HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Subject: LaserDiscs
Keywords: LaserDisc
Organization: Alex Technologies Ltd, London, England
Apparently-To: mail2news@demon.co.uk
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 10:47:58 +0000

In article <memo.841860@cix.compulink.co.uk>, rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk (Richard Spence) writes:
|> mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes:
|> 
|> > I want to buy LaserDiscs instead of video cassettes, for the same reason I
|> > prefer CD over cassette.  But nobody else wants LaserDisc, so nobody makes
|> > them.
|> 
|> The latest (Jan '93) issue of CompuServe magazine carries an advert for {Ken
|> Crane's LaserDisc Superstore} and states that they have 100,000 titles
|> _currently_ in stock and sales of over 30,000 discs per month.  If this
|> advert is to be believed, then the LaserDisc is alive and well in the USA.
|> --

The laserDisc IS thriving in the USA compared to the UK. It never really took
off here at all though it is having a bit of a revival at the moment. I bought 
a player a few months back and have found very few places that have a decent 
selection. 

In Oxford Street the Virgin Megastore and HMV have a smallish selection of 
Pioneer discs as does the shop down at the bottom of Regent St. (which I
cant remember the name of - its a basically a Pioneer shop anyway). There
are specialist dealers who have much better selections - the best bet is
to find their addresses from What Video or other similar magazines which
have started to cater for the "Home Cinema" market.

The other big problem in the UK is the price of the damn things. They are
typically pound for dollar equivalent which means that they are between
1.5 and 2 times as expensive as they are in the US. 

Fortunately I get to go to the States fairly regularly so I by my discs there. 
   :-)

          -----------------------------------------------------------
         /  David Quinn        /   Alex Technologies Ltd.          /
        /  dave@alex.com      /   CP House, 97-107 Uxbridge Road, /
       /                     /   Ealing,London W5 5TL            /
      -----------------------------------------------------------
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Video Plus
Date: 11 Jan 93 09:56:27 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <1iodi8INNifa@cardamom.compnews.co.uk> phil@compnews.co.uk (Phil Male) writes:

   : > I tried to look at Oracle, I'd get disgusting great multi-coloured
   : > adverts shoved in my face for fortune tellers or Nintendos or other
   : > shit.

   : Unfortunately, Teletext UK has also fallen into this trap.

   It's known as 'making a buck'.

It's known as "driving your readers away to the BBC".  Cheerio.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Transport subsidies - Was: Car Parking
Date: 12 Jan 93 05:51:36 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1993Jan11.131933.2907@lsl.co.uk> snail@lsl.co.uk writes:

>I remember something from a 2 or 3 years back when I heard that the power
>wasted by people leaving their videos plugged in, and their alarm clock radio
>and other things on 'standby-mode', totals up to enough to power the city of
>Leicester - and this is only the tip of the iceberg,

Try doing the sums. You'll find that the amount of electricity needed
by everyone's video and clock in standby mode might be enough to run a
few houses, but very far from being able to run a village, let alone a
city. How does such obvious nonsense gain such currency? I blame
underfunding of the education system :-)

-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Video Plus
Date: 8 Jan 93 12:00:39 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <20949@acorn.co.uk> steve@acorn.co.uk (Steve "daffy" Hunt) writes:

   Absolutely.  I think the new ITV teletext service is a piece of
   complete shit, really downmarket.  I suppose it is to be expected
   under a system where the right to broadcast is sold to the highest
   bidder.  Teletext UK seems to be little more than a vehicle for
   pushing 0898 phone numbers.

Huh?  From what I've seen, it's far better than Oracle ever was.  Every time
I tried to look at Oracle, I'd get disgusting great multi-coloured adverts
shoved in my face for fortune tellers or Nintendos or other shit.  I always
used BBC listings whenever I could, needless to say.  But now I can quite
happily go back to ITV, because adverts are now less intrusive.

And the Channel 4 teletext is great - we now have news, and we also have
"regional" news for the first time.  It's a bit annoying that it's called
"regional" when the content of the news all relates to Scotland rather than
to the STV area, but it's welcome nevertheless.  And their TV listings pages
give our TV, not London TV, for all 4 channels.  All in all they get a big
thumbs up from me.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
From: mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk>
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 17:56:32 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK.

joe@jshark.inet-uk.co.uk (Joe Sharkey) writes:
> In article <iqqXVB27w165w@mantis.co.uk> mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk> writes:
> >                                 What's the cost of making an LP?  The
> >total profit on a CD is about two quid, of which about 70p goes to the
> >artist.  Or so George Michael says.
> 
> Maybe for Michael Jackson/Madonna, but surely not for George Michael?

Well, assuming he manages to sell one...

> >> (sigh...) Golden ears vs manufacturing.
> >> This has been debated in double-blind tests for 20 years and more:
> >>  -- "I don't care much distortion *you* find - it *sounds* better..."
> >
> >I don't know quite what you're suggesting here.  I went to a hi-fi
> >dealer, suggested a price range, and he let me listen to a few CDs on
> >each of a number of CD players in that price range.
> 
> Headphones, or same equpment as yours in a room with same size and
> furnishing?

Similar equipment, and also headphones.  I just wanted to make the point that
I'm not one to convince myself that something sounds better because I want it
to.

> >                                                     I picked the one
> >I thought sounded best, *then* he told me the prices.
> 
> That over the last 20 years, no *single* ``golden ear'' has done anything
> to the Hi-Fi debate, except add noise. Not one - period.

So are you claiming that you can scientifically document that LPs reproduce
sound better than CDs?


mathew
From: mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk>
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Transport subsidies - Was: Car Parking
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 18:23:50 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK.

snail@lsl.co.uk writes:
> In article <PwsXVB35w165w@mantis.co.uk>, mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes:
> >> Also funny that many of the records/tapes/CDs I own have tracks on them th
> >> I don't listen to.
> > 
> > You *chose* to buy those albums.  I didn't choose to pay for the M25.
> 
> Nice mathew, neatly ignoring the other example of software libraries and
> functions I don't use. I also have libraries I don't use. I didn't choose to
> buy the libraries, but they were included in the cost.

So you *did* choose to buy them.  Or do you really swallow the "Buy one, get
one free!" stuff advertisers spew out?  Borland even do different versions of
their C++ compiler, for those who don't want to buy all the libraries.


mathew
From: igb@fulcrum.co.uk (Ian G Batten)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Solmin
Date: 5 Jan 93 13:53:48 GMT
Organization: Fulcrum Communications

In article <1993Jan5.125319.2885@lsl.co.uk> snail@lsl.co.uk writes:
> And one should be very careful with paracetamol. Its a real pity these days 
> that just about all doctors immediately recommend paracetamol in favour of
> anything else. Some people die even if they follow the correct recommendations,
> however such people are few and far between, but if you catch a suicide attempt
> with aspirin, pump their stomach, they'll generally survive, with paracetamol,
> they'll generally die, about three weeks later from liver failure... nice.
> 

There are many things that people can use to kill themselves.  Should my
kitchen contain only blunt knives?

The idea that we should make suicide attempts safer strikes me as rather
peculiar.  If people take large numbers of pills they will, as a general
statement, do themselves a great deal of harm.  Loudly trumpeting that
certain pills are OK for suicide attempts whilst others aren't misses
the point that Aspirin will, in general, kill you, absent a stomach
pump.

ian
From: bane@vtx.ma.man.ac.uk (Michael!)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Drugs
Date: 10 Jan 93 15:57:19 GMT
Reply-To: bane@vtx.ma.man.ac.uk
Organization: Magic Michael's Mushroom Factory.

In article <IDF.93Jan10032525@fat-controller.cs.bham.ac.uk>, idf@cs.bham.ac.uk (Ian Fitchet) writes:
|> 
|>  On 9 Jan 93, Michael! wrote
|> 
|> > This is misleading. You can get stoned by eating hash cakes - how stoned
|> > you get depends on how much hash is in them! (Same applies to how strong
|> > the spliffs are).
|> 
|>  Speaking from a never-done-it-myself-but-know-a-few-people-that-have
|> standpoint my understanding is that those who smoke a lot or who are
|> regular users get a lot more per unit of cannabis than those who
|> aren't regulars.  Obviously, the more cannabis then the more stoned
|> you are going to get but it is a little more involved than a
|> straightforward proportional to volume formula.
|> 
|> --
|> Cheers,
|> 
|> 	Ian
|> 
|> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Ian Fitchet     				      I.D.Fitchet@cs.bham.ac.uk
|> School of Computer Science
|> Univ. of Birmingham, UK, B15 2TT


Ummm... I'm not convinced that "experienced" smokers get more hit-per-THC-molecule
inhaled but maybe the experienced people get more hit-per-spliff since they 
have learned how to inhale and keep all that smoke in their lungs as long as 
possible without choking everything back up, whereas "newcomers" have less 
deep/long drags and therefore the active ingredients have less time to diffuse 
into the blood stream.

However, these applies to SMOKING -- eating should be the same for everybody!

(I do note, that the effects may be slightly different (as occurs for alcohol) and
that different people may perceive the effects differently.)

NO INSULTS INTENDED TO ANYBODY <-- just feeling a little paranoid today :-)


Michael

[PS Ian, do you know George Douthwaite in comp sci?]
Xref: sparky uk.misc:2432 rec.arts.tv.uk:7051
From: djs@jet.uk (David J Stevenson)
Newsgroups: uk.misc,rec.arts.tv.uk
Subject: Re: Ariston music for TV Advert
Date: 11 Jan 93 07:37:20 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Joint European Torus

In <29985@castle.ed.ac.uk> dom@castle.ed.ac.uk (Dominic A. Varley) writes:

>In article <1993Jan8.105724.19094@syma.sussex.ac.uk> nealet@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Neale Type) writes:
>>Does anyone know what the source of the music (cheap sounding computer
>>ditty) comes from, as I am sure it sounds like an old Comodore-64 game
>>tune ??
>>

>Wasn't it one of the first portable keyboards Casio produced in the `80's,
>a Casio-Tone?? Which if I remember rightly a Dutch duo produced the same music
>as used in the  advert - and beleive it or not - had a hit.  All I remember
>was that some lowlife stole all our shopping out of out car in a multistory
>car park, leaving my sister's `Casio-Tone' lying on the seat, says it all
>really.
They were German, and they were not a duo; their name, in fact, was Trio, and
the song was Da, Da, Da.
-- 
+---------------------------------------------------+
| David Stevenson  djs@jet.uk   Tel: +44 235 465028 |
+---------------------------------------------------+
- Disclaimer: Please note that the above is a personal view and should not 
  be construed as an official comment from the JET project.
From: phil@compnews.co.uk (Phil Male)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Video Plus
Date: 6 Jan 93 22:45:51 GMT
Reply-To: phil@compnews.co.uk
Organization: Computer Newspaper Services, Howden, UK.
NNTP-Posting-Host: sage.compnews.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

evansmp@uhura.aston.ac.uk (Mark Evans) writes:
: I think there is a built in margin on video plus, not sure what the
: exact value is.

We used to add a few minutes to the start and end, but stopped doing it.

: (though it could cause problems where you have one program after another
: in time, on different channels to record)

Most videos handle that, they simply trip from one to the other when either
the second programme starts or the first one ends.


--

phil 
   ___/   /
   /_/)  /             Phil Male, Director, Information Systems
  / /_ '/  Computer Newspaper Services, The Bishops Manor, Howden, DN14 7BL
 / / ///    +44 43043 Tel: 1100 Fax: 1108/2022  email: phil@compnews.co.uk
Newsgroups: uk.misc
From: dave@dhcs.demon.co.uk (Dave Hodgkinson)
Subject: Re: Drugs
Organization: IISC, dept of hackery.
	<1993Jan7.142137.23932@tadtec.uucp>
	<930108.144443.7k7.rusnews.w165w@mantis.co.uk> <14104@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Apparently-To: mail2news@news.demon.co.uk
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:23:19 +0000


In article <14104@ecs.soton.ac.uk> Nick Phillips <nwp90@ecs.soton.ac.uk> writes:

   Originator: nwp90@renoir

   In <930108.144443.7k7.rusnews.w165w@mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes:

   >I prefer the pre-emptive cure for hangovers:  drink at least half a litre of
   >water before falling asleep.  And ideally drink milk and eat something before
   >any serious drinking.

   Only half a litre?? It works far better with a couple of litres.

Be _very_ careful; If you are going to have a fit due to water
intoxication, you'd be better off doing it sober.

If I roll in late, I try to drink half as much water as I have drunk
beer; can take a bit of time, but it is worth it. Shame all the TV
that time of night is crap :-)


-- 
Dave Hodgkinson | Nearest thing to a Chief Wizard at IISC | +44 71 628 6960
S:10 I:17 W:8 D:14 C:13 Ch: 15      About to die: daveh@cix.compulink.co.uk
            Direct, to my desk, three times a day ... dave@dhcs.demon.co.uk
   This message brought to you by the most excellent Demon Internet Service
Xref: sparky uk.misc:2384 rec.arts.tv.uk:7025
From: markc@compnews.co.uk (Mark Cooper)
Newsgroups: uk.misc,rec.arts.tv.uk
Subject: Re: Ariston music for TV Advert
Date: 8 Jan 93 17:33:06 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Computer Newspaper Services, Howden, UK.
NNTP-Posting-Host: cassia.compnews.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

The tune is from the GameBoy version of Robocop. My brother told me - and I've heard it, so I agree with him...

--
                Mark A Cooper - E-mail: markc@compnews.co.uk              
        Smile, they said, life could be worse - so I did and it was...         
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 My opinions may, or may not, be shared by my employers - my people are        
 calling their people...
From: ccdarg@dct.ac.uk (Alan Greig)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Hyphening
Date: 8 Jan 93 16:33:11 GMT
Organization: Dundee Institute of Technology

In article <1993Jan8.142211.14744@clts1.comlab.ox.ac.uk>, Geraint.Jones@comlab.oxford.ac.uk (Geraint Jones) writes:
> Quoth ccdarg@dct.ac.uk (Alan Greig):
> (  One hack mentioned recently that he'd been caught out once by writing
>  ) something like:
> (  
>  )   Dr J. Smith, therapist, had just completed...
> (  
>  ) which came out as:
> (  
>  )   Dr. J. Smith, the-
> (    rapist, had just...
> 
> Can you say ``Ur-ban leg-end''?
> He me-ant ``the-rapists who pre-ached on wee-knights''.			g

Quite possibly as the column was rather tongue-in-cheek but if
you can't believe everything you read in the newspapers then the
world's in a sorry state...

-- 
Alan Greig                            Janet: Alan@UK.AC.DUNDEE-TECH
Dundee Institute of Technology	   Internet: Alan@DCT.AC.UK
Tel: (0382) 308810                 Int: +44 382 308810
              -- There is only one true conspiracy --
Xref: sparky uk.misc:2525 talk.bizarre:44412
From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
Newsgroups: uk.misc,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: VIZspeak - What is frottage ?
Date: 12 Jan 93 11:02:01 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre

In article <1993Jan11.181121.7563@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry) writes:

>Ah... you can't *have* the equivalent of an armpit at the knee, can
>you?  The knee corresponds to the elbow, not the shoulder.  So the
>analogue of the armpit for the lower half of the body must be the
>groin (not the crotch -- you've only got one of those!).

>As for the question of what the inside of the knee is called: well,
>what's the inside of the elbow called?

I was thinking of the places I've heard of people using for 
their little deviances, rather than direct correspondences of the 
various joints.

Maybe the inside of the knee is the eenk and the inside of the elbow is the 
woble.

Or maybe not.


        Never believe an experiment until it is confirmed by theory 
    Dave Budd, MCC, Oxford Rd, Manchester, England    (44|0)61-275-6033
From: eset08@castle.ed.ac.uk (J Strobridge)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: HYPNOSIS, Hypnotic Regression.
Date: 7 Jan 93 20:11:06 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

ccdarg@dct.ac.uk (Alan Greig) writes:


>> 
>> I want to find some people who can induce hypnotic regression, you know, where
>> they take you back to some earlier point in your life to work through something
>> in the past. I'd also like to know who NOT to go to.

>Take care here. While this can probably help in some cases I believe
>that "False memory syndrome" under regression hypnosis is now well
>documented.


        I must agree with this warning - be very careful here.   It's
not even so much what the hypnotist suggests that causes invented
memories but the fact that no memories exist in the first place and so 
the patient starts to invent them almost like dreaming, picking up bits 
and pieces of almost anything that seems to make sense and sticking them
together in a story.     The sense of logical reality seems to be 
suppressed during hypnosis and on waking the whole invented story is 
accepted as a "true" memory and, if there are later regression processes
the story is gradually built up on each occasion.     

       This is slightly worrying since I've heard that the police are
prepared to accept statements from witnesses under hypnosis when
questioned about some crime or other they may have seen.

        I've also heard scare stories that patients under regular
hypnosis can become highly susceptable to the situation and can easily
fall into a hypnotic condition without warning.    Whether this is true
or not I've no idea!

       Think I'll stick to dreaming!   


jill   
Xref: sparky uk.misc:2214 uk.telecom:331
From: rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Newsgroups: uk.misc,uk.telecom
Subject: Broadcast receiving licences (was Re: Cable provider offering phone service)
Date: 6 Jan 93 09:30:13 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK

In article <C0E13v.6E@newcastle.ac.uk>, S.A.McIntyre@durham.ac.uk
|> (Scott A. McIntyre) writes (though I've wrapped his lines):
|> In article <1993Jan1.232752.27337@philmtl.philips.ca>, ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn) writes: 
|> |> Although the BBC is funded by the revenue from TV licences, the requirement
|> |> of having a licence has nothing to do with whether your equipment is capable
|> |> of receiving the BBC or not.
|> |> 
|> |> The licence is a licence to _operate the equipment_, not to receive one
|> |> station or another.
|> 
|> Actually, while I know this has been over hashed and re-hashed in
|> the past, I think that the actual law (Broadcasting Act of 1990
|> (?)) says that you need pay for a license for any equipment which
|> is capable of receiving electromagnetic, electrochemical, etc etc,
|> and so on transmissions...someone even mused that according to the
|> law we technically need to pay a fee to be able to speak in public.
|> 
|> If your equipment is capable of receiving any electromagnetic
|> signals in the bandwidth which tv signals are broadcast in, then in
|> theory you need a lic.
|> 
|> I could be wrong...infact, I probably am.

You're confusing the statements about the PO monopoly of communication
in the days when the PO _had_ a monopoly of telecommunications.  It
was in those days, according to my reading, that one committed an
offence by talking to a companion in the street.  (I mean, by talking
to _any_ companion in the street...)

One used to need a licence for any radio-frequency reception kit, but
now it seems that only televisions are important.  In the unlikely
event of my household switching to Cambridge Cable, I would refer to
the carrier about the need for a licence.  There's obviously confusion
on this here net  :-)
--
Robin (Keep Radio 3 != Classic FM) Fairbairns       rf@cl.cam.ac.uk
U of Cambridge Computer Lab, Pembroke St, Cambridge  CB2 3QG, UK
From: rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Solmin
Date: 8 Jan 93 09:59:04 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK

In article <1993Jan7.121348.27668@its.bt.co.uk>, tjo@its.bt.co.uk (Tim Oldham) writes:
|> [...]
|> There is no general remedy for the common cold, as it is a viral infection
|> with new variations every year. Remedies cover up the symptoms to make it
|> bearable; your body will deal with the cold in time. Why feel miserable if
|> you can safely avoid doing so? 

I take your point.  My experience with those symptom-suppressors hasn't
been good, however - I often feel just as bad with them as without.

|> Aspirin and paracetemol do more than relieve pain; they also lower the
|> temperature, which aids recovery. Paracetemol also reduces inflammation;
|> it's the first line of defence against arthritis, for example.

I think you're wrong, in the sense that _both_ reduce inflammation.  I
remember hearing that the big challenge for anti-arthritis drugs was
to produce something that's _better_ than aspirin (which is, as we all
know, prone to make one eat one's own stomach).  All the arthritis
sufferers I know have (or had) Ibuprofen as their first-line defence.
I don't know what they gave my grandmother when she first started
suffering, however...
--
Robin (Keep Radio 3 != Classic FM) Fairbairns       rf@cl.cam.ac.uk
U of Cambridge Computer Lab, Pembroke St, Cambridge  CB2 3QG, UK
Xref: sparky uk.misc:2554 rec.arts.tv.uk:7119
From: S.A.McIntyre@durham.ac.uk (Scott A. McIntyre)
Newsgroups: uk.misc,rec.arts.tv.uk
Subject: Re: Papa! Nicole! (was Re: Ariston music for TV Advert)
Date: 12 Jan 93 15:17:29 GMT
Reply-To: S.A.McIntyre@durham.ac.uk
Distribution: uk
Organization: University of Durham

I'm not entirely sure *where* the ski's were supposed to go inside that car...we are
supposed to infer that they put all their ski gear in it, as there was nothing on the
roof.  Perhaps the Renault Clio is the first full production TARDIS as there was no chance
of getting several sets of skis / equipment in one of those.



-- 
EMAIL: S.A.McIntyre@durham.ac.uk   OR   scott@shrug.dur.ac.uk (NeXTmail)
SNAIL: Pyschment of Departology, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE
SUN Computers:  "Nice chips, shame about her OS"
"If a virtual tree falls in a virtual forest, does it make a virtual sound?"