HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Mike J. Brown)
Subject: GIF questions
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 03:20:56 GMT

A friend scanned in some photos on a Mac into TIFF format, then used
Photoshop to convert the TIFFs to GIFs.  When he FTP'd (gee aren't
these acronyms fun?) the GIFs to an archive site, they ended up as
filename.GIF.bin files, meaning (I think) MacBinary II format.  I
tried downloading one of these to a PC and using a GIF viewer, and
it said the GIF format was invalid.

Basically what we want to do is convert TIFFs to GIFs and JPEG-JFIFs.
Please help.

I have a second question as well.  When I download some GIFs to my PC,
they end up not being able to be read in correctly (using Fractint or
a regular GIF viewer), resulting in a very skinny squashed version of
the image at the top, a slightly less squashed version of it just below
that, a slightly less squashed version below that, and so on for a total
of about 5 squashed versions of the picture.  The only way I have found
to correct this is to use the JPEG group's software to convert the GIF
to a JPEG and then convert the JPEG back to a GIF, resulting in some
quality reduction and a larger file, but at least it works.  What causes
this problem and how can I fix it?

The files I am talking about, if you want to try it out on your own, are:
(for the TIFF->GIF problem: at soda.berkeley.edu, /pub/incoming/sfraves/
goofybre.GIF.bin)  and  (for the multiple squashed images: at cs.uwp.edu,
/pub/music/pictures/alt.rave/braindnc.gif  as well as several others there)

Mike
-- 
                                                            Mike Brown
_  _ _____________________________________I think, therefore I ambient
From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Date: 14 Dec 92 16:50:55 GMT
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY

In article <0g!r51d@lynx.unm.edu>, cvance@polaris.unm.edu (Chad Vance) writes:

| Plese let me know if there is a way to get rid of the Handmade Software header
| bullshit!

 1) stop using Handmade software programs
 2) pay for the software you use and get the commercial version
-- 
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
    Keyboard controller has been disabled, press F1 to continue.
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
From: lorie@rice.edu (Lorie Liebrock)
Subject: Image Alchemy
Originator: lorie@helena.cs.rice.edu
Keywords: Image Alchemy, file and format conversion
Reply-To: lorie@rice.edu (Lorie Liebrock)
Organization: Rice University
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 01:07:45 GMT



I have been told that Image Alchemy runs on PCs and is capable of 
converting .pcx files to .pcl (HP laserject format) files.  Can
anyone tell me if it is capable of this conversion and how to get 
it?  Send replies to lorie@cs.rice.edu .

--Lorie M. Liebrock
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
From: fox@rei.com (Fuzzy Fox)
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 17:37:44 GMT
Organization: Recognition Equipment, Inc.

davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) writes:

>Expecting someone to conform to a
>standard which is not in use at the time the software was written, and
>which I *believe* was still a proposed standard at that time, is
>simply not realistic.

I agree, however there is still a point of confusion, in that both
formats are generally given an extension of .JPG.  If HSI would release
newer version of their software which do not try to claim that HSI files
are JPG files, then things would tend to smooth out more quickly.

-- 
#ifdef TRUE        | Fuzzy Fox (a.k.a. David DeSimone)       fuzzy@netcom.com
#define  TRUE   0  |
#define  FALSE  1  |  "You have been recruited by the Star League to defend
#endif             |     the Frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada."
From: jhilmer@ruc.dk (Jakob Hilmer)
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
Subject: Need source for fill routine
Date: 15 Dec 92 11:15:27 GMT
Organization: Datalogi, Roskilde Universitetscenter

I need source for fill routine. I want to build my own for my hp48sx.

--
Jakob hilmer			
Roskilde University, Denmark
E-mail: jhilmer@ruc.dk
From: jmd6@unix.brighton.ac.uk (Morgoth.)
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
Subject: Convex Hulls? HELP!!!
Date: 16 Dec 92 08:55:24 GMT
Organization: University of Brighton, UK

I'm currently writting a final year assignment in computer graphics for
my BSc Computer Science Degree. The assignment involves writting an interactive
nouniform Bspline curve, creating and ajustment. Using control Points, this I
can do I think. 

The problem is that one of the other requirements is to be abble to toggle the
display of the convex hull on and off. As you will know as the points macking
up the hull are a subset of those defining the cureve, and also in an unknown
order. I've looked in several books for an algorithm and can't find any.

Help! Please mail me any algorithm you know of ASAP.

Thanks for you Help

Jon Durrant
From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Date: 16 Dec 92 14:40:57 GMT
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY

In article <BzB66E.4qM.1@cs.cmu.edu>, tgl+@cs.cmu.edu (Tom Lane) writes:

| In my opinion, HSI has single-handedly done more to confuse the JPEG file
| format situation than anyone else.  Proprietary file formats are not a good
| thing.

  While I'm not particularly a supporter of HSI, I don't think that JFIF
is so good that any other format simply serves to confuse the issue. HSI
got their product out very early on, and it doesn't seem that anyone was
using JFIF widely at that time. Expecting someone to conform to a
standard which is not in use at the time the software was written, and
which I *believe* was still a proposed standard at that time, is
simply not realistic.

-- 
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
    Keyboard controller has been disabled, press F1 to continue.
From: fox@rei.com (Fuzzy Fox)
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:13:03 GMT
Organization: Recognition Equipment, Inc.

davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) writes:

>In article <0g!r51d@lynx.unm.edu>, cvance@polaris.unm.edu (Chad Vance) writes:

>| Plese let me know if there is a way to get rid of the Handmade Software
>| header bullshit!

> 1) stop using Handmade software programs

Unfortunately this is not as easy as it sounds.  There are a lot of
people out there using the ubiquitous GIF2JPG program by HSI, and these
"JPG" files cannot be read by standard JPEG readers.

> 2) pay for the software you use and get the commercial version

Not a bad idea.

-- 
#ifdef TRUE        | Fuzzy Fox (a.k.a. David DeSimone)       fuzzy@netcom.com
#define  TRUE   0  |
#define  FALSE  1  |  "You have been recruited by the Star League to defend
#endif             |     the Frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada."
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
From: tgl+@cs.cmu.edu (Tom Lane)
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:08:30 GMT

briana@tau-ceti.isc-br.com (Brian W. Antoine) writes:
> : >>cvance@polaris.unm.edu (Chad Vance) writes:
> : >>| Plese let me know if there is a way to get rid of the Handmade Software
> : >>| header bullshit!
> : 
>   I had pretty good luck just deleting the first 332 chars of the file.  That
> removed the HSI header and the remainder was a normal Jpeg file.  Of course
> the image in question was a repost from a few months ago, so I did it more to
> see if it could be done than anything else.

This may work once in a while, but it fails on most HSI files.  In a typical
HSI file, only portions of the image are encoded in JPEG format.  Extracting
out the part(s) that look like JPEG datastreams does not give you a complete
or even internally consistent image.

In my opinion, HSI has single-handedly done more to confuse the JPEG file
format situation than anyone else.  Proprietary file formats are not a good
thing.

			regards, tom lane
			organizer, Independent JPEG Group
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils,alt.binaries.pictures.d,alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.d
From: lane@cs.dal.ca (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane)
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Keywords: JPEG, HSI, GIF2JPG JPG2GIF
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 05:12:16 GMT


People are complaining that some programs made by Handmade Software
(notably the shareware GIF2JPG) create JPG files that are not read 
correctly by other programs that purport to read JPG files.  The problem 
centers around a short header that begings with "hsi"...following the 
header is what appears to be a normal JPG file.

Simply removing the header sometimes works but not always.  Sometimes
you wind up with a file that looks like Freddy from Nightmare on Elm St.
was at it...the picture has horizontally offset bands that give it a
"slashed" look.  Don't know why this happens exactly but it would appear
that there are some subtle differences in HSI's JPG files other than the 
header.

What does work is that HSI provides a shareware program JPG2GIF along
with GIF2JPG.  This program happily reads HSI's JPG files (as well as
others, I believe) and converts them into GIFs which look just fine (ie.
not slashed).  One can then, should one desire, convert back to JPG 
using a non-broken utility (such as Independant Software's CJPEG).

Of course in converting to GIF and back you loose the TrueColors (GIF
limited to 256 colors).  Too bad.   Since many of the files people are
complaining about were converted from GIF using GIF2JPG, this shouldn't
be a problem.

Hope this helps.



-- 
John Wright      /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA B3H-4H8 
Internet: lane@cs.dal.ca   Uucp: lane@dalcs.uucp or {uunet watmath}!dalcs!lane
From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: alt.graphics.pixutils
Subject: Re: Way to get rid of HSI header in JPEGs
Date: 18 Dec 92 13:03:58 GMT
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY

In article <1992Dec16.173744.9591@rei.com>, fox@rei.com (Fuzzy Fox) writes:

| I agree, however there is still a point of confusion, in that both
| formats are generally given an extension of .JPG.  If HSI would release
| newer version of their software which do not try to claim that HSI files
| are JPG files, then things would tend to smooth out more quickly.

  A lot of the confusion stems from people thinking that JPEG==JFIF,
which isn't true. JFIF is the most widely supported standard for file
format, but it's obviously not the only one.

  The JPEG output format from the Sun version of Alchemy (I have 1.4)
appears to be JFIF, since xli and xv display it and djpeg understands
it. I haven't used GIF2JPEG, but that may be a PC thing.

-- 
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
    Keyboard controller has been disabled, press F1 to continue.
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,misc.consumers
From: johne@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (John Eaton)
Subject: Re: Junk mailers dirty tricks
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:13:19 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Hewlett-Packard VCD
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Henry Mensch (henry@ADS.COM) wrote:
: lachman@netcom.com (Hans Lachman) wrote: 
: ->....  My guess is that they are using a database that strips
: ->the address down to the minimum needed for delivery.  So much for my
: ->experiment.
: 
: it is possible that the mailbox service is selling your name around
: ... they wouldn't (naturally) append a suffix).
: 
: -------------
They receive the same amount of rent whether you get one letter a month 
or 20 a day. It is in their best interest to keep you off junk lists.

What probably happens is that the junkies run all their lists through
an algorithm that hashes each address into it's lowest common denoninator.
They then sort and throw out the duplicates.

Why bother trying to fool them with a fake initial? Give them a completely
bogus name and pay with money orders. 


John Eaton
!hp-vcd!johne


Newsgroups: alt.privacy
From: johnsomr@newton.ccs.tuns.ca (Mark R Johnson)
Subject: not so anonymous cash
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 23:14:00 GMT
Organization: Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N.S.

I also posted this.  Again, my apologies if this is the second time
you are reading, but I think I screwed up the Distribution resulting
in this not leaving campus the first time.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I have noted a disturbing trend among retailers recently.  This has
been posted before (RE: Incredible Universe), but now many others are
picking up on it:

1. Radio Shack which has always tracked its customer's names, but as
far as I can tell has used this only to mail me their catalog.

2. Zeller's Club Z.  This is sold as an opportunity for the customer
to earn "valuable" Club Z points, but seems to me to be a means of
tracking everything *you* buy.  What do they need with that information?
Obviously, they need to know how much of what they have sold, but why
do they need to know exactly what Mark R. Johnson has bought every time
he has come in in the last year?

3. Sobey's (grocery chain) has now introduced a Club Sobeys.  Same story,
but for 7000 points you get $10 off a grocery order.  As near as I could
tell, it would take me about 2 years to get that $10.  It would
be difficult to just shop at the competition since they also have
a similar club.

4. Price Club has just opened a store here, but you need a *membership*
to shop there.  It happens that I qualify (not everyone does), but this
is silly.  Actually, I think part of the reason for this was politics - 
ie local merchants would have strongly opposed the competitiion.  At
least with these guys, I would get *some* benefit.

So, any comments?  The consensus with Incredible Universe seemed to be 
to just give a fake name, but that will not stop the expansion of this
trend.  Boycott?  Maybe, but if it is not stopped soon, there will be
no place left to shop.  BTW, with 2 & 3 above, I have simply not 
joined the plan.  #4 is evidence of a greater problem.

--
;---------------------------------------------------------------------
; Mark Johnson             ; msdos has 6 types of RAM - dos ram,
; My views are my own and  ; upper memory, high memory, extended memory,
; nobody else's.           ; expanded memory, and video ram.
;                          ; YUCKKK!!!!!!!!!!!
; flames >/dev/null        ;
;---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Terry.Parks@launchpad.unc.edu (Terry Parks)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy
Subject: Re: Calif DMV DEMANDS SSN for Driver License!?
Date: 21 Dec 92 02:03:22 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: UNC Office of Information Technology

>The administration person I spoke with said that you need to
>claim residence in Nevada (obviously that could be a mail drop),
>and that you *had* to change driver licenses after 45 days of
>being a Nevada resident.  However, they also require the ssn
>(which is used to compute your DL number!).  BUT, she said that
>if it bothered you enough, and you complained enough to a supervisor,
>they can issue you a DL without it (you'd think their law either
>does or does not require it, but...?).  It seems that if you don't
>have an SSN, they will issue you a DL anyway as long as you say you
>will get your ssn (or somesuch escape clause).

A person who got a NC DL without giving their SSN (they claimed they
never had worked outside the home and didn't have one) saw their SSN
filled out in the appropriate box on a ticket they got a month later.

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Xref: sparky alt.privacy:2698 misc.consumers:20908
From: vanembur@romulus.rutgers.edu (Bill Van Emburg)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Junk mailers dirty tricks
Date: 18 Dec 92 19:50:24 GMT
Followup-To: alt.privacy
Distribution: na
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Dec17.223216.15362@colorado.edu> bear@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Bear Giles) writes:

> In article <adams.724618269@spssig> adams@spss.com (Steve Adams) writes:
> >Not quite.  Anyone who wants to, can get the boxholder's street address
> >from the Postmaster.
> 
> That's true with a Post Office PO box, but not true of commercial PO boxes.

I don't know about commercial PO boxes, i.e. Mailboxes, USA, etc., but
according to a knowledgeable Post Office friend of mine, the Post
Office is only supposed to give out the real addresses of PO boxes
that are being used for commercial purposes.  In theory, you would
prove commercial use by bringing in an ad or something.  ..Not that
this makes me feel better....

Also, as I think others have already mentioned here, the Post Office
*does* make your change of address card available to others.  In fact,
they sell mass lists of change of address cards, on the rationale that
they want to reduce the amount of incorrect mail they handle.  So, the
Post Office is in the mailing list business as much as anybody (or more!).

					-BVE
					(er..that's Bill Van Emburg)
					(vanembur@remus.rutgers.edu)
	"You do what you want, and if you didn't, you don't"
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,alt.society.civil-liberty,misc.legal
From: feustel@netcom.com (David Feustel)
Subject: New Magazine - A Sign of The Times
Organization: DAFCO: OS/2 Software Support & Consulting
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 16:22:35 GMT

There is a new magazine available. Look for it at your local magazine
store:

Prison Life. Vol 1 Issue 1.
-- 
Dave Feustel N9MYI <feustel@netcom.com>
 
The Columbia River is now the most radioactive river in the world.

This environmental/nuclear nightmare, one of a series, brought to you
courtesy of General ("We Bring Good Things to Life") Electric.
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,misc.consumers
From: rboudrie@chpc.org (Rob Boudrie)
Subject: Re: Junk mailers dirty tricks
Organization: Center For High Perf. Computing of WPI; Marlboro Ma
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 22:15:52 GMT

>Ever since the Yippies started doing this in the 60's, Post Offices
>have been throwing out bricks, etc, taped to Postage reply cards.  If
>you want to take advantage of this trick, get a large buisness reply
>envelope, and fill it with newspapers or something.  Anything larger
>will probably be discarded.

Ahh...but what if the brick is carefully wrapped and labeled 
"Handle with care - geological core sample" (works best when
mailing to oil companies!).
Newsgroups: alt.privacy
From: gardner@convex.com (Steve Gardner)
Subject: Re: drug dealers on the h
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 15:22:46 GMT
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In article <1992Dec14.005108.7669@rose.com> robert.heuman@rose.com (robert heuman) writes:
>
>T(> >         Name one country where cocaine is legal.	
				      ^^^^^^^
>Canada is one country.  You can by (over the counter) various 
>analgesics with a small amount of codine in each pill, capsule, etc. 
				   ^^^^^^
	Bzzt.  Trying reading more closely.  But in the mean time
	let me give you two correct answers to the question.
	Bolivia and Peru.  In both countries coca leaf tea (mate de coca) is 
	not only legal but considered a healthful drink.  It is made from 
	the same coca leaves that are used to make coca paste and contains 
	small amounts of cocaine.  By the way, both Dan Quayle and Pope Paul
	would have flunked piss tests after visiting Bolivia.  They both
	were offered and drank mate de coca while visiting.  



							smg

	

	

Newsgroups: alt.privacy,misc.consumers
From: norsk@mobius (Doug Thompson)
Subject: Re: Junk mailers dirty tricks
Reply-To: norsk@mobius (Doug Thompson)
Organization: Novell, Inc.
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 15:19:01 GMT

In article <Bz7p3E.FE8@wang.com>, dbushong@wang.com (Dave Bushong) writes:
> lachman@netcom.com (Hans Lachman) writes:
> 
> 
> >As a self-proclaimed soldier in the war against information abuse,
> >I decided to try to see how junk mailers get my address.  What I did
> >was I got a box at one of those "Mailbox USA"-type places, and then
> >gave everyone a slightly different variation on the address.
> >(The address assigned to me was of the form "100 Main St. Suite 123",
> >so I would add a letter, e.g., "Suite 123-J" -- the staff there said
> >it would be OK.)
> 
> >What I found was that most junk mailers got my address via magazines
> >that I subscribe to, e.g., Data Communications and Business Week.
> >However, the most annoying types of junk mail (e.g., "YOU MAY HAVE WON
> >A PRIZE - CALL 1-900-976-JUNK") did not have any suite number on the
> >address at all.  My guess is that they are using a database that strips
> >the address down to the minimum needed for delivery.  So much for my
> >experiment.
> 
> >What would be ideal is if there were a scheme by which 100% of the mail
> >I receive is identifiable in terms of how the sender got my address.
> >The "suite number" method failed.  I thought of giving out variations
> >on my name, but in most of my dealings, I need to give my real name
> >(e.g., to employers, credit card issuers, other financial accounts).
> >Does anyone out there have a clever method (that WORKS)?  If so, please
> >send your reply to me directly.

Sometimes, if I take the time to examine the junk-stuff, I check to see
if they have a postage paid return envelope. If so, I either stuff as
much stuff in it and mail it, or attach it to a very large envelope fill
with waste paper and mail it. Obviously, I don't put my return address
on it, so I don't know if it works (no feed back). I've always wanted
to know if I could mail it with a 'brick', might try it some day

------------------------------------------------------------------------
email:   norsk@novell.com or doug_thompson@novell.com
phone:   801-429-3495
Newsgroups: alt.privacy
From: wex@cs.ulowell.edu (Paul M. Wexelblat)
Subject: Re: Miracle at Radio Shack
Originator: wex@bigmax.ulowell.edu
Reply-To: wex@cs.ulowell.edu
Organization: Univ. of Lowell CS Dept.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 15:44:30 GMT


In article <neilg.724239770@sfu.ca>, neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy) writes:
|> From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
|> Subject: Re: Miracle at Radio Shack
|> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 09:42:50 GMT
|> 
|> John R. Levine <johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us> writes:
|> 
|> >I bought a $4 cable at my local Radio Shack yesterday and when I paid for it,
|> >they didn't ask for my name.  Will miracles never cease!  The sales slip
|> >didn't have someone else's name on it either.
|> 
|>  Well, consider yourself lucky. I recently returned a piece of
|> merchandise to a local Radio Shack. I refused to give my address, but
|> was told I couldn't return the thing without providing a name and
|> address.   . . .

They tried that on me, I put my look of incredulity on and just stood there
at the counter in front of a couple of (prospective) paying customers and
said "You mean you won't honor you return guarantee?"

Bingo !  (trailers wheel through as leaders 3/4 out) 

-- 

	...Wex