HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fritz@ra.csc.ti.com (Fritz Whittington)
Subject: Re: Accuracy/Precision, just a simple correction
Organization: Texas Instruments
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 22:54:19 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.220654.23229@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> hugh@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Hugh Grierson) writes:
>In article <1992Oct12.105348.14903@hemlock.cray.com> davew@willow03.cray.com (Dave Wagner) writes:
>>No, you will get a more precise measuement.  The best way I know of to think
>>of this is imagine a piece of wood 110 centementers long, but marked off in
>>1000 sections of all exactly the same size.  This is a very precise measuring
>>instrament, but not very accurate.
>
>But you told us to imagine a 110 centementer (sic) ruler, so we know exactly
>its length.  It is no less accurate just because it measures in units of
>.11 centementer.  What we really need to know are the conversions between
>centementers, centimenters, and centimeters.

Surely he intended to convey that you had what purported to be a
meter-stick, very precisely marked in millimeters, but which was actually
10% longer than a meter.  
-- 
Fritz Whittington Texas Instruments, P.O. Box 655474, MS 446 Dallas, TX 75265
    Shipping address: 13510 North Central Expressway, MS 446 Dallas, TX 75243  
fritz@csc.ti.com             Office: +1 214 995 0397     FAX: +1 214 995 6194
Since I am not an official TI spokesperson, these opinions contain no spokes.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Subject: Re: Really Bad Sports Teams (was Organ Theft)
Keywords: (a la Bullwinkle) OR...The Well Tempered Clavicle
Organization: Rice University
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:28:30 GMT

In article <Oct.7.15.08.29.1992.4017@math.rutgers.edu> cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) writes:
>Well, the intramural office's system matched us up with the 4A teams,
>figuring that we knew what we were doing.  But the 4A teams were
>populated by people who were trying to walk on to the college football
>team.  We should have signed up for 1A.  We scored negative four
>points on the season (two safeties), and typically lost by margins of
>from 50 points (when the other team was mericful) to 100 points (when
>they were not).

  Our intramural soccer team somehow got the privelage of playing the
previous years winning team and first runner up. It wasn't entirely bad.
We won a game. At the end, we were yelling "We won!" and they were yelling
"We Scored!"

Mike "Kick" Swaim


-- 
Mike Swaim            | Canada will become the next world power
swaim@owlnet.rice.edu | and they will work to ENSLAVE all the nations
Disclamer: I lie      | of your planet. -Ricardo
Cthulhu in '92! The stars are right!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: davol@twinheadmeiko.co.uk (David Wilson)
Subject: Re: Organ Theft
Keywords: (a la Bullwinkle) OR...The Well Tempered Clavicle
Organization: meiko
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 08:10:39 GMT

snopes writes:
>
>The _Los Angeles Times_, like all the other major papers, carried an article in
>August about the sale of organs in third world countries.  Buried in the text
>was this one paragraph:
>
>"Since the operations started in the mid-1980s, Bombay also has been plagued by
>a series of kidnappings in which the victims have regained consciousness on a
>back street with a large incision across their abdomen -- a sign that a kidney
>has been removed while they were drugged."
>
>I think an inquiry about the Times' sources is in order.
>

This reminds me of a similar story which was reported in New Scientist 
(a respected UK weekly). It appeared about a year ago and I believed 
it at the time. Since reading this group I have developed more of a 
'nose' for ULs which - it is now clear - permeate every corner of our 
lives. It goes something like this:

Bogota, Columbia has been hit by a series of mysterious crimes in which 
the victims are approached in the street and sprayed with a cocktail of 
tranquiliser and scopalamine (the truth drug). This immediately renders 
them extremely suggestible and obedient. One such victim was instructed 
by her assailants to withdraw all her money from her bank account and 
to hand it over at a specified location after first calling at her own 
home to collect other valuables. 

The crime was compounded by the fact that the victims recovered about
4 hours after the attack, physically none the worse for their experience 
but with absolutely no recollection of what had happened to them. 

Apologies if this one is well-known, numbered, documented and tagged. 
I haven't had time to cross-reference against the FAQ listing. 

Dave Wilson
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,soc.women
From: johnston@fys.ruu.nl (Helen Johnston)
Subject: Re: Women in groups
Organization: Physics Department, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 09:01:16 GMT

In article <Bvz6ED.FwG@world.std.com> marty@world.std.com (Marty M HaleEvans) writes:
>andrewb@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Andrew Bevin) writes:
>
>>I have heard that if woman live in group's that their menstrual cycles
>>start to sync with each other.
>
>>Anyone care to expand or refute this.
>
>I've read about that, too. Apparently, this has definitely been recorded as a
>phenomenon, but there is some reasearch going on about what might cause it. 
>The best guess so far (and which, I think, has been backed up with research
>results) is that it's due to subtle changes in women's pheromone chemistry
>during different stages of their cycles. Other women will unconsciously pick
>up the scent and the brain will use it to synchronize the group's cycles. Some
>women will be late and some will be early over a few months, until everyone
>is together. This even seems to happen to women who are exposed on a regular
>but not so constant basis, such as women who work in the same office.
>
I read an article about this quite a few years ago: I'm guessing it was
in National Geographic, when they had a whole issue about the sense of
smell. Anyway, someone did an experiment where every day they collected
swabs from the armpits of a woman who neither shaved her underarms nor
used any sort of deodorant, and anointed this on the upper lips of
their women volunteers; they called the substance "eau de Genevieve" :-) 
(without, I hasten to add telling the volunteers what was in it!).
None of the volunteers was in any contact with the first woman. Within
a few cycles, all the women were synchronised with Genevieve's
menstrual cycle.

Being one of three sisters, I can also vouch personally for the effect.
When you have four women in the house menstruating at once, you
certainly go through sanitary napkins in a REAL hurry! And last time
this subject came up on the net, someone posted that her very irregular
cycle was stabilised by her roommate being on the Pill, which is VERY
interesting, considering that the Pill prevents ovulation and
(presumably) alters the pheromone cycle substantially.

-- 
Helen Johnston       | Astronomye is an harde thynge and yvel forto knowe.
johnston@fys.ruu.nl  |      -- William Langland, Piers the Plowman
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Philadelphia Experiment
Date: 9 Oct 92 19:35:54 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1992Oct9.173934.4828@PA.dec.com> snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes) writes:
>In article <7127@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>, 
>  seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes...
>>Like, what's your problem? The :) and related symbols
>>substitute for a lot of the nonverbal cues that are not generally
>>available over electronic formats.

>Wow!  Maybe they should put that information in a general USENET FAQ list or
>something. 

	ObUL (Usenet Legend): FAQs help reduce the number of repetitious
postings on newsgroups.

	FACT: Most sites expire articles pretty fast -- all the ones I've
seen have expiration in no more than a week, many in 2-3 days.

	Most FAQs tend to be posted once per month (at least on the 
groups I'm on.

	Thus, there's only a 25% chance maximum that the FAQ list is even
AVAILABLE for the newbie when he/she/it gets on.

	Moreover, many of them don't know what an FAQ is.

	If they do, a lot of them couldn't FTP it from anywhere if
their life depended on it.

	In addition, FAQs tend to be very long indeed... and a lot of
people may have patience to sit through a lot of short posts, but not
to sit through 1,500 lines of one post.

	In conclusion, FAQs are basically just large postings that give
the posters the FEELING that they are doing something useful, but more
often they're not accomplishing much at all. (An FAQ is a great scapegoat
maker, though. If you post an FAQ, you can then say smugly to some
newbie, "THAT'S in the FAQ. What are you, a moron or something?"


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Accuracy/Precision, just a simple correction
Date: 16 Oct 92 19:28:40 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA

fritz@ra.csc.ti.com (Fritz Whittington) writes:
: In article <1992Oct14.220654.23229@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> hugh@nezsdc.icl.co.nz (Hugh Grierson) writes:
: >In article <1992Oct12.105348.14903@hemlock.cray.com> davew@willow03.cray.com (Dave Wagner) writes:
: >>No, you will get a more precise measuement.  The best way I know of to think
: >>of this is imagine a piece of wood 110 centementers long, but marked off in
: >>1000 sections of all exactly the same size.  This is a very precise measuring
: >>instrament, but not very accurate.
: >
: >But you told us to imagine a 110 centementer (sic) ruler, so we know exactly
: >its length.  It is no less accurate just because it measures in units of
: >.11 centementer.  What we really need to know are the conversions between
: >centementers, centimenters, and centimeters.
: 
: Surely he intended to convey that you had what purported to be a
: meter-stick, very precisely marked in millimeters, but which was actually
: 10% longer than a meter.  

Nope. He said a 110 cm piece of wood marked off into 1000 sections. Thus,
each division would be 1.1 mm long.  If the divisions were exactly the same
distance apart - it would be very precise indeed. However, I disagree with
his statement that it would not be accurate. It would be very accurate in
measuring lengths in terms of the particular unit it was designed to measure.

It would not be accurate in measuring lengths in millimeters or inches. But
it was not designed to do so.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: McDonald's and the IRA (Re: Big mac's and students)
Originator: sasbmt@jjoyce.unx.sas.com
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 21:53:53 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.


In article <1992Oct15.092904.9023@merlin.comlab.ox.ac.uk>, library@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Gordon Riddell) writes:
>Anyway can't see the British Army "yomping" through China, as they did in
>the Falklands, to keep the millions of Chinese troops at bay.

Elvis Costello could see it, sort of.  Remember the verse from his
"Oliver's Army":  "Hong Kong is up for grabs;/ London is full of Arabs/
who could be in Palestine,/ overrun by a Chinese line/ with the boys
from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne."

ObFalseUL:  The ancient Chinese built the Great Wall to keep foreign
invaders out.  (Source for assertion of falsehood:  Owen Lattimore,
"Inner Asian Frontiers of China," American [not National] Geographical 
Society, 1940.)
-- 
Bruce Tindall, Core Testing Mgr., SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. 27513
From: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Presidential UL's
Date: 12 Oct 92 22:30:54 GMT
Reply-To: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Terry Carroll)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation

In article <1992Oct10.213316.23777@news.unomaha.edu>, 
torsten@cwis.unomaha.edu (Torsten Wesley Adair) writes:
> egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu  writes:
> > Now that there's serious danger of not having a single debate this season,
> > has there been any Presidential election in which the candidates did not
> > debate?
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > "I was trying to figure out which of my friends were hedgehogs, and which
> > were foxes...."
> > "Shakespeare wrote _King Lear_, NOT _King Leo_...."
> 
> Not to be a smartass or anything, but I don't believe George Washington ran 
> against anybody during his first election, so I don't think he debated > 
anyone.

Oh, yeah?  Well, who was the first non-Italian Pope?

Terry Carroll - tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com - 408/992-2152
The opinions presented above are not necessarily those of a sound mind.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: andrewb@lazy.demon.co.uk (Andrew Brown)
ReplyTo: andrewb@lazy.demon.co.uk
Subject: Re: Boy dying of cancer needs your help (was "Kidnapping" at
Distribution: world
X-Mailer: cppnews $Revision: 1.18 $
Organization: wherever it's like, at.
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 07:33:05 +0000

Our science editor got a Craig Shergold appeal, from California, about two
weeks ago....

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Brown                    | email abrown@cix.compulink.co.uk|
Religious Affairs Correspondent | phone +44-71-253-1222 xt 1682   |
The Independent                 |---------------------------------|
London, England                 | I'm not paid to have opinions   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: seanna@bnr.ca (Seanna Watson)
Subject: Re: McDonalds Urban Legends
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 03:48:30 GMT

In article <1992Oct16.194404.14768@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>
>Bah. Calling any of those places a restaurant is an insult to all the
>marginally decent eateries of the world. 
>
>Bill "Would it be asking too much for you to put a little potato in
>the salt of my 'french fries'?" Nelson

I remember this version of the McDonald's jingle from the late 60's,
just after McDonald's came to Canada:

McDonald's is your kind of place,
They feed you rattlesnakes,
Dill pickles up your nose,
French fries between your toes,
Ketchup running down your back,
I want my money back,
Before I have a heart attack.

(This was to the tune of "Down by the Riverside")

-- 
Seanna Watson   Bell-Northern Research, 
(seanna@bnr.ca) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Opinions, what opinions?  Oh *these* opinions. | It's hard to seize the
No, they're not BNR's, they're mine.           | day when you must first
I knew I'd left them somewhere.                | grapple with the morning.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.startrek.misc
From: jv@irus.rri.uwo.ca (Jeffrey Verhagen)
Subject: Re: Kirk VS Picard (was "Lost In Space" was better)
Organization: none
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 17:16:25 GMT

In article <1992Oct13.232238.11517@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <1992Oct9.215047.9780@macc.wisc.edu> heim@vms.macc.wisc.edu (JOHN HEIM	) writes:
>>>
>>>Ted "Was James T. Kirk's middle name 'Terry'?" Frank
>>
>>Can't be.  His middle initial is 'R' as seen in the pilot episode 
>>The R is for Roy.  James Roy Kirk.  In a later episode, Nomad gets 
>
>Haven't seen either the original or the reportedly shorter split version of
>EaF recently, but it's James T for Tiberius Kirk.
>
 Actually, I believe the T stood for Taffeta; ie - James Taffeta Kirk.

Jeff ;) 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright)
Subject: Re: 666 Cable TV
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:53:39 GMT

Blackplague (csmith@blackplague.gmu.edu) wrote:
:    b) If angles do dance, then does an angle have a corperal body? 
:    c) If yes, then just how large is an angle?
:    d) If no, then can it be reasoned that an angle is infinitely small?
: 
: Mathematicly, if the last is true, just how infinitely small is the angle? 
: Is the angle so infinitely small that an infinite number of angles can
: dance on the head of a pin?  Or must an infinite number of angles take up
: an infinite amount of space?

Mathematically speaking, angles are theoretical aspects of geometry, as are
points, lines, and planes.  They don't exist in nature but they play an
important role in the whole of mathematics.  Technologically speaking,
angles are most often denoted in degrees, minutes, and seconds (and from
there, decimal seconds).  They can be as infinitely small as you would like
to imagine but are rarely said to be larger than 360 degrees.

Angels, on the other hand, are all in your head, and have no mathematical
or technical aspects.  Angels (or ghosts in general) are nearly always
witnessed during long meditations in awkward positions, REM sleep, delirium
tremors, food or oxygen deprivation, or ingestion of various plant and
fungus toxins.

  -- Dan Wright
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: joeg@gagme.chi.il.us (joe grosch)
Subject: Re: nail in Coca-Cola
Organization: GAGME - Public Access UNIX of Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 20:07:40 GMT

Mark Monninger (markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com) wrote:
: In article <Bvq0oA.8En@well.sf.ca.us> rchao@well.sf.ca.us (Robert Chao)  
: writes:
: > 
: > I have heard a UL in several places that someone left a nail in some
: > Coke overnight and it disintegrated, since the Coke is so acidic (or
: > whatever). Does anyone know the source of this UL? (Unless, of course,
: > it's true.)
: > -- 
: Well, I've heard it will remove rust. Also heard that it will remove the  
: paint from your car if you spill some on it (the car, that is).
: 
Yes, I've used Coke to lossen rusted on bolts when I'm working on a 
car. Works wonders on rusted lug nuts and exhaust bolts. Makes me wonder 
why anyone would drink the stuff.
From: russ@bbxrbk (Russ Kepler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: 666 Cable TV
Date: 8 Oct 92 22:08:32 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <13710@pogo.wv.tek.com> kevind@pogo.wv.tek.com (Kevin Draz) writes:
>For the true gurus out there, yes, you *might*, with careful design, set up
>a wiring system with carefully measured lengths, terminations, etc., and
>mask this technique.  It would certainly be beyond most nontechnical
>people's skills to do so, however.

It might well be past most folks skills, but most folks would just
drop in a cable amp before the first split.  It rather makes time
domain reflectometry useless.

Cable amplifiers are available at your local electronics store.  They
improve the signal quality quite nicely in some systems that have
ghosting problems on the local retransmitted channels.

-- 
Russ Kepler, posting from home
Will hack unix for food 		(.sig stolen from dt - sorry, dt)
From: joslin_paul@ae.ge.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re:ally bad car puns
Date: 7 Oct 92 18:01:41 GMT
Reply-To: joslin_paul@ae.ge.com
Distribution: na
Organization: GE Aircraft Engines
Originator: joslin@c0223.ae.ge.com

twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan) writes:

>BTW, isn't the GM hotshot electric car called the Impact?

Bad Car Pun:  A SOAF (sister of a friend) once named her second car
placenta. (No, it wasn't a previa).  Seems she had named her first car
Bertha, so the second one must have been after Bertha.

OBscurePun: Motor Trend once wrote about a guy who named his car Tazio. 
Why? It was a new volare.


Paul "Can't believe I'm posting this with my real name." Joslin
-- 
     Paul R. Joslin     | I have come to the conclusion that one
joslin@c0223.ae.ge.com  | useless man is called a "disgrace", that
   +1 513 583 3537      | two are called a "law firm", and that
                        | three or more become a "Congress".
From: PCT601%SIRIUS.UKC.AC.UK@ib.rl.ac.uk (Robryche)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: 666 and all that
Date: 13 Oct 1992 06:53:43 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

Subject: Oct. 28: The Rapture (pamphlet found in Chicago)
From: djb6@ellis.uchicago.edu (Dennis Brennan)
Organization: University of Chicago Kazoo Organizations

>Soon after the Antichrist becomes _the_leader_of_the_European_Community_
>[my emphasis] (the revived Roman Empire), Bibles will be confiscated and
>owning a Bible will be tantamount to treason.  The Bible, however, will be
>your most valuable possession during the Tribulation.
>
The president of the European Community is John Major.
[Previous poster please not Jaques Delors is the president of the]
[European COMMISION. Please correct me if I'm wrong              ]
>...
>
>P{opular during the first three and a half years of the Tribulation,
>[the Antichrist] will be physically appealing, highly intelligent, with
>Christ-like charisma and personality.  An international politician,
>military tactician and economic expert, his word will be peace; he will
>make a treaty with the Jews, which he will break after three and a half
>years.  He will have such supernatural power that a mortal wound to his head
>will be healed...
John Major;
Popular? Ha!
Physically appealing? Well, according to some polls I suppose.
Intelligent? ERM anyone?
Personality? Mr grey himself?
Economic expert? Watch that pound fall.
Supernatural powers and wounds to the head? Well they did win the last
  election against all odds I suppose.
>
>The Antichrist will have a companion, the False Prohphet [sic], who
>will make an image in the likeness of the Antichrist and cause it to speak.
>All who refuse to worhsip [sic] the image will be killed.  The final three
>and a half hears will be absoultely [sic] insane, with demonized spirits
>everywhere...
Norman Lamont? He has the eyebrows anyway. The last two sentences sound
like the way the Tory party operates at least.
>
>No indication of who published this paper, nor is there any address to
>send money to.  I couldn't resist turning this thing over to the net...
>
>
>--
>Dennis Brennan
>djb6@midway.uchicago.edu
>
Disclaimer. I have become totally disillusioned with politics and think
they should all be done away with, SDP, Labour and Tories alike. Bring
back dictatorship, that's what I say.

*****    _  |  __  __/   ____/   /   /  *
****    /  _'     /     /       /   /  **
***    __ |      /     /       __  /  ***
**    /   /     /     /       /   /  ****
*  __/ __/ ______/ ______/ __/ __/  *****
From: chenowet@rd1632.Dayton.NCR.COM (Steve Chenoweth)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Illustrious Alumni (Was: "Lost In Space" )
Date: 7 Oct 92 14:37:48 GMT
Reply-To: chenowet@rd1632.Dayton.NCR.com (Steve Chenoweth)
Organization: NCR Technology & Development, Dayton, Ohio

In article <1992Oct2.004308.4273@cabezon.uucp> larryh@cabezon.uucp (Larry Huntley) writes:
>    Baseball player Ted Williams went to my high school (Herbert Hoover
>    HS in San Diego, CA)

Both Marilyn Quayle and David Letterman went to my high school (Broad Ripple
HS, Indianapolis), and my cousin claims to have dated the latter.

Have we done "who went to school where before"?  Seems like an obvious
source of afu's.




-- 
Steve.Chenoweth@Dayton.NCR.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban