HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: arup+@cs.cmu.edu (Arup Mukherjee)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Internet connectivity coming to Prodigy....
Date: 13 Sep 92 14:14:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.BuIsvo.IvH.1
Distribution: na
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1992Sep13.031828.26423@m.cs.uiuc.edu> kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes:
>
>Although I've don't believe they prescreen e-mail, didn't they punish
>users who send e-mail to their merchants asking the merchants to ask
>Prodigy to stop being so repressive?
>
>- Carl

Well, the only incident of this sort that I heard of was that people were
sending mail to merchants telling the merchants that the $0.25/message
charge would be harmful, since it would make people reluctant to get in
touch with the merchants. Unfortunately, this argument quickly lost its
teeth since e-mail to merchants is free... The e-mail charge (per message
after the first 30 messages in a month) was what caused all the commotion 
when it was first introduced. Prodigy justified this charge because they
claimed that some people were abusing the system and sending (by some
automated process) thousands of messages per day - okay, so I buy the
rationale, but the resultant price structure seemed rather mind-bending to
me. Something more like 100 free messages a month and $0.10 above that 
would have seemed more reasonable... (Prodigy e-mail messages are limited
in length to 6 screens x 20 lines x 40 characters across - A MUCH lousier
value for a quarter than a US Snail letter....). 

On the other hand, I will say that Prodigy management is rather heavy handed 
at times: I believe that a bunch of people (less than 10) who were sending
messages to other users asking people to cancel the service wound up with
their accounts terminated after the recipients of these messages complained. 
They also are really pig-headed about what they will and won't allow on the
bulletin boards, and they're also rather inconsistent about their censorship
policy in general: whether or not your article survives depends essentially on
which reviewer you got. If they deem a topic inappropriate though (for no 
other reason than that it clashes with the title of the bboard), God forbid
that you should try to get them to create a more appropriate bboard for
discussion of that topic -- even if you can show them there are hundreds of 
people interested, you won't get anywhere [I'm speaking from personal 
experience here]. In matters of policy they really do have a "take it or 
leave it approach" ... unfortunately, at present they don't have much 
competition.
From: mike@isgtec.com (Mike Sellers)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: firewood -- what kinds are best?
Date: 11 Sep 92 02:53:44 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: ISG Technologies Inc., Mississauga Ontario

Time to buy firewood.  Around here, I can get a half-cord (2x4x8 or so)
of hickory, maple, and/or alder (mix or pure) for about $65 (Canadian).  

What's best?  They're all supposedly "hard woods" (i.e. not fir :-) ),
but I wonder which burns best, longest, hottest, most fragrantly, etc.

Oh, this is to be burned in our normal fireplace, not in any hi-tech
woodstove.  Yes, I know about the warm inside air going right up the
chimney, thanks.  We still like to burn some wood in the winter.
Especially on those long winter nights after the kiddies are asleep. :-)

Thanks in advance for any advice.
--
              Mike Sellers      User Interface Team Leader
           mike@isgtec.com      ISG Technologies, Toronto, Canada
              "Actum ne agas" -- Do not do what has been done.
                         Furare tantum ab Optimis
From: savoia@sw.stratus.com (Rick Savoia)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: SEAR'S WARNING!
Date: 15 Sep 92 17:34:37 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.

In article <1992Sep15.143815.10579@cbnewsi.cb.att.com>, gadfly@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (Gadfly) writes:
> In article <1992Sep15.132344.10835@cbnewsk.cb.att.com>,
> monwel@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (douglas.w.monroe) writes:
> > >I'm afraid all I can do now is chalk the VCR up to experience, and to
> > >warn others to stay away from Sear's.
>  
> > First off, let me say that I think this vented outrage in such a
> > public forum is irresponsible on your part...
> 
> Why?  He seems to have gotten a bum product, and the store is not being
> responsive to his needs.


I'd still like to know what was 'bum' about the product.
I can see him getting mad if SEARS sold him a defective
VCR, but he stated it was a design flaw.  A design flaw
usually indicates that something in the design of the 
product was so bad, that it is a royal pain to use the 
product or that some portion of the product doesn't work 
like it is supposed to.  If this is the case, then maybe
he's just doing something wrong.   If, however, someone
buys a VCR and expects it to, say, rewind at the end of 
the tape automatically and it doesn't, the consumer may 
think it is a design flaw, but it's actually been purposely 
designed that way. 

If he is that unhappy with his purchase, then he should put 
it back in the box and return it instead of trying to get
it fixed.  As long as he has the receipt, everything should
be ok.  


Rick
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:16226 misc.wanted:8222
From: ia4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Imran Anwar)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.wanted
Subject: What does a basic Porsche '89 or '90 model sell for?
Date: 6 Sep 92 08:33:59 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Columbia University

Car prices obviously depend on dozens of factors but I was wondering
what the usual/expected price would be for a 1989 or 1990 basic no-frills
Porsche car.

Someone said they could cost less than $10,000 for "ordinary" ones while
used "collectible" ones in the same variety/year of make could go for
$40,000.  Any truth to that statement you think?
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: bron@iastate.edu (bronwyn)
Subject: Re: IKEA furniture by mailorder?
Originator: bron@aviator.cc.iastate.edu
Organization: I file things by the geological method. 
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 10:49:25 GMT

After this sat in my spool for weeks, I've decided to jump in:

In article <1992Aug26.030409.1033@tamsun.tamu.edu> bell@cs.tamu.edu (Will Bell) writes:
>I had heard a rumor (perhaps on this newsgroup) quite a while ago that IKEA
>was planning to start up a mail-order business, but it doesn't seem to have
>materialized.

Earlier this year I called IKEA (baltimore maybe?) to ask that very question.
The woman I spoke with said they were doing mail order on a trial basis, but 
that not all items were available due to shipping constraints.  (No mirrors, 
etc ...)  She DID warn me that mail orders were only dealt with once a week, 
so there would be a considerable delay in receiving the merchandise.  The 
shipping charges she quoted were a bit astronomical, too.  They sent me a 
catalog, and I pored over it, found a few things I wanted, and proceeded to 
call and find out the shipping charges.  Overall, I found that when I took 
shipping charges into account, they were about equal to what I would find in 
a middle-of-the-road import shop for similar quality.  YMMV.  

Anyone know if they're still doing this?

--
Bronwyn J. S. Hoon                                       bron@iastate.edu
 I don't believe in astrology.  We Aries aren't taken in by those things.
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:16415 alt.discrimination:4303 alt.censorship:7432
From: morgan@ms.uky.edu (Wes Morgan)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,alt.discrimination,alt.censorship
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Date: 11 Sep 92 12:50:46 GMT
    <ZBDM0C.92Sep10140653@curry.curry.trc.amoco.com>
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Puzzle Palace, UKentucky

bmoe@trc.amoco.com writes:
>Speaking as someone who actually "lives" in the Bible Belt, I would
>*love* it if my local Waldenbooks only removed Maupin's books from
>display to avoid the appearance of condoning homosexuality.

Let's turn it around; would you be upset if Waldenbooks removed the
"Christian books" section, in order to avoid the appearance of condoning
Christianity?

I suspect that many people would be outraged at such an action.  However,
those same people are applauding the removal of books which only offend
a certain portion of the audience.

>Unfortunatly, they don't stock Maupin's books.  And if you dare to
>special order such a thing, they'll sometimes even give you a nice
>Baptist Snarl(tm) to really make sure you understand that they go
>quite a bit beyond not condoning homosexuality.

Hey, "Baptist" is not equivalent to "hard-line conservative"!  
Some of us are quite middle-of-the-road; we don't even *HAVE* a
"Baptist Snarl".  8)

I see no problem in allowing one's customers decide the fate of a
particular book.  Let it stay on the shelves; if 'the masses' don't
like it, they won't buy it!  If it doesn't sell, the bookstore will,
in all likelihood, remove it from stock "Real Soon Now".

Most people are quite capable of making their own decisions.  I sub-
scribe to _Rolling Stone_; I may not approve of everything the maga-
zine prints, but I prefer to make those decisions myself.

I don't understand the "Christian" folks who argue for the removal
of texts (or portions thereof).  I've always believed that Christianity
is based on the notion of "free will".  Man cannot be forced into faith;
he must make that decision on his own.  I find it utterly presumptuous
(and pompous) for another person to prevent (or attempt to prevent) me
from reading some "unacceptable" text.  I'll make that decision all by
myself, thank you very much; it's a decision to be made by my own sense
of faith (call it conscience, if you prefer).

--Wes

-- 
MORGAN@UKCC         |       Wes Morgan       |        ...!ukma!ukecc!morgan 
morgan@ms.uky.edu   | Engineering  Computing |   morgan@wuarchive.wustl.edu
morgan@engr.uky.edu | University of Kentucky | JWMorgan@dockmaster.ncsc.mil
  Mailing list for AT&T StarServer S/E  - starserver-request@engr.uky.edu
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.books.technical,alt.discrimination
From: jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (J.B. Nicholson-Owens)
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Followups-To: misc.consumers, alt.discrimination
Reply-To: jeffo@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:49:08 GMT

Why is this thread in misc.books.technical?  Take this obviously
non-technical oriented discussion elsewhere please.
-- 
-- Jeff (jeffo@uiuc.edu)
-- No NeXTmail please
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:16446 misc.consumers.house:12159
From: ajg@controls.ccd.harris.com (Arnold Goldberg)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.consumers.house
Subject: WHOLESALE CARPET AND TILE????
Date: 11 Sep 92 20:11:00 GMT
Distribution: misc
Organization: Harris Controls and Compositions


Does anyone know of (and have actualy experience with) any really 
cheap carpet and tile wholesalers.

Locally I go through too many middlemen to really get a good discount.

Even the so-called "wholesalers" around here really aren't


Thanks

arnold

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arnold Goldberg                            Email:  ajg@ccd.harris.com
Phone: (407)242-5051                       Snail:  Harris Corporation
Fax  : (407)242-4262                               407 John Rodes Blvd.
                                                   Melbourne, FL 32905
The opinions expressed are my own and do not in any way represent Harris 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: timlee@public.btr.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Recommendations for Ford/Mercury mechanic needed
Date: 6 Sep 92 05:30:41 GMT
Reply-To: timlee@btr.com (Timothy J. Lee)
Followup-To: misc.consumers
Distribution: ba

pan@panda.Stanford.EDU (Doug Pan) writes:
|Can anyone recommend a mechanic for my 83 Mercury Capri close to the
|Stanford campus?  Thanks.

Go to a library and look for a magazine called Bay Area Consumer's
Checkbook in the consumer information section (where they put stuff
like Consumer Reports).  Some of the issues have survey reports on
various car repair shops.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee                 timlee@btr.com  ...!decwrl!btr!timlee
This message comes with no warranty, not even an implied warranty of
fitness for any particular purpose.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: C11815@maccvm.corp.mot.com (Josette Giacobbi)
Subject: Re: SEAR'S WARNING!
Organization: Motorola
Date: 15 Sep 1992 14:03:18 CDT

------------------------- Original Article -------------------------
From: monwel@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (douglas.w.monroe)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: SEAR'S WARNING!
Date: 15 Sep 92 13:23:44 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

In article <1992Sep14.123440.1@vax.sonoma.edu> butler@vax.sonoma.edu writes:
>I wanted to warn all potential Sear's customers to avoid purchasing anything
>there.  They simply don't stand behind what they sell.
>
>My most recent problem with them is about an LXi (Sear's brand) VCR
>that has a design flaw.  I've spent dozens of hours over the past several
>months dealing with complete incompetence.  I've been subjected to the
>imbeciles they have anwsering the phones - all for nothing.  I'm either
>given erroneous information, told to call another number, or am told
>that someone will return my call.  No one ever does.  My letters have
>yielded no results either.
>
>I'm afraid all I can do now is chalk the VCR up to experience, and to
>warn others to stay away from Sear's.
>
>-Bob
>



First off, let me say that I think this vented outrage in such a public forum
is irresponsible on your part. Second, let me tell you that I used to work at
a SEARS during college days. We constantly had people coming in to return
things that, IMO, should not have been returned (eg shoes that wore out, trash
cans with bottoms worn out from dragging, etc.) We ALWAYS refunded, sometimes
with a small amount of "haggling". The SEARS philosophy at the time was
that it was better to give back the 10, 25, 100 dollars rather than risk
his/her NEVER coming back in the store again. I can suggest going to the
store manager, waiting if necessary, and demand some satisfaction. If he/she
balks, take them to the front of the store where it says "Satisfaction
Guaranteed" and make your point in front of some customers. Hope it doesn't go t
who CAN do something, as opposed to somebody who doesn't WANT to do anything!
--
                                                          Doug Monroe
                   				       dwm@pruxl.att.com
  						 or   monwel@cbnewsk.att.com



My husband had a beaded car cushion that literally fell apart, like they
all do, and they said no problem and handed him a new one.  Can't beat
that.  Didn't even ask for the receipt!!   josette
From: curt@vtucs.cc.vt.edu (Curt Tilmes)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Not Sony (was Re: Best 27 - 30" Big Screen T.V.)
Date: 14 Sep 92 19:52:57 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
In-reply-to: eastwood@inline's message of 11 Sep 92 16:33:24 GMT

>I'll second that - my 27" Sony has functioned flawlessly for over
>5 years.

I just got a 27" Panasonic, with the Super-Flat screen.  Very nice
picture quality, great contrast, feature packed.  I can't say how
long it will last, but after 2 days, I am still satisfied :-).

Curt
From: arup+@cs.cmu.edu (Arup Mukherjee)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Internet connectivity coming to Prodigy....
Date: 13 Sep 92 00:10:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.BuHpt3.1ny.1
Distribution: na
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1992Sep12.212930.25581@news.columbia.edu> ia4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Imran Anwar) writes:
>
>Prodigy sucks.  Did they announce if they will censor mail coming in from
>internet?  Or just the stuff going out from prodigy?  Or just messages
>critical of Prodigy?
>
>Imran

There was never anything to indicate that Prodigy does or ever did censor
*e-mail*. They claim they never have, and although I'm highly critical of
their actions in other respects, I believe them on this one. They have 
always censored the content of their bulletin boards (akin to newsgroups)
and continue to do so... I would imagine they won't censor mail going either
way. 

Prodigy has its down sides... but it is very widely accessible and easy enough
to use that friends who are completely computer illiterate can deal with it. 
If they make the internet mail feature affordable I for one would be very
happy. Have you ever tried to convince someone who doesn't have a clue about
computers to use a public access unix system? or to become a uucp node?

Of course, I'm not sure how easy to use the new feature will be though, 
since it seems that it won't be integrated with the current mail system.

-Arup



-Arup
From: jms@vision.sarnoff.com (Jerry Shapiro x2420)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: New Mortgage Scam
Date: 14 Sep 92 14:04:50 GMT
Reply-To: jms@vision.sarnoff.com
Organization: David Sarnoff Research Center

In article 16917@chpc.org, rboudrie@chpc.org (Rob Boudrie) writes:
>My mortgage holder (Huntington Mortgage) just wrote to inform me that 
>I qualify to save $48K in interest over the lifetime of the loan.  All
>I have to do is pay them 1/2 mtg payment per month (and sign an 
>agreement allowing them to collect this directly from my checking account).
>They will keep this money in a separate account, and apply it to the 
>mortgage at the regular due dates (though with a slightly larger amount
>since there will be 13 instead of 12 payments per year).
>
>The catch?  I only have to pay a "one time processing fee" of $495.00
>for them to set this up, and a $1.00 fee on each bi weekly payment
>processed!
>
>The "questions and answers" in the accompaning literature answered the
>question "Is there any other way to reduce the interest?" with mention that
>payment of additional interest as per contract terms is permitted, but that
>this is the only systematic way of arranging for Huntington to collect
>bi weekly payments on a regular basis.
>
>I guess I don't understand why they gave me a mortgage in the first place
>if they think I'm stupid enough to pay them $495 for this non-service.
>(I'll just keep sending in extra principal with each month's payment and
>do it myself).
>
>Rob Boudrie
>rboudrie@chpc.org


I also got this from them! They want you to pay *them* $2 a month to have
withdrawal privileges on your checking account, yeh right. I trust this
company so much that I spend $2 a month sending my payments certified
mail so that they can't *lose* my payments or delay cashing my check and
charge me a late fee.

Jerry Shapiro
From: timlee@public.btr.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Endorsing checks for deposit via ink stamp?
Date: 5 Sep 92 20:47:59 GMT
Reply-To: timlee@btr.com (Timothy J. Lee)
Followup-To: misc.consumers
Distribution: usa

konstan@elmer-fudd.cs.berkeley.edu (Joe Konstan) writes:
|What I wonder about is what you could do with your own MICR (magnetic
|ink character recognition) printer.  You could certainly encode your own
|checks to ensure that nobody else changed the amount (though they might
|overprint your characters rendering the check unreadable by machine).  
|What would happen if you wrote out a check for $1000, but encoded it for
|$200?  Eventually, this could be tracked down since the banks keep 
|copies of checks, but I'd be interested in how quickly something like this 
|would be caught.  
|
|Don't try this at home.  Don't try this at work, either.

1.  The recipient may notice the magnetic numbers that don't match
    the writing and inform the bank where s/he deposits the check.
2.  The bank where the check is deposited may notice that the magnetic
    numbers don't match.

In either case 1 or 2, the bank where the check is deposited will
attach a strip of paper with the correct numbers (including the
routing number and account number) to the bottom of the check.
This is also done if the check is somehow damaged in transit, or has
defective magnetic numbers.  If you look at the checks that come back
in your statement, some of them may have such strips of paper attached.

3.  The recipient may notice that the deposit as credited in his/her
    statement does not match what s/he thought s/he deposited.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee                 timlee@btr.com  ...!decwrl!btr!timlee
This message comes with no warranty, not even an implied warranty of
fitness for any particular purpose.
From: maslak@unix.SRI.COM (Valerie Maslak)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Florida disaster raise auto or home insurance rates?
Date: 4 Sep 92 23:06:35 GMT
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, California

In article <1992Sep3.004605.12291@pacdata.uucp> jimh@pacdata.uucp (Jim Harkins) writes:
>My understanding of it is that the insurance companies themselves took out
>insurance against this kind of disaster after hurricane Hugo.  Now who an
>insurance company would by insurance from I don't know, maybe Lloyd's of
>London.  This is all from a CNN report on the subject.

 This is called "reinsurance." There are lots of companies that do
just exactly this.

Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: cep@taligent.com (Christophe Pettus)
Subject: Re: Waldenbooks fires staff for refusing to sell racist book!
Organization: Taligent, a little subsidiary of two really big companies.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:59:59 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.131237.3388@cbnews.cb.att.com> webdw@cbnews.cb.att.com (bruce.d.woods) writes:
>Let me get this straight -
>(1)  It's OK (according to the far left/politically correct crowd)
>     for an employee of a private company to censor what can or cannot
>     be sold (legally) by the company worked for; it's "OK" for a
>     person to refuse to perform the work he is paid for.
>(2)  It's "not OK" (according to the same crowd) to in any way suggest
>     or propose that public tax funds not be used to support any kind
>     of art/music etc. no matter what.
>Big Brother's 1984 is here!

Nope, sorry, you've not gotten it straight.  It's perfectly OK to
suggest or propose that public tax money not be used to support the
arts.  I and others are going to disagree with you, and attempt to get
such funding reinstated.  Taking disagreement with a position as a call
to censor it is absurd and dishonest.
--
-- Christophe

"Black is the color of non-conformity.  Everyone has to have it."
	T-shirt company executive
From: mks@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (manishkumar.sharma)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: RCA camcorders any good?
Date: 15 Sep 92 17:09:39 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

I am in the market for a cam/palmcorder. I looked at several models from
Sony (CCDF310, 510, TR9, TR81, etc) and also checked out an RCA Pro 8(?).
I am interested in at least 8:1 zoom ratio, titling/super-imposing features
and fairly good focusing capabilities. A remote for playback is nice but
not necessary, but would need an external mic jack and a 8mm format.

Sony does not seem to have all these features in the TR series except in
the TR-81 and above or the F510 and above. Also, they are expensive.
Also their lens are so-so; zooming in tends to shift in and out of focus
as it hunts for a sharp image.

The RCA model has all the above and is reasonably priced, focus is thru
an infra-red eye which seems to be better. Also this model is made by
Minolta for RCA (just like Sony does it for Ricoh or is it the other way
around?)

Does any one have anything good or bad to say about the Sony or RCA? I am
leaning toward the RCA but am leary about it (maybe because I see so many
Sony camcorders in people's hands).
Thanks.

-Manish Sharma
..att!trumpet!mks