HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: misc.consumers

Summary:  a cautious recommendation for the Flowbee,
	  IF you can find it for a good price.

A while back there was a discussion of the Flowbee (as advertised on TV) hair
cutting device that uses a vacuum cleaner.  The general comments were positive,
but I was put off by the price ($100 +S&H).  Well, last weekend I found the
Flowbee at the local Price Club for $67 ($66.9?).  While still pretty expensive
we decided to give it a try.  I used it last night for the first time to cut my
hair and my two boy's hair (ages 3 and 1.5).  Here's what I found:

On the positive side:

o  It's very clean (since all the hair is vacuumed up).  You don't have to go
   outside or worry about cleaning up.  You can cut your hair right in front
   of the bathroom mirror where you can see what you're doing.

o  You can't make a mistake.  This is VERY important when cutting kids hair.
   You don't have to worry about them making a sudden move and you cutting a
   big chunk of hair (or skin!!) off.

o  It does the job.  For the length of hair I wanted for myself and my kids,
   it worked just fine.

o  It's cheap (after the initial cost).  I never did pay much for haircuts
   ($5 at the local beauty college), but now I don't pay anything.  Add it the
   cost for getting the kid's hair cut (which would start sooner-or-later since
   my hack jobs weren't very good), and I should have it 'paid' for pretty fast.

On the negative side:

o  It's pretty noisy.  Between the vacuum and the cutter, there's a lot of
   noise.  This is more of an issue with small kids but with some help holding
   them from my wife, I was able to cut their hair OK.

o  Despite their claim of cutting hair up to 6 inches, I doubt it would work.
   The hair needs to be pulled up into the cutters.  If your hair is long,
   or thick, or you have a weak vacuum, it could get hard/impossible to make
   things work.  I was using a Rainbow vacuum (also talked about in this group
   every so often) which worked pretty well.  More suction would be better.
   I'd say that hair in the 3 inch range (and less) would work OK.  I'd worry
   if I wanted my hair longer than that.

o  You still need to do some cleanup around the ears and neck.  I'm not too
   picky about having my hair 'just perfect' so I probably won't worry about
   it.  But if you want a 'good' haircut you'll need to do some manual cutting
   around the ears etc. when your finished using the Flowbee.

o  Design and construction are not that great.  It's not bad.  I don't think
   it's going to break next week.  But I'd be nice if it were a little better
   built.  The two year warranty helps here.

Overall (given the cautions above) I'd recommend it.  Of course I'll know
better after I've used it for a few months.

I'll try to answer any other specific questions.

#include <disclaimer.h>

							Brett Carver
							brett@sr.hp.com
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:14369 rec.autos:18351 rec.autos.tech:10028
From: jxs18@po.CWRU.Edu (Jerry Sy)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.autos,rec.autos.tech
Subject: need auto paint & primer recommendation
Date: 23 Jul 92 17:16:01 GMT
Reply-To: jxs18@po.CWRU.Edu (Jerry Sy)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)


I am planning on repainting the lower portion of my car
and I need recommendations for a good primer and paint that will
last me at least a couple years before I have to repaint.

any recommendations ?

also, since this is gonna be the first time I'm painting a car,
and tips on this is also appreciated.

thanks in advance.

jerry
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: sns@bondi.jpl.nasa.gov (Sam Southard)
Subject: Re: MSG
Organization: SAR Systems Development & Processing, JPL
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 20:21:57 GMT

In article <1992Jul31.200535.24184@cs.yale.edu> nathan@laplace.biology.yale.edu writes:
>In article <1992Jul30.232522.14069@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> sns@bondi.jpl.nasa.gov  
>(Sam Southard) writes:
>> The solution is easy.  If you see a package which has MSG on
>> it, don't buy it. 
>
>True enough, but MSG can be labeled as other things,
>including hydrolized (sp?) veg protein, "natural
>flavorings", etc... quite a problem for someone who
>wants to avoid it! 

If you want to avoid it, it's your problem to know what the other names are
for it.  Actually, it's my problem too, since my wife reacts to MSG.  It's
inconvinient since I like to snack on lots of things that are horrible for me,
those products usually containg MSG, and we don't like to say things like
"this is your food, this is my food, etc.".  I'd rather not have something in
the house which one of us can't eat.

Had you read the rest of the paragraph you would have seen something like "If
it's not labeled you can usually figure out what it was and not buy it in the
future".  This can be used for cases where it's included in "natural
flavorings".

>Of course, food in restaurants isn't even labeled.

You can ask them if they use it.  If they do and can't leave it out, you know
where not to eat.  If you get bitten by it if they don't know (if they use an
ingredient which already has it in), you know where not to return.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: wp@sei.cmu.edu (William Pollak)
Subject: contractor problem 
Followup-To: sender
Keywords: contractor brick-pointing
Organization: The Software Engineering Institute
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 12:41:04 GMT



I'd like some advice about a problem I'm having with a contractor. I live in a
brick house that needed pointing. A guy who has done some other work for me in
the past said that I might be able to save some money by slush-pointing the
house. He said he would try it on a small area of the house and, if it worked,
do the whole house that way. I have nothing in writing with him, by the way.
(I know, I know...)

So he did his experiment, pronounced it a success, covered the side of the
house with mortar, then came back to me and said that he had been mistaken and
that there was now no way to get the mortar off the bricks. He would be glad
to paint the mortar, though, and he was sure it would look great. As you can
imagine, I was very unhappy. After much wrangling we agreed that he would
do everything he could to get the mortar off the bricks, but if he failed he
would point the rest of the house by hand and paint the side with the mortar
on it, all for the original price of $2000. He also agreed to guarantee the
paint job for as long as I own the house (which, considering its present
state, may be a long time!).

Mistake number two: When he was just about finished with the pointing, he
asked me for the balance of his payment. He said he would finish the pointing
the next day and begin the paint job the following week. I believed him and
gave him the balance. That was about a month ago. Since then, he has promised
to come out a number of times and not showed; left mortar and other debris all
around the house and on all the window sills; failed to return many phone
calls; and failed to respond to my increasingly aggressive threats and
insinuations. 

Here's what I already know:
1) I should have gotten it in writing
2) I shouldn't have paid him until he was really finished.

Here's what I don't know: 
1) What can I do (if anything) to force him to live up to his part of the
agreement?
2) What can I do if he doesn't?

I'd greatly appreciate any advice that anyone could give me.
From: bill@thd.tv.tek.com (William K. McFadden)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: air conditioner longevity
Keywords: refigeration
Date: 22 Jul 92 17:46:41 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Tektronix TV Products

In article <1992Jul21.195716.7304@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> rl@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (roger.h.levy) writes:
->How long does the refigerant last in a typical window air conditioner?  It
->occured to me that longevity of the refigerant for three refrigeration
->machines is something like:
->
->	kitchen refrigerator - forever
->	room air conditioner - 5-10 years?
->	auto air conditioner - 3-4 years?

Unless it is broken, a refrigerator or window A/C should theoretically
hold its coolant forever.  As I understand it, the reason auto A/C
systems need recharging is that the compressor is not hermetically
sealed (because it is pulley-driven), and the seals are not prefect.

-- 
Bill McFadden    Tektronix, Inc.  P.O. Box 500  MS 58-639  Beaverton, OR  97077
bill@tv.tv.tek.com, ...!tektronix!tv.tv.tek.com!bill      Phone: (503) 627-6920
How can I prove I am not crazy to people who are?
From: langston@langston.cs.utk.edu (Mike Langston)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Weedeater recommendations
Date: 28 Jul 92 22:18:21 GMT
Reply-To: langston@langston.cs.utk.edu (Mike Langston)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Tennessee
NNTP-Posting-Host: langston.cs.utk.edu

grover mccoury asks:

> I am seeking recommendations for good, reliable *gas-powered*
> Weedeaters.  A friend of mine suggested Poulan brand. Anybody
> have any other suggestions?

a couple of thoughts

1) make sure the nominal manufacturer is the real manufacturer

a coupla years back, my father-in-law decided to buy me the best
gas-powered string trimmer he thought he could find, and chose
lawn-boy because of their mower reputation

a very bad choice -- the thing failed after two weeks, and no
one at the dozen or so repair places i called would even touch
a lawn-boy trimmer -- turns out that lawn-boy trimmers are made
by some outfit called ryan, not by lawn-boy

2) don't buy a brand X trimmer just because you have a swell
   brand X something else

when i purchased a replacement, i made sure the name matched
the manufacturer -- many years of faithful service from my
stihl chainsaw induced me to check out stihl trimmers, and
sure enough only their big models were made by stihl (their
small models were made by someone else)!

not smelling a rat, and needing a big model anyway, i bought a
big stihl -- even after my dealer (and i) tinkered for hours,
i am still unhappy with its carburetion -- my dealer says that
stihl's trimmers are the best and that they just goofed on their
carbs -- but look, they've made good carbs for their saws for
years -- i think stihl has simply used its chainsaw reputation to
build and market a slightly-less-than-absolutely-top-of-the-line
trimmer myself

part of it may be that i'm so spoiled by the reliability of my
stihl saw (sob, they've stopped making the 028) that i'm too
quick to notice flaws in their string trimmers :)

i have heard but cannot confirm that shindawa makes a good
trimmer -- perhaps another reader can comment on that

-- mike
From: duncan@ravel.ati.com (Jim Duncan)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Sony TV screen goes blank
Date: 26 Jul 92 06:14:49 GMT
Reply-To: duncan@ravel.ati.com (Jim Duncan)
Distribution: usa
Organization: KUFX 94.5 FM Stereo, San Jose, CA 'The Fox'

In article <1992Jul24.165143.22556@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> mks@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (manishkumar.sharma) writes:
>I have a 4yr old 20" Sony TV that worked pretty well until now. Sometimes
>(maybe 7-8 times/day) the screen goes blank for a few seconds (up to 5 mins

>Has anyone seen this problem before? Before I cart the TV to the shop for
>a repair estimate, does anybody have any suggestions?
>Thanks.
>
I had such a problem with my 8 year old Sony Trinitron. In my case, the
focus divider, a rather stressed part, had changed value.  This allowed
the CRT high voltage to rise excessively, which caused the HV
overvoltage protection circuitry to shut down the set.  Before I
replaced this resistor, the set would work fine UNTIL the video faded
to black between two scenes.  

In my case, the set's owner got a $180 repair estimate.  She then
bought a new set for $300 and gave me this one.  The resistor was $50
from Sony, service manual was $20, and it cost $25 to get the set away
from the appliance store that had given the estimate.  
-- 
KUFX |      w  ["]                            | WA6MBV     
94.5 |...   |___|_____..duncan@ravel.ati.com  | Jim Duncan  
FM   |          H                             | ----------   
********  \_____I_____/  37 3 10N/121 59 10W  **************
From: jsp@uts.amdahl.com (James Preston)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Married/Single/Taxes
Date: 24 Jul 92 21:45:23 GMT
Reply-To: jsp@pls.amdahl.com
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

joel@upchrch.UUCP (Joel Upchurch  ) writes:

}As far as I know you are perfectly correct. I know several couples that
}have bought houses together and had kids, without getting married and they
}come out a lot better tax wise than if they had been married. One dodge
}they use is to have one of them claim the child and take head-of-household
}and take the standard deduction, while the other one files as single and
}takes the house and itemizes.

}Frankly I've got my doubts about how well such things will stand up to
}an audit, but I tend to be very conservative about how I do my taxes.
}If such situations become common, I suspect the IRS is going to start
}cracking down and tell couples that they are married for tax purposes
}and to file a joint return.

You're being a little overly paranoid.  There is absolutely nothing
illegal about a couple choosing not to get married.  The IRS can do
a lot of things, but it cannot just "decide" that a couple is married
for tax purposes in order to get more money from them.

--James Preston
From: reb@Ingres.COM (Phydeaux)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Time-sharing condos - Win a free trip - ??
Keywords: free trip, condos, time-sharing
Date: 27 Jul 92 20:37:59 GMT
Reply-To: reb@Ingres.COM (Phydeaux)
Distribution: usa
Organization: E 4th St Home For The Overeducated Underemployed - Chicago Div.

In article <1992Jul25.200647.16692@henson.cc.wwu.edu> n9020351@henson.cc.wwu.edu (James Douglas Del-Vecchio) writes:
>littlec1@jaguar.uofs.edu (Chris Little) writes:
>>After dropping my name, number, and salary range in a "Win a FREE trip to
>>Orlando" box at the mall the other day, I got a call lastnight telling me

The only thing that's "FREE" is probably the part *in* Florida. You
probably have to get there on your own.

>	There is no way that most people come out ahead with even the best
>timeshare, because the "cost of hotels vs cost of timeshare" equations
>they show you to "prove" what a savings it is fails to take into consideration
>the time value of money.

My  parents bought  a  timeshare about 10  years ago.   They have long
since paid for  themselves.   BUT -- you  are right.  Most people  get
screwed.  While trying to convince us that we should buy a $15000/week
dream vacation house they realized we were  not taking the  bait.  So,
they offered  us  a $2000/week place  with  the  promise that we could
'trade up' to the nice places across the street.  Well, we went to our
place  a couple of times but  now we simply  put  in our cheapie for a
trade and trade  for a nicer place  somewhere else. If you're going to
do this, it helps to get a place somewhere that's desireable.  Ours is
between a golf course and the ocean on Hilton Head Island, SC.

Be careful, in general it's a bad deal.  If you can get  something for
very little money in a very desirable area you may be able to do okay.
I'd say we were very lucky.
					reb
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: tattersall_derek@macmail1.rtsg.mot.com
Subject: Re: Cheap, Sturdy Bookcases?
Organization: CSG Group
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 17:46:49 GMT

In article <Jul.23.11.21.20.1992.27910@remus.rutgers.edu>
clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
>
>I went shopping for bookcases recently and was shocked to find
>that anything that was reasonably priced was crap, and that
>anything that looked sturdy was greatly overpriced (at Ikea).
>Does anyone have any suggestions?
>-- 
>Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
>
>"In a study of schoolboys, an educator discovered a correlation between size
> of feet and quality of handwriting.  The boys with the larger feet were,
> on the average, older."        Wallis & Roberts, _The Nature of Statistics_
>

I use a combination of cinder blocks and 1 x 10 boards. Paint the cinder blocks
black, and stain and polyurethane the boards and it makes a rather nice looking
book case. You can use wider boards and make it a home entertainment center
also.

Cinder blocks are under a dollar a piece, and boards are reasonably cheap too.
I find this a good alternative to paying the prices at furniture stores.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: acheng@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Albert Cheng)
Subject: Re: MSG
Originator: acheng@shalom.ncsa.uiuc.edu
Organization: Nat'l Ctr for Supercomp App (NCSA) @ University of Illinois
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 06:49:23 GMT

I re-read the old postings and in my opinion, both Rion and Jason
present some facts as they understood and with good intention.  Jason
might have more encounter with MSG that caused him to read more about
it and present what he has found out.  I would say we are all intelligent
adults.  So let us read the facts present and make our own conclusion.

My opinion about 60 minutes?  About the same as checkout line
newspaper.  Dramatic, sensasional, entertaining.  But do you think any
network would present the New England Health Journal as a prime time
program?

Have a good day, everyone.
From: staggers@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ken Staggers)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Rental Cars & Additional Drivers
Date: 28 Jul 92 02:47:49 GMT
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.

In article <1992Jul27.215643.22450@wuecl.wustl.edu> tjs@earth.wustl.edu (tom sullivan) writes:
>
>The last two summers, my girl friend (now fiancee) and I have rented a
>So, why do they charge more for a second driver? What are 
>the implications of not paying the fee? 
>
>We both have insurance that covers rental cars and we waive all of the
>insurance sold by the rental agency.

Hmmm...I would certainly call my insurance company and ask them whether
I would still be covered if I violated in any way the rental contract.
You want to make sure that there is not a clause in your insurance that
says you have to follow the policies of the car rental agency to the letter
otherwise you might not be covered.

In upstate NY, a few rental companies will not let you take the car into
NY city because their insurance doesnt cover it.  Now in NYState you are
only responsible for $100.00 of damage to a car.  But if you knowingly
violate a contract you signed which stated you would not take the car
into the city, you *might* be liable for the whole amount (I have never
read the entire NY State consumer law on this, so there could be holes
in it) and your insurance company might balk at paying anything over
$100.00.  

So, I would definitely check your insurance company to see if there would
be any problems if you violated the rental contract by not reporting an
additional driver (and that driver is driving when there is an accident).

--Ken
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:14260 rec.autos.tech:9925 rec.autos:18182 rec.woodworking:5007
From: pngai@adobe.com (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.autos.tech,rec.autos,rec.woodworking
Subject: Re: Compressors & Air Tools
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:13:25 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

In article <1992Jul20.182720.26606@bnr.ca> Peon w/o Email priv (Eric Youngblood) writes:
>WOW! I envy you! You must have a dedicated work shop. I cant say much about a 
>compressor that large, but I will relate my experience purchasing a 3.5 HP 25

These are Sears horses, of course, about half the size of a real horse.
Of course, anyone who shops at Sears these days gets what they deserve.

>gal unit. Paid $299 at Sears. After close inspection this *is* a high quality
>piece of equipment. It has a 120/240 15/17.5 amp GE electric direct drive motor.

-- 
My opinions are my own.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Service at the car dealers
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 02:27:05 GMT

mmartin@nmsu.edu (Marilyn Martin) writes:
: 
: Now I have to have a few more things done (followed by a total cashectomy)-
: wheel bearings greased, brake and transmission fluid changed, etc. Are they
: just waiting to pounce? Can I do anything?

How many miles do you have on the car? The factory manual for my vehicle
does not recommend doing any of the above. It does recommend that they   
be periodically checked.

If the vehicle is used in heavy service - they recommend doing all the
above at 30,000 mile intervals.

I would suggest getting the official Owners Workshop Manual. It probably
is published by Haynes.  If you cannot get it from your local dealer, call
the one that is 50 miles away and order it from them.  If you cannot get
it there - call the number you called before and ask them how you can order
it.

Yes, I think they are taking advantage of you. Did they give you all the
old parts? They should have - my dealer does that automatically.

: The car has to be serviced there to honor the warranty - the next nearest 
: dealership is 50 miles away.

This is highly unlikely. Most manufacturers just require that you get the
normal periodic maintanance - many even allow you to do it yourself. Call
the factory number and find out.

: The jerk told me that having a lube n go change my oil voided my warranty.

Wrong. There have been lawsuits over this - the dealers lost. You can do
your own lube and filter changes.

: I called Better Business , they're part of it. I could go to the general
: manager and wrangle - but what I really want is to know what's going on.

The Better Business Bureau is next to useless. Try calling your fraud 
division of your State Attorney General. They might be interested.

Bill
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: banchy@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Banchy thomas g (410) 461-2216)
Subject: Re: Cheap, Sturdy Bookcases?
Reply-To: banchy@aplcen (Banchy thomas g (410) 461-2216)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 16:31:40 GMT

In article <Jul.23.11.21.20.1992.27910@remus.rutgers.edu> clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
>
>I went shopping for bookcases recently and was shocked to find
>that anything that was reasonably priced was crap, and that
>anything that looked sturdy was greatly overpriced (at Ikea).
>Does anyone have any suggestions?

  I did some bookcase shopping about a year ago, and also came to the 
conclusion that IKEA was overpriced for stuff of only reasonably good
quality.  For a similar price to IKEA, I thought the stuff from This
End Up looked much sturdier.  ANother option (which I opted for) was
to wait for a sale at Scan (local Scandinavian furniture store), which
has MUCH better furniture than IKEA.  I agree that the bargain basement
stuff is worthless.  2 other points: try to avoid getting reamed on
delivery charges, and at least consider buying used.

Tom

Newsgroups: misc.consumers