HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: umland04@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Peter A. Land)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: digital alarm clocks
Keywords: digital alarm clock
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:47:37 GMT
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada


While we're on the subject of digital alarm clocks, anyone else notice this
'feature' not mentioned in the digital alarm clock manual? Of course this may
only work with certain brands.
1. Press 'sleep' and 'alarm' buttons at the same time.
      This will display the last digit of the minutes and the seconds for the current time.
2. While still holding one of the 2 buttons, hit the 'hour' button. This will
   reset the seconds of the time to zero, and round off the minutes.
3. While still holding one of 'sleep' or 'alarm', hit the 'minute' button. This
   will pause the counter for the current time.

Anyone else notice this?  I find it useful for setting the exact time on my
  clock radio. And why is it not in the manual that comes with it?

Peter Land - umland04@ccu.umanitoba.ca
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: tolman%asylum.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Re: Emergency Traffic Light Interrupts?
Date: 15 Apr 92 21:30:24 MDT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Distribution: usa

In article <1992Apr15.164620.29221@chinet.chi.il.us> koziarz@chinet.chi.il.us (Louis Koziarz) writes:
>Here's something that crossed my mind on the way to work today.  Most of the
>stoplights on busy intersections in my area have this doothingus on the top
>that is a receiver for the stobe light placed on top of emergency vehicles,

Hey, AWESOME idea (if they do that indeed).  Most definitely it would be
illegal, but who would know?   I have never noticed that doothingus on
the top of any light, but maybe I have not been looking.  It may not
be too tightly linked to frequency, so only find a portable strobe...


Something I have long wondered about doing is this:

Every light can be "bought" to change in your direction.  Thus, by
paying a small fee, you increase its likelihood of changing in your
favor.  You would set up a debit account with the traffic control, and
then have an on board transmitter which would offer bribes to the
lights as you approached.  Then in the car you could adjust its "power"
depending on your emergencies.  There would be an automatic change over
of course for general traffic (so poor people aren't left stranded at one
light forever)

Everyone wins- you don't have to pay, and you help out the road service
to build more bridges if you do.
From: robin@lsl.co.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Eggs (was re: vernal equinox, too)
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:17:17 GMT
Organization: Laser-Scan Ltd., Cambridge

In article <11040@borg.cs.unc.edu>, bergman@glycine.cs.unc.edu (Larry Bergman) writes:
>   2)  Put an egg (I can't remember if this works better with
>       raw or hardboiled - I'd guess hardboiled) egg in a glass
>       full of vinegar.  Allow to sit for several days.  After
>       a few days, the acetic acid will have leeched the calcium
>       out of the shell leaving an amazing "rubber" egg.  

A few years ago, we had a hen who laid `floppy' eggs.  They weren't 
exactly rubber, since you could feel some calcium deposition on them as 
you handled them, but they definitely weren't hard.

She was a farmyard crossed bantam, and another of her interesting 
features was that her flight primaries never developed.  This was also 
true of her brother (who was astoundingly vicious), but not of her two 
sisters, whose feathers were very attractively speckled.
-- 
Robin Fairbairns, Senior Consultant, postmaster and general dogsbody
Laser-Scan Ltd., Science Park, Milton Rd., Cambridge CB4 4FY, UK
Email: robin@lsl.co.uk  --or--  rf@cl.cam.ac.uk
From: tolman%asylum.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
Date: 14 Apr 92 21:58:36 GMT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

>> Time:	6:00	01  02	03  04	05  06	07  08	09
>> Minutes:     1	2    3	 4   5	 6   7	 8   9	10
>>
>Wrong??!?!? 
>You're wrong here. 

Yep, I must agree.  I thought this was right till reflecting on it last night.
Strange how after going to grad school my counting skills are remiss.

You start at 6:00 and have 1.  1 what?

Think of it this way- you slap the clock sometime between 6:00:01 and 
6:00:59.  We begin out count at the next flip!  So the appropriate table is:

>> Time:	6:00	01  02	03  04	05  06	07  08	09  10
>> Minutes:     0        1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10

We can't start counting before we slap!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: rknop@cco.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop)
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 15:36:05 GMT

erspert@athena.mit.edu (Ellen R. Spertus) writes:

>On all the alarm clocks I've used, pressing the snooze button causes
>the alarm to go off in nine minutes.  I've always wondered why it's
>nine minutes, instead of ten, which would be a more intuitive number
>to ordinary people.

Here's my theory: it is intentional, and the snooze alarm doesn't really do 9
minutes.

See, (according to my theory) the alarm isn't set to trigger at an arbitrary
time, but at the exact moment when the minute changes- i.e., when a new number
is placed in the far right digit on your clock.  (I think my theory only works
for digital alarm clocks.)  Your snooze alarm is set to do NO MORE THAN 10
minutes.  Thus, it sets the trigger at the current "minute" plus 9 minutes.
Thus, if you are 1 second into the current "minute" when you hit the snooze
alarm, the snooze will last for 9 minutes, 59 seconds.  If you are 50 seconds
into the current "minute," the snooze will last for 9 minutes, 10 seconds.

-Rob Knop
rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu
From: AAFEG@ASUACAD.BITNET
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: digital alarm clocks
Date: 16 Apr 92 04:42:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: ASUACAD.92106.214245AAFEG
 <1992Apr16.010934.24591@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Arizona State University

Actually, if the manual included this information, most of the population
would not be able to use the feature due to confusion as in the VCR problem.
Someone would have to invent a remote control which these people could use
to set the time exactly to the second by looking in TIME magazine for a code
number for the time they wanted to set.  This would make someone a great deal
of money and also confirm that the general population will buy anything that
is advertised on TV.

Frederick E. Garrett, Jr. PhD
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ  85287
ethernet: garrett@enuxha.eas.asu.edu

My opinions are mine, mine alone and I like it that way.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: heathh@cco.caltech.edu (Heath Ian Hunnicutt)
Subject: Head survival time after decapitation
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 09:21:51 GMT

Hello,
	I have heard tales regarding execution by guillotine that the
severed heads' eyes would pivot, often "staring-down" a loved one or
hated enemy in the crowd.  I've also heard of tongues lolling about
in what looked like speech.  

	Now, I don't mean first-hand accounts here -- I'm talking
about pure folklorish musing about executions in the French Revolution,
etc.,

	What fo you think of this?  Is it possible?  How long would you
expect a head to "survive" decapitation?  (I heard +/- 30 seconds.)

Morbidly,
Heath

-- 
Pert Plus is a technological breakthrough designed for today's active people
to look great without a fuss.  Pert Plus is a _complete shampoo plus
conditioner in one bottle_!  PERT PLUS REALLY WORKS!
(My opinions are my own, not Caltech's, not even Procter & Gamble's)
From: g8801935@cs.uow.edu.au (The Jester)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
Date: 14 Apr 92 08:27:10 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University, Australia

mayor@ic14.umeeng (Cam "You didn't see me!" Mayor) writes:


Probably a hard-wired fortran constant somewhere.

> I also like the little nine minute dream vignettes.  
me too.
-- 
\ /  /    / /  /\   | I trapped all alone in the gas station of love,
 \\/ \/\ /\ \/ \/_  | and I have to use the self-service pumps.
 / \/  /   \ \/ \   | 	--"Weird Al" Yankovic.
g8801935@cs.uow.edu.au
From: mayor@ic15.umeeng (Cam "You didn't see me!" Mayor)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: FCC Call letters
Date: 9 Apr 92 03:18:23 GMT
Reply-To: mayor@ic15.umeeng
Organization: Sun Microsystems

In article 28499@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu, lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:
>
>Can anyone properly relate the story about TV's channel one, and why we
>don't have it?  Elements of the story include the 5 and 6 meter amateur
>band, as well as the old FM band usage, etc.
>

Unfortunately, the exact reason is lost in my brain.  My Antennas prof
(Shafai, for all you emag people) spoke about this only a month ago.  
As I recall, it was in use for a while, but there were many *physical*
problems inherent with the frequency choice.  The wave could travel too
far from a specific region over the earth, causing interference with
other channel 1's in other places.  Also, I think there was some kind
of thermal noise associated around that frequency (??hmmm...was it this?)
Finally, it was abandoned as a tv channel(N.Am.) because of the troubles, but
it is still in use in some areas of the world.

---
--------------------------------------------------------------------
------"What? You mean burning purple urine isn't normal?!?"---------
----------- email: mayor@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca --------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: wiml@cs.washington.edu (William Lewis)
Subject: Re: Eggs and vernal equinox
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 92 17:10:04 GMT

In article <1992Mar31.225957.15773@hellgate.utah.edu> tolman%asylum.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman) writes:
>Anyone who maintains that they have the truth is always going to be wrong.

   Wrong. I maintain that I have the Truth, and I'm only wrong some of
the time.

>I believe you might be successful balancing an egg if you spun it to get
>some gyroscopic effects.  Who knows, it might become lighter :) 

   Speaking of which (and this is the real reason for my followup) whatever
happened to the guys (in Japan, I think) who discovered this effect? I
assume by the lack of flying imports that it turned out to be a 
mistake somewhere, but when I heard the original report it seemed
they'd been pretty thorough. Anyone have any info?


Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink)
Subject: Re: De-ionized water mishap
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 05:00:38 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <1992Apr12.193224.1615@lsl.co.uk> robin@lsl.co.uk (Robin Fairbairns) writes:

>In article <1992Apr9.041116.8503@panix.com>, carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink) writes:
>>   While I don't have any references in front of me, I'd imagine that the 
>> difference in osmotic pressure between deionized water and tap water is 
>> pretty trivial.  This means that the water would not damage cells.  It is
>> true that immersion in distilled water can kill certain human cells, i.e. 
>> erythrocytes, however cells of the pharynx and mouth are designed to resist
>> this phenomenon, and will not be harmed.

>When you say `designed', I presume you mean `have evolved'.  Which 
>raises the question `what's the evolutionary advantage of have 
>pharyngial and mouth cells resistant to deionised water?'.  Which raises 
>the further question `what am I missing here?'.

  I did, indeed mean "have evolved".  There's no special advantage to
resistance to deionized water, but any cell evolved to resist fairly pure 
fresh water (like tapwater, or clean stream water) can also resist very pure
water.  As I said above, there's little difference in osmotic pressure.


-- 
==============================================================================

Carl Fink                   carlf@panix.com
                            CF427620I@LIUVAX.BITNET
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
From: comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen)
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 22:53:48 GMT
Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.

thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:

>In article <100870001@hpcvra.cv.hp.com> andyg@hpcvra.cv.hp.com (Andrew Gryc) writes:
>>I think that an alarm snoozes for 9 minutes because it uses the frequency
>>of the AC line (60 Hz) as a time measurement, and it is using an 9 bit
>>counter.  1/60 * 512 = 8.5 minutes, so this is about right.  I remember 
>>reading this somewhere, but I can't recall exactly where.  I think that
>>9 minutes was chosen as a human-convienent amount of time to snooze, and 
>>since it has a machine-convienent representation, most alarm clocks do
>>it that way.  But I could be wrong.

>My snooze alarm goes off at precisely the second the minute changes.
>I don't think that I always hit the snooze button exactly 28 seconds into
>the minute.
>-- 

And NZ alarm snoozes also last 9 minutes, though our line frequency is 50
Hz.

jj

John Thayer Jensen                      64 9 373 7599 ext. 7543
Commerce Computer Services              64 9 373 7437 (FAX)
Auckland University                     jt.jensen@aukuni.ac.nz
Private Bag 92019
AUCKLAND
New Zealand
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
Organization: Hewlett-Parkard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 19:48:33 GMT

mayor@ic14.umeeng (Cam "You didn't see me!" Mayor) writes:
: 
:  It's really because an hour and a half is evenly divisable by nine
: minutes, and that's how long I usually seem to whack the snooze
: button before getting up.  
: 
:  I also like the little nine minute dream vignettes.  
: 
: cam.

Divide 512 by 60 and see what you get. If you don't know where the
512 came from - take a couple of lessons in basic binary arithmetic.

Bill "Neither on or off" Nelson
From: mayor@ic10.umeeng (Cam "You didn't see me!" Mayor)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:14:48 GMT
Reply-To: mayor@ic10.umeeng
Organization: Sun Microsystems


  This morning I experiemented to find that what someone else had
previously posted was exactly right.  (wow! :)
  It doesn't matter if I hit the sleep button at 8:14:01 or at
8:14:59, the alarm will still go off at 8:23:00.  This gives the
sleep button a range of essentially 8-9 minutes, not just nine.
I still don't know what this proves, but s/he was right.

cam
---
--------------------------------------------------------------------
------"It's about time to change that tired old .sig, cam."---------
----------- email: mayor@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca --------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.science:1422 alt.religion.kibology:1654 alt.slack:1452
Date: 15 Apr 92 04:21:59 GMT
From: axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au (Iain Sinclair)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science,alt.religion.kibology,alt.slack
Subject: Re: Head survival time after decapitation
Reply-To: axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au
Organization: University of Technology, Sydney

s082@brems.ii.uib.no (Ketil Malde) writes:
 >I was once told that if you cut offblood supply to the head,
 >losing consciousness will take about three seconds.  So, if you
 >can take the shock of losing the rest of your body, I suppose
 >you`d be alive that long.

I think it's more like you'll lose consciousness if the brain is
deprived of oxygen for 5-10 seconds.


films to watch:
  OUTLAND
  LICENSE TO KILL
  TOTAL RECALL
  SCANNERS


--
Iain Sinclair   axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au                             ne cede.
From: carlf@panix.com (Carl Fink)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: De-ionized water mishap
Date: 9 Apr 92 04:11:16 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <1992Apr08.133229.188191@rrz.uni-koeln.de> aeg03@rrz.uni-koeln.de (Jan T. Kim) writes:


>reading the postings on this thread two things came to my mind:
>(1) I've heard people saying that drinking deionized water was dangerous
>    too. My understandig of this is, that although deionized water would
>    soon mix with other water in the intestinal tract, it may harm cells
>    that it comes into contact with before it picks up ions from somewhere,
>    e.g. in the mouth or the pharynx.
>    Moreover, I was told that it may rapidly pass through the walls of
>    the stomach and mix with the blood. This dilutes the blood and disturbs
>    the osmotic equilibrium of the body. In severe cases, the decreased
>    concentration of ions in the blood can cause cells that are in touch
>    with the bloodstream to blow up, and if such cell death becomes too
>    massive it may be fatal.
>    I once heard these rumors and never cared to investigate any further
>    to confirm them, so they are just that, rumors.

  While I don't have any references in front of me, I'd imagine that the 
difference in osmotic pressure between deionized water and tap water is 
pretty trivial.  This means that the water would not damage cells.  It is
true that immersion in distilled water can kill certain human cells, i.e. 
erythrocytes, however cells of the pharynx and mouth are designed to resist
this phenomenon, and will not be harmed.

  Similarly, water can't be absorbed significantly through the stomach.  In
fact, the only substance I know of that CAN be absorbed through the stomach
lining is alcohol.  Water is not in fact absorbed until it reaches the
large intestine.

===========================================================================

Carl Fink                           carlf@panix.com
                                    CF427620I@LIUVAX.BITNET
                                    C.FINK4  (GEnie)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science,alt.religion.kibology
From: cgw@sol.acs.unt.edu (christopher williams)
Subject: Re: Head survival time after decapitation
Originator: cgw@sol.acs.unt.edu
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 15:48:18 GMT

In <1992Apr13.121046.10961@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> w3wes@edison.gsfc.nasa.gov (William E. Smith) writes:

>In article <1992Apr13.092151.12619@cco.caltech.edu>, heathh@cco.caltech.edu (Heath Ian Hunnicutt) writes:
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 	I have heard tales regarding execution by guillotine that the
>> severed heads' eyes would pivot, often "staring-down" a loved one or
>> hated enemy in the crowd.  I've also heard of tongues lolling about
>> in what looked like speech.  
>> 
>> 	Now, I don't mean first-hand accounts here -- I'm talking
>> about pure folklorish musing about executions in the French Revolution,
>> etc.,
>> 
>> 	What fo you think of this?  Is it possible?  How long would you
>> expect a head to "survive" decapitation?  (I heard +/- 30 seconds.)
>> 
>> Morbidly,
>> Heath
>> 
>	From Panati's EXTRORDINARY ENDINGS OF PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY:
>
>	Despite assurances that the Guillotin was painless and humane, medical
>men of the 18th Century had their doubts.  One wrote that "the severed head
>retains the faculty of feeling and thinking during several seconds."  Another
>claimed he made a pact with a condemned man, who promised to blink three times
>immediately after his beheading; he blinked twice.
>
>	These numerous tales prompted some ghastly experimentation.  Doctors
>and medical students were present at executions to perform various tests.
>Their findings were as various as the experiments.  Faces grimaced, twitched,
>blinked; lips pleaded silently for mercy, or so it seemed.
>
>	Today we know that facial muscles are still alive following a decapitation,
>and can contract in response to stimuli.  However, brain neurons do not die 
>instantaneously, but unconciousness can occur that quickly.

what about exploding heads?

>*******************************************************************************
>        ___      _      ___      ___________      ___
>       / _ \    | |    / _ \    / __________|    / _ \     Bill Smith 
>      | | \ \   | |   / / \ \  | <_________     / / \ \    Code 910.4
>      | |  \ \  | |  / /   \ \  \_________ \   / /   \ \   Goddard Space Center
>      | |   \ \_| | / /     \ \___________> | / /     \ \  Greenbelt, MD 20771
>      |_|    \___/ /_/       \_____________/ /_/       \_\ 
>Reunite Pangaea!!!                                  w3wes@edison.gsfc.nasa.gov
>*******************************************************************************

W0W!!1 NEET S1G D00D!

-cgw-

--
christopher williams   cgw@unt.edu  +1 817 565 4161  Just a guy
lead programmer/operator, university of north texas  made of dots and lines.
From: koziarz@chinet.chi.il.us (Louis Koziarz)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Emergency Traffic Light Interrupts?
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:46:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: chinet.1992Apr15.164620.29221
Distribution: usa
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX

Here's something that crossed my mind on the way to work today.  Most of the
stoplights on busy intersections in my area have this doothingus on the top
that is a receiver for the stobe light placed on top of emergency vehicles,
like ambulances and fire trucks.  The truck approaches the light, the thingy
catches the strobe, and the light changes to green to allow traffic to move
aside.  

Does anyone have more information about how these work, or any key frequencies
involved?  I'd love to rig up a maglite with a strobe or something and be
able to point it out my window on mornings when I'm late.  If this thing can
detect a strobe on an ambulance 200 yds away, why can't it detect a small
strobe held in your hand inside your car?  If possible, is this illegal to
do?  Has anyone tried this? 
 

-- 
Louis Koziarz
koziarz@chinet.chi.il.us
From: s082@brems.ii.uib.no (Ketil Malde)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Male/Female offspring
Date: 7 Apr 92 12:51:09 GMT
Organization: University of Bergen, Norway

Remember that old thread about chemistrians (:-) having a comparatively
high number of female children?  I've just come across a survey that
concludes that people living in polluted areas have a larger fractions 
of girls than boys...could this be the same thing?

There also seemed to be more spontaneous abortions(?) of male fetuses than
female...apparently, the problem is not the sperm, as many net.people 
seemed to conclude.

Is there a reason male fetuses should be more sensitive to pollution?

Would a higher number of girls be advantageous in a "dangerous"
environment?

-- 
    ; Ketil Malde,           In real life: s082@ii.uib.no +
    ; ISO-8859-1 rules         Honk if you love unicorns! +
From: walkera@egg.gg.caltech.edu (Walker Aumann)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Why do snooze alarms do +9 minutes?
Date: 14 Apr 92 05:43:41 GMT
Distribution: all
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena

In <1992Apr14.005201.15906@huuhaa.cs.hut.fi> pjo@conan.cs.hut.fi (Pasi 'PJo' Jokela) writes:

> My alarm clock keeps quiet 4 minutes 16 seconds after I yell at it.
>If your clock waits 8 minutes 32 seconds after you've silenced it, you
>should be able to draw some conclusions.  (Opening the clock won't
>probably help a lot unless the clock is _very_ old..:)

>	    PJo
True.  If you look at a schematic (What?  You bought an alarm clock without
a schematic???), you'll see anything interesting is being done by one big 
custom chip, if I remember right (it's been a little while).  Talk to whoever
makes that chip, or made that chip in the first place if you want to know why.

>-- 
>Pasi 'PJo' Jokela - Pasi.Jokela@hut.fi - pjo@vipunen.hut.fi - PJo on IRC
>              This is the essence, the death of your soul.
>             Elevate your mind, let your body take control.
>V'z ebg-13 ivehf. V znxr crbcyr ebg. Pbcl zr gb lbhe .fvt gb vasrpg vg!!

Walker