writes:
>Could someone please answer the following questions:
>
>1) What is the exterior dimension of an acre?
     An acre is 43,560 square feet.  This would be a square about 208.7 feet
     on a side.
>2) How many square feet in an acre?
      43,560
>3) How many acres in a plot 1/4 mile x 1/4 mile?
      There are 640 acres in a square 1 mile x 1 mile.  A plot 1/4 mile x 1/4 mile
      is 1/16 of 640 acres or 40 acres.
>
>I no longer trust myself to be logical about it.
     Wouldn't the metric system be wonderful!
>

David Slowinski
Xref: sparky misc.rural:2048 misc.kids:22986
From: johnc@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU (John Cooley)
Newsgroups: misc.rural,misc.kids
Subject: Re: How big is an acre, Really?
Date: 10 Sep 92 15:28:20 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <5bhx024m21XB01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> lmn00@thundercd.amdahl.com 
(Linda Newell) writes:
>In article <1992Sep9.232452.7217@trentu.ca>, xtkmg@trentu.ca (Kate
>Gregory) writes:
>|> >3) How many acres in a plot 1/4 mile x 1/4 mile?
>|> Well, a mile is 5280 sq ft, so 1/4 mi is 1320 ft, or about 6 200
>|> fts.
>|> So I'd say 6x6=36. Since one of your exact answers was 40, I'd say
>|> the answer is 40.

>I'm not sure if this is funny or not, but if a mile is 5280 feet, a
>square mile is 5280*5280 square feet or 27878400 square feet.  1/4
>square mile is 6969600 square feet.  If one acre is .0015625 square 
>miles, than 1/4 square mile is .25/.0015625 acres or 160 acres, which
>makes sense since 640 acres is a square mile.

One-quarter of a square mile is 160 acres.  But 1/4 of a square mile is
(we're working in two dimensions now, folks) _1/2_ mile on a side.  And a
square which is 1/4 of a mile on a side (i.e., a square 1/4 mile x 1/4 mile)
is only 1/16 (1/4 x1/4) of a square mile.  So a square piece of ground 1/4
mile per side is 40 acres, not 160 acres.

I wuz gonna do ASCII graphics of this, but it's too much trouble.  Just try
it yourself:

      Draw a square 1 unit per side.  Divide each side in half.  There are
      now 4 squares, but the sides of each square are 1/2 a unit long.
      Divide each side of each square in half again.  Eureka.  16 squares,
      each of which has sides 1/4 unit long.

     John Cooley

     Is this hard?!?
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: rcarter@gaudi.nas.nasa.gov (Russell L. Carter)
Subject: Re: Letter from a former misc.ruralite
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 19:59:25 GMT

Sounds like Bernie could use a prescription for valium.  He'll
probably get used to the unpredictability of real life after
a while.

Russell
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu (Hari Seldon ... psychohistorian)
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 00:28:50 GMT

In <sysmatt.716127577@aix3090b.uky.edu> sysmatt@aix3090b.uky.edu (Matt Simpson) writes:

>water and streams, causing problems for farmers relying on those sources to
>water their livestock.

lest we forget. it is also our drinking water, eh:-)

>One reason folks move to the country is so their dogs will have room to roam.

is ok. then i don't need to drive to the dakotas, for the praire dogs.
you figure this one out folks, your smart.

>When you get lots of houses with dogs in an area, you get packs of dogs, which
>are another serious threat to livestock.

thats ok 'cause you can sue them for damages.

>You also get wandering children/teenagers. Here you have a potential for

ah. but i like to replace my mailbox every week.

>vandalism from bored children from the local subdivision wandering through
>the place. You also have a potential for lawsuits when a trespassing child
>(or adult) gets hurt on your farm.

so don't let them ... nah i'll not post the remainder of that sentence.

>Then, of course, all those folks who wanted to live "in the country" find out
>what country living really is, and they don't like it. It's narrow country
>roads with slow-moving farm vehicles which slow them down as they make that
>rushed commute back to their city job. So they want to improve the roads and/or
>ban farm vehicles from the roads. Then they find Domino's doesn't deliver that
>far out, so they want shopping centers built. Then they don't like the
>noises/odors from their agricultural neighbors, so they want restrictive
>legislation to ban agricultural activities.

all so very true.

