HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Dry Towel in the DRYER?
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:09:44 GMT

In article <Nov.3.08.38.57.1992.3371@math.rutgers.edu> cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) writes:
>Along these lines, I recently saw an article where the author
>explained why clothes dry from the top down when they're hung on a
>line.  He said that gravity has nothing to do with it, except as
>gravity influences air currents.  You see, as the air dries the
>clothes it gets heavier and falls, with the result that there is a
>downward current of air blowing past the clothes.  Since the air is
>drier at the top than the bottom, the top dries faster.

As another post pointed out this is exactly backwards, moist air is less dense
and tends to rise, not sink.

Now careful observation will show that when you hang up damp clothes, the
(liquid) water migrates under gravity before it dries, so the top has less
moisture than the bottom to begin with.  Often "damp" clothes will have
enough water accumulate at the bottom for it to drip off.

-Mike
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: toten@bourbon.ee.tulane.edu (Derek Toten)
Subject: Re: Trick or Treat Tampering
Organization: E.E. Dept., Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 16:23:34 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-4058]: bourbon

In article <HERMIT.92Nov6062219@am.ucsc.edu> hermit@cats.UCSC.EDU (William R. Ward) writes:
>In article <Bx1v1x.LHn.2@cs.cmu.edu>, smith+@cs.cmu.edu (Sean Smith) writes:
>) In the 11PM news on Halloween night, WPXI TV in Pittsburgh reported
>) that a mother in the Brentwood section of the city discovered a pin
>) inserted in a Snickers bar that her child brought home.
>
>On Halloween this year, a local chain of medical clinics offered a
>free service to the community--they would irrad^H^H^H^H^Hx-ray candy
>to search for razors, pins, etc.
>
>I think this UL started with the Tylenol poisoner to which we owe a
>huge debt for the current "tamper-evident" packaging trend.  Is there
>some other event that predates that scare which might have been the
>source of the Halloween poison UL?
>
No, I cannot remember a time when the "let me check it before you eat it"
caveat was not part of our annual Halloween ritual, and I was in high
school when the Tylenol scare occured, my trick-or-treating days well 
past.  Remember that incident is barely ten years old.  Yes, we've 
become a scarier society since then, but we were scary enough in 1982
and before for this to be a valid (if unfounded) fear.

						Derek


Derek Toten
From: harris.minter@ehbbs.gwinnett.com (Harris Minter) 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Urinal and electrical
Date: 13 Nov 92 05:15:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Ed Hopper's BBS - Berkeley Lake, GA - 404-446-9462
Reply-To: harris.minter@ehbbs.gwinnett.com (Harris Minter) 

>You're all missing the point here...this started out with a urinal, and
>now we're doing high voltages.  Originally, it was about 9 volts or so.
>This is not a lot of potential.  There's not a doubt in my mind that 10,000
>volts can travel up a stream of urine...but how about sticking to the
>original article, eh?  Better yet, let's drop it...I'm sure everyone's
>getting tired of debating it.  I'm still skeptical that it happened, but
>IF IT DID, IT HAD TO BE UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS (conductors, etc.).  Okay?
>Sheesh.

That sounds like something I did in high school - I electrified some
urinals.  High voltage, low current.  Batteries, an RC time constant,
power transistor, and one hell of a coil.  There were screens in the
urinals to keep the students from flushing foreign objects, and there
was a screen mesh on the floor for non-slip purposes.  Both screens
were metal.  The shock was painful, but harmless.  The person most
upset by this was not the recipient of the shock, but the person
standing next to him - he would be urinated upon by the startled,
dancing shock victim.  It worked best if the victim was barefoot and
delivering a strong, dark stream.

Teams of electricians swarmed over that building, attempting to find
the defective wiring - they did find and fix some really crappy
wiring.......

Now I'm going to get a letterbomb from some of my classmates of the
period.
           
----
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|       Ed Hopper's BBS - ehbbs.gwinnett.com - Atlanta, Georgia         |
|  USR/HST: 404-446-9462                  V.32bis: 404-446-9465         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: stirling@ozrout.uucp (Stirling Westrup)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Halloween
Date: 6 Nov 92 04:32:41 GMT
Organization: Andre P. Ozrout

djs@DIALix.oz.au (Darryl Salisbury) writes
>Having just experienced my first halloween party I'm interested to know
>if anyone can fill me in on the origins of halloween, and the types of
>costumes which are appropriate.

The story of Halloween (as it was related to me as a child) is that an
old tradition said that on All Hallow's Eve (The day before All Saints
Day), various infernal creatures would roam around, looking for mortals to
torment.  Now, Devils, Demons, Imps and the like prefer to work where other
of their brethren aren't around to cramp their style.  So, the good people
figured that if enough of the normal folks in an area dressed up as infernal
creatures, the *real* nasties would give the region a miss, and look for
someplace that was rather less crowded.

I never have understood quite why the day before All Saints Day should be
such an infernal day though.  Anyone out there have any ideas?


-- 
||    BUNGEE SIDEWAYS!                              o   )))
||                                                 /-- ///
|P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\_  \\\      __ -_
||    stirling@ozrout.uucp                                 ((( (_)T(_)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: michaet@hubcap.clemson.edu (michael dale townsend)
Subject: Re: Microwave Death
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 18:29:11 GMT

>Microwaves do NOT cook things "from the inside out".  If you don't
>believe me, put something that melts easily, like a small block of ice
>or a bowl of ice cream, in a microwave.  Zap it for short periods of
>time, checking the melting pattern as you go along.  The stuff nearest
>the outside will go first, because there is nothing shielding them
>from the microwaves.  Microwaves cook from the outside in. 
>-Cindy Kandolf
> cindy@solan.unit.no
> Trondheim, Norway

" . . . In ordinary ovens, food is heated by infrared.  Since the skin
depth [area where the wave energy actually propogates   M.T.]  of
foodstuffs is small at infrared frequencies, the heat is absorbed by the
surface of the substance.  This heat is delivered to the inside of the
foodstuff by conduction, a relatively slow process.  Hence, it takes a
few hours for the center of an average-sized roast to be cooked
properly.  At the same time, the air in the oven becomes quite hot."  In
comparison, the air in a microwave oven remains cool since it is a low
loss medium at microwave frequencies.  Moreover, since the skin depth at
microwave frequencies for most foods is the same order of magnitude of
their dimensions, the entire volume of the food is heated directly and
uniformly by the microwave radiation.  . . . "

Rizzi, Peter A.
Microwave Engineering
1988 Prentice-Hall
TK7876.R59
1988
621.381'3
87-25493
ISBN  0-13-586702-9
(page 10)

I would speculate that ice doesn't melt easily since the water molecules
(which are polar) are confined in a crystal lattice so they can't
oscillate.  If the rapidly reversing electric field of a microwave can't
physically oscillate the water molecules because they are confined, then
no friction will be generated and thermal heating is a slower process.
The molecules on the surface of the food are less confined.  I think
that "heating patterns" should be observed in a liquid, where there is
no crystalline lattice.  Of course, this is a harder experiment to set
up and verify.  

My point:  this story may or may not be true, but I believe that it is
possible.  Remember that commercial microwaves (if this store had one)
are more powerful than the average domestic models.  I remember seeing
one that was 10000 watts!  It would pop an entire bag of popcorn in
about 20 seconds.  I don't think that disabling a safety 
interlock would be that difficult, either.  Of course, you would have to
be a complete moron to try it, but then where would urban legends be
without idiots.  Just today on the radio, they reported where some guy
shoplifting a grocery store stuffed a live lobster down his pants and
inadvertantly got a free vasectomy. . .

Michael Townsend       <michaet@hubcap.clemson.edu>
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: forpost-WWII Japanese soldiers
Date: 9 Nov 1992 13:34 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

> ...need to score food and water imply the need for interaction with other
> humans?  It is just about impossible to imagine having 30 years worth of
> food stockpiled (not to mention water).

An army does indeed travel on its stomach (a phrase coined, if I
recall, by Napoleon when he introduced the concept of a logistics
tail instead of "foraging," a euphemism for buying or stealing the
crops and animals and stored food of the locals).  But an individual
soldier doesn't necessarily need Army rations, especially if he isn't
doing much traveling.

These stories usually come out of the Philippines, a truly lush and
labyrinthine tropical archipelago.  It is easy to imagine a trained
individual living off the land indefinitely, if perhaps not very
happily, and avoiding contact with humans.  The climate is warm, and
fish and plants and animals to eat are abundant if you know which 
ones are good for you.  All this can be learned, although the learning 
curve is tough if you're being trained in the school of hard knocks 
rather than in the barracks.  The regular Army doesn't call the Special 
Forces "snake eaters" for nothing.

What's harder to imagine is a psychologically normal person
going underground like that for 20-30 years without figuring
out that, duuh, it's been a long time since he's seen or heard
from his buddies or otherwise gotten evidence that there's still
a war on.  I rather suspect that these guys had a screw loose,
if not completely missing, from the ourset.

Joe "And stay away from the more actively volcanic parts" Chew
From: cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Oxygenated fuel harmful?
Date: 7 Nov 92 04:00:06 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

tjones@access.digex.com (Tom Jones) writes:

> I do notice that my 1984 pickup runs a bit rougher than it did a month
> ago (before the fuel change here) but that's just as likely a result of
> the cold weather.

I've noticed that my 82 Rabbit is harder to start in the morning since
we made the switchover, even though the weather here has been fairly
nice for the last little while.

--Scott 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.nude
From: dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright)
Subject: Re: Driving without shoes
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Organization: 2 AM and I'm Delirious
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 07:24:41 GMT

Terry "who knows the REAL middle name of Captain Kirk" Wood wrote:
: ... (thomas.e.lester) writes:
: >     I have been told that in Pennsylvania it is illegal to drive without
: >     shoes!
: This is an urban legend.  It is not required to wear shoes.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I pretended to enter the two preceding sentences into a black box capable
of translating them into Downright Vulgar Latin, then back to English
again.  The contorted translation which popped out was:
"This fucking Urban Legend ain't required to wear no stinkin' shoes!"

The entity which I might declare in COBOL as:
      * 01 AFU-USER PIC X(37) VALUE "Terry knowing Kirk's REAL middle name".
did continue on by writing:

: I've met members of the State Police who laugh really hard when they
: stop someone and find them struggling to get their shoes on.


In high school I had an eccentric driving instructor who stomped around on
short fat legs and shouted broken English with a heavy German accent and
bad breath.  This annoying character went to great lengths to convince his
disenchanted students that it was both illegal and irresponsible to drive
barefoot.  When challenged on this point, the stubborn fart bellowed
something like this (I paraphrase):

  1) If your vehicle stalls,  you might have to walk, 
     so you will need some shoes ...

This is a reason to have shoes in the car, but not necessarily
a reason to wear them while driving.

  2) If you kick off your shoes and leave them on the floor near
     your feet, one of them might skitter under the brake pedal,
     so you won't be able to slow down in time for  <**Holy Shit!
     <Screech!> <*CRASH*BAM*> ...  It happened so fast.
     I'm gonna need a truss ...
     Mary are you OK ... (She's dead Jim)

Says me:
 -- In an alt. newsgroup you can type "fuck" if you want.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: tsf@CS.CMU.EDU (Timothy Freeman)
Subject: Entrapment & Undercover Cops
Originator: tsf@U.ERGO.CS.CMU.EDU
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 14:09:39 GMT

The FAQ says

  F  = 100% falsehood
F. An undercover cop must answer yes to "Are you a cop?" to avoid entrapment.

I've heard the hypothesis that the following is true:

An undercover cop may not answer "no" to "Are you a cop?" to avoid entrapment.

This allows the undercover cops to evade the question with
equivocations like "Do I look like a cop?", but it forbids him to lie
about the issue and to still successfully prosecute you for your
wrongdoings afterward.

Is this so?

--
Tim Freeman <tsf@cs.cmu.edu>    CompuServe ID 71045,2267 checked occasionally.
When they took the fourth amendment, I was silent because I don't deal drugs.
When they took the sixth amendment, I kept quiet because I know I'm innocent.
When they took the second amendment, I said nothing because I don't own a gun.
Now they've come for the first amendment, and I can't say anything at all.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: "PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD" on money
From: mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin)
Date: 5 Nov 92 23:42:01 GMT
 <1992Nov2.150207.4025@pony.Ingres.COM> <Bx5x7u.9p2@ecf.toronto.edu> <1992Nov4.175616.18144@pony.Ingres.COM>

sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney) writes:

>Unless the two-pound coins from a few years back had it, "Honi soit etc."
>has appeared round the edge of *no* British coin.

Perhaps it was the two-pound coin.  Or perhaps I've been hallucinating.

Matt "didn't inhale" McIrvin
-- 
Matt McIrvin
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: What is IT? (Was: Re: Oct. 28: The Rapture...)
Date: 9 Nov 1992 03:39:34 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

Terry.Smith@f870.n800.z3.fidonet.org (Terry Smith) writes:

  +> cELi> Yes, I'd like to know What Is The Rapture? myself.  I've heard my

  +<...stuff about some odd religion deleted>

  +>other head-space if I found myself heading off to hard Ionised Vacuum 
  +>                                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  +
rhamilt@husc10.harvard.edu (Rowan Hamilton) writes:

  +Can anyone explain to me how to ionize a vacuum?

Hey, we're talking about god here.


Terry "I wonder if the bodies will explode in space 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: don@redsun.pps.rain.com (Donald C. Currie)
Subject: Re: Oregon style sex
Organization: Research and Evaluation Dept. Portland Public Schools, Portland Oregon.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 00:19:21 GMT

warren@nysernet.org (Warren Burstein) writes:

>In <1992Nov3.163249.28657@redsun.pps.rain.com> don@redsun.pps.rain.com (Donald C. Currie) writes:

>>This is probably old news for most others, but the town of Florence, OR acci-
>>dentally outlawed *ALL* sexual activity through local statutes (something

****** text deleted ******

>I clipped the story from the New York Times when it happened.
>Unfortunately I didn't record the date but the Macy's ad on the
>reverse is about an offer for free testing of blood pressure machines
>in the Herald Square store starting "today, December 8" and ending on
>Saturday, December 17, this date fell on Saturday most recently in
>1988, and before that in 1983, 1977 and 1966.  I was not in New York
>in December 1988, and I don't think I read the Times in 1966, so it
>seems safe to say that it was in 1983 or 1977.  But someone with a NYT
>index could locate it from the title.

Bingo! I think the date had to be around 1977 or so...

Don "Citizens arrest! Citizens arrest!" Currie (aka DeeCee)
-- 
Donald C. Currie -- Portland Public Schools -- Research & Evaluation Dept.
		 E-mail Address -- don@redsun.pps.rain.com
...should this signature be copied or read, the Author shall disavow any
	    knowledge of it's silliness. Good luck Jim. *foosh*
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: alange@rahul.net (Andrew Lange)
Subject: MRI accidents (was: Re: Courgettes)
Organization: a2i network
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 09:25:58 GMT

Last night I was talking to someone who works for a MRI equipment manufacturer.
He said that his company's magnets were self-contained (ie-did not generate a
large magnetic field other than in the center hole), but within that region
weird things would happen.  Like watches with steel cases would twist, usually
around the axis through the band, hard enough to break leather bands.

And as for bringing ferrous items into a room with a LARGE magnet:

The two guys working on a TV spot who wheeled the big light through the wrong
door, and tried to hold onto it when it started to move, both suffered shoulder
sprains/injuries.

The janitor with the floor buffer that disregarded instructions to 'leave that
room alone'.  Apparently the buffer launched itself at the side of the magnet
and managed to rupture a liquid nitrogen line supplying the (superconducting?)
magnet.  

I don't claim that these are true, but as many people have said, "It could
have happened!"

Andy
-- 
Andrew Lange <alange@rahul.net>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Joel Furr)
Subject: Re: films worst than Star Trek
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 04:54:44 GMT

In article <DECHC00.92Nov3223949@tohi.DMI.USherb.Ca> dechc00@tohi.DMI.USherb.Ca (CHRISTIAN DECHAMPLAIN) writes:
>

[stuff deleted]

>
>Sorry to ask this but what is the thing with diodes from the FAQ.  My mother
>thongue is french and I do not have enough english background to understand
>the expression: "fix your diodes".  I would also add that for my part I would
>never try to fix a diode, I would just change it.

bwah ha ha ha ha!

>
>--
>Christian Dechamplain|
>(819) 563-8951       |
>dechc00@dmi.usherb.ca|
>----------------------
From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: "PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD" on money
Date: 5 Nov 92 15:25:57 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre


[ various UK pound coin motto burbling ]

>>other one has an oak tree.
>Don't think so...

The oak tree one is the DECUS ET TUTAMEN one.  It must be an oak tree, its 
got acorns on it.  And a royal crown encircling the trunk!

Dave "lucky I had one in my pocket" Budd



  You don't have to work to be mad here      email: d.budd@mcc.ac.uk
  Dave Budd, MCC, Oxford Rd, Manchester, England   (44|0)61-275-6033
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: More odd net.acronyms (was Kryptonite bike locks)
Date: 6 Nov 92 20:19:00 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

ObUL:  Obligatory Urban Legent, offered as a sop to the newsgroup's
alleged purpose at the end of a posting which did not offer or discuss
any urban legends.  Like this one.

ObUL:  It is illegal to hammer a frozen lock in New York City.

Joe "Or is that Object UL, a shockproof programming technique?" Chew
From: rxh6@po.CWRU.Edu (Randall Holt)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Microwave Death
Date: 13 Nov 92 16:36:02 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


 
>> < article deleted about bozo rigging m-wave oven to operate 
     with opendoor which then creates in situ chitlins  >
 
> < other articles deleted about the physics of melted food >
 
then neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld) postulates;
 
>   Aside: A human being has active temperature control and an effectively
>   high thermal conductivity because of the circulating fluids.
 
Quite so. This is a point I brought up in recent diatribes on MRI and the 
heating of metal bits. Assuming that sufficient u-waves are reaching said
subject, then the first symptom of iradiation/energy deposition will be
temporary blindness, as the inside of the eyeball has no circulation, 
resulting in slow temperature conduction, as shown in documented cases of 
retinal damage from electromagnetic fields.
 
Randy 'Vitreous Humour has no place in the staid journals of a.f.u.' Holt
-- 
Randall W. Holt      rxh6@cwru.po.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: wisp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Wisp)
Subject: Re: Courgettes (was Re: doggy style)
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 09:04:52 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.054351.2022@tamsun.tamu.edu> bpb9204@tamsun.tamu.edu (Brent) writes:
[stuff about rectal baggage...]
>
>A good friend of mine became a father a few months ago.  Unfortunately,
>the baby's arteries from the lungs to the heart didn't make it to the
>heart and the baby had open-heart surgery at 11 days old.  The good
>point is that, the baby did fine, and the problem has been completely
>solved.
>
>Now, the baby has wire in his sternum.  Because of this, they could not
>do an MRI session (internal metal and MRI do not mix).
>
>From what I've read, doesn't the MRI technology rely on very high
>magnetic fields?  Aren't the high magnetic fields the basis for
>resonating the molecules (water?) in the tissue being imaged?

Absolutely. If the metal is ferrous(?) or capable of being magnetized, or
whatever (physics is too far in the past...) then the large magnetic fields
employed make life very interesting... Don't know about wired sternums, but
there are several documented cases of people with past cerebral aneurysm
surgery dying after MRI because the clips used were steel, rather than some
non-magnetic metal...

The Wisp.
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:27622 rec.arts.startrek.misc:11424