HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 10:03:50 GMT

In article <kefDNTO00XQCNFbGIb@andrew.cmu.edu> "Robert S. Huss" <rh50+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>	I wouldn't be surprised if the original bridge which
>started the UL about bridges collapsing due to soldiers
>marching in step had some other cause, but I believe the
>possibility exists of "shaking" any structure apart.
>	Most objects have a resonance frequency, at which
>they will continue a vibration, and amplify it.  I
>heard of a case where a guy with a powerful set of speakers
>found the resonance frequency of his dorm by chance, in
>the middle of some symphony recording.  By reproducing the
>sound on his snythesizer, he could make the whole building
>shake to this one note.  It didn't cause the building to
>collapse, but I can see the possibility.
>	Therefore, if soldiers, marched across a bridge,
>with the correct marching frequency, the bridge would
>begin to resonate, and if enough soldiers continued to march
>across the bridge, it might occur long enough to shake the
>bridge apart!
>

I'm with you on this one. I was in the OTC for a while in uni, and that was
one of the things we were told. Soldiers *must* break step when crossing a
bridge, in case they resonate it to pieces (or words to that effect!). Now
I don't know whether it's ever happened, but the possibility is the given
reason for that particular behaviour...

The Wisp.
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chris Williams <csuah@uk.ac.warwick.csv> aka <csuah@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
"Tony Greig in the slips, legs apart, waiting for a tickle"
                                      Brian Johnson (thanks to A. Simha 8^>)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards)
Subject: Re: British Paper Money
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 19:29:42 GMT


In article <naran.716530759@sfu.ca> naran@fraser.sfu.ca (Travers Naran) writes:

>ObUL: During the Viet Nam War, the CIA (most likely suspect) printed
>counterfiet North Vietnamese currency and used to dump it on North Vietnam
>literally by dropping bags full of the stuff. The reason it is a UL and not an
>actual fact is because so far, there has been only one witness to this fact and
>frankly, no one really believes him. Mostly because attempts at War-time
>counterfieting-to-destabilize has yet to work, but on the other hand peace-time
>mass counterfieting or just bloody over-production of bills (Like What happened
>in Germany during the Bismark reign), will destabilize a government and cause
>it to collapse, at least partially. :-)

The existence of the notes is not a UL.  I have some.  They are pretty
good, though not perfect, copies of North Vietnamese 1, 2, and 5 dong notes
(or was it 1, 5, and 10?--I'll have to check--don't have them within reach
at the moment) that have a bit of extra paper to the left (as seen from the
front) with a propaganda message in Vietnamese.  The idea was to have the
recipients heed the message, then cut it off and spend the note.  Whether
or not any of these were actually airdropped on North Vietnam, I don't
know, but I recall Albert Pick's STANDARD CATALOG OF WORLD PAPER MONEY
crediting their printing to the CIA, though it might have said "probably made
by the CIA."  Again, I'd have to check and get back to you all.

The NOVA program "Making A Dishonest Buck" included an interview with a
former Air America pilot who claimed that, during the period of the Vietnam
war, he had airdropped counterfeited Pathet Lao notes over the PL capital
city in Laos.  As evidence, he displayed two notes.  He said that the bags
of notes were rigged with a small explosive charge to rip them open as
they fell.  He said that on one such flight, one of the charges blew before
the bag had left the plane, scattering notes all over the cabin, and he
had pocketed a few when cleaning up.

I have various propaganda leaflets and "safe conduct passes" from
Operation Desert Storm that each have a message in Arabic on one side, and
a mediocre copy of the front of an Iraqi 25 dinar note on the other.  No
one would ever confuse these things with real Iraqi notes, but they are
good enough to definately attract the attention of any Iraqi soldier upon
whom they were airdropped.  I also have a similar leaflet from WWII which
has a message in Japanese on one side and a fairly good copy of the front
of a contemporary 10 yen note on the other.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: Counterfeiting (Was: You are humble and loveable)
Date: 5 Sep 92 23:08:42 GMT

perry@Unify.Com (Perry Clarke) writes:
>Apparently, the new bank notes in the UK came about as a response to the
>(then) new color photocopiers.

New Canadian $50s and $100s have a little shiny metal patch on them with the
number engraved.  It's just striking enough that you'd probably realize it if
you were handed a colour photocopy.  The photocopy may look about the same, but
it wouldn't reflect light.  I forget when these bills came in; it's been a
couple of years or so; the old ones are still in circulation.
From: russ@bbxrbk (Russ Kepler)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Date: 6 Sep 92 15:56:31 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <18nn7jr.obrien@netcom.com> obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien) writes:
>I saw the "chicken gun" fired at F-16 canopies on several occasions.
>
[information deleted]
>
>Any questions?  I have *some* of the answers, but canopy testing was never
>one of my areas, so I was not _involved_ just a bystander.

What are the most common chicken calibers?

-- Russ "straight line" Kepler
-- 
Russ Kepler, posting from home
Will hack unix for food 		(.sig stolen from dt - sorry, dt)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: arielle@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva)
Subject: Re: Counterfeiting
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 03:06:21 GMT

In article <BuKrJy.7HG@news.cso.uiuc.edu> berger@atropa (Mike Berger) writes:
> 
> Technically, "counterfeiting" involves passing something off as legal
> currency that isn't - it doesn't have to be a good copy.  So using
> brass washers in toll booths and vending machines, and shuffling play
> money through faulty change machines, are counterfeiting, and have
> definitely been done for trivial denominations.

Back when I lived in an apartment and before we bought a washer & dryer,
I'd quite often get my quarter ripped off by the commercial washers &
dryers (not an unusual occurence, unfortunately).  
So one time when I was complaining about it to Peter (who happens to be 
from Australia, if you didn't know), he casually mentioned that the Oz 
10 cent piece was about the same size as a quarter and should work in 
the washing machines.  He also had quite a stockpile of Australian currency 
laying around.  They did work, quite nicely in fact, and I'm sure I
evened up the score in the process.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Coke machines to accept them (which are even
more notorious about stealing your quarters)....
 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rboudrie@chpc.org (Rob Boudrie)
Subject: Re: Price gouging in Florida and Guam
Organization: Center For High Perf. Computing of WPI; Marlboro Ma
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 15:29:55 GMT

In article <csmith-010992123048@cyrano.gmu.edu> csmith@blackplague.gmu.edu (Blackplague) writes:
>There had indeed been a good bit of price gauging in South Florida in the
>aftermath of Andrew.  Here price gauging is not sell at higher then a
>competitor, but rather selling urgently needed supplies at a rediculous
>price because the demand is so high and the supply is so low.
>
>The Florida Attorney General has already put into action plans to prosecute
>in several cases.  This relayed from family.

I'm not defending persons taking advantage of other's misfortunes, but
could someone please explain precisely what law was broken by vendors
adjusting their price to market conditions?
From: dtasman@NMSU.edu (Dan Tasman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 13 Sep 92 03:03:01 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: New Mexico State University

lindam@tardigrade.Eng.Sun.COM (Linda McAllister) writes:

: 
: My theory (totally unpolluted by facts): Everybody knew the godless commies 
: had no imagination, so of course they'd bomb Washington and NYC first and 
: second for show.  Then it's time to start on the really important places,
: like <insert your town here>.  It gives a smaller place some civic pride to
: think it's important enough to be the first "real" target.
:

What I heard was that important (heavy) indistrial and power generation sites  
would be spared the bomb, so the Soviets could use existing facilities to build  
tractors and trolley buses after they establish their rule over the fruited  
plains.  Buffalo was supposed to be spared Soviet attack, because it was a  
large college town, it had five large power generating stations (3 hydro, 2  
coal) and a very large industrial base was in the area.  Ditto for Cleveland,  
Pittsburgh, Chicago and Seattle.

Military sites, like Omaha (SAC), El Paso (Fort Bliss), Las Cruces (White Sands  
Missile Range) and Albuquerque (Kirtland Air Force Base) were supposed to be  
blasted into oblivion, because they had strategic military value, but only a  
small manufacturing base. 

--
   Dan Tasman                                       dtasman@dante.nmsu.edu
                                                     molson@rever.nmsu.edu
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------
   "I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree
    Indeed, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all."
                                                                Ogden Nash
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein)
Subject: Re: Mnemonics
Reply-To: warren@nysernet.org
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 4 Sep 92 06:51:52 GMT

In <1992Sep2.225511.26513@news.media.mit.edu> tsmaster@media.mit.edu (David LeCompte) writes:

> "Coke brings you back from the grave."

After biting the wax tadpole.
-- 
/|/-\/-\       In real life, the Vice President chastises Murphey Brown
 |__/__/_/     for her morals.  Bill Clinton plays the sax on "Arsenio
 |warren@      Hall."  Though "Batman Returns" is fiction, it's not too
/ nysernet.org much stranger than truth - Caryn James, The New York Times
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Notorious Toothpaste Skit
From: dogbowl@dogbox.acme.gen.nz (dogbowl)
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 18:54:17 Y
Organization: The Dawghaus BBS
Summary: drunken vomiting

cafer@etek.chalmers.se (Tommy Vaske) writes:

> In article <1992Sep10.172818.8887@unislc.uucp>, dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright) w
> |> 
> |>    [ toothpaste tale deleted ]
> |>
> 
>    [ Tale of 'egg toddy' and 'breakfast' strikes a chord
                                ( or should that be resonance???)  ]

One that I have seen, and that apparently used to be popular with
Dip and B agriculture students at Massey University in New Zealand
was "Pelican"

This involved a row of people. ( all drunk for reasons that will become
obvious very soon )

After drinking as much as he possibly could, the first person in the row
would throw up into the open mouth of the person next to him, who would
repeat into the mouth of the person next to him, etc.

Watching this is guaranteed to make to most hardened stomach heave.

Another thing that used to happen occasionally was sheep F**king
 ( I saw it happen about 10 years ago )

These days the most interesting bunch around are the "Iron Maidens"
This is a female Rugby team who play rough, and can drink any man under
table. I have watched jug races where members have emptied their vessels
in less than 10 seconds ( 2 litres )

It really is amazing what sort of things drunk minds will do to entertain
themselves with vast quantities of beer.



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


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Date: 8 Sep 92 22:57:22 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article 1706@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu, gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay) writes:
> Well I'm not much into font layout/design.

You don't have to design the pictures; the pictures have already been
designed.  All you have to do is to decide how to map them to the
upper-case letters of the alphabet.  You're not happy with the
Microsoft choice; I'm asking you to say what *your* choice would have
been.  If you want, just choose a (different) random arrangement.

> But when you consider NYC (New York City) is a well-known Jewish
> "center" in the USA, it makes you wonder.

It sure does make me wonder, but not about anti-semites at Microsoft.

% grep '^...$' dictionary | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]' | sort | uniq | wc
    1419    1419    5676

Brian "Let's see if he can miss them all" Scearce
---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
          It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,soc.culture.jewish
From: er@iscp.Bellcore.COM (Elie Rosenfeld)
Subject: Re: What time is it at the North Pole?
Reply-To: er@iscp.Bellcore.COM (Elie Rosenfeld)
Organization: Bell Communications Research (Bellcore)
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 14:40:57 GMT

In article <9209142119.AA06320@robocop.NYU.EDU>, baker@ROBOCOP.NYU.EDU (Jonathan Baker) writes:
|> Re: telling time at the North Pole, in orbit, at near-light-speed, etc.
|> 
|> Many of these questions were answered in the sixties and seventies,
|> at the beginning of the manned space program.  R' Azriel Rosenfeld
|> wrote a couple of articles on the topic in Tradition (v7, n1, 1965).

Thanks for posting the issue number!  There are actually two articles,
entitled "Observance in Orbit" and "Sabbath and the Space Age".  Both
were in Tradition - I'm not certain which one was in the issue you mention.

They're quite interesting and well written - not that I'm unbiased!  :-)
-- 
Elie Rosenfeld      |  "Ronald Reagan??  The ACTOR??
Bellcore            |   Then who's *Vice* President - Jerry Lewis?!"
Piscataway, N.J.    |  "Marty, he's in a '46 Ford, we're in a Delorean;
(908) 699-8800      |   he'd rip through us like we were tinfoil!"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght)
Subject: Re: Sex on the Train
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 13:18:36 GMT

govender@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za (Govender) writes:

>In <1992Sep8.140542.3731@darwin.ntu.edu.au> comp_oper@darwin.ntu.edu.au writes:

>>In article <1992Sep3.145710.8629@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>>> Is this life imitating humour, or is this a gullible newspaper editor being
>>> taken in by a practical joke? Has this been reported anywhere outside these
>>> supposedly staid islands?

I remember a similar life immitating humour story...  There was an
episode of "Night Court" where the sleezy, bang everything in a skirt,
prosecuting attorney, Dan Fielding made an offhand reference to having
done it with someone on the baggage claim carousel at the airport.  The
following day or two as a bunch of people were waiting for there lugage
at the local airport a couple was seen on the baggage claim carousel
amidst the luggage "a-slammin and a-bammin".  When asked where they got
the idea to something so stupid they supposedly said "Night Court".     

I can understand this, Dan Fielding is my hero :-) :-) :-)

Jim
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: mmeyer@m2.dseg.ti.com (Mark Meyer)
Subject: Re: Soc Security Number theory
Organization: TI DSEG, Spring Creek, Plano, Tx.
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
	<1992Aug29.061741.26601@midway.uchicago.edu>
	<1992Aug29.120638.5567@panix.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 23:47:30 GMT

In article <1992Aug29.120638.5567@panix.com> eck@panix.com (Mark Eckenwiler) quotes:
>     627-699 unassigned, for future use

	The future is now.  My wife has an SS# beginning with 632.
But then again, she is a recent immigrant...

-- 
Mark Meyer                                               | mmeyer@dseg.ti.com |
Texas Instruments, Inc.                                  +--------------------+
Every day, Jerry Junkins is grateful that I don't speak for TI.
                       "He founded an Origami magazine, but it quickly folded."
From: geoffm@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Briant Gumble and NBC
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Date: 9 Sep 1992 00:29:17 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Menlo Park, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: purplehaze.corp.sun.com



In article <phil.715918202@adam.adelaide.edu.au> phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au
(Phil Kernick) writes:

>I heard a story that just smacks of being a UL, so I thought that I would
>throw it to the net for support or debunking!

>So the story goes...
>Briant Gumble was a janitor working at NBC, and at a time when it was
>politically expedient to have a negro working in front of the camera, was
>given the option of presenting the news.
>The rest is history...

>P.S.  It was difficult to phrase the UL in a way that did not sound racist.


How could this story, true or not, possibly be construed as racist?  



Geoff


-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Geoff Miller                    + + + + + + + +        Sun Microsystems
geoffm@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM  + + + + + + + +     Menlo Park, California
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: grimjack@milton.u.washington.edu (Leslie Basel)
Subject: Re: Junk FAX Mail?
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 05:48:20 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.184125.17231@sunova.ssc.gov> Chuck Adams <chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov> writes:
>I have heard on several occaisions that a new (and perhaps undesirable) trend
>in "Yuppie" circles is junk mail received via FAX machine.  I have worked at
>several places where we used a FAX, and my parents have one also.  I have never
>seen the reception of a FAX that was not a part of regular business.
>
>This scenario of "Junk" FAXes implies that there is a "list" of telephone
>numbers out "there" that is somehow passed around/sold like mailing lists are.
>I don't know of any way that FAX machines could be specifically targeted for
>FAX messages unless someone dials every phone number in sequential order with a
>FAX machine to see if a FAX machine on the other end responds.
>

Yes I have received junk fax and I know how the phone numbers get around.

The junk fax is an ad for some company selling paper (especially, fax paper)
with the note 25% off your next order if you include 5 fax numbers.

Simple, nasty, and becoming illegal; there have been a lot of complaints and
many states are passing laws against this stuff (getting the junk fax is 
prima facae evidence of lawbreaking).  Most states and even the feds have
laws pending.

Rodger "send this fax to 20 friends 
        or you will break the chain....." Coghlan

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: paul@xcluud.sccsi.com (Paul Hutmacher)
Subject: Re: Junk FAX Mail?
Organization: Greater Montrose UFO Appreciation Society & Data Haven
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 18:49:49 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.184125.17231@sunova.ssc.gov> Chuck Adams <chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov> writes:
>Has anyone ever received junk mail on their FAX machine?

Yup.  On my fax at the office I get a single page about twice a week 
advertising local businesses.  There are usually discount coupons to 
go along with it.

They offer a number to call so you can ask to be removed from the list but
I kind of like it so I leave it alone.  They also offer free fax paper for
your troubles but I've not taken them up on it.  I like the paper I presently
use and am loathe to try free paper.


-- 
Paul Hutmacher     -/-    Houston, Texas    -\-    paul@xcluud.sccsi.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's not an information highway.  It's a maze of twisty little passages,
all different, inhabited by MUD players."   -- JQ Johnson  (thanks Joe!)
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: A bird in the hand v. 10 birds in the FAQ
Date: 9 Sep 1992 00:41:08 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

  +cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) says:
  
  +>"Closer on the evolutionary scale to monkeys than humans"?  Monkeys
  +>are not simply "less evolved" humans.  Humans and monkeys evelved
  +>from a common ancestor... humans did not evolve from monkeys.
  +>Sorry, but i have a hard time accepting this story, and part of
  +>the reason is that claim.  Independent confirmation?
  +
ENVIRON@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU writes:

  +     Well, you have to remember that in 1906 science of the day probably
  +wasn't advanced enough to determine that monkeys are our cousins rather than
  +our forefathers... Whether or not I believe the story is true, I would
  +be inclined to believe that at least that part is possible.

Not to mention that many people hold the same mistaken belief today.
I agree with Brett in that just because their belief doesn't jib
with what the theory of evolution really says doesn't mean that they
couldn't act on it.

Terry "If it sounds wrong, then it must be true" Chan
--
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory                    Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
"[PBS viewers] are affluent, highly educated, the movers and shakers, the
 socially conscious and the well-informed.  What about the rest of us?"
                                      -- U.S. Senator Robert Dole
From: neil@ulysses.robots (& Townsend)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Stupid Cop Tricks & the Reagan Office Hours
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:07:38 GMT
Organization: None evident here.
In-reply-to: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com's message of 12 Sep 92 00:54:03 GMT


>In the first one, a Washington DC cop was writing up a car for a
>parking violation when a thief came along and stole the license tags.
>The cop watched the whole thing and then proceeded to write up a
>second ticket for driving without tags.

snopes suggests that:
>Well, just about the first thing written on any type of ticket is the license
>plate of the car.  I'd like to know how the cop explained being able to write 
>up a parking ticket, including the license number, of a car with no plates.

Well, seeing as the cop had already started writting out the first
(parking) ticket, it would seem logical that (s)he could either
remember the number, or copy it from the previous ticket.

NewT
--
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: nasadk@aix02.ecs.rpi.edu (Kristopher Martin Nasadowski)
Subject: Re: Safety Margins (was: Sinking libraries)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 01:01:05 GMT

[Stuff about cable quality of Brooklyn Bridge Deleted]

A few years back, they did some major work on the bridge. One of the
things I believe they did was to replace the suspension cables.

Nazman
<nasadk@rpi.edu>
"If it was inferior quality, how did it last over 100 years?"

P.S. I know two of the cables have snapped in the past.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban