HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: levene@aplpy.jhuapl.edu (Robert A. Levene)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Another University Exam One
Date: 14 Dec 1992 12:07:45 -0600
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

Re: "exams" which end "Now that you have finished reading
carefully, do Only Instruction Two."

The problem is that implicit in an set of numbered instructions
is an order to execute them sequentially.  Reading an instruction
is not the same as executing it.

"1. Do task A.                        "First do task A.  Second, do
 2. Do task B.      ==> denotes ==>    task B.  Third, omit task B.
 3. Omit step 2.       (compiles to)   Fourth, do task C.  Fifth,
 4. Do task C.                         delete all steps except do task C.
 5. Do only step 4.                    Sixth, do task E."
 6. Do task E."

It is therefore logically impossible to execute all of these instructions.

When I got one of these "exams" in 7th grade, my response was to
compile all the steps, execute all the steps in order, then get a
runtime error at the last step, i.e. tell the instructor "this step
cannot be executed."

What the teacher and test writer *wanted* was for the students to
assume a "step 0." which would be a compiler directive to the effect
"Compile all instructions.  On pass #1, execute all "delete"
instructions.  On pass #2, execute the remaining instructions."

In retrospect, the proper response should have been to compile
(i.e. read) all the instructions, but produce the error message
"ERROR - cannot omit prior steps" at the end, then ask the teacher
to fix this bug.  She would then have had to say either "insert
the compiler directive to execute delete instructions on a
preliminary pass" or "just follow the instructions."  The former
response demonstrates DWIM.  The latter, GIGO.  

It's truly a dilemma - should the student follow the directions,
or should he disobey the directions and do what he thinks the
teacher really wanted?  The intent was clearly the latter.
The lesson learned can backfire with disastrous consequences, e.g.
"...but your honor, she may have said 'no' but I thought she meant 'yes.'"

On a similar vein, I once got yelled at by a high school American
Literature teacher who had announced "the next essay we will read will
be <x>" but she neither directed the class to read it, nor did she
give a time frame for reading the essay (which would have implicitly
directed us to read it by that time).  So I spent the evening on
my copious homework from other classes, and didn't read the essay,
wrongly figuring that she was giving us a break that night.

Rob

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: cmriggin@iastate.edu (C. Marie Riggins)
Subject: Re: Counterclockwise Twisters
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:27:49 GMT

In article <1gjmrnINNi49@violet.csv.warwick.ac.uk> maupb@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr J L Saunders) writes:
>In article <Bz821u.B1r@news.iastate.edu> cmriggin@iastate.edu (C. Marie Riggins) writes:
>
>%been restored to their home.  Also, President Carter came to review the
>%damage and declare the town a "disaster area".  
>
>What does this mean? Does it mean that a bunch of spaced-out musicians had
>just played some very loud music there? Is it a special tactic to increase
>tourism a la` "disaster area of special interest", or does it just make
>the victims feel better? I think we should be told.

I think it means that the government promises to send money to help rebuild the
community.  If I remember correctly, the Nebraska National Guard was sent in to
help clean up the debris and restore water and electricity.  It took about 2 or
3 weeks before they had phones back up, let alone anything else.

>%PS There's a book called "Night of the Twisters" by Ivy Ruckman about
>%the Grand Island tornadoes.
>
>Wasn't it called "Night of the Living Twisters"?

Nope, I have the book and even autographed by Ivy Ruckmann, she came to my 
school when I was a kid. :)

>Jason
>-- 
>                       Jason L Saunders [ RouE ]      
>                     email: maupb@csv.warwick.ac.uk
>snail: Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
>
BTW somewhere I have some really interesting pictures taken when we were
bringing our cousins out.  One I remember had a metal garbage can literally
draped over the only remaining power line in the neighborhood.  Another one is
of a piece of straw driven into a tree just like a nail.  

Marie 


-- 
| C. Marie Riggins         | "There is no such thing as a bad boy.  There is 
| Iowa State University    | only bad environment, bad training, bad example,
| cmriggin@iastate.edu     | bad thinking."    --Fr. Edward J. Flanagan
| imyself@cwis.unomaha.edu |                     founder: Boys Town, NE
From: styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Unchanged FAQ List from 1 November 1992
Date: 14 Dec 92 12:40:10 GMT
Reply-To: styri@nta.no
Organization: Circular, Crop.

In article <27929@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
|> jaskew@spam.ua.oz (Joseph Askew) writes:
|>   +
|>   +There is an article on one the lecturer's door around here which talks about
|>   +Fractal Crop Circles. Appartenly there are some crop circles which have been
|>   +shown to be impossible to draw by hand - even if you are an alien from outer
|>   +space. If anyone is interested I will get a reference or even maybe post the
|>   +whole article. Obviously two men from Oxford did not do these.
|> 
|> Sure, I'd be interested.  If you're up to entering the whole article,
|> it'd be appreciated (it's not like this group has an unusually high
|> volume anyway).  

I think the TV series Beyond 2000 (popular science from down under) did a
segment on crop circles some time ago. They covered a few "this cannot be
man-made" theories. I believe the argument wasn't about the shape of the
crop circles, but how the straws were bent - not broken.

Don't think the fractal `circles' were included is this group. Anyway, didn't
they appeared rather close to an English university?

---
YuNoHoo  "strange phenomenons usually occur nearby eccentric people"
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: 'Springfield' is NOT a city in all states!
Date: 16 Dec 1992 00:39:49 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department  In article <lisqabINN7mg@news.bbn.com> pdsmith@bbn.com (Peter D. Smith) writes:
  +
  +How many of you have heard the rumor that there's a "Springfield" in
  +all the states of America?
  +
  +NOT TRUE!  In fact there are *no* towns that are found in all states!
  +This is easy to determine; just get an atlas and start comparing ...
  +(I recommend comparing 'Nevada' and 'Alaska' first; they have hardly
  +any towns to begin with).
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

Without looking at a map, I'd guess there's not a Springfield, Hawaii.
I'd be pretty sure that Hawaii doesn't have many towns in common with
other states anyway.

Terry "Cambridge, Hawaii?" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe Per Diem
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,ba.politics,ca.politics,talk.politics.misc
From: klahn@well.sf.ca.us (Robert A. Klahn)
Subject: Re: absentee ballots
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 18:57:51 GMT

In <lis5vdINNjs6@spim.mti.sgi.com> mpolen@suntory.mti.sgi.com (Mike Polen) writes:

>Eric J. Friedman) writes:
>|> 
>|> I've often heard people say that absentee ballots 
>|> (specifically for the last election)
>|> are only counted if the vote is close enough.
>|> [...]
>|> Is this fact or fiction?
>|> 
>Probably depends on the precinct.  In most, if you listen to the election
>returns, the early postings are the absentee ballots.  They are usually
>counted first and reported first.

This answer is somewhat true. There are two "flavors" of absentee ballots.
Those that are retured directly to the central election office, at the
registrar of voters in your county, and those that are returned via a
precinct on election day.

Those that are returned in advance are the "absentee" ballots that are
counted, and reported, first. They tend to be a little bit more conservatave
than the final results.

Those that are returned to a precinct on election day are counted last. They
have to be seperated from the ballots of those who voted "non-absentee" (the
"normal" way), and sorted back into the precinct that they belong in. (You
do not have to return an absentee ballot to your precinct, you can return it
to any precinct) Because of this, all precincts have to be in before any of
the second class of absentee ballots can be counted.

The election board will shut down ballot counting, for the night, if it is
clear that winnners have been determened in all contests. This usualy
happens at about 3:00 in the morning on election night. Its kinda a "why
dont we go home, as we have been up all day and most of the night, and take
the next day off." kinda thing.

So quite often, the absentee ballots, which were returned to the precincts,
will not be counted till thursday or friday of election week. (They have to
compeate will all of the other city departments for computer time and
resorces after election day).

So why it may take some time, all of the ballots will be counted.

And why they just dont code the precinct number onto the ballot, so that it
does not matter what order you put it into the counter, I do not know.
-- 
Robert A. Klahn                            (415) 666-5295 (voice)

Res Ipsa Loquitur: The thing speaks for itself.
Burglary (at common law): The breaking and entering of the dwelling house
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31610 alt.folklore.science:4409
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Electric Field Question
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 14:37:57 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand

> In article <sf=0Ymu00iUxA4PnZ8@andrew.cmu.edu> "Stephen M. Lacy" <sl31+@andre
> >(On another note, where do pigeons go when they die?  I'm assuming that
> >there are literally millions of them in places like NYC, yet you rarely
> >see a dead one.)  

I understand that the alligators in the sewers eat them.


-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
  This .sig unintentionally left blank.

Hello! I'm a .SIG Virus. Copy me and spread the fun.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Alzheimer's and Aluminum pots and pans
From: system@codewks.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 15:59:14 NZST
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand

peterm@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Peter Mardahl) writes:

>   The only reason aluminum was linked to alzheimers in the first
> place was because aluminum was "found" in the plaques.  Do you

Well not quite true. As I posted earlier, early dialysis machines did not
filter out aluminium, causing it to build up in the body. These people then
exhibited symptoms indistinguishable from Alzheimers.


-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
  This .sig unintentionally left blank.

Hello! I'm a .SIG Virus. Copy me and spread the fun.
From: jesse@uts.amdahl.com (Jesse Mundis)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Another University Exam One
Date: 12 Dec 92 00:58:58 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

egilmour@ac.dal.ca writes:

>An other UFL to go with the BLUEBOOK exam story

>Sitting in my exam today the professor beat to death that we should read
>the entire exam first. This sparked a memory of a grade six science teacher
>that told us naive eleven year olds to always remember to read the entire
>exam because when he was in university they once had this really long 
>exam that went on for over ten pages. And when he turned over to seventh
>question on page six it started by saying "IGNORE ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE
>THIS ONE"
>Anyone else heard this one?

Not quite that one, but I can believe that one just might be true.

WARNING!! -- Direct, personal, first person experience ahead.  NOT a FOAF
story!!

Anyway, while your 6th grade teacher was telling you 11 year olds this
story, MY sixth grade teacher was proving this point with an object lesson.

We (the whole class) were given a 5 or 6 page booklet of "instructions"
with the following:

1.) read instructions 3-120  BEFORE doing any of them

2.) write your name on the top of this paper

3-119) various strange things to do, like go to the corner and say "NANOO-NANOO"
3 times or jump up and down in place 5 times etc....

120) Ignore all instructions 3-119, sit back, and watch the fun.


Now picture the scene with about 30 hyperactive 11 year olds, some of which are
sitting quietly or layghing, while the rest are running around the room
doing all sorts of VERY silly things.

Jesse "Its true, I was there" Mundis
-- 
    Jesse Mundis     |      Amdahl Corporation       | Freedom is just chaos
jesse@uts.amdahl.com | 1250 East Arques Ave  M/S 316 | with better lighting.
   (408) 746-4796    |   Sunnyvale,  CA 94088-3470   |    -Alan Dean Foster 

#include <Disclaimer.standard>
From: styri@hal.nta.no (YuNoHoo)
Subject: Re: Why Not?
Reply-To: styri@nta.no
Organization: Norwegian Telecom Research
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 14:55:56 GMT

stein@erg.sri.com (Bruce Stein) writes:
>
> When I was in college (a million years ago), I remember a friend telling 
> me of a philosophy class he had where the final was a single question.  
> The prof removed a toy block from the desk and set it down.  The proceeded 
> to inform the class that all they had to do was "prove the block existed".
>
> One student thought for a moment and wrote briefly and left.  Everyone 
> thought he had no idea and didn't want to waste the time.  According to my 
> friend the only person to get an "A" was the one who left early.  His 
> answer: "what block?".
>
> I am sure this one was also an urban legend probably passed along by the 
> philosophy professor.

Reminds me about a IQ test I was submitted to when I was very young.

---
YuNoHoo  "and I've always believed that the correct answer was:
	   - You put the red toy block in the small box."
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: n9020351@henson.cc.wwu.edu (James Douglas Del-Vecchio)
Subject: Re: Tales about guns (was: WAY stupid things to do with...)
Organization: Western Washington University
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:20:29 GMT

obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien) writes:
>"semi-auto"  ...  "lock the slide"    think about it.
>Define semi-auto.  Now, lock the slide.  Check your definition.
>Selectable action might be the right term.  I've seen reports of

	Semi-auto until you lock the slide, then it becomes single
shot or manualy operated.

>weapons built with  full/semi *and* lock/cycle  selectability,
>I believe one was a variant of the AR-15, possibly what you heard of.

	In .223 it would be real loud regardless of what you do to
muffle it.

>Revolver - I'll research it if you insist, there was a Russian revolver,
>pre WW1 I believe, named "Nagant" or something pretty similar.  The brass
>was a little longer than the cylinder, and the bullet was seated fully
>inside the brass. The cylinder moved slightly back before turning,
>then forward to fire - the brass actually entered the barrel just enough
>to obturate. I have no idea if these were ever silenced.  And I think it
>was a _seven_ round cylinder in .30 cal (7.62mm), which should make for a
>fairly big gun.

	It could be possilbe to design a revolver to muffle the noise
somewhat, but it would have to be, like you describe above, a specialty
revolver with specialty amunition to overcome the barrel-cylider gap
noise problem.    On "lard copy" they had some idiot come on and said
that he saw Jimmy Hoffa get murdered, and the guys used silenced
.38 special revolvers.   Yeah sure: they were silent because they
used no ammo, they just beat him to death with the revolvers.


Jim "John Wayne's revolvers held 50 rounds each"
Del Vecchio
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:37:55 -0500 
From: "Jonathan R. Ferro" <jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Traffic Light UL's
	<1992Dec11.185952.23921@brtph560.bnr.ca>
Distribution: usa

trice@bnr.ca (Tony Rice P885) writes:
> My understanding is that traffic lights are triggered by sensors embedded in
> the roadway.  Look for the lines cut in the lane.  An electromagnetic field
> is setup in the loop of wire there.  That field is upset when a big metallic
> car runs over it, triggering the light to change.

ObUL: It is the magnetic field generated by these in-surface traffic
detectors that is responsible more than anything else for the
interference with your car radio when you are stopped at a major
intersection.
ObCorollary: If the wire were laid out in a figure 8 shape across the
lane, instead of just in a loop, this interference would be greatly
reduced without much degradation of its traffic-sensing ability.

-- Jon Ferro               Einsprachigkeit ist heilbar
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld)
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Organization: University of Toronto Physics/Astronomy/CITA
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 05:44:43 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.131314.16490@fnx.uucp> lowe@fnx.uucp (Phill Lowe) writes:
>
>Full moon means that the earth does not cut off the light
>from the sun on the moon...... ie the moon is not on the opposite side
>of the earth from the sun.  
>
   Jonathan Papai dealt well with the other misinformation in your post,
but I would like to point out that this statement is exactly backwards.
The moon is full when it is on the opposite side of the earth from the
sun. Next time you see the full moon shortly after sunset, compare its
position with the extrapolated position of the sun. They're on opposite
sides of the sky. Example 2: lunar eclipses are only during a full moon.


-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | Entropy isn't what it
 neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca    Ad astra  | used to be.
 utzoo.utoronto.ca!generic!cneufeld              |
 "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" |
From: diane@Apple.COM (Diane Patterson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Poisoned Cocaine Legend?
Date: 14 Dec 92 00:59:39 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA


A friend told me the story about how a FOAF of his wanted to try
cocaine and a friend of his (how many friends down the line are we
now?) said, "I'll get some for you." And so he did and the two made a
date for the FOAF to try it. Well, the FOAF was late, so the guy who
got the cocaine said, "I'll start without him," and voila! The cocaine
was poisoned and the guy died. It was only by virtue of (insert
favorite excuse for being late here) that the FOAF didn't die himself.

I didn't see it in the FAQ, so I ask the group: how old and how
widespread?

	-- Diane

ps - If, in fact, it is an urban legend...I'd hate to doubt the
veracity of any of my friends' tales...or their friends' tales...or
their friends....
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Another University Exam One
From: hugh@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Hugh Grierson)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 23:44:26 GMT
Organization: Fujitsu New Zealand

In article <Bz9o92.8y@cs.dal.ca> craig@ug.cs.dal.ca (Ryan Craig) writes:
>This sort of test is an urban legend, but I did have a teacher, who
>undoubtedly had heard this UL, who once gave me a test like this, just to
>see if we actually followed the directions on the test, I guess.

A truly fascinating twist.

Let me ask: Is there anyone on the net who hasn't had a test like this,
or who knows someone who hasn't?

Hugh "yawn" Grierson
-- 
Hugh Grierson          Fujitsu/ICL New Zealand - Software Development Centre
hugh@nezsdc.icl.co.nz                Speaking for myself only.  See figure 1.
    Quote of the decade: "We're not just talking about unpopulated areas
     of the Southern Hemisphere anymore" [Pres. Bush, on the Ozone hole]
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:31539 alt.folklore.science:4395
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Dead Pigeons (was: Electric Field Question)
Date: 18 Dec 92 01:47:27 GMT
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

lawson@acuson.com (Drew Lawson) writes:
  +
  +Drew "does pigeon taste like chicken?" Lawson

Not really.  The texture is a little "coarser," although the
squab is usually very tender.  I like mine best deep fried.

Terry "The airborne pollutants are a little gamey though" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe Per Diem
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Re: Guess what's not in this dictionary?
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 19:41:06 GMT
Organization: The Gizmonic Institute

J*** O********* writes:
>>> Sure enough, the word "g*******" was not defined in the dictionary.
>John (waiting for more Jeff Davis followups) Ockerbloom

Mr. Davis has apparently fled the coop. A small handwritten note was
found next to his terminal, "Exterminate the brutes" was all it said.
Broken bits of fingernail with scalp tissue and a few strands of hair
were found near the scene. Currently a squad of police with dogs
are searching the area to see if Mr Davis's disappearance can be
linked with the maniacal laughter that appears to be emanating
from the duct work in the building. 
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> Don't be a stranger.
From: phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: The El (Was: Re: Conductivity of water <plus a story from Uncle Dave>)
Date: 20 Dec 92 19:19:24 GMT
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor

In article <lj9f5kINNglk@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:
[many multiligual non sequiturs deleted.]
>
>I think I got most of them, saving the net hundreds if not thousands of zlotys.
>
You missed "El Camino Real Street".

The upcoming week of no Phil Gustafson postings is brought to you courtesy of
American Airlines.

Cheers, 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: slb3y@cc.usu.edu (Punk Rocketeer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Fellatio laws, cases cited (was: Re: FAQ list)
Date: 15 Dec 92 19:33:58 MDT
Organization: Omega:  The Final Solution

In article <27987@dog.ee.lbl.gov>, twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:
> Didn't/Don't some states have prohibitions again sodomy which includes
> (under their definition) fellatio?  This was the impression I got from
> the popular media.....

     As I recall Utah's anti-sodomy law, which I last read in 1983, it
includes just such a definition.  Perhaps it's been altered since
then, perhaps not.  I'll go check tonight.
-- 
Patrick S. Clark | "I'll be waiting up for Santa like I did last year
Email is life!   |  But my brother says he's already here."
Usual disclaimer | _Twisted Christmas_, "The Chimney Song"
This .sig brought to you in part by the Bob Rivers Comedy Corp.