HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: andrewt@watson.ibm.com (Andrew Taylor)
Subject: Re: Homing Pigeons
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 03:00:08 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In article <1992Nov18.002157.5248@reed.edu> pbray@gluttony.reed.edu
(Peter Bray) writes:
>I recently bought a pair of breeding homing pigeons.  i was dismayed to find
>out, though, that the pair will "home" to the site that they were born at.
>Is there anyway to "reset" there homing ability to a place of my desire?

Pigeons navigate via variations in the earths magnetic field.  You can
"de-program" your pigeons by passing a degaussing wand (like TV servicemen
use) slowly about 1cm above their head.  It will take them about a week
to re-program to their current location.

Andrew Taylor
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: quezon@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Antonio Quezon)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: East coast raptor migration
Date: 19 Nov 92 19:11:14 GMT
Reply-To: quezon@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Antonio Quezon)
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD


This fall has been a rather slow one, in terms of raptor
migration, from what I have observed along the east coast
and southern Appalachian regions.  I have spent two weeks
in Cape May, N.J. and the rest of the weekends this
season on Short Hill Mountain (near Harper's Ferry, West
Va.) trapping and banding hawks.

The two weeks I spent in Cape May (one week at the end of
September and the other week in the middle of October)
were quite unremarkable.  The numbers seen at the hawkwatch
platform at the Cape May State Park are going to be
quite low compared to years past.  The weather has been
devoid of fronts and more appropriate for beach-going.
Bill Clark says that triple digit Sharp-shinned Hawk and
American Kestrel days may be a thing of the past.  The
number of hawks banded by the Cape May Raptor Banding
Project this year is going to be down.

Raptor migration along Short Hill Mountain has been almost
non-existant.  There have been only a few days where there
seemed to be significant raptor movements.  Otherwise
numbers of hawks both seen and trapped are down.  Last
season over 400 Red-tailed Hawks were banded on Short Hill,
this year we will have to hustle (get lucky?) to get 300.

I have my theories, but I'm curious to hear what others
think.  What are the observations/perceptions of other
east coast raptor enthusiasts out there?  For that matter,
what are other people across the continent experiencing?
Any theories or explanations?  I am aware of the tremendous
crash in the Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel
populations.  I've heard and read theories explananing
this crash.  What have others heard?


A.J. (Tony) Quezon
CARDEROCKDIV,NSWC
Code 1282                              1419 Cuttermill Ct.
Bethesda, MD 20084-5000                Herndon, VA  22070
U.S.A.                                 Home: (703)435-3965
Office: (301)227-1645
From: wvenable@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Hooded Pitohui
Date: 23 Nov 92 12:27:22
Organization: Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au
In-reply-to: andrewt@watson.ibm.com's message of Sun, 22 Nov 1992 16:13:55 GMT

>>>>> "Andrew" == Andrew Taylor <andrewt@watson.ibm.com> writes:

Andrew> I seem to have a credibility problem....

Does anyone remember an hilarious account of the bird known as "The Common
Hoodwink" (Dissimila spuria, Moriarty)?  It's infuriating, but I can only
remember the name, I can't even remember the context in which I heard it.
But it was very funny, I can remember that bit...a good one to bamboozle
your more gullible non-birder friends with.

Andrew> I was filling in the long drive back from birding Cape May with
Andrew> stories of Australia's array of dangerous fauna.  After accounts of
Andrew> venomous snakes, spiders, fish, molluscs jellyfish, octopuses etc.
Andrew> (all deadly) ...

After Crocodile Dundee and you forgot the salties?  :-)

Andrew> Andrew "de-gauss that pigeon" Taylor

Bill Venables.
--
___________________________________________________________________________
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@stats.adelaide.edu.au
Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Tel: +61 8 228 5412  Fax: ...232 5670
From: holld@essex.ac.uk (David Holland)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: RE: UK birders
Date: 20 Nov 92 14:20:36 GMT
Reply-To: holld@essex.ac.uk (David Holland)
Organization: University of Essex, Colchester, UK

Yes, there are a few UK birders who read the net. Although
most of the postings are not really relevant to my birding
exploits, I usually find them interesting.
Having spent the last 11 years in North East Essex, I know the
local birdlife fairly well (anyone out there make University
Campus lists?), but from January I'm moving to Southampton,
an area which I know next to nothing about. If there are any
Southampton (or any other part of Hampshire) birders reading
this, any help & local info would be greatly appreciated.

David.

      __    __                         |  David A Holland, Dept of Mathematics
     /   ) /  \  /   )     ######\     |  University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park
    /   / /__ / /__ /     # `.`.`.\    |  Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, UK.
   /__ / /   / /   /     # `.`.`. o\   |
    _____________ /       \_______\_>* |  email  holld@essex.ac.uk
                            #    #     |  PHONE  (+44) 206 873022
From: adams@pyramid.unr.edu (Brian Adams)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Kiting vs "kiting"
Date: 16 Nov 92 03:05:34 GMT
Reply-To: adams@pyramid.unr.edu (Brian Adams)
Organization: University of Nevada, Reno  Department of Computer Science

In article <1e0omdINNq7i@corax.udac.uu.se> ignaz@astro.uu.se writes:


>No bird flies like a hummingbird. The difference is the wing movement.
>Hummingbirds move their wings not up and down as all other flying birds,
>but in a complicated way where the base of the wing is moved mainly
>forward and backward wheras the curve that the tip of the wings
>describe in the air very much resembles the figure eight. Complicated.
>Hummingbirds should be compared to helicopters (they can fly straight
>upward too!) whereas all other birds should be compared with ordinary
>airplanes. Some of these latter can stand still in the air by tilting
>their wings and/or make use of the wind or rising hot air, but it is
>fundamentally different from hummingbirds.

Nowhere in my post did I assert that CHickadees "fly like Hummingbirds."
I conceded that Hummingbirds are superior aerobats. Nevertheless, the
Chickadee I described was "hovering" by any reasonable definition of the
word, and I believe even by the strictest definition.

Brian Adams
From: wvenable@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Are there?  (Was :test)
Date: 21 Nov 92 13:13:41
Organization: Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au
In-reply-to: christea@dhhalden.no's message of Thu, 19 Nov 1992 12:48:40 GMT

>>>>> "Christer" == CHRISTER ANDR JAKOBSEN <christea@dhhalden.no> writes:

> From: ac@terminus.ericsson.se
>
> Are there any UK birders out there - this newsgroup seems to be
> exclusively American....... 

Christer> I've asked myself the same question plenty of times.  Why aren't
Christer> there any Europeans writing something on this newsgroup.  (I
Christer> haven't found any others concerning birds).

On the other hand, there is at least one fairly persistent contributor from
Australia, (and we're not *yet* the 51st state, you know. :-)

BTW, I just had a moderately successful day at the St Kilda salt fields.
Plenty of waders down from both America and Asia (sharp-tailed, common,
marsh and curlew sandpipers, grey tailed tattler, avocets, white headed
stilts, &c &c) and some interesting natives, too, like a huge flock of
pink-eared duck.  Also lots of common stuff, like black swans, coots,
native hens, pelicans, cormorants, egrets, herons, and so forth.  Nice day
all round.  The place is a must for any visiting birder, esp. in summer.

Bill
--
___________________________________________________________________________
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@stats.adelaide.edu.au
Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Tel: +61 8 228 5412  Fax: ...232 5670
From: jhiggott@axion.bt.co.uk (Jeff Higgott)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: test
Date: 19 Nov 92 09:33:09 GMT
Reply-To: JHiggott@axion.bt.co.uk
Organization: British Telecom Labs


In article <671@quirm.terminus.ericsson.se>, ac@terminus.ericsson.se writes:
|> Are there any UK birders out there - this newsgroup seems to be exclusively
|> American.......

 Yep.

 Jeff...
 "Boldly going where we've already been,
  That's Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine."
                                  - I, LUDICROUS
From: dschatz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Dan Schatz)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: North American birds on disk
Date: 17 Nov 92 06:07:01 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX


	You can also get a computer lifelist system by Tony White, former 
(current for all I know) President of the Audubon Naturalist Soicety of the
Central Atlantic States.  The publisher is "Bird Commander" (!).  I think it
can be ordered from the Audubon Naturalist Bookshop, whose phone number, if I
recall correctly, is (301) 652-3606.  How good it is I do not know.
				Dan Schatz
				dschatz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
From: jfinger@adobe.com (Jeff Finger)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Duck ID Problem
Date: 23 Nov 92 01:09:53 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: Adobe Systems, Inc., Mountain View, CA

Any theories about the id of the following would be greatly appreciated:
o Seen about 3:30pm today on one of the Baylands Park ponds along
  the Highway 101 feeder road just North (actually West) of San Antonio Road.
o A duck, swimming all alone in spite of a large flock of ducks nearby.
o Slightly smaller than a Ruddy Duck (it was occasionally near a couple of
  Ruddies)
o Spent vast majority of the time under water, diving with a small leap.
o Rich brown head, a good deal longer from front to back than from top 
  to bottom.
o Bill/Head shape somewhat like that of a scoter, i.e., thick bill enters
  forehead at small angle, head long from front to back.
o Bright colored eye
o Dark bill with yellow tip
o White neck and underside
o Gray mottled body
o Some white patched apparent even on closed wing (like on female
  Goldeneye). 

Female Goldeneye would make sense except that what I saw was much
smaller and the head and bill were shaped wrong. Also, do Goldeneyes
dive a huge amount? Any thoughts?

Thanks,

-- Jeff Finger --

P.S. The reason I was out there was to see the Redheads that I had been
     told about. There were about 10 males there.
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: marks@wc.novell.com (Michael Marks)
Subject: Xmas birding in Southern CA? AZ?
Keywords: birds, see, many, want
Reply-To: marks@wc.novell.com
Organization: Novell, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: 23 Nov 92 17:22:52 GMT

I'm going to be in southern California around Christmas time, especially
San Bernardino county, and would like to find good places for birding.
Since I'm a tourist and have only about a week, the more specific you can
be, the better.

Farther south and southern AZ are not out of the question.

- Michael

Standard disclaimer applies.
From: jhiggott@axion.bt.co.uk (Jeff Higgott)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Are there?  (Was :test)
Date: 20 Nov 92 08:58:07 GMT
Reply-To: JHiggott@axion.bt.co.uk
Organization: British Telecom Labs


In article <christea.29.722177320@dhhalden.no>, christea@dhhalden.no
(CHRISTER ANDR JAKOBSEN) writes:
|>
|> By the way,  I think that Lars Jonssons "Birds of Britain and Europe,
|> with 
|> North-Africa and the Middle East" is the definitive field guide to
|> date.

An excellent book with excellent artwork.  On the whole the paintings
are very accurate, though the Cormorants/Shags (for example) look a bit
odd.  There are a few minor typographic problems  -for example Belted
Kingfisher is described as having "blue-green" [blue-grey] upperparts, a
flying Purple Sandpiper is captioned as Curlew Sandpiper, a Black and
White Warbler in the introduction is captioned Blackpoll.  Despite what
Golley said in his review of the book in Birding World, the fresh and
worn adult summer Curlew Sandpipers ARE correctly captioned.

Everyone should buy this book even if they only have a passing interest
in European birds.  It is excellent.

Jeff...

 "..Crystal Palace every summer, mis-pronouncing the Kenyan runners.
  It gets worse in the winter, struggling with the videprinter."
                                  - I, LUDICROUS
From: pbray@gluttony.reed.edu (Peter Bray)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Homing Pigeons
Date: 18 Nov 92 00:21:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Nov18.002157.5248
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR



I recently bought a pair of breeding homing pigeons.  i was dismayed to  
find out, though, that the pair will "home" to the site that they were  
born at.  Is there anyway to "reset" there homing ability to a place of my  
desire?  How the hell were they used in wars if they only fly to the place  
they were born?  Could you email directly to me as well please.  Thankyou,

Peter
From: ac@terminus.ericsson.se
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: test
Date: 18 Nov 92 15:24:53 GMT
Reply-To: ac@terminus.ericsson.se
Distribution: world
Organization: Camtec Electronics (Ericsson), Leicester, England

Are there any UK birders out there - this newsgroup seems to be exclusively American.......
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: aforsten@aton.abo.fi (Annika Forsten INF)
Subject: Re: The American Birding Association
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
	<AFORSTEN.92Nov13151736@aton.abo.fi>
	<1e0rerINNc40@early-bird.think.com> <1e14imINNgn7@matt.ksu.ksu.edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 10:13:14 GMT

In article <1e14imINNgn7@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (David A Rintoul) writes:

Daan writes:

>   >It is a common phenomenon in this country that non-listers sneer at
>   >listers. Don't let it worry you. More seriously, however, non-listers
>   >insinuate that listers are interested in listing to the exclusion of
>   >everything else, which is a vicious libel.

Ok, I won't let it worry me, but I must admit that I put up all defences
against those who think listers do nothing else. I wonder where on earth
they got that idea. Not many people are interested in one thing and one
thing only.

Dave writes:

>   Hoping to stay away from anything remotely resembling sneering
>   or insinuation, I humbly point out that we probably all know
>   people who are indeed, " interested in listing to the exclusion of
>   everything else".  That is a truth, not a vicious libel.

So how many do you know? How big a percentage is it of all the people 
interested in birds that you know?

I don't think I know more that perhaps one, who started to twitch counties
when he more or less ran out of birds. But he started out as a birder when
young.

annika forsten, finland
aforsten@aton.abo.fi
From: 9220410@sunvax.sun.ac.za (Walter Prins)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: INFO WANTED: CD's and the degeneration thereof.
Keywords: CD
Date: 18 Nov 92 16:35:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: sunvax.9220410.52
Organization: University of Stellenbosch

Hi.

Would some of you Audio Wizards with knowledge regarding this please help  me
out here.  I remember reading an article (Popualar Science, I *think*) quite 
a while back regarding CD's and the degeneration of them when not played for 
long periods of time.  If I remember correctly, it has something to do with 
the type of plastic used in CD's. Also apparently this effect can be negated 
by playing your CD's occasionaly. The type of laser used apparently also 
makes a difference. (Something to do with the light frequency.)
I've got a friend who's quite an audio fanatic and he wants to know if this
is true/false etc.  Any and all info regarding this will be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Walter.
  ____ ___ __                         
 __ ___ __  /    /  /|     /    --/-- /---  /--\   Walter Prins
 _ _ __   /    /  /__|   /      /   /--   /----/   University of Stellenbosch
___ __  /_/|_/  /    | /___   /   /___  /    |     South Africa   
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=     email: prins@cs.sun.ac.za
'Man I hate these fancy .sig's!'                          prins@itu.sun.ac.za
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: bvanhof@pvlab2.eecs.wsu.edu (Barry Vanhoff)
Subject: Fuses
Reply-To: bvanhof@pvlab2.eecs.wsu.edu (Barry Vanhoff)
Organization: Washington State University
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 18:56:35 GMT


I screwed up, and its going to cost me around 60 bucks.  I blew the tweeter in one of my Aria 7's.  Its a Focal T120K crossed over at 2400 Hz with a 24 dB Linkwitz-Riley filter.

To make future mistakes much less costly, I am going to put a fuse inline with both tweeters, the only problem is that I'm not sure what the best type/size of fuse is.

The T120K is rated at 10/100 Nominal/Program watts.  How does one calculate the size/type of fuse that will be best??  I have all T-S parameters for this tweeter if someone has some 'cookbook' type formulas.

Also, can I save money by returning the blown tweeter as a 'core'??  OK, stop laughing, I just look at the size of the thing and think that its got to be worth something.

--

Barry Vanhoff
bvanhof@pvlab2.eecs.wsu.edu
509-335-1437

Newsgroups: rec.audio,aus.hi-fi
From: molly@krang.vis.citri.edu.au (Mark Ollila)
Subject: Re: Tuner recommendations wanted
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Distribution: aus
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 01:24:59 GMT

I am also looking for a tuner for my system.... and am looking for
recommendations. My system is
	Harmen/Kardon HK6500 Amplifier
	Harmen/Kardon HK7500 CD player
	Richter Wizards Speakers ( 1 pair )

eventually I want to expand the system in to a full surround sound Theatre
set up, but am doing so slowly.

So any tuner recommendations... I'm willing to spend up to $400.

Please post replies to the net cause a lot of people will be
interested.

Mark.



-- 
 _--_|\    Mark Ollila                      1. Hail King Laurie
 /      \  CITRI, Computer Science Dept.    2. "I remember now"  QR:OMC
 \_.--.*/  University of Melbourne          3. "I'll be back" AS 
       v   email: molly@vis.citri.edu.au.   4. "I am not an animal" rang
From: slin@cisco.com (Steven Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Question on A/V Receiver usage
Date: 20 Nov 92 10:18:54
Organization: cisco Systems, Inc.
Distribution: world
	<1e8no1INNa1t@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca>
NNTP-Posting-Host: regal.cisco.com
In-reply-to: twong@civil.ubc.ca's message of 16 Nov 1992 18:02:41 GMT

In article <1e8no1INNa1t@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca> twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong) writes:

   In article <1992Nov15.110026.870@cmkrnl.com> jeh@cmkrnl.com writes:
   >Visualize a standard stereo receiver.  Now add a couple of extra sets of input
   >and output phono jacks, each with a third jack labelled "video".  These
   >correspond to new settings on the source selector and tape switches:  TV, LD
   >player, and (in the tape area) VCR 1 and VCR 2.  Now you can push one button to
   >(for example) feed VCR 1 video to the TV and feed VCR 1's audio to your main
   >sterep speakers.  
   >
   What I have is a stereo VCR that's hooked up to my stereo system hence I
   can do this same thing already. So a A/V Receiver will mean no benefits
   for me? Are there other usages for A/V Receivers I can't conceive of as
   yet? Thanks in advance.

   Thomas.

Many stereo systems I know of only have one auxiliary input, and
that's usually taken up by the CD player.  How do you hook up the VCR
and CD at the same time?  Through a tape input?

Most A/V receivers come with some type of surround sound circuitry,
usually Dolby Pro-logic, so you can watch your movies with style! :)
Aside from that, with only one video source (VCR), an A/V receiver,
admittedly, is not all that beneficial.  Only when you add another
video source such as a LaserDisc or second VCR does having an A/V seem
advantageous.  No more fumbling with some cheap video switchbox.  

If your existing stereo system is already quite good, then it doesn't
make sense to dump it for an A/V receiver.  Instead, invest in a good
preamp that has video inputs.  If your looking to add surround sound
to your setup, add a surround decoder and one or two power amps (for
the surround and center-channel speakers) to that new preamp you just
bought.  If adding these components turns out to be more expensive
then your stereo system, then you may want to get an A/V receiver
after all.

Having an A/V receiver mainly buys you a lot of convenience.  I could
be listening to a CD and watching TV (without audio) and with the
flick of a button, switch to TV audio.  Even better I can be recording
a CD onto tape and watching TV with TV audio coming through the stereo
system at the same time!  To top that, I could probably (since I
haven't tried it) record a LaserDisc onto VCR, listen to a CD, and
watch TV (without audio) all at the same time.  Just think of an A/V
receiver as a sophisticated video and audio switchbox with a few extra
bells and whistles.

Steve
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: loj@cae.wisc.edu (Lo Jeffrey)
Subject: Advice on portable DAT needed
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering
Date: 21 Nov 92 09:11:42 CST

I am looking for a low price (around $600) portable DAT.  I will be using
it mostly for playing back through an outboard D/A converter and for
making pure digital copies of digital sources (CDs and laserdisks) so I'm
not terribly concerned with the internal A/D and D/A quality.  I am
mostly shopping for reliability.  I just heard of a Damark offer for a
Casio DA-R100 portable DAT for $600.  Can anyone give me some advice here?
Is this the deal of my dreams or is the Casio a turkey?  What other units
should I be looking at?

Thanks in advance.

Jeff Lo
loj@cae.wisc.edu
From: kirk@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Kirk Lindstrom)
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 16:12:44 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: Funny ELITIST SNOBS
Organization: Shredding the water of SF Bay, HP-OCD
Newsgroups: rec.audio

>> 
>> I can't believe you guys are falling for this!!! :-)
>> 
>
>  I second that one. Let's explain it to them:

Let me explain it to you.  Some people love to practice flaming and some
of us like to read it for humor.  Who cares if it is real?  Beats most of
what is on the boob tube.  A good flame takes tallent.  Only *real* (TM)
nerds have the silly need for everything to fit a specific mold of their
view of reality.  Do you have this mold you are trying to fit us to?

Kirk (I am not a number.  I refuse to be...) out
From: twong@civil.ubc.ca (Thomas Wong)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Question on A/V Receiver usage
Date: 16 Nov 1992 18:02:41 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Civil Engineering, U.B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sam.civil.ubc.ca


In article <1992Nov15.110026.870@cmkrnl.com> jeh@cmkrnl.com writes:
>Visualize a standard stereo receiver.  Now add a couple of extra sets of input
>and output phono jacks, each with a third jack labelled "video".  These
>correspond to new settings on the source selector and tape switches:  TV, LD
>player, and (in the tape area) VCR 1 and VCR 2.  Now you can push one button to
>(for example) feed VCR 1 video to the TV and feed VCR 1's audio to your main
>sterep speakers.  
>
What I have is a stereo VCR that's hooked up to my stereo system hence I
can do this same thing already. So a A/V Receiver will mean no benefits
for me? Are there other usages for A/V Receivers I can't conceive of as
yet? Thanks in advance.

Thomas.