HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: Where can I look for any scholarly info....
Organization: a2i network
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 22:35:35 GMT

In article <flar.721172242@vincent2.iastate.edu> flar@iastate.edu (Bradley M Armitage) writes:
>I thought spelling flaming went out a long time ago, with the advent of
>inteligence!!!

Mine keyboard glazeth over.  I think of my cousin-in-law Peter D'Agostino,
who goes through life saying, "Hey! Insult me! Do it again!"

It's only ones and zeroes, Brad.  Have a chicken mole' and a Dos XX.  We
are basically nice people here, except maybe for snopes.

Phil "I'm actually a pretty nice guy.  Really!  Ask PvdL, or any of several
Terries, or even our Canuck crony Brian.  I know how many l's there are in
'intelligence', though" Gustafson

-- 
Phil Gustafson <phil@rahul.net>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,soc.culture.african.american
From: stovall@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Steven Stovall)
Subject: Re: AIDS and the CIA (was Question)
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date:  8 Nov 92 00:12:15 GMT

thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Mmmm... Purple) writes:

>I have seen Actual Communist Propaganda posted in New York (no doubt
>by the New York Method (tm)) blaiming AIDS on the US government, 
>on posters by the same sort of groups that were complaining that the 
>Chinese were being too soft-hearted on the traitors in Tianenmen Square.
>Don't know how much the Soviets had to do with these posters, but
>post-Gorbachev they have been found to have funded just about every
>Communist movement in the US.  But even these folks may have been too
>fringe for the KGB.

A while ago I reposted in s.c.a.a. some of Billi Goldberg's sci.med.aids
articles on the Wistar Origin of AIDS Theory, which postulated that early
polio vaccine innoculations in Zaire may have introduced simian viruses
into humans which were precursors for HIV. That theory has lost some steam,
although it is still not clear to me that samples of the 1959 vaccine stock
(which were said to still exist in the freezers of the Wistar Institute)
were ever found and tested.

The technology did not exist in the 1950's to genetically engineer HIV,
but there may have been accidents and/or experiments involving simian immuno-
suppresant viruses during those years, and such simian viruses may well
have mutated into what we now call HIV. It certainly is possible that
the US intelligence community participated in such "accidents" and/or
"experiments." There definitely is something curious about the epidemiology
of AIDS so far: in this country, it has been almost exclusively confined
to homosexuals and people of color, and worldwide it will decimate Africa
and Asia, apparently leaving Europe relatively untouched.
_______________________________________________________________________________

steven stovall
stovall@exeter.cs.ucla.edu
(310) 825-7307
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Question about "T." in James T. Kirk !!!!!!  (As seen on TV)
Date: 6 Nov 1992 16:27:15 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

ldoering@engin.umich.edu (Laurence Doering) writes:
  
  [Larry's point that since "Lost in Space" was so obviously superior
   to "Star Dreck:  TOS", there's no point arguing deleted.]

  +As you all know, William Shatner's brilliant acting skills (unfortunately
  +stifled by the limited role he played in "Star Trek") finally achieved
  +their full flower in the monumental cop series "T. J. Hooker".  Does
  +anybody out there know what the "T. J." stood for?

It was "Terry James" in memory of his role in TOS.  Of course for suitable
artistic effect, he reversed the names.
 
RE Dennis Lou's edited .sig ---
 
 +>[backbone]!ucsd!dlou   |+====================================================
 +>dlou@ucsd.BITNET       |Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak went to my high school.
 +                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 +See, Terry?  It's not just me.

Good Lord!  It's a disease!
 
Terry "I am somebody famous" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe Per Diem
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: revu@ellis.uchicago.edu (Sendhil Revuluri)
Subject: Radioactive Reg
Reply-To: revu@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 23:18:55 GMT

From the keyboard of dkelly@bio3.acpub.duke.edu (Dianne Kelly): 

> However, it's said that the Main library on campus [of the U of C]
> (the Regenstein) is RADIOACTIVE instead!  Some background: the site of
> the Regenstein Library used to be occupied by the football stadium.
> During the Manhattan Project, the squash courts under the stadium were
> used to construct the world's first atomic pile. After the war, the
> pile was dismantled and sent to a park somewhere else in Chicago to be
> "disposed of", the stadium was torn down, and a really blobby Moore
> sculpture was put over the actual site -- but the stories remain. The
> most typical variation is that the Reg has a secret subasement level
> that no one can go into because the radiation is too intense.

As part of the Scavenger Hunt last year (a really fun time) I cajoled
a friend into "borrowing" a Geiger counter from the physics department
and measuring the levels of radioactivity in the basement.  (The first
basement, just below the ground level or 1, is called A-level; the one
below that is B-level.)  The radioactivity on A-level was measured to
be approximately 10 counts per second (+/- 2 -- sucky error bars, no?)
while background counts (outside, a couple blocks away, at ground
level) were almost exactly 3 counts per second.  Counts were
significantly higher near the fluorescent lights and the vending
machines on A-level.

The conclusion?  Maybe a teeny bit radioactive, but certainly not
enough to make any difference in your life, and definitely not enough
to (say) cause cancer.


Sendhil Revuluri (s-revuluri@uchicago.edu)
University of Chicago
From: egilmour@ac.dal.ca
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re:  Microwave Death
Date: 14 Nov 92 02:11:48 GMT
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

arielle@NeoSoft.com writes:
>I guarantee I read this in the paper.

arielle>>Oh, I nominate this for AFU of the week.

Well, first of all I don't know what an AFU is so I don't know if its
an insult, and second of all I was only being facetious.  But you know,
some papers are dumb enough to actually print these urban legends, especially
where I'm from. And if AFU is in the FAQ, I don't know what either are 
- I'm new to this.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jordan@castor (USENET's Chuck)
Subject: Re: Legal Tender
Organization: University of Georgia
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 00:54:43 GMT

>davew@willow03.cray.com (Dave Wagner) writes:
>
>>What do those words "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and
>>private" really mean?  (i.e from a '...we don't accept bills larger than x'
>>point of view).

I also wondered about this when my friend's apartment owner (AOOAF) refused
cash to pay her rent, saying that it was their policy to only take checks.
My friend, un-confrontational as she tends to be, went ahead and wrote a
check for it, but I got really angry.  After all, if the note is legal for
all debts, you can't refuse it, correct?

I wish someone would enlighten me.  Do other countries' currency have
similar (pointless) statements on them?  Has anyone on the net been 
denied money from somebody famous?

Chuck "and what does E Pluribus Unum mean, anyway?" Jordan


-- 
                  Chuck Jordan | jordan@castor.cs.uga.edu
"I can already feel my butt gettin' sore."
						-- Barton Fink
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: khoover@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (kent.d.hoover)
Subject: Re: Usenetball
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 21:01:26 GMT

In article <1992Nov7.010945.18048@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson) writes:
>: 
>: Now that I think of it, I know a Bill Nelson who was a big dumb crew
>: guy at MIT in the early 60's.  Are you him?
>
>Not that I remember. I was in high school in the early 60s. I also an
 |||||||||||||||||||
AHA!  You don't deny it altogether, therefore it IS POSSIBLE that
you were a dumb crew guy at MIT.  It could be true.

Kent "should we add it to the FAQ list?" Hoover
From: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us (S. Mudgett aka little gator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: gators 'r us
Subject: Re: doggy style
	<1992Nov4.113533.7206@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>
Reply-To: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
X-Software: HERMES GUS 1.04 Rev. Sep  5 1992
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 08:06:06 -0400

In <1992Nov4.113533.7206@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, Henry Bloomfield writes:
>>member. They supposedly had to go to the hospital. Truth, or... UL?
>
>The aunt of a friend of mine (AOAFOM) worked in a hospital as a
>nurse and someone once came in with a courgette stuck up his
>bottom. His excuse? - He "fell over while cooking"! (So: He was
>cooking naked. He fell over backwards. There was a courgette
>standing up on the floor....).
-- 
-- little gator aka s. mudgett     email: scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us
-- friend of a gator is a friend of mine
From: rxh6@po.CWRU.Edu (Randall Holt)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: MRI (was: Re: Courgettes (was Re: doggy style))
Date: 6 Nov 1992 14:06:39 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


The wisp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Wisp) claims;
>In article <TDS.92Nov5201045@qpc1.ATT.COM> tds@hoserve.att.com (Tony DeSimone) writes:
>>>>>>> On Thu, 5 Nov 92 20:31:13 GMT, donb@igor.tamri.com (Don Baldwin) said:
>>
>>Don> The field strength varies:  I don't have the numbers handy but my company
>>Don> sells some low field, permanent magnet systems, as well as medium->high
>>Don> field superconducting systems.
>>
>>Oh good, an expert!  I've always wondered how the technique came to be
>>called MRI.  I recall that in the early days (say, ten years ago), the
>>field went by the name NMR imaging.  I even remember seeing signs in
>>hospitals.  Then suddenly there seemed to be a flash cut to MRI.  The
>>way I heard it, the reason was to get the word ``nuclear'' out of the
>>term for fear of alarming the hoi-polloi.  Any truth to this?
>>
>
>Total truth. As you went on to say, the technique is called NMR
>'Nuclear-Magnetic Resonance' (or is it 'Nucleo-Magn...'? Whatever), and the
>reason for the name-change is pure PR, so that jack and jill public won't
>be frightened off by the radioactive connotations...
>
 
I'm not so sure it was just fear of the catchword nuclear. In addition, 
the patients and the non-radiological medical community were a bit
confused about the differences between Nuclear MRI and Nuclear Medicine 
(a branch of radiological diagnosis that does involve doses of radoactivity).
Only the chemists raised any stink about the change.
 
Randy ' Or would that be _raised an aromatic_ ? ' Holt
-- 
Randall W. Holt      rxh6@cwru.po.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jordan@castor (USENET's Chuck)
Subject: Re: Heart attack in Disneyland's original Haunted mansion?
Organization: University of Georgia
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 00:37:04 GMT

>In article <19921105152721ECZ5ACK@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>, 
>  ecz5ack@mvs.oac.ucla.edu writes...
>>One of my coworkers says he has heard a story about the
>>Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.  As the story goes, the
>>Mansion was originally much more frightening than it
>>currently is; it was changed after a woman had a heart
>>attack and died inside the attraction.  Has anyone else
>>heard this?

Yes, this is true, and is what prompted Disney "Imagineers" to remove
the last three minutes of the ride, which depicted a bizarre possible
future in which a babbling, incontinent, offensively chauvinistic and
wealthy idiot and his moronic assistant were allowed to rule the United
States for four years, and a goodly percentage of the American public
actually believed it would be a good idea to vote for him again!  This
was clearly too horrifying, so the ride was changed to just put you in
front of a mirror that showed a ghost in the seat beside you or some such.

Chuck "almost wishing the election were still going on because I've got
       a lot more complaining to do" Jordan

ObUL1: Actually, the woman didn't die in the Haunted Mansion, it was in
   "It's a Small World;" and she didn't die of a heart attack, she killed
   herself when the ride stopped and she was forced to listen to the theme
   song for 10 minutes.

ObUL2: There is no Haunted Mansion in EuroDisneyland because the designers
   decided that just having to be around so many French people would be
   creepy enough.


-- 
                  Chuck Jordan | jordan@castor.cs.uga.edu
"I can already feel my butt gettin' sore."
						-- Barton Fink
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:28267 soc.culture.african.american:10987 sci.skeptic:19447
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,soc.culture.african.american,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: 1950's Darryle, damnit.
Date: 12 Nov 92 15:27:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: ms.1992Nov12.102742.5492
Distribution: usa
Organization: Austerlitz, Gershovitz, and Carmichael

fluent@dartmouth.EDU writes:
>
>Just because a theory is possible doesn't lend it any credibility.
>Of course it's *possible* that the U.S. Government is responsible
>for the AIDS virus.
>
>But since there's not a shred of evidence for it and no known 
>motive (not even a whiff of a credible motive) why are all
>of you spending so much time and energy trying to refute the theory?

Unfortunately the psyche is very stupid. Repetition works. People
hear even the looniest theory repeated then they'll believe it.
Personal, psychic depression works this way: people tell themselves
"obvioulsly" hyperbolic bad things about themselves...and *bing*
they wind up feeling hyperbolically bad. It is one of the more
unfortunate home truths about us a species. We'll believe anything.
So, repeating a refutation about a whack-ball theory, particularly
one with pernicious intent, is just one of the things alert
people sometimes have to do.



-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> My bad.     
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Legal Tender
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 07:34:12 GMT

jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl) writes:
: 
: My 9th grade business teacher told us the following:
: 
:    If you offer to pay a debt with a check and they refuse it,
:   you still have to pay them because a check isn't money.
: 
:    If you offer to pay a debt with cash, and they refuse it,
:   then you don't have to pay them.  They are obligated to take
:   legal tender if it is presented.
: 
: Seems somewhat reasonable, assuming that you are not forcing
: them to make change or count pennies.  I can not see why anyone
: would prefer a check over cash.  Checks bounce all to often.

Nope. In either case, the merchant is allowed to set the conditions
of the sale. Until you pay for the merchandise, either party is free
to back out of the deal. If you want to pay, using a method that is
not acceptable to the merchant, the merchant is free to back out of
the deal by simplly refusing to accept the payment. 

It would be silly to do so - but that is not the point.

Now, contracts with periodic payments are another matter. Here, the
goods have been delivered. In this case, you may be able to insist
on cash payment, if you wished.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: maynard@leah.msc.cornell.edu (Maynard J. Handley)
Subject: Re: Philadelphia Experiment
Organization: Cornell-Materials-Science-Center
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 06:39:52 GMT


>
>       (P.S: According to email I have received, Allen(de) is STILL
>        writing crackpot letters to scientists, in 1992!)
>

He probably hangs out in sci.physics. Have you checked that out recently?

Maynard Handley
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.computers
From: bpb9204@tamsun.tamu.edu (Brent)
Subject: Re: Jackpotting ATM's for $$$$
Will-Statement: Will eat for food
Organization: Texas A&M Univ., Inc.
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 01:41:51 GMT

johnb@sage.cc.purdue.edu (John Brainerd) writes:
|
|    1.  The ATM credits your account immediately when you 
|        withdrawl, how long does it take for the money to
|        become available for you to withdrawl it?

Actually, it *debits* your account, and it's often faster than
"immediately."  What I mean is, when you want $20 from your account, the
machine first accesses your account, and then withdraws the $20.  Your
account balance is now lower.  The machine *then* checks to see if it
can actually give you the money.  If it can, then it does(of course) and
if it can't, then it *credits* your account by $20.  It seems to me
that the machine should see if it can give that amount to begin with,
rather than tinkering with the account so much.  

After the ATM is done fondling your account balance, it only takes a
minute to actually give you the money.  Is this what you are asking
about?  (Have you ever used one before?)

|    2.  Is there a maximum amount that you can withdrawl?
|        Is there a maximum total amount that you can withdrawl
|        over a given time peroid? (1 day, 1 week etc. ??)

All ATM's I've used have an upper limit of $200 or $300 per day.
If you need $1000, it'll take you 4 days to do it.

|    THANK YOU for you time.   I hope this doesn't offend too many people
|asking serios stuff in this group.  

ObUL:  I heard that if you strike out with your PIN when you use the card,
the machine not only takes your picture, but bank security will use it
in examining theft videos...
(Also, if the card is in an eelskin wallet....)

-Brent
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brent P. Burton, N5VMG
bpb9204@tamsun.tamu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rhadden@isdres.er.usgs.gov
Subject: RE: AIDS and the CIA (was Question)
Organization: U.S. Geological Survey
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 21:12:49 GMT

So does swine flu.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.president.clinton
From: jordan@castor (USENET's Chuck)
Subject: Re: The Japanese Connection
Organization: University of Georgia
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 00:21:34 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.180452.5096@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> vkochend@nyx.cs.du.edu (vance kochenderfer) writes:
>Here's something good from alt.president.clinton...
>
>In _Japan_and_every_nations_of_the_world_, _Marijuana_smoker_is_considered_
>_to_be_not_engaged_in_any_important_job_at_all_. To such persons, like,
>Clinton, a Marijuana smoker, KONOE-YAKUZA is very much willing to supply
>money because such person is very easy to handle -- that is the speciality
>of the KONOE-YAKUZA syndicate.

Wow!  I didn't know Mary Matalin (Bush's deputy campaign manager) was 
Japanese! It's too bad I didn't hear about this until AFTER I voted; it 
would've convinced me.  Computer mail is fast -- but sadly, not fast enough.  
Must be these damn Japanese machines.

Actually, I wouldn't be so sure that the message didn't come from Bush's
campaign -- it's about as coherent as one of Bush's campaign speeches. 
I just wish they had included the bit about his anti-patriotism in Russia.
Get ready for a fun four years, everybody!

Chuck "very_much_being_not_engaged_in_any_important_posting_at_all" Jordan


PS: Am I the only one who pictures the guy who wrote the original message
as being about four feet tall, with thick, black-framed glasses, and appear-
ing on McHale's Navy or maybe Bonanza?

-- 
                  Chuck Jordan | jordan@castor.cs.uga.edu
"I can already feel my butt gettin' sore."
						-- Barton Fink
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Re: Nickles (was Canadian pennies)
Organization: a2i network
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 23:25:41 GMT

Isn't there a famous joke about Nickles Worth, and what his name would
be in FORTRAN or COBOL or something?

-- 
Phil Gustafson <phil@rahul.net>
From: phil@iagu.itd.adelaide.edu.au (Phil Kernick)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Nickles (was Canadian pennies)
Date: 11 Nov 1992 22:55:58 GMT
Organization: Psychology Department, University of Adelaide
Distribution: world
Reply-To: phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au
NNTP-Posting-Host: iagu.itd.adelaide.edu.au

In article <1992Nov8.205540.1690@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu>, bierbach@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu writes:

> Not at all, in my understanding it was to be a circulation coin, made 
> of copper (i.e., copper-colored) and when this went into circulation, 
> dollar bills were not to be made any more! It made sense, with the 
> rate at which dollar bills wear out. 

You're going to regret it.

Australia changed over from having a $1 bill to a $1 coin.  The $1 is golden
in colour and about the same size as a 10c coin.  After a little getting
used to this was generally considered a GOOD THING(tm).

Then, in typical bureaucratic fashion, the government decided that we would
lose our $2 note and have it replaced with a $2 coin.  The $2 is the same
colour as the $1 coin, but about the same size as a 5c coin.

That's correct, the $2 coin is smaller than the $1 coin.  This was
considered almost universally to be a BAD THING(tm).

Now they are throwing away the rest of our paper notes and will be replacing
them with disgusting plastic ones.  I have yet to meet a person who likes
our new $5 note.



Furrfu!



Phil.

--
   _-_|\    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!"
From: donb@igor.tamri.com (Don Baldwin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Courgettes (was Re: d
Date: 13 Nov 92 19:05:04 GMT
Organization: TOSHIBA America MRI, South San Francisco, CA

In article <3206.434.uupcb@ehbbs.gwinnett.com> harris.minter@ehbbs.gwinnett.com
(Harris Minter)  writes:
>>however, one photographer wanted to have a picture and returned with his
>>camera. The result was a broken camera and a lot of upset techs.
>>
>>Guess the bunch of pro. MRI people reading this group are able to tell if
>>this is just a legend or a true story.
>
>I've been subjected to an MRI, and beforehand walked all around it,
>fully dressed.  I was escorted to another room for undressing, so my
>keys, glasses, money, etc, were elsewhere.  I imagine having a camera
>in the vicinity of an *operating* MRI machine may be a different story.

Many MRI machines do indeed use a magnet field powerful enough to turn a
ferrous object into a missile.  However, I've walked up to a mid/high
field magnet with such a tool and it wasn't an irresistable force.  If
you got clumsy, it could be dangerous but not if you held on tight.

>Did you know they (at least the GE machines) use liquid helium as a
>coolant?  I was concerned about being in that thing and a cooling line
>breaking.....  I'd shatter......

Not to worry.  There are no cooling lines, Superconducting magnets (at
least ours) are sealed containers.  They just vent the gases and refill
with liquids every week or two.

Also, helium and (I believe the other gas is) nitrogen are lighter than
the air we breathe, would go to the top of the room.  Just stay low in
the room if the magnet you're in quenches (vents all its gas at once).

    don
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban