HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: blake@wk60.nas.nasa.gov (Matthew W. Blake)
Subject: Thermostat question
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 23:34:14 GMT
Distribution: usa

I have a two story house with forced air heating (no air conditioning)
that is about 6 years old.  My Thermostat is acting up (not going on 
sometimes, etc) and I have no instructions or info on it.  It has a little
wheel inside to let you set a timer function but we have none of the 
little plugs you need to trip the thing and the hardware stores have
none of this type and never heard of the brand.  So to hell with the
thing, I'm going to get a new one.

Questions:

1) What features would you suggest?
   (timer to come on before getting up, etc)

2) Suggested Brands (or to avoid)?

3) Are they easy to install?

Thanks in advance,

Matt
blake@nas.nasa.gov

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: kenney@hsi.com (Brian Kenney)
Subject: Re: Your expertise required ...
Organization: 3M Health Information Systems, Wallingford, CT
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:52:57 GMT

The best way to get a list of house prices in a neighborhood
is to go to the assessor's office in the town (or city) hall.
This is all public information and is freely available.

Before purchasing our house, we found out what all the other
ones in the neighborhood went for.  It is an excellant tool
to use when buying a home.

-Bri
From: egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Hurricane Andrew's effect on building
Date: 11 Sep 1992 19:26:34 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, RTP, NC
Distribution: world
Reply-To: egreen@east.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: laser.east.sun.com

In article 26644@sei.cmu.edu, rsd@sei.cmu.edu (Richard S D'Ippolito) writes:
>
>
>Are we to conclude that because some folks freely chose to live in a dangerous
>area, 
>
>I would hope that the insurance companies in Florida price the insurance
>appropriately so that more prudent folks in the rest of the country aren't
>paying their bills.  A truly free market would make the cost of living in
>hurricane (or tornado, or earthquake) alley commensurate with the local risk.
>After all, this was a predictable event, right?
>
>I pay to subsidize water for people who want to live artificially in the
>California deserts and watch their homes regularly destroyed by fire,
>earthquakes, and mudslides.

So, what, you want everybody in the country to move to Kansas?  Whoops,
no, remember Dorothy?  How about Washington?  Oh, right, Mt. St.
Helens...  I know, Tennessee!  Wrong again, tornado alley!  Of course
either coast is out, including the Gulf coast and anywhere bordering
the Great Lakes.  The Rocky Mt. states are out, remember how Denver was
totally shut down last winter due to snow storms?  That leaves us with,
what, Alabama, West Virginia, and South Dakota?

Blaming natural disaster victims for living in a "dangerous" area is
idiotic.

---
Ed Green, former Ninjaite |I was drinking last night with a biker,
  Ed.Green@East.Sun.COM   |and I showed him a picture of you.  I said,
DoD #0111  (919)460-8302  |"Go on, get to know her, you'll like her!"
 (The Grateful Dead) -->  |It seemed like the least I could do...

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jbenni@access.digex.com (John Bennison)
Subject: Re: Possible gas leak?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:30:14 GMT

Around here (suburban DC) there is a safe, easy, free solution.  Call your gas
supplier and mention your situation.  They usually come check it out with a
"sniffer" (gizmo that detects gas).  In many areas this is regulated to be
free as a public service.  I think the rationale is that a real leak is a 
threat to public safety, so the public regulators require free inspections.

As an extreme example of this kind of civic spirit, any gas appliance will 
receive FREE service in our nation's capital.  The commision that sets rates
includes an allowance for inspection and minor maintenance by the local gas co.
Again, they figure it's in the public interest to ensure safety and share the
cost.  I thought the guys at the gas co. would hate this arrangement, but no.
It gives them overtime, gets them out of the ditches, and they seem to like
being everybody's friend.

Anyway, ask your gas co. what they recommend, I expect they'll come running
with a no-charge diagnosis.  Good luck.

PS:  Forget that plumber's phone number...
-- 
jbenni@digex.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: eliot@chutney.rtp.dg.com (Topher Eliot)
Subject: Re: questions about MOLDINGS?
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 17:19:24 GMT
Reply-To: eliot@dg-rtp.dg.com
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC

In article <KOSOWSKY.92Aug28110948@zener.harvard.edu>, kosowsky@zener.harvard.edu (Jeffrey J. Kosowsky) writes:
|> I want to add a cove molding to cover the joint between walls and
|> ceiling and I wanted to ask a couple of questions to the DIY experts
|> in this group.
|> 
|> 	1] Is a construction adhesive, such as Liquid Nails, strong
|> 	enough to hold up the molding 
The glue may be plenty strong, but remember that any glued joint is only
as strong as the stuff the glue is stuck to.  I wouldn't count on sheetrock
covered with paint and/or texturing compound being very strong.  It'd be a
pity to go to the trouble of putting the stuff up and then have it fall down
a couple of years later, taking strips of sheetrock surface paper with it.

Oh, you have real plaster, so that's pretty strong.  But the paint or
texture could still come off.  But then nailing into plaster is no fun at
all.  Maybe you should clean the plaster well (e.g. with a wire brush) and
then glue?.

|> 	5] I would appreciate any tips on how to get good and accurate
|> 	measurements so that all the corners fit snugly. I am especially
|> 	concerned about getting the mitered outside corners to fit tight.

There have been several articles on the subject over they years in Fine
Homebuilding magazine.  I've never done it myself, but I lent those articles
to some friends, and they thanked me profusely and said they helped a lot.

-- 
Topher Eliot             Data General DG/UX Systems Administration Development
(919) 248-6371      eliot@dg-rtp.dg.com       {backbone}!mcnc!rti!dg-rtp!eliot
Obviously, I speak for myself, not for DG.
misc.consumers.house archivist.  Send mail to house-archive@dg-rtp.dg.com
"I opened an STR on myself and I had to reject it."  -- Paul McGrath
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: kherron@ms.uky.edu (Kenneth Herron)
Subject: Re: Garage door opener question.
Keywords: D'oooh, D'why you
    <1992Sep4.220838.3800@news.eng.convex.com> <Bu4Ctq.2pE@hatch.socal.com>
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 02:07:35 GMT
Distribution: usa

richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) writes:

>Some garage door opener basics:
>There are 4 major components:

>	3) The radio receiver.  Can be mounted inside the motor housing
>	   or in a seperate box.  If seperate, is connected to the sequencer
>	   board and has a few inches of wire dangling (or sticking up)
>	   for an antenna.

A company I used to work for had an automatic gate controlling access
to their storage lot.  I got a good look at the hardware once after we
fried it somehow.  All of the truck drivers had regular Stanley garage-door 
activators; the receiver was just a small box attached to the gate motor.  
Electrically it looked like a momentary-contact switch which was closed any 
time a transmitter had its button down.

(Sounds like a hardware hack waiting to happen, doesn't it :-)

Check your yellow pages under "overhead doors", "garage doors", or 
"gates"; you should be able to find someone who sells this sort of thing.
Actually, you might be able to find the controllers at the hardware
store; that's where we bought the Stanley units.
-- 
Kenneth Herron                                           kherron@ms.uky.edu
University of Kentucky                                      +1 606 257 2975
Department of Mathematics           "Thanks to the magic of the slow-motion 
camera, we can now show you how ugly the inside of someone's mouth can be."
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: patter@dasher.uucp (24224-guthrie)
Subject: Re: removing magic marker from brick
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 19:08:05 GMT
Keywords: indelible ink

In article <6912@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM> johnst@tekig6.PEN.TEK.COM (John F Stoops) writes:
>My children's school was recently vandalized - someone wrote on the brick walls
>with one of those felt tip pins with black indelible ink.  This is the same type
>of marker we use to mark our kids clothes when we send them off to camp; the 
>kind that doesn't wash out.  Does anybody know of any solvent that will get this
>out?

Try mineral spirits. If that doesn't work, I would try to get some paint the
same color as the brick and paint over it.

>  I would prefer not to sand down the brick because I believe the outside of
>the brick is harder than the inside and I don't want to remove the glazed 
>surface(is this true or am I out to lunch?).

You're correct for kiln-fired bricks. The outside surfaces glaze over a
little in the kilns.

By the way, most brick "cleaners" actually etch the brick a little. You
have to watch out for this; I bought some tile cleaner advertised as
"non-acidic" and "good for marble" and would up etching the surface of
some marble. I could have dealt with that if the stuff had actually
cleaned anything, but it just removes the surface!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    | It is commonly agreed that the inventor of a weapon
                    | used to kill and maim must share in large measure
George Patterson -  | the guilt for its thousands of victims. By the way,
                    | who DID invent the bicycle chain?
                    |                            Kelvin Throop
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: drand@spinner.osf.org (Douglas Rand)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Home security tips from a burglar
Date: 11 Sep 92 17:42:26 GMT
	<1992Sep11.140123.13349@sdc.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Open Software Foundation

In article <1992Sep11.140123.13349@sdc.com> kenk@sdc.com (Ken Konecki) writes:

   ...
   More people die in auto accidents every year than are assaulted by home
   invaders (and I can't wait until someone refutes this with the time-proven
   "References please" Usenet rebuttal).  I don't see anyone advocating
   arming themselves to prevent auto accidents (although some nut cases in
   California are arming themselves in an effort to create auto accidents).
   If you're concerned about personal safety, I suggest addressing the big
   problems before worrying about the little ones.

Who needs references.  About twice as many people die in auto
accidents every year as the total number of homicides in the US.
21,000 is the number I remember for homicides and about 50,000 for
traffic fatalities, although the car accidental death figures have 
been going down regularly.  

Even here you could easily make the argument that homicide is the
same order of magnitude threat as a traffic fatality,  and we 
considerably alter our behavior to avoid being a traffic statistic.

The real problem is that, in some places where people live:

1) the odds are considerably worse 

2) the homicide rate doesn't really address the number of assaults and
   rapes that occur and these definitely real threats

I don't happen to live in such a place.  Were I to live in such a place,
I could envision being armed,  or having a legal weapon close at hand.
Thank goodness these aren't the choices I must make.

--
Douglas S. Rand <drand@osf.org>		OSF/Motif Dev.
Snail:         11 Cambridge Center,  Cambridge,  MA  02142
Disclaimer:    I don't know if OSF agrees with me... let's vote on it.
Amateur Radio: KC1KJ
From: macrakis@osf.org (Stavros Macrakis)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Home invaders
Date: 9 Sep 92 21:42:11 GMT
Organization: OSF Research Institute

We've heard about various ways of defending against home invaders.

Does anyone have figures, though, on how likely it is that my family
will be attacked in the house at night?  (As opposed to the likelihood
that my house will be burglarized.)

	-s
From: v148rb5b@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (COLLIN MCCULLEY)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: catalog address/phone requests
Keywords: catalogs
Date: 9 Sep 92 14:32:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


 	I am trying to find addresses or phone numbers for the following
catalogs.  If you happen to know one or more, I'd appreciate it if you
could email me the address or phone number.  If enough of them become
known to me, I'll post a summary.

	Hershey's Mailorder		PC Catalog
	Music By Mail			The Australian Catalogue Co.
	Zephyr Services			Images Books
	Music Treasures Company		The Wisconsin Cheeseman
	Ethel M Chocolates		House-Mouse Designs
	Stash Tea by Mail		Funny Side Up
	Past Times			Critics Choice
	Movies Unlimited		Chef's Catalog
	Plane Stuff			The Undergear Catalog
	Hear Music Catalog		U.S. Cavalry
	Dancing Dragon			Leisure Time Books
	The Music Stand			Thanksgiving Coffee Co.
	Watkin's Products

	Comments on the values to be found within any of the above
also welcome.  Thanks in advance.

----------
Collin McCulley		University at Buffalo 		Mech & Aero Eng.
v148rb5b@ubvmsc.cc.buffalo.edu
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,talk.environment,sci.energy,sci.environment
From: whitlock@dcss.mcmaster.ca (Jeremy Whitlock)
Subject: Re: Radioactivity and Superstition (and the *Real* Problems)
Organization: Department of Computer Science, McMaster University
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 13:29:41 GMT

In article <JYM.92Sep14175018@remarque.berkeley.edu> jym@mica.berkeley.edu (Jym Dyer) writes:

>=o= I guess it all depends on what one means by "exploited."
>Certainly some have sold books, gone on lecture tours, etc.,
>but I know of no instances in which such gains weren't
>well-earned.  And I know of no instances in which such gains
>were very substantial.

Jym, whether or not you know of such instances is hardly the point here.


-- 
Jeremy Whitlock                 "My thoughts are mine, not Mac's"
Dept. Engineering Physics
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
From: bkottmann@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil (Brett Kottmann)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: 'Power Antenna' any good?
Date: 9 Sep 92 17:42:05 GMT
Organization: Logicon Technical Services, Inc.

In article <18k18sINNnnb@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes) writes:
> 
> Even if you had received the antenna, it will perform worse than a rabbit ears
> or just a couple of random pieces of wire.

	Are you sure?  While at college, and living in a concrete tower called
a dorm, we would wire the antenna to the grounding screw of an electrical
outlet, thus getting pefect reception, and even stations that were 50-60 miles
away.

Brett--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	"Why the courts don't tell a husband who has been living off his wife
to go out and get a job is beyond my comprehension."--Joan Lunden
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:16234 misc.books.technical:1383 alt.discrimination:4145
From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.books.technical,alt.discrimination
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Date: 6 Sep 92 17:14:10 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: I.E.C.C.

jsdph@acad3.alaska.edu (Dennis P. Harris) writes:
>..., Waldenbooks has fired the staff of its Georgetown store in Washington,
>DC for refusing to sell the "Joke-A-Date" appointment calendar, which
>contains racist and demeaning "jokes" for each day of 1993.  After hearing
>some examples ... of the "jokes", I agree with the former WB employees that
>the publication (from St. Martins Press, which should know better) would
>offend a large number of bookstore customers.
>
>I have already informed WB that I intend to boycott them ...
>The book's author is ... listed as "Blanche Knott"

Thanks for pointing this out, so I can patronize Waldenbooks, a place I
haven't gone to in the past.

There have been a bunch of books published in the past under the ``Blanche
Knott'' pseudonym, all full of offensive and sophmoric jokes, and none of
which were worth buying, based on 10 or 15 seconds spent flipping through
a few of them.  But I have no interest in patronizing a store where the
clerks decide what I can or cannot read because they think someone
wouldn't like it.

In case it's not obvious, this stupid calendar will probably sell three
times as many copies now as it would if the employees had ignored it.

-- 
John R. Levine, IECC, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {ima|spdcc|world}!iecc!johnl
Re-elect Vice President Potatoe-Head !
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.books.technical,alt.discrimination
From: dowdy@tochtli.biochem.nwu.edu (Dowdy Jackson)
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 23:22:01 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.010920.20386@m.cs.uiuc.edu> kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes:
>mwbg9715@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mark Wayne Blunier) writes:
>
>[...]
>>But as you can see from the response, many of us do not feel
>>that selling racist material is enough of a problen (concern?) for us to
>>boycott the chain.
>[...]
>
>I might boycott a store that sold only racist material or that never
>carried any antiracist material, but I won't boycott one that sells
>all kinds of material and leaves the decision on what I will read to
>me.
>
>- Carl
>
>--
>Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

But is the decision really yours ? It seems to me that while it is true that
you can pick and choose what you want to read , you are only picking from a 
limited selection which was selected by the store manager or who ever is
responsible for stocking the store's selection.
     Like I stated in a previos posting... There isn't a black history/interest
section in many bookstores in white areas. So why isn't that censorship as
defined by the postings I've seen so far ? Isn't the store manager suppressing
my ability to obtain that information ? 
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:16207 rec.arts.misc:365 sci.misc:1580 sci.materials:680 sci.engr:1988 alt.artcom:227 misc.wanted:8215 trial.rec.metalworking:232
From: jhawk@panix.com (John Hawkinson)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.arts.misc,sci.misc,sci.materials,sci.engr,alt.artcom,misc.wanted,trial.rec.metalworking
Subject: Where to purchase metric triangular rulers?
Date: 5 Sep 92 21:10:10 GMT
Followup-To: misc.consumers
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC


Sorry about the ridiculous crossposting, but I wasn't sure where to post this
sort of thing...

Anyway, does anyone know where I can get triangular rulers with metric
(preferably along with English) demarkations? Thanks.

--
John Hawkinson
jhawk@panix.com
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:16549 talk.environment:3699 sci.energy:4302 sci.environment:11329
From: jym@mica.berkeley.edu (Jym Dyer)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,talk.environment,sci.energy,sci.environment
Subject: Re: Radioactivity and Superstition (and the *Real* Problems)
Date: 14 Sep 92 17:50:18
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
	<1992Aug28.144858.4841@pmafire.inel.gov>
	<JYM.92Sep1181648@remarque.mica.berkeley.edu>
	<1992Sep2.145455.13921@pmafire.inel.gov>
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: russ@pmafire.inel.gov's message of 2 Sep 92 14:54:55 GMT

> I believe that the nuclear issue and many others have been
> exploited in order to gain notoriety, public attention,
> some measure of political power/leverage, and to raise funds.

=o= I guess it all depends on what one means by "exploited."
Certainly some have sold books, gone on lecture tours, etc.,
but I know of no instances in which such gains weren't
well-earned.  And I know of no instances in which such gains
were very substantial.

=o= This is in pretty stark contrast to those who made their
fortunes *in* the heavily-subsidized, tax loophole-ridden,
monopolistic nuclear industry.

> Mr. Dyer has both confused the discussion . . . in terms of
> who said what to whom. . . . The other material prompting Mr.
> Dyer's reply was that of John McCarthy.  His words were not
> terribly unreasonable, but they were not mine.

=o= Prof. McCarthy's words were prefixed with two ">" charac-
ters; yours, with one.  This is pretty standard practice.  The
specifics of attribution is a matter of mapping the number of
">" characters with the message-IDs in the "References:" header.
    <_Jym_>
--
As we were walking around in the store, Marilyn and I were just really
 impressed by all of the novelties and the different types of little
 things that you could get for Christmas.  And all the people that
 would help you, they were dressed up in things that said, ``I believe
 in Santa Clause.''  And the only thing that I could think is that I
 believe in George Bush.
                -- Vice President Dan Quayle.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.books.technical,alt.discrimination
From: mycroft@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum)
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Organization: /etc/organization
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 07:24:27 GMT


In article <1992Sep11.195625.10024@tss.com> burke@tss.com (Jim Burke)
writes:
>
> While we both agree that the manager was wrong to try to control what
> his employer sold,

You're confused.  It's not the manager who was trying to censor the
book; it was some peon clerks who found it "offensive".  The clerks
absolutely *do not* have a "right" to decide what the store will sell.
I also agree with Carl, in that I prefer bookstores which do not censor
material, even things which I find very "offensive".

Consider the possibility that something *you* may want to read is
"offensive" to someone else.  Now where are you going to buy a copy?
It's a vicious circle which I do not care to be part of.

-- 
 \   Charles Hannum, mycroft@ai.mit.edu
 /\  White heterosexual atheist male (WHAM) pride!