>It's going to become harder for the farmers that are left to continue farming.

they have to change 'what' their farming for. std row crops will probably
be supplanted by people food products. maybe. someday. for those who are left.

bill pociengel
--
bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu
From: fkittred@spchp11.BBN.COM (Fletcher Kittredge)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Date: 11 Sep 92 15:45:26 GMT
	<FKITTRED.92Sep10134034@spchp11.BBN.COM> <1992Sep10.132611@IASTATE.EDU>
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., 10 Molton Street, Cambridge, MA
	02138
NNTP-Posting-Host: spchp11.bbn.com
In-reply-to: darcher@IASTATE.EDU's message of 10 Sep 92 18:26:11 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.132611@IASTATE.EDU> darcher@IASTATE.EDU (David W Archer) writes:
Path: news.bbn.com!seismo!uunet!usc!sdd.hp.com!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.iastate.edu!IASTATE.EDU!darcher
   From: darcher@IASTATE.EDU (David W Archer)
   Newsgroups: misc.rural
   Date: 10 Sep 92 18:26:11 GMT
   References: <1992Sep4.175146.8815@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <FKITTRED.92Sep10134034@spchp11.BBN.COM>
   Sender: news@news.iastate.edu (USENET News System)
   Reply-To: darcher@IASTATE.EDU (David W Archer)
   Organization: Iowa State University
   Lines: 35


>   As another poster has pointed out, many other countries do protect their
>   own agricultural industry, and in most cases this leads to inefficient
>   production.  It is quite likely that eliminating all farm programs and
>   agricultural trade barriers worldwide would result in higher U.S. 
>   production because of the relative efficiency of U.S. agriculture.

That would be my point wouldn't it?  So I take it you are in favor of
abolishing all subsidies paid to farmers.

regards,
fletcher
--
/* Fletcher Kittredge
 * BBN Software Products
 * 150 CambridgePark Dr,  Cambridge, MA. 02140
 * 617-USE-FINK  /  fkittred@bbn.com  /  fkittred@das.harvard.edu
 */
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: darcher@IASTATE.EDU (David W Archer)
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Reply-To: darcher@IASTATE.EDU (David W Archer)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:46:03 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.202754.21141@ichips.intel.com>, marcos@pdx047 (Marcos O.
Camargo) writes:

> Efficiency is defined as is a ratio of how much you get out and how much you
> put in.

This is correct.

> Since the energy used in the U.S. to produce food is much more than the
energy
> that the food provides, American agriculture is very inefficient.

What you are describing here is energy efficiency.  This is different from
the efficiency you have defined above, since you are only looking at one
input.

The efficiency I refer to is economic efficiency which refers to the best
allocation of scarce resources.

> 
> One may say that American agriculture is very productive, but not very
> efficient.

I would say that American agriculure is not very energy efficient, but
economically it is relatively efficient.
From: cah@pdx.csd.mot.com (Chris Huey)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Date: 8 Sep 92 17:01:39 GMT
Organization: Motorola CSD, Beaverton, OR
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Perry Morrison (Dr) (swkmorri@nuscc.nus.sg) wrote:
: If I had $1 million to spend/invest, I know it wouldn't be in a few
: thousand acres of head-ache. (I have a 7 acre headache and that's
: enough).

Then there's that old saw about the farmer who won the lottery.  When asked 
what he was going to do with the money he said "Well, I'll probably just keep 
farming 'til it's gone!"

-- 
Chris Huey                             Motorola Inc., Computer Systems Division
cah@pdx.csd.mot.com                                                            
Voice: (503) 644-4346                  ... uunet!apple!motcsd!mcspdx!cah
"In the beginning was the word, 2 bytes long, aligned on an even boundary."
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: lmn00@thundercd.amdahl.com (Linda Newell)
Newsgroups: misc.rural,misc.kids
Subject: Re: How big is an acre, Really?
Date: 10 Sep 92 00:43:06 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Sep9.232452.7217@trentu.ca>, xtkmg@trentu.ca (Kate
Gregory) writes:
|> >3) How many acres in a plot 1/4 mile x 1/4 mile?
|> Well, a mile is 5280 sq ft, so 1/4 mi is 1320 ft, or about 6 200
|> fts.
|> So I'd say 6x6=36. Since one of your exact answers was 40, I'd say
|> the answer is 40.
|
|> This is why I've crossposted to misc.kids, where we're discussing
|> whether estimating should be taught before 5 digit arithmetic.
|> This was all done in my head.
|> 
|> Kate
I'm not sure if this is funny or not, but if a mile is 5280 feet, a
square mile is 5280*5280 square feet or 27878400 square feet.  1/4
square mile is 6969600 square feet.  If one acre is .0015625 square 
miles, than 1/4 square mile is .25/.0015625 acres or 160 acres, which
makes sense since 640 acres is a square mile.
Linda
From: fkittred@spchp11.BBN.COM (Fletcher Kittredge)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Date: 11 Sep 92 16:28:27
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., 10 Molton Street, Cambridge, MA
	02138
	<1992Sep11.145925@IASTATE.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: spchp11.bbn.com
In-reply-to: darcher@IASTATE.EDU's message of 11 Sep 92 19:59:25 GMT

 From article <1992Sep11.093052@IASTATE.EDU>, by darcher@IASTATE.EDU
               (David W Archer):

> Also, the effects of abolishing all subsidies paid to farmers would likely
> result in some significant shifts in regional economies.  Although society
> as a whole may benefit, alot of individual families would be devistated.

I don't think this is a complete argument.  The flip side is that the
subsidies are going to have to end one way or another.  They have
become to large a burden for the world to bear.  The longer the
subsidies last, the harder the pain of the dislocation will be.  The
dislocation can not be avoided and it would be better for all
concerned it happened now, not after billions of dollars have been
spent to prop up un-economic farms.

This dislocation has been a constant theme throughout human history.
I happen to work in an industry (computers) and in a region of the
world (New England) which is undergoing such a dislocation.  The human
cost is great, but can only be avoided at greater cost.  As economic
systems grow and evolve, I don't see how you are going to avoid it.
Remember Calamute!

regards,
fletcher
--
/* Fletcher Kittredge
 * BBN Software Products
 * 150 CambridgePark Dr,  Cambridge, MA. 02140
 * 617-USE-FINK  /  fkittred@bbn.com  /  fkittred@das.harvard.edu
 */
From: system@coldbox.cojones.com (Bryan Lockwood)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Terrazo Floors
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 01:46:32 PDT
Organization: The Generation Gap

Cynedd@cup.portal.com (Kenneth W Durham) writes:

> Can anyone give me the answer(s) to the following questions:
> 
> 1) How can I remove stains from a terrazo floor (and what would I use);
> 2) How can I seal it and what would I use to do so (acrylic wax?).
> 
> I will be most appreciative for any and all answers.

Many terrazo floors are made to be actually sanded down a bit in case of
stains. Knowing what made the stain, however, might help us to determine what
would lift it out.

Check with any janitorial supply company in your area. There are lots of
products which work. Personally, I like two-part floor finish systems, with a
sealer which is laid down before the floor finish. Once you start using such
a system, though, be sure and FOLLOW the DIRECTIONS! I've seen floors ruined
by folks who didn't strip off all of the old waxes/sealers before laying down
additional coats of sealer and wax.. the build-up becomes impossible to
remove.

If your floor is small and you lack heavy-duty janitorial equipment, be sure
you let the product salesman know this. He'll set you up with an "easy strip"
system, which doesn't require a buffer and abrasive pads to remove.

A final, and personal, recommendation: stay away from products by Johnson
Wax Company. I recently spent a lot of time researching product systems for a
new poured urethane floor in my facility, and the Johnson Wax people (back at
their R&D labs) recommended to me a product line which I feel could have
damaged my floors irreparably. And when questioned on this, I felt their
attitude was quite snotty. I just don't trust them anymore! Note that I was
dealing with their commercial division, maybe things are different in other
parts of the company.

Good luck!

Bryan Lockwood             |  "This is the Nineties, Bubba, and there
system@cojones.com         |   is no such thing as Paranoia. It's all True."
1@501 (WWIVnet)            |   (Hunter S. Thompson)
From: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Is homesteading still possible?
Date: 4 Sep 92 00:23:58 GMT
Reply-To: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich)

butteris@dingus.ssc.gov writes:


> Hi, 
> 
> I was wondering if any countries, including the USA, still homestead. If  
> so, which ones and how do I get more information about them? 
> 

Well, I'm sure the net will correct me if I'm wrong, but at least in
the USA, the last state that allowed homesteading (where you stake
out, make some "improvement" to some land, and it becomes yours after
a period of time) was Alaska, and that stopped I believe in 1991.  

As far as the rest of the world, I really have no data.  I'd be very
surprised if any other countries supported or allowed homesteading,
since this is generally a mechanism to increase population on unused
areas of land, something we westerners have a passion for.  It doesn't
usually bring anyone much in the way of money to the country, so I'd
imagine there are few countries that want more people and not more
money.  There is a lot of land available around the world for fairly
low prices, but in can be a real challenge to find the right piece and
buy it, especially as a foreigner.  I've done it, and it was worth it,
but it was a challenge.





--
Ken Wallich
wallich@ncd.com  
ken@wallich.com
From: Cynedd@cup.portal.com (Kenneth W Durham)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Terrazo Floors
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 92 14:10:12 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: usa


Can anyone give me the answer(s) to the following questions:

1) How can I remove stains from a terrazo floor (and what would I use);
2) How can I seal it and what would I use to do so (acrylic wax?).

I will be most appreciative for any and all answers.

Ken

Cynedd@cup.portal.com
From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu (Hari Seldon ... psychohistorian)
Subject: Re: How big is an acre, Really?
Organization: University of Minnesota
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 22:50:06 GMT

In <GENE.FUSCO.92Sep11090149@pink_floyd.FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM> Gene.Fusco@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Gene Fusco) writes:

>>>>>> On 9 Sep 92 23:24:52 GMT, xtkmg@trentu.ca (Kate Gregory) responds
>to a question:

>>> Roughly 200 ft by 200 ft. It's 4200 sq ft I think.
oh good now i don't feel so bad about my typing:-))))

>Almost correct.  The dimensions along the side are 208'-9".
>This gives 43,560 sq ft.  You were off by an order of magnitude 
>there.  So much for estimation.
nah gene. just a typo and since this ain't typing class ...

>>> This is why I've crossposted to misc.kids, where we're discussing
>>> whether estimating should be taught before 5 digit arithmetic.
>>> This was all done in my head.
 there is a book called cooks math. it is a bit*h. it will help you to do 
differential equations in your head. i vote for teaching estimation.
quick how much is .96x15?
1x15=15
1-.96=.04
15x.04=.60
15-.60=14.40
all estimated (yea and knowing you bill probably all wrong, hey! i could run
for vp:-)

>Always check your work before handing in an assignment.

ah you know me i never hand in an assignment:-)

bill pociengel
--
bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: hollen@megatek.UUCP (Dion Hollenbeck)
Subject: SOLVED: How big is an acre, Really?
Organization: Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 15:42:15 GMT


Thanks to all the people who answered this, even the ones who flamed
me for my lack of remembering my problem solving ability from math 30
years ago. The answers contained several wrong answers as well.  Some
of these wrong answers I came up with on my own, some of the right
answers I came up with on my own.  This is why I appealed to the net
for help in the first place.

-- 
Dion Hollenbeck       UUCP: {uunet, ucsd, sun}!megatek!hollen
                      INTERNET:            hollen@megatek.com
Megatek Corporation  9645 Scranton Rd.  San Diego, Ca.  92121
From: ron@mlfarm.com (Ronald Florence)
Subject: Re: Capital Suicide (was Real Farms)
Organization: Maple Lawn Farm, Stonington, CT
	<1992Sep11.041332.13835@news.iastate.edu>
	<FKITTRED.92Sep11093301@spchp11.BBN.COM>
	<1992Sep11.163953.9481@news.iastate.edu>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 11:26:59 GMT

Cowboy writes:

   It is very safe I you have half a brain.  [...]  So get the FUCK
   off my back.

I'm not sure whether the debate on farm subsidies belongs in
misc.rural -- it seems more appropriate for one of the
politically-oriented newsgroups in the alt or talk hierarchies.  I am
certain that this sort of tone and language, whatever the content of
the article, is unwelcome in a newsgroup which up to now has been
pleasant and friendly.

Could we go back to sheep, tractors, cows, implements, and the like?
-- 

				Ronald Florence
				ron@mlfarm.com
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu (Hari Seldon psychohistorian)
Subject: clearing the waters (this is an aside)
Keywords: capital suicide
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 23:26:38 GMT

Re: subsities et al  was:Capital Suicide
well i went back and looked at the posts and the thread again. here is
my surmize as to what i think may have caused some confusion.
the thread was getting pretty long and involved.
the particular post i was responding to was getting a high s/n ratio.
i tried to remove some of the older comments.
i failed to do a very good job of it.
this led to some comments apearing to be the position of one other than
  the actual poster. (sorry about that fletcher <fkittred@BBN.COM>)
it also made it look like i agreed on some points and disagreeded on some 
  points of russell carters <rcarter@nas.nasa.gov> when it seems we hold
  more of a lateral position in regards to each other on this particular post.
  he just happened to be the last poster and for the comments to work i      
  needed to include them.
my actual remarks played off of both of the above posters (as they were the
latest on this thread).
as always i stand by my comments, and reserve the right to change my mind
if i so choose. i currently do not choose to do so. but it seems that 
there was some confusion over my editing of others parts in this post(s),  
on this topic. please feel free to join in, and we'll all try and not
to let it get to toasty for ya:-)
btw there are some interesting comments on some of these same topics in the
current cj. the one with the hawk on the cover.

bill pociengel
cc misc.rural

at any rate i'm certain that anyone who can post to the net is quite capable
of getting into their own kind of trouble without any help from me. my
appologies to both of the above named individuals for my assist in screwing
up their part in the above thread.

now where is that poster from ca who wanted to sunbathe on the arctic
tundra? what? i'm expecting something from him in the above thread.
really now.:-) for the humor impaired

bill again
--
bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu
From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu (Hari Seldon ... psychohistorian)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: farming have value? (was Capital Suicide (was Real Farms))
Date: 14 Sep 92 23:42:40 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota

In <1992Sep10.195404.26552@nas.nasa.gov> rcarter@gaudi.nas.nasa.gov (Russell L. Carter) writes:


>>As to your second point, the economy is so interdependent, if the a
>>industry the size of the software industry went belly up, we would all
>>be in big trouble.

hmmmm and do we know how many people directly and indirectly are/were
supported by the auto industry? here goes unsubstantiated fact #54:
according to a program on the auto industry (on pbs, bill moyers maybe??)
1 out of 7 jobs were/are tied to the auto industry. no one cried when
they were hammered. no one cried when eta was snuffed. well ok so maybe
a tear or two, but not for long, well ok maybe a day or two. so if an
industry gets waxed you take your intelligence and self reliance and move on.

>Oh, I'm not so sure.  Industries come and go.  Certainly, parallel
>supercomputers do.

ouch. that hurt. sniff sniff.

>>
>>I applaud your choice to live on a farm.  Just don't expect us to pay
>>for it!

>Interesting.  Food should be free?  Or do you mean that living a 
>farm type lifestyle that explicitly instills a need to be financially,
>ecologically responsible, and community minded, has no intrinsic
>value?  One might argue that the benefits to society that apparently

no. absolutly not. no one would ever learn that if you sloff off when
you should be working means you go hungry.

>motivate tax breaks for home ownership are even more apparent
>for family farms.

can we say amen here or is that to religious???

bill pociengel
--
bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu
From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: How big is an acre, Really?
Date: 16 Sep 92 03:51:39 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

43,560 square feet.  Or else four suburbian plots.  Really.
Newsgroups: misc.rural