HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dg4k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Daniel Brian Greenfield)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: McMouse!
Date: 10 Apr 92 00:05:28 GMT
Organization: Sophomore, English, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Ron Dippold writes:

> Just heard on the news that some guy is suing McDonalds... clai
> instead of a McBurger he got a McMouse.  Says it didn't taste g
> he opened it up and saw the hind legs.
> 
> 
> Now I want to know a) how someone could fry a mouse and put it 
> bun and not notice, and b) why he didn't hear any bones crunch 
> crushed it's little head and body.
> 
> I also note that the one doing the talking was a lawyer, who by
> definition is incapable of telling the truth.  But there could 
> great UL in the making here.
 
I would say that it is not completely unlikely.  When I was 
too young to know better I worked at McDonald's.  We were 
mostly a bunch of teenagers, working our first job.  They 
deliberately understaffed the place so we were always doing 
two or three people's work.  We were told that there was a rule
that you must address everyone else as "sir" or "ma'am". 
 
I saw many disturbing things when I worked there.  Once 
someone dropped a burger on the floor and stuck it back in the 
bun rather than admit to the boss that he had ruined it.  One 
time I got a rather serious burn on my arm and was told to 
wash it off and get back to work (the scar took two years to 
fade - maybe they hire teenagers because they don't yet know 
they have rights, like the right to sue).
 
My point is that if the McDonald's was run the way the one I 
worked at was run, the story about the mouse getting through 
could be true.  Perhaps the employee did not want to point it 
out to the boss.  More likely there was a rush, and the employee
was looking at the bun toaster rather than the grill.
 
 
Daniel "The world is my petting zoo" Greenfield
From: scm@harvee.UUCP (S. Mudgett aka little gator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Such a deal!
Date: 9 Apr 92 11:03:10 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: gators 'r us
X-Version: Rodney's UUCP modules 02/11/90 V1.18

> >Everyone ON this list must have SOME minimum knowledge of
> >computers.  This is an empirical question.  Write a short
> >program built around the Monty Hall situation, run 5000
> >iterations of it, and check your own results.

i don't have anywhere near enough knowledge of computers to write any
kind of a program.
--
-- little gator aka S. Mudgett     email: scm@harvee.uucp
-- friend of a gator is a friend of mine
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Fluorescent Pens
From: derek@fivegl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 21:19:27 GMT
Reply-To: derek@fivegl.co.nz (Derek Tearne)
Organization: Task Management Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand

In article <92094.090924ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET> ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET writes:
>In article <1992Apr2.230525.23848@midway.uchicago.edu>, thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu
>(Ted Frank) says:
>>
>>Urban Legend: Fluorescent "highlighter" pens are radioactive and can
>>cause cancer.

They probably do cause cancer, if you smoke 20 a day... 

>>--
>This reminds me of a story I heard in a grade school science class in the
>early 50's.  People were hired to paint the numbers on those luminous dials
>on watches.  The substance that made the paint luminous was radium.  The
>painters, to keep the tip of the brush neat, would lick it now and then.

I believe this to be true. They died and the amount of radium ingested was
calculated and this value later used to extrapolate the lethal dose of
Uranium. 
i.e. You take some mice, give them a lethal dose of radium,
take some more mice and give them a lethal dose of Uranium. Work out
the ratio. Then take some people - no no you can't do that anymore. So you 
find a group of people who died of radium poisoning and Bobs your uncle!

>One day, several were in a rest room when the lights went out in the building.
>To their amazement they could see their skeletons outlined in the mirrors,
>they were so radioactive... 

Pretty unlikely I would say. Anyway wouldn't their wives have noticed well
before this! 

Derek Tearne   

-- 
Derek Tearne      derek@fivegl.co.nz | If yo
  rek      l   .nz                   | yo
New Zea
and while he wasn't looking the .sig eaters were busy at work
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: g8801935@cs.uow.edu.au (The Jester)
Subject: Re: Japanese law monsters
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University, Australia
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 13:04:58 GMT

unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (resU nwonknU ehT) writes:


>	Rice, as one good example.  US Rice would be 1/10 the price of 
>Japanese rice, even after shipping costs.. BUT NOOOOOOO.. they won't let it 
>in..  (they harrassed/arrested/embarrassed (pick any/all) someone for even
>_showing_ a bag of US rice at some kind of convention).

I wouldn't use US grains as a good example of a US export. Government
subsidies being what they are and all. On the other hand I know that 
Australian rice is being sold in Japan.

ObFolkLore:	If you read an article in a.f.u it will always be directly
related to the subject header.
-- 
\ /  /    / /  /\   | First the man takes a drink,
 \\/ \/\ /\ \/ \/_  | then the drink takes a drink,
 / \/  /   \ \/ \   | then the drink takes the man.
g8801935@cs.uow.edu.au		--Japanese proverb.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.mcdonalds
From: robie@umbc4.umbc.edu (Mr. William Robie; POSI (GRAD))
Subject: Re: McMouse!
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Academic Computing Services
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 06:57:14 GMT

In article <rdippold.702842801@cancun> rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes:
>Just heard on the news that some guy is suing McDonalds... claims that
>instead of a McBurger he got a McMouse.  Says it didn't taste good so
>he opened it up and saw the hind legs.
>
>Now I want to know a) how someone could fry a mouse and put it on a
>bun and not notice, and b) why he didn't hear any bones crunch as he
>crushed it's little head and body.
>
>I also note that the one doing the talking was a lawyer, who by
>definition is incapable of telling the truth.  But there could be a
>great UL in the making here.

Lawsuits of this kind against large corporations have gotten to be quite 
common.  In injury suits (slip and fall, especially) the plaintiff stands
to make a little piece of change -- until it is discovered that they have
tried the same trick elsewhere.  Suits over things like a mouse in the
burger/ moth in loaf of bread/ mouse in the bottle of Pepsi, etc., have
earned the mythological status of being big money makers, as well.  We all
have "heard somewhere about this guy who found a ____ in his _____ and got
$100,000 in a lawsuit", right?  Well, at one time the owners of the
establishments used to pay off what they called a "nuisance fee" -- usually
only a couple of hundred bucks -- when someone made such a claim (it was
cheaper than going to court, and usually was all the plaintiff was after in
the first place).  Now, because so many people are trying scams like this,
business owners (especially the large corps.) are taking a *very* hard line
on such claims.

As you noted, the chance of someone actually (by accident) frying and
serving a mouse are almost nil.  The chance of an employee doing
it and not expecting to be caught is equally small.  Just on the surface,
I'd say this sounds like a scam.

On a related note:
Don't ever get hurt at Disneyworld -- they will fight your claim in court
with all their resources (and that is, undoubtedly, far more than you have
to fight *them* with!).  The only way they can keep from becoming a big
target for suits of this sort (real or not) is to let the world know that
they will *not* settle a claim easily -- and they don't!!



Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: gateley@rice.edu (John Gateley)
Subject: Stupid 60s song: yellow polka dot bikini
Organization: Rice University
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 04:39:33 GMT

OK - with all this talk about the old stupid songs - I have a story
that isn't widespread enough to be a true UL.

My mom has a painting of a very young girl playing on the beach
wearing (you guessed it) a yellow polka dot bikini. It was painted by
a relative of mine (who probably lived/s in Kansas City). According to
my mom, this painting was the inspiration for the yellow polka dot
bikini song. Could this be true? I am tempted to disbelieve, but
since it is not the typical chain (foafoafoafoaf...), I wonder.

Any ideas or help? (I'll talk to my mom and find out more details)

j
--
gateley@rice.edu
Si pots llegir aquest, m'agradaria si contestara`s.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Subject: Tempered Tuning
Organization: Famed Parquet Floor
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 14:19:02 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.063123.19128@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>In article <1992Apr9.005748.1609@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson) writes:
>>The reason for tempered tuning is to allow the instrument to play equally
>>well in all keys:  basically it makes everything a bit out of tune.  
>>Fifths played on brass instruments are in tune.  On a piano, they're not
>
>Not quite.
>
>Electronic keyboards are tempered such that each note an octave apart is
>exactly 1/2 the frequency (twice if an octave up) of the first.  Further,
>the notes themselves are the twelth root of two times each other to make
>the whole thing work mathematically "perfectly".

Hm.  "Perfectly" is certainly the wrong word here.  It would better apply
to "just" tuning, where given a base frequency of 1 the fifth would be 3/2,
the fourth 4/3, and so forth.  As I said in the part you edited out, this
would sound great in the base key and closely related ones but terrible in
distant ones -- in the instrument were tuned in C, such keys as F# and B would
be unplayable.

Tempered tuning simply averages things out so _all_ keys are equally, but
tolerably, out of tune.  The fifths are flatted down to about 1.48 rather than
the just 1.5 times the base frequency.

ObUL:  Somewhere in Europe is a pipe organ with a big lever on the side.
When the lever is in one position, the organ is set for tempered tuning.
When it is in the other, the organ plays with "just" or maybe "melodic"
intonation.

Phil
-- 
|play: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG; {ames|pyramid|vsi1}!zorch!phil                |
|work: phil@gsi; sgi!gsi!phil            | Phil Gustafson                   |
|          "Everything not forbidden is compulsory"                         |
|                     The world in general, especially Republicans          |
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Falling Bullets
From: hugh@fivegl.co.nz (Hugh Grierson)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 04:10:04 GMT
Reply-To: hugh@fivegl.co.nz (Hugh Grierson)
Organization: Task Management Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand

In article <11827@tamsun.tamu.edu> glp7584@tamuts.tamu.edu (Gordon Lee Powell Jr) writes:
>
>Here's an interesting thought:
>There was supposedly a human being who exceeded the speed of sound
>in a freefall.  I believe it was during a high altitude balloon flight
>during the 1950's (?).  There was some kind of problem with the 
>pressurized gondola and the pilot was forced to jump.
>

I always interpreted the claim that he exceeded the speed of sound as really
meaning that his speed at high altitude was faster than the speed of sound
at ground level.  Misleading, but probably true.  After his initial
acceleration to terminal velocity he would be decelerating for the rest
of the descent.

BTW I also understood that the jump was planned - the pilot had oxygen
(of course), and _may_ have also worn a presurised suit (not sure on that
one...).

-- 
-Hugh Grierson--hugh@fivegl.co.nz----------Go fast or go home----------------
-Task Management Ltd-Auckland-New Zealand-Ph:+64.9.5206109-Fax:+64.9.5206101-
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.urban:11798 alt.folklore.science:1353
From: roeber@vxcrna.cern.ch
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,alt.folklore.science
Subject: Jamming traffic radar
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:25:57 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.133344.23647@alf.uib.no> s082@brems.ii.uib.no (Ketil Malde) writes:
 
>And while we're at it, I always had this dream of jamming the police
>'radars' to show, say 300km/h while you're driving along at 30 :-)
>Could this be done?

When I was at Caltech, the Pasadena police had one of those annoying
photo-radar vans that they would use to take pictures of speeders.
One of the pranks we planned on doing was to make such a jammer, and
put it in a walkman-like case.  Add a set of headphones for completeness.
Set it to 90 mph, put on Caltech track team uniforms, and jog past...

And there we'd have it: official pictures of the Caltech track team
running by at 90 miles an hour!

But by the time we got around to it, the photo-radar was thrown out
of court.  I understand it is back, but, well, students nowadays..

I've tried to interest some of the people here at CERN into doing
this same trick to the Geneva photo-radars, but knowing the Swiss,
we'd get ticketed anyway!

-- 
Frederick G. M. Roeber | CERN -- European Center for Nuclear Research
e-mail: roeber@cern.ch or roeber@caltech.edu | work: +41 22 767 31 80
r-mail: CERN/PPE, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland | home: +33 50 42 19 44
--  
"Sorry, baby, I can't take you to the pizza joint tonight, I've got to go
back to the lab and split the atom." -- Ayn Rand, "What is Romanticism?"
From: bew4568@sigma.tamu.edu (WILSON, BRUCE ERIC)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: French found Atom Glass in Algeria!
Keywords: abombs, french test, nuke algeria, green glass
Date: 7 Apr 92 02:58:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <14937@optima.cs.arizona.edu>, tzf@cs.arizona.edu (Theron Friedman) writes...
>I dunno nuthin' about the French in Algeria, but ... when I was interested
>in strange phenomena, a friend sent me an article about a similar site
>in (I think) Mexico: no known nuclear tests there, but a glass surface
>that looked fused. Sorry I can't give details; the article is maybe
>locked away in storage in Michigan.
> 
>terry "glassy eyed" friedman

Any high energy (and high temperature) source can turn sand or dirt into 
glass.  One of my friends in Utah has a sample of glass that was formed when 
a lineman was electrocuted accidentally by a 10 000 volt line.

Bruce E.
From: tjw@vm2.cis.pitt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Finally some URBAN LEGENDS (well, sort of)
Date: 17 Apr 92 22:09:19 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Apr17.140317.2097@sunova.ssc.gov>, chuck_adams@qmail.ssc.gov (Chuck Adams) writes:

> In article <1992Apr16.165726.1@vm2.cis.pitt.edu> tjw@vm2.cis.pitt.edu 
> writes:

>> How do I know all this?  My Dad met my Mother while they were both operating
>> illegally on what is now the 6 meter band (when the hams had 5 meters).

> Now it can be told................. 

My Dad's "call sign" in his bootleg days was "WIL".  My Mom's was "XAB".

When my Dad got his first Ham ticket, somebody crossed out W3WJK (the call he
was assigned) on the license and penciled in "W3WIL".  Somebody at the FCC
was trying to send a message. 

BTW: My MOM finished her ham exam before my DAD but got a callsign "lower"
in alphabetical order because of the dreaded first-in-last-out effect.

>                    "Curses!  Flamed Again"  - me

Can you get that in paperback?

Terry "--... ...--" Wood
------------^
Head-less seagull blown off by Alkaseltzer Tablets.  IT'S TRUE!!!!
From: kenm@array.com (Ken Murphy)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Rocky Mountain Oysters (Was Re: Scallops: Seafood or Spinefood?)
Date: 1 Apr 92 19:19:16 GMT
Organization: Array Microsystems, Colorado Springs, CO. USA

rmp@crashnburn.Eng.Sun.COM (Richard Pottorff) writes:
: In article <9203211752.29@rmkhome.UUCP> rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes:
: Mountains, but are actually the former testicles of former steers. Any truth
                                                      ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^

_former_ bulls || present _steers_

bulls = steers with testicles.

:-)

  O
 <M>erfman
_/ \_
From: craigr@central.cis.upenn.edu (Craig Reynolds)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Iron in blood setting off metal detectors
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:31:48 GMT
Organization: Grasp Lab

In article <1992Apr15.153908.22134@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, berger@atropa (Mike Berger) writes:

|> I have known people who couldn't wear conventional wind-up watches
|> because they became magnetized and stopped working.

I presume you mean the watches and not the people.  :)

Craig
From: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Scearce)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Run out of town on a rail
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:38:46 GMT
Reply-To: bls@sector7g.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sector7g

In article ktuhtvINNgdk@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM, linden@ella.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:
> This week's phrase is "run out of town on a rail".

My _Dictionary of Historical Slang_ is not too helpful here; the phrase
is not in the book (which concentrates on British slang prior to WW I),
but the phrase "dish of rails" is defined, if not analyzed: "'A
lecture, jobation, or scolding from a married woman to her husband'
Grose 1st ed [another slang dictionary]: late C.18 -- mid-19."

There might be some connection between the two.

Brian "Or Not" Scearce


---
Brian Scearce                               bls@sector7g.eng.sun.com
        The above does not necessarily represent Sun policy.
I know what it means to work hard on machines
It's a labour of love, so please don't ask me why.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: pciszek@isis.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek)
Subject: Re: The wacky, flakey State
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 03:53:16 GMT

billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:

>Simple geology. The river was there before the mountain range. The mountains
>rose slowly (not volcanic) and the river cut through as the range slowly
>rose. No problem at all, given a few eons.

What gets me is it doesn't have to be a particularly large river, either.
In Morrison, CO, Bear Creek cuts right thru the formation they call "The
Hogback" as if nothing were in the way.

--
Paul Ciszek, pciszek@nyx.cs.du.edu | Saddam Hussein still has a job; do you?
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,misc.kids
From: judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom Tyrer)
Subject: Re: Walla walla bing bang (was Re: Worm song?)
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Los Angeles, California
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1992 19:31:41 GMT

In article <1992Apr4.010929.21383@ims.com> johnnyb@ims.com (Johnny Battle) writes:
>
>It was: "Ting, tang, walla-walla bing-bang."
>And it wasn't the Chipmunks, at least not originally, it was ..(?) somebody.
>It came out around the same time the Chipmunks had their first Big Hit (the 
>one in which Alvin won't stop playing his harmonica). My other favorites
>from around that time were the "One-eyed, One-horned, Flying Purple People-eater" 
>and the "Itsy-bitsy, Teeny weeny, Yellow, Polka-dot Bikini" songs. I believe 
>"Ahab the A-Rab," "Does Your Chewing Gum Loose Its Flavor on the Bedpost 
>Overnight," and "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" also made it big just about then. Now,
>my question is: were the radio airways really dominated by this kind of song
>back then or did it just seem that way to a nine year old boy?  I can't think
>of many kid songs (except for a couple of Weird Al songs) that have made it to
>the charts in the past few years. 
>
>Johnny Battle.

Probably.  ANd you left out my personal favorite - 
"He wore tan shoes, pink shoelaces, a polkadat vest and man-oh-man
He wore tan shoes, pink shoelaces, a big panama and a purple hat band."
> 


-- 
I finally decided what I want on my tombstone...

	"Here lies Judy Leedom Tyrer.  The world will never see another like 
	 her.  We are undecided on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing."	
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ken@batman.austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach)
Subject: Re: Radium poisoning
Reply-To: ken@batman.austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach)
Organization: IBM Austin, TX
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 15:50:31 GMT

ICLNM@ASUACAD.BITNET (Loyd Means) writes:
>This reminds me of a story I heard in a grade school science class in the
>early 50's.  People were hired to paint the numbers on those luminous dials
>on watches.  The substance that made the paint luminous was radium.  The
>painters, to keep the tip of the brush neat, would lick it now and then.
>One day, several were in a rest room when the lights went out in the building.
>To their amazement they could see their skeletons outlined in the mirrors,
>they were so radioactive.  All eventually died of radioactive poisoning or
>leukemia.  I would have believed about anything Mr. Berry told me; I was in
>the 8th grade.  But now, I wonder.


This was on "60 Minutes," wasn't it? The original company was in
Chicago, I believe. The workers were young women hired to paint
radium paint onto clock/watch faces. They were instructed by their
bosses to lick the brush to keep it pointed. When they noticed the
radium paint glowed, some would paint their teeth, turn out the light,
and smile. They were just goofing off, but many got sick and died.

Eventually, they shut down the factory for safety violations. A short
time later, the girls went to work for another company - owned by the
same guy who owned the first company!

The gist of the story was that this guy's son had a company inside the
city that had a ton of radioactivity in the air. They had to take out
everything because it was "hot." They're trying to press charges against
the guy for environmental crimes and endangering workers.

I think one was called "Luminous Dial Company."


THIS POSTING DOES NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF MY EMPLOYERS.
-------------------------------------------------------------
	"We're just a Bob Seger cover band."
		-Les Claypool, PRIMUS
-------------------------------------------------------------
From: joanne@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Joanne Petersen)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 21:18:44 GMT
Subject: Re: Free magazine from subsription services.
Organization: Hewlett-Packard PAITC Data Center
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban

This doesn't belong in this notesgroup.....
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Subject: Re: Captain Crunch and the Phone Phreaks
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 19:43:51 GMT

unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (99E99) writes:
>	Another side note, anyone know the relevance (hint BBSing) of 
>my setenved_name_of_the_day? (99E99, that is).  Probably way too far out for
>anyone to guess what I mean.

Overflowing a remote system with bad error recovery.  Used to be able
to do this to GBBS, couldn't you?
-- 
The reader this message encounters not failing to understand is cursed.