HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~)
Subject: Re: Evita's body
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 10:10:56 GMT

In article <laqh5aINN4dd@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM> geoffm@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes:
>
>
>In article <1992Sep8.211737.23119@colorado.edu> fielden@spot.Colorado.EDU
>(j.a. fielden) writes:
>
>> I remember reading somewhere that Peron was very fixated about Eva.
>>Something to the effect that her embalmed body would be at the dinner
>>table with him and his second wife. Any truth to this?
>
>
>No.  Peron died before Eva.
>

What? I always heard that it was Eva's death that caused Peron's fall from
power...

The Wisp. [puzzled, but open to suggestion...]
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     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^>)
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
Date: 8 Sep 92 19:24:02 GMT
Distribution: alt

In article <92252.080430WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>, WAUGH@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU writes:
> What about the guy in Utah who invented a car that ran on hydrogen.  The gas
> was stored in tanks in the form of a metal hydride to be released by heating
> the tank.  I remember seeing a TV program about it where they demonstrated how
> much safer than gasoline the new fuel was and that the byproduct of its
> combustion was water.  (The inventor placed a beaker under the tailpipe of a
> running car, collected 100 ml or so of the stuff that dripped out and "down
> the hatch" it went.)
> 
> As I recall the mileage wasn't fantastic (about like my '69 Mustang) but the
> fuel was reasonably inexpensive, readily available and non-polluting.
> 
> Did the BBOC (Big Bad Oil Companies) squash this one too?

I doubt it -- there's no need to, since I don't think the idea makes
any sense.

First off, I'm not at all convinced it's economically sensible.  Where
does hydrogen come from?  Water, mostly -- by pumping in electricity.
And that electricity comes mostly from fossil fuels.  We thus have a
serious thermodynamic loss compared with using the fossil fues
directly.  To be sure, to the extent that the power used comes from
hydroelectric or nuclear or solar sources, we do gain, since those
technologies aren't easily usable in a vehicle, but I suspect that it's
a net loss, at least in the U.S.

There are also losses in liberating the hydrogen from the metallic
hydride form; that's a parasitic loss on the entire system.  Possibly,
that can be partially offset by using the heat generated during the
creation of the hydrides to generate some of the electricity.  Maybe.

We can also consider the problem of volume and weight.  More or less by
definition, most of the mass of a metal hydride is the metal itself.
That's a lot of weight to be lugging around.  I suspect it also
occupies a lot of space -- was there a trunk left in this car?

The real problem, though, is the chicken-and-egg problem.  I can't pull
up to my neighborhood metallic hydride station and tank up.  This means
that except for specialized uses -- fleet vehicles, for example -- most
people *won't* buy such a car, because it can't easily be used outside
of their own neighborhoods.  That's why methane-powered vehicles aren't
used much, except for a few demonstration vehicles and (around here)
some natural gas utility trucks.


		--Steve Bellovin

P.S.  It's also not non-polluting -- the heat of combustion will
generate assorted oxides of nitrogen, which contribute to smog.  You
will avoid oxides of sulfur and carbon, though the added demand for
electricity will partly compensate for that.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: doctor1@cbnewse.cb.att.com (patrick.b.hailey)
Subject: Re: Colour perception (was: Death by sneezing)
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 06:34:17 GMT

In article <fq5pbb4@csv.warwick.ac.uk> csuah@warwick.ac.uk (~WISP at CU~) writes:
>In article <Z3umqB1w165w@dogbox.acme.gen.nz> dogbowl@dogbox.acme.gen.nz (dogbowl) writes:
>>moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:
>>> ObUL:  Red traffic lights are tinged a little on the orange side, and
>>> green lights tinged on the blue to help red-green colorblind folks to
>>> distinguish them.
>I very much doubt this. (All of it) If you can't read a traffic light, you
>have to be vertically-blind, as well as color-blind. The position of the light
>in the stack, and the fact that you can tell which light is on or off, is all
>you need to use traffic lights. 

On a dark rainy night?  On a rural road with a speed limit of 50 or 55 mph,
especially at night but even during the day?

It would be fine for *pedestrians* if all three lights were the same color,
but certainly not drivers.

  Thanks awfully,
           Patrick
From: DSTEPHEN@cmsa.gmr.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
Date: 8 Sep 92 17:52:02 GMT
Organization: GM Research Labs

In article <bobk.715967238@slinky.NSD.3Com.COM>
bobk@ESD.3Com.COM (Bob Konigsberg) writes:
>
>I've heard the same story several times.  However, back in college days,
>one of my professors worked out some equations (wish I still had my
>notes), that showed that an internal combustion engine could only
>get about 15% efficiency at best (the subject was thermodynamics).  What
>this translates to in MPG wasn't made clear, but it was obvious that
>the 100 MPG stuff was not physically possible in any "average" car.
>
The efficiency of an internal combustion engine depends on the compression
ratio (that's why diesel engines get better milage that otto engines) and
(I think) can be considerably higher than 15 percent.  A number closer to
50 percent sticks in my mind; if this weren't AFU I would look it up.

Three things limit milage much more: 1) energy density of the fuel--it's not
infinite; 2)weight of vehicle; 3)polution and safety regulations which tend
to increase weight and interfere with combustion.  (I'm not bitching about
these, just pointing it out.)

Actually those "rumors" about extremely fuel efficiet vehicles being squelched
are absolutely true, but it's not the oil companies that are doing it, it's us
bastards in the auto industry.  Bwahahahaha!
From: jeffw@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (jeff waldeck)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Resonant Frequencies (was: Re: Bridges)
Date: 10 Sep 92 21:15:56 GMT
Organization: Hewlett Packard - Boise, ID

>/ hpdmd48:alt.folklore.urban / "Robert S. Huss" <rh50+@andrew.cmu.edu> /  4:52 am  Sep  8, 1992 /
>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.

While at the MSU in the 80's one of our labs had a large vibration table
in it. From around the base of the table was a series of cracks that
extended outward throughout the floor of the entire building to the outside
walls. Local legend held that a professor (who shall remain anonymous)
was calibrating the table with a large mass on it (around 1000# as I
recall). Everything was fine until he dropped into the low frequencies
at which point he hit the building's resonance! Although I was not 
there, everyone who I have talked to who was swears that he almost shook
the building apart - ceiling tiles fell down, the floor cracked, etc.

To this day everyone jokes about this and the professor is not seen (or maybe
not allowed!) working on the vibration tables anymore (he gets undergrads
to do the work instead).

I know it's not a bridge, but I do respect resonance forces.

Jeffery "who needs a wrecking ball" Waldeck
jeffw@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com
From: cromar@math.rutgers.edu (Scott Cromar)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: More Collapsing Buildings
Date: 5 Sep 92 17:00:58 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


I heard on the radio this morning that a parking structure being
constructed for the NJ Institute of Technology collapsed yesterday.
According to the fellow they interviewed, the workers were pouring
cement when they heard a rumbling noise and ran for their lives.  I
didn't catch whether there were any injuries.

I realize that this doesn't match up with the UL, but you can see how
with a shift in the timeline to the future, the story could mutate
into something like the UL. 

--Scott "They said the building collapsed because the workers had
blocked off the exits on the third floor and made it into a swimming
pool" Cromar
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: gl1@cec2.wustl.edu (Greg Lyon)
Subject: Re: Counterfeiting
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 06:44:41 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.195233.24960@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> barth@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barth.richards) writes:
>
>
>These new features are currently being used on new $50 and $100 bills, and
>will eventually be used on $20s and possibly lower denominations.
>

  The $ 20 Series 1990 Federal Reserve Notes (with the polyester thread, et al)
are in production (have been for more than a month), but I have yet to see one.

Greg

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: dif@xilinx.com (Diana Foss)
Subject: Rice versus Birdseed
Organization: Xilinx Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 15:37:49 GMT

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?


						Thanks,

						  Diana Foss

-- 


Diana Foss              Any opinions here expressed are mine, not my
dif@xilinx.com          employer's. No, really!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: paul@xcluud.sccsi.com (Paul Hutmacher)
Subject: Re: Mailing Coconuts
Organization: Greater Montrose UFO Appreciation Society & Data Haven
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 04:07:24 GMT

In article <WH2J3P2@taronga.com> arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:
>You can ship live insects in general.  I have often orderededed beneficial
>insects (ladybugs and the like) for my garden.

I'll vouch for that.

I remember ordering a tube of ants for my ant farm and having it arrive
broken and empty.  I couldn't help but wonder the fate of all those poor
ants, lost among everyone else's mail.


-- 
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!)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: carlos@garfield.cs.mun.ca (Carlos Borges)
Subject: Re: Wild Chicken Flocks
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 19:57:55 GMT

bill.dehaan@rose.com (bill dehaan) writes:
>Definately. I've walked out my office in IBM Toronto and been greeted by
>racoons, badgers, and (in one case) an overweight fox.

>Bill "badgers are livestock?" de Haan

Don't you mean "badgers? we don't need no steenkin' badgers!"

Couldn't resist.
-- 
   ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  // C. Miguel Borges               A.K.A.                Carlos M. Borges //
 // an630@cleveland.freenet.edu                 carlos@garfield.cs.mun.ca //
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
From: kls4344@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Person in flux)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Sinking libraries
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:19:37 GMT
Reply-To: kls4344@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology

In article <PRATTA.92Sep1203237@marcus.rpi.edu>, pratta@rpi.edu (Anthony 
Edward Prattico) writes:
>
>There is also a story about the Kodak Park rec center in Rochester, NY. Legend
>has it that a pool was built on the second floor for employee use. Unfortunate-
>ly, the pool was never filled. Can anybody guess why? I knew you could. Yes,
>who ever designed it forgot to factor in the weight of the water.

This story is not, sadly, a UL.  

Katie "Do I get another chance to be a Terry?"
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ttech1@jetson.uh.edu (Jon Randolph in Houston)
Subject: Re: Fuel misers
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Distribution: alt
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 01:23:00 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.204334.20731@sctc.com>, boebert@sctc.com (Earl Boebert) writes...
>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

About 10-15 years ago the new products section of a Populer Science or
Popular Mechanics credited Ford for receiving a patent for just such a
device.  You look it up ...

Sucking air over the top of an (otherwise sealed) pan of gasoline then
straight into the carborator (gas closed off) operated an engine until,
presumbably, the more volitile parts had evaporated.  Then a backfire
proved pretty spectacular - though the hair grew back eventually.  This
car survived. 

Jon "you say they installed a new type of carb on the Challenger?" Randolph

                             , , , , , , , , , , , 
                            -----------------------
                           |     Jon Randolph      |
                           | ttech1@jetson.uh.edu <|
                           |      (micro-sig)      |
                            -----------------------  
                             ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 01:04:58 GMT

nielsen@crd.ge.com (Paul E. Nielsen) writes:

>and more recently
>  "Such incidents may have been in the minds of those who advanced the
>  theory that rhythmic dancing on the ill-fated skywalks of the Hyatt
>  Regency Hotel caused them to udulate in ever-increasing ammounts until
>  they fell."

We did that collapse as a case study (actually as a mock disciplinary
session) in my Engineering Law course.  We had to research the results of
the post mortems and the real sessions, and present it to the class.

It appears that the walkways as designed _did_not_ meet building code
standards.  They were also installed wrong - an onsite change was made
(without the engineers approval?) that made it significantly weaker.  I
wish I could draw you a diagram of how it was supposed to be built, and
how it was built.  I believe that the static load (non-bouncing people)
exceeded the calculated limit strength of the walkways as built - and
the bouncing just made it worse.

Our class found the Engineer in charge guilty of gross malpractice in
the design, and minor malpractice in the failure to carry out onsite
inspections.  (The student playing the part of the engineer claimed
that his company did not allot time for him to carry out onsite
inspections because they were fast-tracking another design - which is
pretty common these days.) I can't remember what the _real_ tribunal
found.

Paul "Iron Ring" Tomblin
-- 
Paul Tomblin, pt@geovision.gvc.com (Canadian first, Quebecer second)
"We sealed our federal pact without bloodshed and without exploitation of the
weak by the strong.  All it took was fairness, justice and some compromises
on both sides." - George-Etienne Cartier, Father of Confederation, 1867
From: amconn01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: there's a WHAT in my head?
Date: 6 Sep 92 12:28:40 GMT
Organization: University of Louisville

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

<stuff deleted about worm in brain>
 
> IMO this sounds a lot like the old earwig bit, or maybe the choking baby,
> but could it be true?  (My question is how did the worm get from his
> digestive tract to his brain?)  Anyone hear of similar maladies?
> 
> --

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
infection from working with a compost pile.

ObUL: An Xavier University student in Cincinnati, wearing a letter jacket,
wandered into the wrong neighborhood and was killed for disrespect to Malcom X.

Connor/Castigat ridendo mores
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Summary: Collapses yes, resonance yes, soldiers yes, all at once no.
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 08:10:55 GMT

> > 	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.
> 
> I have an actual reference to a bridge being destroyed by soldiers
> crossing in step.  A date and place are given in "Why Do Shoes Squeak"
> with the standard resonance discussion.  This would indicate that it's
> not an urban legend.  I remember the date as being in the 1800s and
> the place somewhere in Europe.

It seems about time to mention that this subject was well covered in the
newsgroup a while back, and that this was one of the founding entries
in the FAQ list.  It is true that at least one bridge[1] has collapsed due
to soldiers marching in step, and that other bridges[2] have collapsed due
to resonance or a similar effect driven by wind.

There is, however, no reason to believe that any bridges have ever
collapsed due to resonance driven by soldiers marching in step!  This
appears to be merely a persistent UL, probably based on the confusion
of the two types of incidents just mentioned.  Marching in step *is*
dangerous if the bridge is very near its maximum load, but the reason
is that it causes a "hammerblow" effect.  Also, on a very light bridge
such as a suspension footbridge, it can cause the deck to move through
such a distance that people would fall off.

[1] This is the Broughton bridge, near Manchester, England, which if I
  remember correctly collapsed in 1815.  Another case was reported in
  the newsgroup when this was being discussed before; it was in France,
  later in the 19th century, and we were told that the collapse involved
  a violent storm, so the span may simply have been overloaded.

[2] There have been two famous examples in the USA: in 1854, the Wheeling
  Bridge, and in 1940 (the lessons of Wheeling having apparently been
  forgotten), the very similar case of the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
  The latter was immortalized on film by Prof. F.B. Farquharson.
-- 
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto | "You can fool too many of the people
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com	    |  too much of the time."  -- James Thurber

This article is in the public domain.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: m05751@swing.data.st.statoil.no (Bjorn Hell Larsen)
Subject: Re: Bridges
Reply-To: bjla@statoil.no
Organization: Statoil, Norway
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 12:23:28 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.
>

A brige spanning Akerselva in Oslo, Norway carries a sign reading
(from memory)

	"Hundre menn kan jeg b{re p} min rygg,
	men faller hvis de alle marsjerer."

which can be loosely translated into

	"A hundred men can I carry on my back,
	but fall if they all march in step."

The bridge is from the latter part of the 19th century, and
I believe the sign has been on the bridge since it was new.

Maybe this is a really old UL?


bjorn
---
Bjorn Hell Larsen                              Specialization is for insects.
bjla@statoil.no		                                      -- Lazarus Long
STATOIL DATA/TD
Stavanger, Norway

-- 
Bjorn Hell Larsen                              Specialization is for insects.
bjla@statoil.no		                                      -- Lazarus Long
STATOIL DATA/TD
Stavanger, Norway
From: dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Third to be bombed...
Date: 10 Sep 92 08:56:38 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

pratta@rpi.edu (Anthony Edward Prattico) writes:

[3rd targeted city in the US for a nuclear strike]

Aww! I thought this was the 'Third Light' tale....smoking cigs in 1st WW
trenches.


--
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Junk FAX Mail?
From: moselecw@elec.canterbury.ac.nz (C.W. Moseley)
Date: 12 Sep 92 00:26:59 +1200
Distribution: world
Organization: Electrical Engineering, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

alternatively, you buy the local FAX directory on disk and use that...

In NZ at least, we have a number of commercial FAX dictionaries (WISE's etc)
that are available electronically as well as paper. They cost nothing/little
to get into, but you have to buy the directory. Hence they are quite well
subscribed.

Junk faxing is quite common: many businesses send advertising FAX's to 
anyone they can think of. True `everybody in the country' junk faxes are
not very common (i think).

MOZ
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban