Conference turris::womannotes-v3

Article 9638 of alt.folklore.urban:
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From: linden@adapt.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Latest FAQ (lots of new stuff)
Message-ID: <9690@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 12 Mar 91 22:46:08 GMT
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Reply-To: linden@eng.sun.com (Peter van der Linden)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
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         Official Usenet Alt.Folklore.Urban Frequently Posted Legends

This is alt.folklore.urban -- the newsgroup where nonsense is revered
as an artform, and fun-loving scientists debunk febrile fantasy with feisty
facts.  
The purpose of summarizing these frequently-seen legends, is to inform
newcomers of topics that have already been exhaustively discussed, and 
that everyone is now heartily sick of hearing about.  As Tom Neff 
(tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM) points out, an urban legend:
    * appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously
    * reappears in varying forms
    * contains elements of humor or horror (the horror often "punishes"
      someone who flouts society's conventions).
    * makes good storytelling.

There are many other legends not summarized here; these are just the ones
that have been beaten to death.
But if you still think your story is original and different, then post! 

Key to one liners below: 
        T = guaranteed true, or twice your money back
        Tb = believed true, but not conclusively proven
        F = guaranteed false, or twice your money back
        Fb = believed false, but not conclusively proven
        U = unanswered and probably unanswerable
        K = fake legend entry for detecting copyright violators :-)

THE MISAPPLIANCE OF SCIENCE
T. Some universities, cities are riddled with semi-secret utility tunnels.
T. Coriolis force affects fluids if you take incredible pains to isolate it.
T. F51D plane can flip due to engine torque. (A. Frisbie posted pilot's manual!)
T. Soldiers break step when marching over bridges (trivially observed).
F. Bath water drains the other way round in other hemisphere, due to Coriolis.
F. Bridge falls down if soldiers don't break step when marching over.
F. Various university libraries sink; books heavier than architect thought!
F. Same as above, but pool not library, weight of water, not books.
F. Coloring your CD rim with special marker will enhance sound quality.

STUPID PEOPLE TRICKS
T. Craig Shergold, UK cancer kid,sought postcards, overwhelmed with 33 million.
Fb. US GI captures Iraqi soldier - they knew each other from Chicago.
F,T,U. Fast food places use unusual ingredients: worm, 'roo meat, rat.
F. Tourist's room is burgled, later finds snaps of "toothbrush up thief's ass"
F. Half the stupid stories the "twin piques" Ann Landers & Dear Abby reprint.
F. College roommate commits suicide, gets you an automatic "A" for courses.
F. Cook cheated into buying Mrs Field's recipe, gets revenge by spreading it.
F. "3 Men & a Baby" has a scene with a real ghost in it.
F. Wife sprays toilet with flammable bug spray, husband shits, smokes, explodes.
F. Stranger at restaurant eats your cookies, you grab, later find you took his.
F. "Blue star" or cartoon character "tattoos" laced with LSD sold at schools.  
F. Aluminum ring pull tabs can be collected & exchanged for dialysis machines.

HIDE THE SALAMI
T. John D. Rockefeller III died of cardiac arrest while boffing the help.
T. People put assorted objects up their asses, get stuck, removed in hospital.
U. Well-known media personality put a gerbil up his ass for "wriggly furry fun"
U. Well-known male pop star rushed from concert, stomach pumped free of semen.
F. In Nairobi, gangs of thieves may surreptitiously steal your privates.
F. Gangster John Dillinger's long wang is pickled in a jar at/near Smithsonian.
F. Spanish fly (Cantharides) is aphrodisiac (actually genital tract irritant).
F. Woman tied naked to bed, man in superhero costume with broken leg in closet
F. Hetero couple get stuck together while coupling.  Separated at hospital.
F. One night stand, goes early, leaves message that partner will get AIDS.
F. Student is regularly nocturnally chloroformed by roommate, for sodomy.

DISNEY DEMENTIA
T. Disney parks are riddled with secret tunnels and surveillance equipment.
T. "Little Mermaid" video cover features good drawing of penis. Prank? Revenge?
T. There is a basketball hoop at the top of the Matterhorn replica.
T. Male Disney workers are not permitted to grow beards (OK for women tho?)
T. There is a secret "Club 33" serving hard liquor,in New Orleans Sq,Disneyland.
T. Clerics in their robes are admitted to Disneyland at concessionary rates.
F. Child disappears from Disneyland, found with new haircut, dyed by abductor.

GOVERNMENT AND OTHER PARANOIAS
T. The CIA, NSA and 11 different secret govt organizations tap & bug everything
T. Princess Anne was the only competitor not given sex test in 1976 Olympics.
T. No matter how ill, gay, deaf, or demented you acted, draft board had you A1.
T. NSA restricted std key-length of computer encryption,so they can crack codes.
T. London doctor struck off for inveigling Turkish peasants to donate a kidney.
U. George Bush persuaded Iranians to delay hostage release to aid Reagan election.
   (the later favor-in-return, was the Iran-contra deal).
U. Govt has secret plan to replace the currency overnight to foil drug barons.

WILD LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
T. Mongo-power engine installed in weenie-looking car.  Blows off Corvettes.
F. Man working on roof ropes himself to car on other side;wife drives off.Splat.
F. Hitchhiker disappears, is ghost of person killed years ago in road accident.
F. Valuable classic car sold for pittance by (1) grieving parents of war dead
F,U (2) spouse of errant husband (3) heirs of person who died and rotted in it.
F. A psycho's handhook hanging from the cardoor, broken off as couple drove away
F. Carthief squashed dead in stolen BMW by collapsing freeway in '89 SF quake

ANIMAL CRACKERS
Fb. Horse falls thru bottom of trailer, legs ground to stumps
K. Tigers don't attack natives who wear rubber mask of face on back of head.
Fb. Driver runs over exotic animal,wraps in coat for fun photo;revives,runs off!
Fb. Trapper ties dynamite to coyote, releases; coyote runs under his car/house.
U. Dog put in microwave to dry out- dies gruesome death/lives to bark again.
F. People found a rat in Mexico and brought it home thinking it was a dog.
F. A Doberman choking on fingers that it bit off burglar hidden in closet
F. Dead rabbit nextdoor dug up by dog; washed, put in cage by frantic dogowner.
F. Seagulls explode when you feed them Alka-Seltzer or rice
F. Guinea pigs' eyes fall out if you hold them up by their tails.

ARTHROPOD CRACKERS
T. Cockroaches love coffee, live in TV's, too often get in your cup or food.
F. Insect bite on face; months later baby insects eat their way out.
F. Cactus shakes, then explodes with hundreds of scorpions/spiders 
F. Explorer gets bug in ear; bug eats thru to other ear; gave birth on way...

Longtime subscribers to this group have seen them all before.  These
and many other fine legends can be found in the books of William Poundstone
("Big Secrets", "Bigger Secrets"),  Jan Harold Brunvand ("The Vanishing
Hitchhiker", "Curses! Broiled Again"), and Cecil Adams ("The Straight
Dope", "More from a Really Straight Dope").

------
Original FAQ list by Peter van der Linden, February 1991.
Last updated: March 12, 1991, PvdL.



Peter van der Linden     linden@eng.sun.com    (415) 336-6206
 Modern aphorisms #237: "Ex post fucto" means "lost in the mail"


    

Did you know that you can get high by drinking Coca-cola and swallowing
aspirin at the same time?

D!

    If you drink Coke then eat PopRocks, your stomach will explode.
    
    Lisa

Not for the squeamish...










(really, I'm *serious* about this.)












One time this woman went to the doctor because she had been bitten by a
spider on her face, and a few weeks later her cheek had swelled way up,
and was itching and tingling.  Doctor cut the swollen spot, intending to
drain it to discover: the spider had layed it's eggs in the woman's
cheek and it was filled with baby spiders, which came rushing out when
her cheek was opened by the doc.

D!

One of the more famous ones involves a driver who picks up a hitchhiker. 
Hitcher gets in back, gives address, is silent. Driver turns around later to
check address, hitcher is gone. Drives to address, where it turns out that
hitcher was killed [n] years ago at the spot he was picked up, and shows up
hitching home every year on the anniversary of his/her death.

Much reported (my mother even said one of her cousins had this happen).

    
    that one was the subject of a CW song, "Giddayup Go"..

    in re bugs,
    
    years ago i did read in a scientific journal about a person who
    had ben in south america who was found to have fly maggots
    in his body, I think near or in the ear...of a kind of fly 
    that preys on living organisms.
    
    it ws one of those 'barely escaping having them loose in the southern
    US' types of things.
    
    I am pretty sure it was not an urban legend.
    
    Bonnie
    
    p.s. there is an article in human_relations that I started years
    ago which I think I titled 'why do people believe these things?'
    on urban legends and the man Jan Brunvald (?) who researches them.
    
    

    
    Jerry,
    
    I've heard that one too.....wasn't it based on a short story by
    some well-known author?
    This has been bugging me for years (forgive the pun)- I'd love
    to know who wrote the story...
    'gail

    Apocryphal tales....
    
    alligators in the sewers...
    
    mutant you-know-whats in the sewers !
    
    cars which have 'personalities' (not 'faults' !)

    o After the Crash of '29, dozens of bankrupt investors jumped out of
    Wall Street windows or off the tops of buildings. [The figures I've
    seen on this indicated that there was only one death that day, from
    heart failure; nobody jumped out of windows. I was terribly
    disappointed, as the idea of it "raining stockbrokers" had a certain
    appeal...]
    
    -b

There are species that live within the human body at one stage of
their life or another.  I don't mean to be disgusting, but think of
bacteria, worms, viruses, trichinosis, elephantiasis, etc.  It is not
too great a jump from there to the "nest of spiders" story.  My
parents, when they were in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, had to
iron all of their clothes after hanging them out to dry.  This was to
kill the larvae of a certain insect that would lay its eggs on the
clothes on the line.  Left alive, the larva burrow into the skin.

Ben

    re .11, gosh, that is a dissapointment.  I always enjoyed the thought
    of all those stockbrokers leaping out windows myself!
    
    Lorna
    

    I think the short story was something like "Earwig" by
    Saki, or Lovecraft or someone.  Read a loooong time ago in a book
    of short horror stories.  Great for a summer read -- quick, where's
    the Cutter!?

    Re .12: Hey, I recall a short story [in, I think, "Playboy"... ;-)]
    about a man living in some exotic clime or other, wherein he got
    terribly teed off because the woman who kept house for him insisted on
    ironing all his shirts. Since he was one of those modern, casual
    Americans, he got very impatient and kept telling her it was OK to let
    it ride, but she went on doing it. (That oft-used dramatic device,
    "language barrier," apparently prevented her from explaining why.)
    Eventually he grabbed a half-ironed shirt, exclaiming that he didn't
    mind if the seams were still a bit damp, and off he went - only to wind
    up picking parasites out of his skin some time later, with the help of
    the woman. [For some reason, "I told you so" can surmount any language
    barrier.]
    
    Anyhow, I thought the premise (larvae-in-the-skin) seemed possible, but
    unlikely; so it's really true after all, eh? Let's hear it for the
    "truth is stranger than fiction" category!
    
    -b (who isn't moving anywhere that makes ironing a health requirement!)

scabies are not myth.  From unfortunate experience, I can assure you that they
are all too real, and horrible, little mites that live and breed in your skin.
My son picked them up by wrassling with some other boy in school last fall.  The
treatment involves slimy pesticide applied to the whole family and doing LOTS of
laundry, not to mention depriving your kids of their favorite stuffed animals
for a prescribed period of time, and/or subjecting the toys to destructively
high heat in the dryer.

Yukky yukky yukky yukky yeeccchhhh

    the treatment my mother used in the early/mid-40s, sometimes, was to
    rinse the head (hair) in kerosene/oil burner oil.

Herb, that was for head lice, not scabies.  We had head lice brought home from
school/daycare early last fall too.

Thirty-nine years I lived on this earth with no experience of human parasites
(parasites of humans, that is).  Just lucky I guess...

    mmmm, guess my mother didn't know the difference. She called it
    scabies.

    When I worked in the medical field, these two myths
    circulated.  The source of information was usually someone's
    inlaw who worked in an emergency room in a "nearby town":
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Stuck on you
    
    A man presents himself to the ER with a delicate problem.
    He and his wife had a blowout argument, so while he was taking a nap
    she glued his penis to his stomach with Super glue.
    
    
    Saturday Nite Fever?
    
    One weekend night, a young man was admitted to the ER after being
    involved in a car accident. It was believed he had a broken leg, and other
    injuries to his lower body.  When the staff tried to remove his pants,
    he fought them off.  After he was sedated, and his pants were removed,
    the ER folks discovered the reason for the fight.
    
    A peperoni was strategically located in the guy's underwear.
     

    Re 20,
    
    I never believed it was myth!  I worked for a lawyer in Canada that was
    famous for his wanderings and his wife's tantrums about such
    wanderings.  One night she got fed up and glued his penis to his leg.
    In this case the individual has a name and we know him well!! 
    
    Kim 

    Whatsizname?
    
    
    
    John Holmes?

    How about the woman who was annoyed that her boyfiend had asked
    her to move out of their/his apartment.  He decided to leave for
    the weekend to make her packing and leave taking less emotional
    and was then afraid that she would wreak vengence on his stuff.

    When he got back, she was gone, all her stuff was gone and all his
    stuff was in normal shape.  Except the phone was off the hook.
    
    At the end of the month he got a whopping phone bill for a 37 hour
    long phone call to Tokyo.

    Re: 4 (spiders, etc)
    
    That's a plot development from the 1987 movie "The Believers" with
    Martin Sheen and Jimmy Smits.  I don't know which came first, the
    myth or the movie.
    
    LArry

    When I was little, my "friend" next door told me I was manufactured in
    the Tungsol factory down the street.  
    
    Thought babies got dropped down the big chimney at the hospital by the
    stork.   (Didn't believe my Mom when she told me the truth - "Why would
    anyone WANT to do that?")
    
    In a related development, how about the kids who are convinced that
    they were adopted, that their parents are lying?
    
    Other childhood notions:
    
    At the end of streets, there is a HUGE pit in the ground
    
    The nuns told my friends that if you use hairspray and tease your hair
    (this was the 50's), you'll get bugs in it.
    
    Keep making awful face, it'll freeze forever.

>>    At the end of streets, there is a HUGE pit in the ground

In New England, they're usually right in the MIDDLE of the streets.

    Back in the days of the bee hive hair do, many teenagers used
    sugar water to stiffen the bee hive. There were many stories
    that girls who used this method and left the bee hive up for
    a week or more had found maggots in their hair. This makes some
    sense biologically but if they are true or not I have no idea.
    
    Bonnie

	re: .28

	Many punkers still use sugar water, and some of them would
	probably be delighted to discover maggots in their hair.
	In fact, I think that's the name of a band.  Hair Maggots.

	Carla

my mother used to have one of those teased-and-sprayed hairdos.  She was driving
us somewhere one spring day when an errant bee flew in the window and got stuck
in her hair.

She almost killed us all that day!

    
    Sugar water probably tastes better than hairspray.
    
    CQ

    And then there was the poor fellow who lived in a big city with his
    beloved dog, Poochie.
    
    And one day Poochie died.  Distraught, and lacking a back yard to
    perform a suitable burial, the man called various veterinarians to
    get help.  He finally found a vet that would cremate beloved Poochie's
    remains and put the ashes in an urn.
    
    He picked up poor stiff Poochie, tenderly wrapped him in a blanket
    and went outside to get a cab.  A cab stopped but the driver refused
    to transport a man carrying a dead dog.  So the man went to the
    <underground conveyance>(BART, T, Metro, IRT)  but was not allowed
    on.  So he went back home, put Poochie in a suitcase and went back
    to public transportation.
    
    Much distracted by grief, the man did not pay much attention to
    the ride.  Finally, he got to the station nearest the kindly vet's
    office.  He stood and reached down for the suitcase.
    
    It had been stolen.

I can guarantee that some folks *do* put various *things* up their asses. I
x-rayed a guy who came in to have a small flashlight removed. I saw an x-ray
that showed someone with a bottle up there - though I'm not sure that last 
wasn't a fake picture created by one of the techs - it was a pretty big bottle. 

I once x-rayed a pregnant woman - yes, we really did that back in the old days -
and her fetus had almost no head. The doctors had suspected it and she kept
asking us what we saw. It was awful. 

My favorite ER story is the "blue man". This guy came in all blue and silver
over his face and chest. He'd been snifing the aeresol spray from spray paint
cans. By the time I did his chest x-ray he was having a lot of trouble breathing.

Or there was the guy who'd been in a hooker's van having sex with one while the
other drove. They had an accident and he and the woman were seriously injured.
I went out to the waiting room to tell his wife she could go to the room and
see him and she was sitting right next to the hooker who had been driving. No
on had told her yet how the accident had happened. I certainly didn't.

After 7 years in the hospital I am *never* surprised by the natural stupidity of
the human animal. I've even seen women have babies and say they didn't know they
were pregnant!!! That happened twice in the time I worked the ER. I could go on
for sometime. You can't beleive what you see in a big city ER. liesl

    Remember all those goofy stories little girls told each other?
    
    Such as:
    
    Don't use gas station ladies rooms.  The men who work there put a
    secret hole in the wall so they can watch you.
    
    Laura

    You think that's a myth?
    
    :-)
    
    ed

Little girl myths?

They told me you could get mono from "kissing too much".  I implemented 
this as never kissing for more than 5 minutes at a stretch.  Always stopped
for at least a 30 second breather every 5 minutes.  

Got mono anyway.

D!

    Don't feel bad (hah! like you really do!) D!
    
    When I was in 5th grade, my girl scout leader took it upon herself to
    teach us the facts of life.  *My* mother, for one, was quite relieved. 
    However, she did want to make sure the our leader had told us we could
    get pregnant by kissing boys!
    
    
    sigh.......   (*8   I never did!
    
    
    E Grace

    Heard a good one this weekend, that sounded like myth but I was 
    assured by my uncle it was true.
    
    A Mexican businessman who drove frequently to the US for meetings
    was waiting in his car in the US customs line somewhere along
    the California border.  He spotted a group of DEA agent types
    with drug-sniffing dogs, accompanied by a television crew, and
    was watching the dogs sniff the other cars in line.  All of a 
    sudden, they started barking furiously and running toward his
    car.  All the dogs, the agents and the television crew surrounded
    his car, dogs yelping, DEA agents with their guns drawn, television
    crew foaming at the mouth because they think they're going to film
    a bust.  The DEA agent ask our businessman to pop the trunk, which 
    he does, and the DEA looks into the trunk and slams it shortly 
    thereafter with a look of utter disgust on his face.  The DEA agents 
    drag the dogs away, and the television crew move on.  The Mexican
    businessman passes through customs with no problem. 
    
    A few miles down the highway, the guy stops to see what was in his
    trunk that excited the dogs so much, and he finds two ten-pound
    bags of dog food. 

    On the same vein as .36:
    
    A cabbie in New York yesterday saw a commotion on the street...and when
    he went to look at what it was he was quite surprised...a large
    cardboard box complete with six human heads with skin and hair...
    
    He claimed one even had a moustache.
    
    Jill
    
    P.S. This cabbie also claimed that this was not the most astounding
    thing he had seen in NY...kind of makes me not want to go out on the
    streets of this city!
    
    P.P.S. - the story is true....some doctor of sinus-ology was
    transporting the heads to a medical lab, left them in his car, and some
    idiot stole them, and left them on the street...hence, the cabbie
    finding them.  Bet this thief was surprised too!
    

    The elderly woman in New York was walking her dog in the park.  She had
    a closed paper bag in her hand.  Some punks stole the bag.
    
    Boy were they surprised to find the bag had dog poop in it!
    
    
    Along the same lines -
    I once had a necklace ripped off me by a kid in New York.  It was fake
    gold, value $1. Not that I was very pleased anyway. . .
    
    Laura

I heard a story about pre-WWII Germany, when inflation was so rampant that the
money was essentially worthless and you had to carry bills around in baskets.
Some woman was doing just that, left the basket of bills on the sidewalk for a
moment while she went into a storefront, and came out to discover the bills
dumped on the sidewalk and the basket stolen.

    My mother worked in the emergency room for 15yrs. She had a lot of
    gory stories to tell at dinner time (then she wondered why I did
    not want to be a nurse :). 
    She also had stories about people putting things up their but & not
    being able to remove them. One man had to have a small rubber ball
    cut out of his butt!
    
    Also a doctor decided to ask the relatives of a man who had shot
    himself in the head about organ donation before he had actually 
    stopped breathing.  When the relatives refused & wanted to have
    the body picked up for the mortuary the doctor started panicking,
    since the relatives thought that he had stopped breathing !!
    But the man did stop breathing finally so there was no scandal that time.
    My mother also said women came in with labor pains & did not they were 
    pregnant.
    
    A teenager in Nashville , had her baby in the toillette during one
    of her high school classes, left it in the toillette, went home,
    and later said that she had not known that she was pregnant.
    
    

    I heard this on the radio one morning on my way into work, the incident
    took place in Florida, If I remember correctly. So this one's true,
    too!
    
    Smoking *CAN* save your life!! A woman was attacked on the street by a 
    man wearing elastic waisted pants. Being a quick thinker, she snapped
    back the elastic & threw in her LIT CIGARETTE! She escaped unharmed &
    the thug was thrown in the slammer!!
    
    BTW-----> In 8th grade I was told that you can't get pregnant the first
    time you have sex! The person who told me this found out the truth the
    hard way! :*(
    
    Bonnie

No, this is not an urban legend!

 A group of us in Burlington (MA) will soon be starting work on an original
local TV series called "Tales For Our Time".  I've attached the press release
at the end of this note.

 We/I need help.  If you've ever wanted to get involved, especially with 
creative stuff like scriptwriting and writing of screenplays, give me a call
or send mail. The shows will be produced in the Burlington (MA) area, but 
anyone who wants to help in any way is welcome.  No, there's no money in it,
but there's fame and a chance to see your name and/or face on TV. Also, if 
you're trying to get into "real" writing and/or acting, then this could be a 
good way to get some practice in. (looks good on a theatre resume, also).
 Once we get a couple of shows on tape, then you can approach your local cable
company/cable access channel to have it shown locally. 

 We'll be having our first production/team-building meeting on June 6th,
which is a Thursday night, at the studio in the Burlington High School (Room
128).  If you're interested, send me mail and I'll send you directions .

						Nigel

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                        "Tales For Our Time" : Press Release


          For more information, please contact Sarah Twiss [BCAT Access
          Director] (617) 273 5922 



           Burlington Cable Access Television is developing an original
          drama series called "Tales For Our Time." The series will be
          broadcast later this year on Channel 52 in Burlington. Work
          has already begun at the BCAT studio in the High School.

           Initially, the stories will be based on what are known as
          "urban legends"; the stories that always seem to begin with
          "Well, someone I know had a friend who...". Each episode will
          feature members of the Burlington community, for everything from
          the scriptwriting through to the final editing and cablecast.

           BCAT already teaches its volunteers how to operate the
          equipment; the cameras, video-tape recorders, editing systems,
          character generators, microphones, lights and all the other
          aspects of a television studio.

           Now, the "Tales For Our Time" series will teach the volunteers
          something about the rest of the process of developing a TV show.
          Each episode will need scriptwriters, actors, set designers,
          artists, musicians, camera operators, sound operators, lighting
          technicians, editors, and even a director. All these jobs will
          be filled by Burlington residents, who will share their
          knowledge with the other BCAT volunteers during the production.

           "It's a cooperative learning process," says Nigel Conliffe, the
          BCAT volunteer behind this series, "We have some volunteers who
          know how to do some of it, and we're hoping to bring in those
          people who've always wanted to try but were afraid to ask. And
          by having the crew change from episode to episode, we can have
          people 'try' a particular job to see if they like it. This also
          encourages experimentation; the goals of the project are to
          learn, to have fun and to produce a good show, not necessarily
          in that order."

           Working on the "Tales For Our Time" series will give people the
          background and knowledge to go on to produce their own shows.
          "A lot of people have great ideas about what sort of shows they
          would like to see on BCAT," says Sarah Twiss, BCAT Access
          Director, "but they're not sure how to go about turning their
          ideas into television. We can build teams of volunteers to work
          on all kinds of new and exciting ideas."

           A community cable television station is only as strong as the
          people who participate in developing and videotaping the various
          shows. Starting with this new project, BCAT is working to
          provide a creative environment for audience and volunteers
          alike.

           If you'd like to help or if you have an idea for a program that
          you'd like to see on TV,  then give BCAT a call at (617) 273
          5922

    I stand corrected....a friend tells me the proper newsgroup is
    alt.folklore.urban.
    
    -Jody