HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: stame@emunix.emich.edu (Stewart Tame)
Subject: Re: So, what IS the shelf life of Twinkies?
Organization: Eastern Michigan University
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 22:54:36 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.015941.4310@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> jcopelan@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (James c Copeland) writes:
>OK, I have heard that Twinkies could last for 20 years?  What is the  basis
>for this claim?  What is the REAL shelf life of these things?
>(I have a steak dinner riding on this one).
>

The actual shelf-life is quite a bit less than 20 years.  In fact it
should be printed somewhere on the package if you trouble to look.  I mean,
think about it: if twinkies have such an open-ended shelf-life, why does
the Hostess delivery person stop by once or twice a week to take away the
old stock and put fresh stuff out?  Or haven't you ever been in the store
when this goes on?

	-- Stewart "eats twinkies and isn't ashamed to admit it" Tame

****************************************************************************
 I understand it's obligatory to mention Kibo somewhere in one's postings.
****************************************************************************
		Email:  stame@emunix.emich.edu
****************************************************************************
Disclaimer:  Not only do my opinions represent those of Eastern Michigan
University, but also those of Dan Quayle, Richard Nixon, Frank Zappa,
Pee-wee Herman, Bart Simpson, Tipper Gore, Murphy Brown, Maggie Thatcher,
and the Easter Bunny.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,sci.econ
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: Re: price gouging after hurrican andrew
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 00:26:22 GMT

In article <Bu2KoJ.5IB@solbourne.com> lindaj@solbourne.com (Linda Weygant) writes:
> Somebody out there couldn't believe that humna beings would take advantage of
>a bad situation???  Saw on the news last night (KUSA Channel 9-Denver, CO)
> the reporter was interviewing this guy that had driven up to the Tallahassee
>area of Florida (in the northern part of the state) and bought gas powered
>generators for $250-$350 each and was selling them in Homestead FL for $1800!!
>My faith in human nature is revived!!

Indeed.  If not for this entrepreneur, some folks in Homestead might not
have any electricity at all.

"A scarcity can never be eliminated, merely palliated."  Or something like
that.
-- 
           .........................................................
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
         here i sit looking for a warming smile in a house of cold wit
From: pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Montykins)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 8 Sep 92 21:43:58 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

Well, San Diego, CA has Camp Pendleton Marine Base, Naval Air
Station Miramar, plenty of Naval Vessels, etc.

OTOH, I did one live in a city that _wasn't_ rumored to be "Third on
the list." Washington D.C. <snicker>

Actually, it seems likely that the Russians weren't planning to bomb
one city at a time. Wouldn't every city with a population >500,000
be tied for first?

 -Paul "Monty" Ashley
-- 
  "Didn't expect to see me again,         | pashley@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
eh, Svengali?"                            |  [Not a UCSD employee]
     -- Bugs Bunny                        |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: Just One Calorie...?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 15:01:20 GMT

In article <1992Sep7.150023.4463@news.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <CINDY.92Sep4184928@solan10.solan.unit.no> cindy@solan10.solan.unit.no (Cynthia Kandolf) writes:
>>
>>This one's too easy... Water.  I drink it every day.
>>
>>(And if i remember correctly, coffee and tea if you don't add sugar
>>or milk.)
>
>What if you add lard and sugar?
>
>cjl

But would it taste like chicken?

cjl

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lmh@world.std.com (Larry M Headlund)
Subject: Re: Stupid Cop Tricks & the Reagan Office Hours
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 23:12:53 GMT

In article <Sep.7.12.48.51.1992.9215@math.rutgers.edu> cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar) writes:
>I heard a couple of suspiciously ULish "news" stories on one of the
>local radio stations over the weekend.
>
>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.  The host quoted one of the
>Sunday morning "talking head" shows (I believe it was Washington Week
>in Review) as the source for the story.
>
	I was David Brinkley on ABC's _This Week with David Brinkley_, 
Sunday, September 6, 1992.
	Where he got it from I don't know.
-- 
Larry Headlund  lmh@world.std.com    Eikonal Systems (617) 482-3345
From: crow@coos.dartmouth.edu (Preston F. Crow)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: British Paper Money
Date: 14 Sep 92 21:14:04 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In <1992Sep14.193054.24432@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards) writes:

>In article <Sep.13.20.08.56.1992.21845@cadenza.rutgers.edu> masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) writes:

>>ObUL: The Germans, during World War II, produced a perfect set of
>>counterfeit plates for British #5 notes, to try to destabilize the
>>currency. It could have happened, so it must be true.

>Not a UL.  This effort has come to be commonly known as "Operation
>Bernhardt," which involved the Third Reich's recruitment of known
>counterfeiters from the population of concentration camps.

And rumor has it that this strategy is again in use today.  I heard a
report that an alarming number of high-quality counterfeit $100US bills
were showing up in the Middle East.  The report suggested that Iraq or
another nation in the area may be responsible, though they didn't have any
solid evidence.

--PC

--
  "First things first, but not necessarily in that order"  --The Doctor
From: etlanar@slartibartfast.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Counterfeitin'
Date: 9 Sep 92 08:50:13 GMT
Organization: Ericsson Cellular Division

In article <1992Sep8.194608.3700@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards) writes:
>
>In article <1992Sep8.073859.3106@ericsson.se> etlanar@slartibartfast.ericsson.se (Alan Arthur) writes:
>
>>Hmmm, if you travelled a few hundred miles north, you'd find that in Scotland,
>>we still quite happily use 1 pound notes (in fact there's four different kinds
>>in common circulation)..
>
>What is the fourth variety?  I know of three:
>
>     - Bank of Scotland
>     - Royal Bank of Scotland
>     - Clydesdale Bank
>
>Currency collecting minds want to know...
>


Well the Royal Bank of Scotland issued a whole set of new design notes fairly
recently (within the last couple of years), and so there are still quite a few
of the old design ones floating about, though I guess they'll disappear pretty
quickly. I even received an old Bank of England pound note in change not so
long ago...



--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Arthur                                                        DoD #1314
EMail : etlanar@deep-thought.ericsson.se                  MEMO : ETL.ETLANAR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Trelford Pinkerton)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Harris's ghost town bust
Date: 11 Sep 92 20:20:20 GMT
Organization: Walk on the Tame Side, Inc
NNTP-Posting-Host: positive

Long time readers here will remember my pal Harris: he's an old
college friend who hit the bigtime in merchant banking, and now
he has more money than God.  

Harris's keen business instincts were visible even when we were
students together.   When he talked me into starting a window-cleaning 
business at college with him, I said we'd do all our friends at a discount.
Harris sternly corrected me: since we could be assured of their patronage,
we'd charge them extra for the privilege!  That's why I grub out a mean living 
as a computer programmer, and Harris is a millionaire banker with 7 houses, 
12 limousines, and 15 racehorses.

Everything Harris touches seems to turn to gold.  All of his business
ventures have been successful, except one.   This is the story of Harris's
ghost town bust.   

Visiting me in California, Harris did some extensive travelling in 
California's interior, and especially the Gold Country.  He saw possibilities
where other people just saw ruins...   Harris actually bid on, and
purchased an abandoned mining town to develop as a ghost town.

The town had been abandoned 50 years before when the mother
lode ran dry, and was full of creaky eerie tumbledown buildings.
Harris brilliantly rebuilt where necessary, packaged it, advertized and
ran tours in from as far away as Vegas.  Pretty soon it became
so popular that he built a burger stand, then a restaurant.

Well, before you knew it, he needed a motel to accommodate
overnight visitors.  Built one, too, and a gas station, truck stop,
gift shop and coffee-house.  Pretty soon it was a thriving bustling 
community, only one day there wasn't a ghost town left to attract tourists
anymore.  It went bust soon after that.
We all learned a lot from that, especially Harris, who was forced
to bite the wax tadpole on the bank mortgage.   Very zen, him being
a banker and all.  He just moved the dough from his left pocket to
his right, so to speak.  My mortgage rate went up the next month.  Bank said
it was "due to bad debt provisions".

Time's up!  Back to the computer programming.
 

--
----------------
Trelford Pinkerton       floss@least.twice.daily   (415) 555-1212
Stalk tall strangers, and wear leather. Speak in tongues and post
regularly to Usenet.  Raise big black dogs and sacrifice homework.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva)
Subject: Re: Mailing Coconuts
Organization: Taronga Park BBS
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 22:55:13 GMT

In article <1992Sep5.152948.5867@engage.pko.dec.com>, moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
> 
> Perhaps more interesting is you can (and people often do) ship live bees
> through the US mail, for the purpose of establishing honey-producing hives. 

You can ship live insects in general.  I have often orderededed beneficial
insects (ladybugs and the like) for my garden.
-- 
Stephanie da Silva                                    arielle@taronga.com
"I am *not* Tuskernini -- and this is an excellent disguise!" -- Tuskernini
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: jyc@leo.Stanford.EDU (Jon Corelis)
Subject: Re: Presidential UL's
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date: 15 Sep 92 21:30:46 GMT

   I remember reading somewhere that Theodore Roosevelt lost an eye
while boxing (which he did to keep in shape) in the White House, and had
it replaced with a glass one.   I can't vouch for the accuracy of this,
though.

   Also I've read several times about someone who supposedly was
technically the President of the U.S. for a single day, but I can't
remember who it was.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney)
Subject: Re: Rice versus Birdseed
Reply-To: sweeney@Ingres.COM (Tony Sweeney)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501
Distribution: usa
Date: 9 Sep 92 16:05:35 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.153749.24587@xilinx.com> dif@xilinx.com (Diana Foss) writes:
>My fiance and I are planning our wedding, and my mom has asked whether
>we want birdseed thrown at us as we depart. I said, "I thought rice
>was the appropriate grain," but my mom replied that she had read that
>rice "swells up and explodes in birds' stomachs." Have centuries of
>unenlightened weddings exacted a terrible toll on our feathered friends?
>Is there any reason at all to consider this more than an urban legend?
>
No, no! You should throw Alka-Seltzer! Trust me.
>
>						Thanks,
>
>						  Diana Foss
>
>-- 
>
>
>Diana Foss              Any opinions here expressed are mine, not my
>dif@xilinx.com          employer's. No, really!

Tony "Kaboom!" Sweeney.

P.S. do I get in the FAQ for beating Terry to the predictable
followup? Thought not. I didn't get in for defining "snope" either.
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Briant Gumble and NBC
Date: 10 Sep 92 23:44:36 GMT
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

Never heard that Bryant Gumbel was a janitor, but I've often 
heard another vaguely racist thing about him (ditto for just
about any prominent black male on television short of the late 
Redd Foxx).  Namely, that he got his big break by being a 
charismatic ex-jock -- at least on the college level, usually pro.  

The irony is that there are about a gadzillion white guys who
leveraged athletic prominence in their later careers, including
two former pro ballplayers (Jack Kemp and Bill Bradley) in the
Senate, and nobody assumes that THEY followed such a path.

It's bad enough when people hear that I work at a national lab
and assume that I occasionally forget to bathe, or perhaps 
absentmindedly put my wallet in the refrigerator and stick my lunch 
in my pocket.  Imagine what it would be like to reach some level of 
prominence in journalism (or whatever other demanding profession) 
and have people assume that your main job qualification was catching
the right alumnus's eye as a halfback.

--Joe "Of course, if you WERE, it probably wouldn't hurt" Chew
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.drugs
From: bruceg@Cadence.COM (Bruce Gustifson)
Subject: Re: Cannibaderm, anyone?
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 18:12:12 GMT

In article <BtMoMs.1oM@egsner.cirr.com> datri@egsner.cirr.com (Anthony Datri) writes:
>
>>	1) Dope + alcohol will get the drinker/smoker more hammered 
>>than either one alone.
>
>It can also get the user totally killed.  Me, I'll probably just use a gun.
  Hey, read my .sig file. It just came true again...I don't believe
it even though I just saw it with my own eyes!

************************************************************************
"Would you believe it if you     |             MY KARMA
saw it with your own eyes?"      |           JUST RAN OVER
   Asked the woman               |            YOUR DOGMA
"That depends"                   |               -Dolly Rosicrution-
    Replied I                    |	
***********************************************************************
From: pjl@robots.ox.ac.uk (Peter Lindsey)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Counterfeitin'
Date: 8 Sep 92 16:42:13 GMT
Organization: Robotics Research Group, Engineering Science Dept, Oxford, UK.
Originator: pjl@cressida.robots


>In article <1992Sep2.165412.8941@city.cs> matt@cs.city.ac.uk (Matthew G Sillitoe (Matt)) writes:
>>
>>UK notes only go down to \pound 5 but seem in another
>>league (though the `computer aided' designers at the Royal Mint
>>seem to have had a field-day on the number of fonts, typefaces
>>and colours used on the new versions). French notes are quite nice
>>too - the artwork really impresses the note's value.
>>
>>--

I've been told the colours and graphics on the new stirling notes 
 have been specifically designed to thwart colour photocopiers - in
particular the colours used are very hard to reproduce accurately (and
of course fine lines may be a problem if the resolution isn't up to it.)

I also remember a couple of years ago a dutch magazine got into trouble
for publishing instructions for forging guilders (sp?) - the trick being
in using certain chemicals to make the photocopied paper feel like real
banknotes. 

ObUL: there is ten times as much US currency in circulation around the
world as has ever been officially printed - the bulk of it is counterfeit.

ObUselessFact: Tessella, based in Abingdon, Oxon designed the CAD system used
by the royal mint. They also offered me a job. The fools.

Pete.
From: mayojr@cs.rose-hulman.edu (John R. Mayo)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: One, Two, Many revisited.
Date: 15 Sep 92 13:48:17 GMT
Organization: Sheffield-Hulman Institute of Technology(SHIT)

In article <1992Sep14.190256.23461@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards) writes:
>
>Russian also has two different plurals: one for two *or* three, and one for
>four or more.
>
Close. Russian has two different plurals: one for two,three, AND four,
and a different one for 5 on up. I think 2,3, & 4 use accusative (?)
plural case, and I know 5 on up use genitive plural. Your exceptions
may vary.



-- 
John Mayo
mayojr@cs.rose-hulman.edu
"They're not dead, they're just metaphysically challenged." -MST3000
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: harris@drvax3.msfc.nasa.gov (Mitch Harris)
Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date:  7 Sep 92 00:49:42 GMT

amconn01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu writes:

>In article <1992Sep4.145758.16679@exu.ericsson.se>, exuhag@exu.ericsson.se (James Hague) writes:

><stuff deleted about worm in brain>
> 

>The local newspaper (a Gannett USA Today clone, but with less content and worse
>writing) recently carried a story about a guy who died from a massive fungus
>infection in his brain. It seems the first symptoms were similar to stroke, so
>he was treated for stroke, and received steroids. The steroids apparently
>suppressed the immune system, the fungus spread, and he died. An autopsy showed
>a massive cerebral infestation of Aspergillus. It's thought he picked up the

  dd
Fungal infections which get in your bloodstream are a *bitch* to treat.
Much worse than bacteria, & the medication to fight those infections are
fairly dangerous in themselves.
              >infection from working with a compost pile.
--
Mitch Harris                           |  New Technology Inc.
(205)-544-2846                         |  700 Boulevard South, #401
drvax3!harris@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov    |  Huntsville, AL  35802
From: tms@cs.umd.edu (Tom Swiss (not Swift, not Suiss, Swiss!))
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mailing Coconuts
Date: 13 Sep 92 02:08:56 GMT
Organization: The Reality Liberation Front (pixels to the people!)

scm@harvee.billerica.ma.us writes:
>>: >>T. You can send a coconut thru the mail without any further wrapping.
>i'd rather send it by african swallow.

     Can't. They're not migratory.

===============================================================================
Tom Swiss/tms@flubber.cs.umd.edu| "Born to die" | Keep your laws off my brain!
     "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" - Nick Lowe 
          This is a .signature antibody. Vaccinate your .sig!
All obvious theorems are true.
        -- Pommersheim's Principle
All true theorems are obvious.
        -- Keane's Kriterion
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pjswan@engin.umich.edu (Peter Swanson)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 16:32:24 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <kefDNTO00XQCNFbGIb@andrew.cmu.edu> you write:
>	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.
[stuff about resonance deleted]

Or is it possible that if all of the soldiers stomp simultaneously,
the momentary force of their feet will exceed their static weight
and overload the bridge?  Aren't "shin splints" caused by similar
stomping/jogging due to forces far in excess of your weight?

The U of Minnesota marching band used to practice on the top floor of
a parking ramp, and the motion of the ramp (in response to the marching)
made it uncomfortable to walk on.  It was like walking on a boat that
was bouncing 2 cm at 120 Hz.  We were worried the ramp might collapse,
but the administration "assured" us that an engineer had checked it out,
and it was all right.

Peter "and I still bounce when I walk" Swanson



-- 
==============================================================================
| Peter J. Swanson           |  pjswan@caen.engin.umich.edu                  |
| Graduate Student           |  controls specialist                          |
| Electrical Engineering     |                                               |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: bart@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bart Gold)
Subject: George the Animal Steele-
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
       
         It is rumored that many urban legends are started by sociologists
Distribution: alt
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 00:29:30 GMT

        This makes me wonder about the origin of the rumor that pro wrester
'George the animal steele' (who used to eat turnbuckles on tv wrestling),
was by profession an english professor at Rutgers university.

        Perhaps a prank by or on a Rutgers professor?

   +-----+  Bart@Casbah.acns.nwu.edu |  Q: What do you get when you cross   
 B |   79|                           |   a deadhead with a skinhead?
   | Au  |  "What are the armaments  |  
   +-----+   on the lollipop?"       |  A: Dandruff.
From: cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Stupid Cop Tricks & the Reagan Office Hours
Date: 7 Sep 92 16:48:52 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


I heard a couple of suspiciously ULish "news" stories on one of the
local radio stations over the weekend.

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.  The host quoted one of the
Sunday morning "talking head" shows (I believe it was Washington Week
in Review) as the source for the story.

In the second one, the host (claiming to read from the newspaper)
quoted a staffer at the Reagan Library as saying that the ex president
continued to work a 10 am to 3 pm work day, which the staffer
characterized as being just as long as the days that Reagan worked in
the White House.  "It's not really a retirement for him," she was
quoted as saying.

--Scott 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: The Flat Earth Society???
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 01:30:53 GMT

johana!tsw@apple.com (Tom Watson) writes:
: > 
: Sometimes this is NOT the case.  In some atmospheric conditions (which I
: don't remember now) You will see the BOTTOM of the ship first.  Yes,
: this has been documented and is NOT an UL!!

Hm. I suspect the first condition would be that the ship was capsized.
Otherwise, you could not see the bottom.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 21:08:08 GMT

Interesting method of counting here. It's funny how we get to "third" by having
Washington DC count as "one" but have several dozen or more missile launch
sites all lumped together as "second" target (as if one nuke could take them
all out) in order to get Your Favorite City up to the honored "third". 

Regardless, when I was a kid Schenectady was supposedly "right up there" in
targeting because of General Electric and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (did
some nuclear sub stuff I think), and I even heard all of Schenectady County, NY
was off-limits to any Soviet visitors because of the above places.

-Mike "One two two two two two two two two two two two three" Moroney