HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: snopes%club33@stlth.enet.dec.com (snopes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Thomas Crapper and Spread Spectrum
Date: 6 Sep 92 06:31:14 GMT
Organization: Just put everything on the floor; I can find it.


In article <17159@ulysses.att.com>, 
  smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes...

>> Also, can anyone verify or debunk the notion that Hedy Lamarr (the actress)
>> holds the original Spread Spectrum patent in the 40's?

>	Hedy Lamarr: Did you know that Hedy Lamarr, star of WHITE CARGO
>	and SAMSON AND DELILAH, was also the holder of a patent for a
>	secret communication system? 

 Sheesh, do I feel silly now.  I thought we were talking about some sort of
 gynecological instrument.

 - snopes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|       WARNING:  This posting is a turbulent, high-speed read through        | 
|                 the world of sarcasm, witticism, and tomfoolery.            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   You must be as tall as the    Children under age 7    Expectant mothers   |
|   bottom of this signature      must be accompanied     should not read     |
|   to read this posting.         by an adult.            this posting.       |
|                                                                             |
|         Wait time from this signature is approximately [40] minutes         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  David P. Mikkelson   Digital Equipment Corporation   Culver City, CA  USA  |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Wild Chicken Flocks
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 19:52:53 GMT

williamsk@gtephx.UUCP (Kevin W. Williams) writes:
: > 
: > Terry, Terry, Terry. . .  There hasn't been lead as a gasoline additive
: > since when, 1988?  Most chickens don't live so long, except perhaps as
: > pets.
: 
: Drew, Drew, Drew, you lead a sheltered life. In the real world (i.e. east of
: California and west of New York), leaded regular gasoline is readily available.

Make that north of California also.  But then, it is to be expected. The
idiots in the legislature are slowly banning everything. I expect them to
ban people soon - as being detrimental to the environment.

Bill "Maybe that explains why they are all moving up here?" Nelson
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger)
Subject: Leaded gasoline (was re: Wild Chicken Flocks)
Reply-To: rapw20@email.sps.mot.com
Organization: SPS
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:07:28 GMT

Somebody on this group (I missed the original posting) wrote:
> 
> >Terry, Terry, Terry. . .  There hasn't been lead as a gasoline additive
> >since when, 1988?  ...
>
Wrong...regular leaded gas is still available, at least hereabouts. I put
$10 worth of it in my 1976 Ford van this morning. Granted, the amount of
lead in leaded gas has gone down drastically, but it's still there.

Mark
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:22903 rec.arts.tv:17387
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: The Emmy Awards
From: eitan@wiscon.weizmann.ac.il (Shternbaum Eitan)
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 08:29:51 GMT
Organization: Weizmann Institute of Science, Computation Center.
Originator: eitan@saknai.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il


In article <1992Sep1.233215.3849@dmpe.csiro.au>, barker@dmpe.csiro.au ( David Barker) writes:
|> Does anyone have  the details of the winners of all the Emmy's?
|>
|> Please email if you have them..
|>
|> Thanks in advance...
|>
|> David Barker
|> <barker@dmpe.csiro.au>


joining the request, email me as well ,

thanks

Eitan Shterenbaum

eitan@wisdom.weizmann.ac.il
From: dmr@medicated.Corp.Sun.COM (Daniel M. Rosenberg)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 9 Sep 1992 17:37:10 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: dmr@medicated.Corp.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: medicated.corp.sun.com

About the third city the Soviets woul've bombed in an all-out exchange...

It was told about my home-town, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, because
of nearby Murray Hill's Bell Telephone Laboratories. Apparently
the Russkies felt it was important to make sure UN*X development
stopped dead in its tracks.


---
# Daniel M. Rosenberg        Dan.Rosenberg@Corp.Sun.COM   +1 415 688 9580
# Opinions expressed above aren't Sun's.
From: frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz (Bruce Clement)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Annuit Coeptis
Distribution: world
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 92 07:55:21 GMT
Organization: Private System

spg@Xenon.Stanford.EDU writes in article <1992Sep8.211927.10090@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>:
> 
> I need to know the significance of a symbol that appears on the reverse
> of the U.S. $1 bill. It is in the left hand circle and includes a pyramid
> with an eye at the top and the text 'Annuit Coeptis' and 'Novus Ordo Seclorum'.
> I'm sure I've seen the symbol elsewhere - I think it might be Masonic

It is the "Great Seal" of the United States of America, a country which was
founded by a bunch of Masons. There are a number of stories as to how it
was adopted as the official emblem of that country, but most stress the
Masonic ties of one or more of the famous revolutionaries.

> If so, what is it doing on U.S. currency?

It *is* the Great Seal, many countries place a symbol appropriate for their
country on their notes. 

> what does the Latin mean?

A number of translations are given "Announcing the birth of the new 
secular order" is the most popular, but "In ten score and three years
the evangelists shall occupy the white house" would gain a few marks.

--
Bruce Clement    (frey@alfheim.actrix.gen.nz  SNEWS/2,  UUPC 1.11q)
From: peterm@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Peter Mardahl)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 8 Sep 92 18:39:16 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley


>Civic pride, I suppose.  With slightly over 30 000 weapons (including 
>both strategic and theater sizes) in Fragmented Soviet Union hands at 
>the present time, and about 20 000 under our presumably kinder, gentler
>control, there seems to be little need to ration out the apocalypse.
>
>Joe "Owns a wooden house within fireball radius of Alameda NAS" Chew

  The Soviets probably had an alphabetical list of "must nuke" places.
The "third place" to be bombed probably has a name starting with the
first letter of the Soviet alphabet....
  A more interesting thing to know is which places had the MOST
warheads aimed at it.  Maybe DC had about ten targeted there?
That seems to me to be a better measure of strategic importance.

Peter Mardahl
From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Date: 7 Sep 1992 21:23:41 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117

obrien@netcom.com (Robert O'Brien) writes:

  +I doubt you were serious, Russ, but you've made me realize I didn't pay
  +a lot of attention to the 'muzzle' of the gun.  I think it was about nine
  +inches inside diameter.  I was led to believe the chickens were chosen 
  +such that they would approximate about a certain percentile of the seagull 
  +population, smaller than 'average' but I don't know by how much.  I 
  +would guess 25-30th pctl.

Is this pre- or post- Alka-Seltzer?


Terry "Uuurp" Chan
--
Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov                  This is illegal, but I know jujitsu
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory                         so I don't care.
Berkeley, California  USA  94720
From: joslin_paul@ae.ge.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: eating minority racial groups (was Re: Eating Dogs)
Date: 8 Sep 92 19:42:39 GMT
Reply-To: joslin_paul@ae.ge.com
Distribution: na
Organization: GE Aircraft Engines
Originator: news@c0228.ae.ge.com

flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal) writes:

>jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght) writes:
>>This was a poor neighborhood but the families were all given seriously
>>expensinve cars and fancy homes and all sorts of luxuries to replace and
>>compensate their losses.        

>Give me a break.  When has an American government ever done something like this?


Happens every election year.  When I served in the Air Force, we looked
forward to election years, because that was the only time our pay raises
came close to the rate of inflation.  

Another example: Uncle Sugar is paying 100% of the cost of rebuilding
FLA public works instead of the usual 75%.  It has nothing to do with
the fact that it is an election year, and FLA is the 4th most populous
US state. 

Really.

Paul "Death and Taxes?  I thought you said death or taxes!" Joslin
-- 
     Paul R. Joslin     |
joslin@c0223.ae.ge.com  | "For every problem, there is a solution that is
   +1 513 583 3537      | simple, elegant, and wrong."
                        | (H. L. Mencken)
-- 
     Paul R. Joslin     |
joslin@c0223.ae.ge.com  | "For every problem, there is a solution that is
   +1 513 583 3537      | simple, elegant, and wrong."
                        | (H. L. Mencken)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Subject: Re: What makes an urban legend work?
Reply-To: lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 16:09:41 GMT

In article <2535@israel.nysernet.org> warren@nysernet.org writes:
>In <t02pbrc8@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
>
>>"all pirates like Jews." Now *that* makes you wonder...
>
>It's because we eat locks.

Who eats liquid oxygen?

cjl
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: Viruses: was(Re: aids started by cia?)
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 10:19:27 GMT

In article <TS2JJJ6@taronga.com> arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:
>> In article <1992Aug27.211759.13809@acuson.com> lawson@aldia.UUCP (Drew Lawson) writes:
>> >In article <1992Aug25.160703.10475@news.cs.brandeis.edu> st890270@pip.cc.brandeis.edu writes:
>> >>the small pox virus is now extinct.
>> >
>> >Only because all its victims are dead.
>
>But smallpox really wasn't that fatal of a disease.  The most virulent
>strain was only 10-30% fatal (tho those figures can add up fast in
>epidemic proportions).
>
>The main problem with smallpox is that it was so highly contagious
>(it's an airborne disease -- passed much like the common cold, by
>sneezing, touching, etc).  The other problem is if you survived, you
>were horribly disfigured by the poxmarks.
>
>This is also why traditionally milkmaids have always been considered
>to be so beautiful.  They commonly would contract cowpox which in turn
>would also protect them from the smallpox virus and therefore would
>tend to have clear complexions.
>Sounds rather ULish, doesn't?
>

ULish it sounds, but it's absolutely true! The first vaccine (from vache, cow
in French - can't remember the gender...) was against smallpox, using
cowpox virus. No sources: just look up any book on Jenner for the details...

The Wisp. [medicine, linguistics, references, sheesh, what next...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     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: harris@drvax3.msfc.nasa.gov (Mitch Harris)
Subject: Ann Landers stops an urban myth!
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date:  6 Sep 92 08:16:10 GMT

Well, poor Ann Landers & her sister Dear Abby are always being accused
of perpetuating urban myths. Here's one time she doesn't. The following
article is from the Huntsville News, Sept. 5,1992 :

Dear Ann Landers: While visiting in Washington, D.C., my wife & I
engaged a taxi driver to show us the sights & give us some history of
our nation's capital.
We passed a statue of a soldier mounted on his horse. The taxi driver
asked if we knew the significance of a horse sculpture with all 4 of the
horse's hooves on the ground, compared with one hoof lifted or the horse
reared with 2 hooves off the ground. When we said we didn't, he went on
to tell us that 4 hooves on the ground meant the soldier died a natural
death, 1 lifted meant the soldier was wounded in combat, & the horse
reared meant the soldier was killed in battle.
I've asked several friends about this & no one has ever heard the story.
Is this true or is it a tale concocted by a taxi driver with a lively
imagination? - Jack in Memphis, Tenn.

Dear Jack: According to the US Army Military History Institute in
Carlisle, Pa., these stories have no basis in fact. It's up to the
sculptor to do as he pleases with the horse's hooves. Incidentally, that
tale has been wagging since the Civil War. The Library of Congress
attributes it to the lively imagination of tour guides dating back to
Gettysburg. Civil War buffs will have a ball with this one.


Well, let's hear it for ole Ann!

********************************************************************************       

   .........posted for Beverly H.

Real C&W song line:"tell old 'I ain't here' he'd better get on home."

********************************************************************************  

--
Mitch Harris                           |  New Technology Inc.
(205)-544-2846                         |  700 Boulevard South, #401
drvax3!harris@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov    |  Huntsville, AL  35802

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: art@world.std.com (Al Thompson)
Subject: Re: Color UL
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
	<1992Sep1.175459.20183@news.columbia.edu>
	<1992Sep2.022009.22646@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:13:25 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.022009.22646@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:

   ObUL: Trees on top of skyscrapers are erected by construction workers to
	 celebrate the completion of a building without fatalities.

Not a UL at all.  Last year a sorta tall building was built a couple
blocks from my house in Boston.  When the steel work was completed a
christmas tree was hauled to the top and secured in place.  It sat there
for at least two weeks.  BTW there was a fatality during the steelwork
phase.
From: wb8foz@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (David Lesher)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Flat Earth Society
Date: 12 Sep 1992 23:15:23 GMT
Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex
Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher)
NNTP-Posting-Host: skybridge.scl.cwru.edu

Others said
# >   $6 for Flat Earth Map, $10/year for newsletter; beg and plead for their inf
# 
# Could someone post a GIF of the map?

Are 3-d GIFS possible? I have my heart set on a globe, you see.

--
A host is a host from coast to coast..wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ctorres@cco.caltech.edu (Chon David Torres)
Subject: Re: Notorious Toothpaste Skit
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 01:23:31 GMT

dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright) writes:

[details of a toothpaste skit]

>Have any of you seen a similar trick?  Do any of you know of some other
>device or explanation for this skit?

at a summer camp i saw 10 guys do this. it was performed right after lunch
and NO special preperations were made. mmmmmmm tasty!
-chon
-- 
*******************************************************************************
ctorres@cco.caltech.edu                  	     ctorres@juliet.caltech.edu 
*******************************************************************************
From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Marching Band ULs needed
Date: 11 Sep 1992 00:57:22 GMT
Organization: Rice University

In article <1992Sep9.005631.9338@bsu-ucs.uucp> 00mlschmalz@bsu-ucs.uucp writes:
>
>I'm looking for urban legends concerning Band, Drum and Bugle Corp, etc.
>A friend of mine told me a "rifle twirler dies during routine" story
  The Rice marching band has been banned from the Astrodome since the early
'70's for a halftime show that upset the owners.
  Also when the Texas A&M mascot died a few years ago, the MOB did a bit
making fun of him, and they needed a police escort from the stadium to
protect them from the angry Aggies.


-- 
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: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: Sinking libraries
Date: 6 Sep 92 16:41:35 GMT

jlysagh@hubcap.clemson.edu (james joseph lysaght) writes:
>song "Looey looey" (sp?) then the people start swaying back and forth
>and this happens to hit the frequency that gets the deck rocking.  I was
>in the Clemson Band when we played this song at their stadium and sure
>enough we saw the decks waving up and down.  It is amazing!  They now
>have a rule banning that song and some others that hit that same
>resonant frequency from being played in their stadium and they inform
>every band performing there in advance that these songs are banned.

Um, different people play the same songs at different speeds, and Louie Louie
doesn't have a particularly exceptional speed.  I don't see how you could
create a list of songs to ban to prevent certain swaying-back-and-forth
frequencies from occurring.  Has anyone actually seen this list of songs?


kls4344@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Person in flux) writes:
[re story about Kodak Park, Rochester, New York; pool was built but water
weight wasn't calculated in so it can't be filled]
>This story is not, sadly, a UL.  

Can you quote a source?  Perhaps the pool isn't filled; that's not the ULish
sounding part.


lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>Tell him that they did take into account the weight of the books, but forgot
>the weight of the people who might read them.

Perhaps they just forgot to account for the weighty ideas contained in the
books.
From: baldwin@csservera.scs.usna.navy.mil (J.D. Baldwin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Stupid Cop Tricks & the Reagan Office Hours
Date: 10 Sep 92 17:37:56 GMT
Organization: Comp. Sci. Dep't., U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
In-reply-to: lmh@world.std.com's message of 9 Sep 92 23:12:53 GMT

Larry Headlund (lmh@world.std.com) writes:
>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.

Wow, *you* were David Brinkley?  Can you be George Will next Sunday?

The story actually has pretty high credibility.  The Washington Post
reported the other day that all the traffic ticket appeals people (not
a real court) are being fired and replaced by Mayor Kelly, most likely
because they are dismissing too many tickets on appeal, and the
parking ticket system in D.C. is a real cash cow (also one of the most
obscene abuses of government power I've ever witnessed, but that's
another subject).  You hurt the mayor's revenues, you leave government
service.

This Post story quoted one of the commissioners as repeating this
story, which had presumably been demonstrated to their satisfaction
during the appeals process (they only throw out 10-15% of tickets on
appeal, so I would guess that it was demonstrated pretty
conclusively).  Another story reported was the guy who got ticketed
for being parked in a loading zone --while unloading goods.

Having lived in the D.C. area for over three years, I have no trouble
believing these or nearly any other evil meter-maid story you care to
recount.
--
 From the catapult of:              |+| "If anyone disagrees with anything I
   _,_  J. D. Baldwin, Comp Sci Dept|+| say, I am quite prepared not only to
 _|70|___:::)=}-  U.S. Naval Academy|+| retract it, but also to deny under
 \      /   baldwin@usna.navy.mil   |+| oath that I ever said it." --T. Lehrer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: sdo@hoops.mitre.org (Sean D. O'Neil)
Subject: Re: Briant Gumble and NBC
Summary: Expires: 
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:35:51 GMT

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...
>
>
>Any truth?
>
>Phil.

None.  Gumbel comes from about as middle-class a background as one might
hope to find.  Gumbel's father was a judge in Chicago, and Gumbel himself 
graduated from Bates College with a degree in Russian History.  After
college, Gumbel had some minor broadcasting jobs in radio and TV before 
landing a job as the backup sports anchor for KNBC in Los Angeles.  His 
career took off from there.

Interestingly enough, in an interview in Sports Illustrated a few years
back, Gumbel opined that the only break he ever got because he was
black was in getting the job at KNBC, and that everything else he
had earned purely on his merits.

Sean
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: boebert@sctc.com (Earl Boebert)
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
Organization: SCTC
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 20:43:34 GMT

These ULs have been around for 40 years or more.  One of the most
common in the 50's centered around a thing called the Pogue
Carburetor.  A buddy of mine dug up the plans (I think from the patent
application) and built one.  It was basically a gasoline preheater
which circulated manifold heat past the incoming fuel and gasified it,
thus greatly increasing the effectiveness of the fuel/air mixing.
There was a kludgy arrangement to work through the normal carb throat
until the thing got up to heat.  My buddy's brazing skills weren't
quite up to snuff, or the differential expansion in the design (the
heat and gas paths were interlaced spirals) caused a crack and his
prototype exploded.  End of interest in 100mpg carbs, and end of an
otherwise servicable 1942 Chev.

Earl
From: rancke@diku.dk (Hans Rancke-Madsen)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Mailing Coconuts
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:28:16 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen

tms@cs.umd.edu (Tom Swiss (not Swift, not Suiss, Swiss!)) writes:

>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.

According to the greatest naturalist of all times they are.




      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     rancke@diku.dk
------------
"I used to argue the matter at first, but I'm wiser now. Facts
are stubborn things, but not half so stubborn as fallacies."
                - Stella Maynard in "Anne of the Island"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban