HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: alasnik@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Adam Lasnik)
Subject: Re: Sears Premier Dining club - scam alert!
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 05:27:40 GMT


I signed up with Premier Dining Club though the Prodigy Service.  I've been
generally pleased with the service for the following reasons:

--The service reps have been generally been rather friendly and helpful in
recommending restaurants in areas I've traveled to.
--I've had little problem having the card honored in establishments that have
previously indicated acceptance.  In the areas I've lived in (Chicago and LA),
I've been impressed with the number and general quality of participating
restaurants.

On a slightly humorous aside, though... I realized that I couldn't justify the
$49 fee, since I'm a college student and I generally can't afford to eat out
enough to make up the cost (plus, it's not like I have THAT many dates anymore
<half-smiley> to take out to eat at expensive places)... Anyways, so I called
up the Premier Dining rep, explained my situation (that I wanted to quit
before I was charged the $49), and they then did the following:

--of course, gave the obligatory sales pitch ("You know, we're adding all
restaurants all the time and...")
--I politely but firmly interrupted the canned pitch, and reiterated my "broke
college" status.  The rep then helpfully offered to send me several
two-for-one fast food (i.e. CHEAP!) coupon books AND told me that I could try
the service for ANOTHER full year at no-risk, and if I STILL didn't save more
than the $49, they'd gladly refund my entire years' fee with no hassle.

Well, hey, I frankly KNOW I won't eat out enough to make up for the cost, but
I have no guilt in keeping the card for the remainder of the year, because,
after all, I WAS honest about my circumstances, and they BEGGED me to stay
:-).  So at the end of the period, I'll have saved about $20-30 and paid
nothing.

Maybe, if I'm lucky, at the end of the year, they'll offer to "waive the fee"
for another year for me, like many credit cards have been known to do :-)

--ADAM "KEYS" LASNIK
  from the same guy begged by AMEX to stay "as a valued member" and bribed
with a $25 gift certificate :-)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.autos
From: tedebear@leland.Stanford.EDU (Theodore Chen)
Subject: Re: Intermittent problem with '90 Integra brakes
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 08:01:07 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.130649.24398@walter.bellcore.com> mma@thumper.bellcore.com (Mary Ma) writes:
>
>Problem:
>	I have a '90 Integra which seems to have an intermittent braking
>problem.  The car has about 43K miles on it and never had any brake work
>done on it.  I am the first owner and have taken the car back to the 
>dealer 5 TIMES (last time was yesterday) to have them check the brake.
>Each time, they assure me that there's nothing wrong.  The brakes feels 
>very spongy at times (almost like there's nothing there). It has gotten
>to the point where I don't feel comfortable driving it ('can't quite afford
>to trade it in yet..)

sounds like there's air in your brake lines.
did they try bleeding the brakes?
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: staggers@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ken Staggers)
Subject: Re: MCI Telemarketing (was MCI = Morons)
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 21:25:01 GMT

In article <Apr.9.12.22.58.1992.4130@aramis.rutgers.edu> rinehart@aramis.rutgers.edu (Mark J. Rinehart) writes:
>F&F strikes me as a plan by MCI to have MCI customers do MCIs
>telemarketing for them. Ingenious, isn't it? MCI customers pay MCI to
>do MCIs telemarketing. Only in America!!!!!

Ingeniuous?  Yes.  But I guess I am like those people who pay their VISA
bills in full every month.  I really dont make money for the company.  In this
case with MCI, I joined when I moved to Chicago 2 years ago.  The primary
reason was frequent flyer points.  Then F&F started.  So I asked all the
friends that I know if they had AT&T or MCI.  Only 3 friends had MCI, so
those are the names I submitted.  I also submitted one international number.
I would never give MCI the names of my friends who have AT&T.  But if one
of them switches on their own, they'll be one of my F&F numbers.

So, unless someone proves to me that I am losing more money using MCI 
(including the savings from F&F and the frequent flyer miles) than AT&T,
I'll switch back.  But even AT&T says in their ads the basic price is still
the same among LD companies.

--Ken
From: yeung@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Augustus W Yeung)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Help (Radar detector)
Date: 7 Apr 92 22:34:43 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network


Can someone give me some kind of suggestions on a good radar detector?
I am looking for a three band (K, X, Ka) detector. The price range
can be $0-150. I find a good one from whistle which cost 140 but
I also find one from bel which only cost $70. They all look like
the same, how can I tell which one is better?

thanks
gus
From: jwishnie@roadkill.Stanford.EDU (Jeff Wishnie)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Need Camcorder Recommendations
Date: 16 Apr 92 08:32:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: Csli.1992Apr16.083239.17338
Organization: Stanford University CSLI

I am looking for a reliable, small, Hi-8 Camcorder with a quality lense.

Sony makes a very nice single hand unit, but I've been warned that they  
use cheap lenses and that I should look at Canon.

I'm new to video equipment and don't know how to judge it.

Any recommendations on which Camcorder to buy and how to tell a good one  
from junk?

I'll summarize any e-mail responses.

- Jeff
jwishnie@csli.stanford.edu
From: wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re:  New Canadian Lotto Scam?
Date: 14 Apr 1992 08:27:14 -0500
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

These offshore lottery offers are fairly well-known scams that have been
covered by local TV news "consumer affairs" reports and in other media.

Several factors to consider:

Using the US mails to advertise or enter lotteries or to buy or sell
lottery tickets still is a violation of USPS regulations. A pretty 
silly regulation considering the number of government-sponsored lotteries
all around us in the US now, but still in force. So this may mean that
your mailed entry will never get to the destination address if the USPS
decides to cut off deliveries, or that they may decide to pick on you
so you never get your winnings even if you do win, or harass you in some
fashion. They're not likely to, but it is a possibility.

You are totally at the mercy of this distant entity to which you send
your money. The vast majority of people who send money to these foreign
lottery brokers never get anything back, and have no way to check out or
investigate these people who operate in a different country, and you
have no access to a consumer-protection agency with any authority over them.
You have no way to discover if these people are just pocketing your
funds and doing nothing except sending out more come-on pitches, or if
they are really buying lottery tickets. And if they *are* buying tickets,
and if they happen to win really big, can you believe that they'll then
turn around and send all those winnings to you instead of keeping them
for themselves? Sure, right... They have the tickets, not you, remember.
Maybe they'll send you a postcard from Rio...

For many years (decades, maybe) I've been getting mailings from some
outfit wanting me to send them money to enter the "NorthWest German
State Lottery" and promising huge sums of DeutchMarks as a result.
I've never sent them a cent or encouraged them in any way, but they
continue to send the offers. Have you *ever* heard of anyone winning
any money in this sort of thing? I never have. It's rare enough to know
someone who won anything non-trivial in a local state lottery, after
all; winners of these foreign games are unheard-of...

(Whatever happened to the "Irish Sweepstakes"? Back 30/40 years or so ago,
my father and his co-workers always used to throw away money on tickets
for that. You used to hear news stories of people actually winning
something from it, though. I haven't heard any mention of it for decades...)

Regards, Will
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Subject: Re: Annoying/fraudulent from National Parks and Conservation Association
Organization: I.E.C.C.
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 04:13:29 GMT

The NPCA turns out to be a perfectly legitimate conservation organization
which lobbies for improvements to national parks and occasionally buys
land quickly which they then resell to the government as park land when
they get around to appropriating the money.

But I agree that their fund raising leaves a lot to be desired, makes
them look a lot sleazier than they are.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,alt.privacy
From: gilbert@mdd.comm.mot.com (John Gilbert)
Subject: Re: capturing caller id data
Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 00:54:56 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.200455.23021@athena.mit.edu> sao@athena.mit.edu (Andy Oakland) writes:

>But then someone else says, "Well, <something else> does this, that, and
>the other thing, and without any of the bad side effects of caller-id,"
>to which he gets a response something like, "But I don't want <something
>else> because it doesn't do what I want, and caller-id DOES do what
>I want."
>
>The somebody else can't understand why you still want caller-id, when the
><something else> he suggested does everything you say you want caller-id
>for.  And you keep insisting that his <something else> doesn't do
>everything you want caller-id for.

I can understand why some folks would still want Caller ID.  I am
not saying that NOBODY will want CLID.

But I think that folks should think about how it could be used, because
there is a prepared perception that it will do things it does not really
do.

What it does:  delivers the calling line number.
What it doesn't do:  deliver the identity of the person using that line.

The line number may be used to guess, and that is fine, if you somehow
are able to recognize the number.  If you can't, then you get to

1.  answer it,
2.  not answer it,
 or
3.  leave it for your answering machine.

If you answer it (1) then you run the risk of talking to telemarketers
and their ilk... if you want to... OK.

If you don't answer it (2), you run the risk of losing important phone calls.

If you leave it for your answering machine, then how valuable was CLID
in the first place?  Worth the 20% more on your basic phone bill, plus
the cost of the readout device(s).  I believe SOME people will answer
YES.  I also believe some will answer NO.

I think I understand pretty well why folks like Mr. Preston still want
CLID.  He has stated it plainly.  But that does not mean that this topic
is suddenly not relevant to others.

CLID seems like a pretty poor solution for phone screening to me.  I am
honestly curious to hear HOW folks will use it.  Mr. Preston has given us
his scenario.  I get it, and the trade offs.  Still seems like a waste to
me, but I clearly see that it does not seem so to him.

So now, are others willing to share how they might use CLID, and what
the expected results are?

John
-- 
John Gilbert
gilbert@mdd.comm.mot.com
..!uunet!mdisea!gilbert
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: rubin@watson.ibm.com (Bill Rubin)
Subject: Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1992 14:54:59 GMT
Distribution: usa
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In <1992Apr7.205846.18350@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> berger@atropa (Mike Berger) writes:
> Around here, the court date is scheduled for a date when the ticketing
> officer is scheduled to be in court.  So chances of his not showing are
> v-e-r-y small.

I was in court in Greenburgh, NY (Westchester County) one day when an
officer who had a LARGE number of tickets on the agenda (docket?)  did not
show up.  The judge dismissed all but the most serious offenders.  Made for
lots of happy people.

-- Bill rubin@watson.ibm.com
From: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Question about Porcelain sink
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:21:28 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

In article <1992Apr9.175152.4011@Cadence.COM> ahearn@cds2050.cadence.com (John Ahearn) writes:
>
>	Sorry for the confusion on my first posting; in which I asked
>questions about the care and feeding of a porcelain sink.  Basically,
>what I was looking for was some kind of sealant for the sink.  My feeling
>is that over time the original surface has been scratched and is more
>porous than the original surface.  I was hoping there is some kind of "liquid
>porcelain" that would reseal the sink.
>
   If you watch Channel 20 during the daytime on your next sick day,
   there is a rawther tawdry advertisement for a local company that 
   offers reglazing of bathtubs... you might ask them if you do
   sinks.  

   You can find re-glaze kits at home improvement stores, dunno if
   Orchard Supply has them..and dunno WHAT happened to the Home
   Depot store on El Camino that I know carried them.

   It really isn't that difficult to just replace the sink though,
   with products from your neighborhood store.  And then allow only
   Bon Ami cleanser in the kitchen.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: jp@faron.mitre.org (Jeffrey Picciotto)
Subject: Re: Digital Answering Machines?
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Distribution: world,local
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 18:01:44 GMT

>> [rumor of the new AT&T digital answering machine]

> Ah, this is exactly what I was hoping for and why I've held off on buying

I should have mentioned:  I went into the AT&T store all prepared to plunk
down my ~ $100 for the current model when the AT&T lady advised me *not* to
buy, but rather to wait for the new model.

If the AT&T stores can keep their prices in line with local stores (often
they don't), and give useful advice (esp if accurate), they *definitely*
will get my business.

--jeff
From: mpolen@gelato.mips.com (Michael Polen)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Japanese Car Makers
Date: 10 Apr 1992 22:37:50 GMT
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: gelato.mips.com

For all those that question whether it matters if the car was
made here or there, or sold by us or them, the news is that it
does.  Through careful transfer pricing policies, the japanese
(and other) importers declare their profits in their home
country and avoid paying US taxes -- period.

Example, from primetime live, 4/9/92.

I make it in country A at a cost of 10000.  I transfer it to my
distributor in US at a transfer price of 20000, incuring a local
profit of 10000.  The US distributor transfers it to the dealer
at a price of 20000, no US profit.  The Dealer sells it for 24000.

My numbers are exagerated (the cost would be above 10000), but the
effect is the same.  The cost of distribution, shipping, storage, 
tracking and providing US corporate service is devalued to zero
to avoid taking the tax bite.

BTW, for the Japanese MFG'rs, if they do have to pay US taxes, they
are re-imbursed by the Japanese government.  Keep buying Japanese
cars.  It turns out the rest of us are helping the Japanese government
subsidize your purchase.

As I've state many times before.  The japanese are not immoral.  We
are just being stupid.  As we continue to assume that our business
methods are the only "right" way to run an economy, others will
smother us.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: Cessna@kn5f.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark T. Evert)
Subject: Re: Buy American
Organization: Loral Space Information Systems
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 14:34:44 GMT

In article <1992Apr3.081246.1174@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil> 
thaberlandt@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil writes:
>   Ford:   Escort -        Mexico
>                                

The Escort is assembled in Michigan.  The Tracer is assembled in Mexico, 
but is considered a domestic because of the high USA made parts content.

Mark T. Evert

Cessna@kn5f.jsc.nasa.gov
(713) 282-5525
From: witold@hilbert.msri.org (Witold Biedrzycki)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: credit history reporting
Keywords: secured card, credit report
Date: 17 Apr 92 20:34:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: dog.22792
Reply-To: witold@hilbert.msri.org (Witold Biedrzycki)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.188.60

If an account doesn't appear on your credit record, you can ask the
credit bureau to put it there. Contact them - they should have forms for this
purpose.

Witold
From: nall@sun8.scri.fsu.edu (John Nall)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Dodge Caravan ('86 Model) Engine Rattle
Date: 13 Apr 92 13:10:09 GMT
Reply-To: nall@sun8.scri.fsu.edu (John Nall)
Organization: SCRI, Florida State University

In article <9710034@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> rand@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Rand Briggs) writes:
>Check your owners manual under maintenance.  My 1988
>Caravan talks about a servicing a Timing *Belt*.  I
>checked and it costs $300 at the dealer or $150 at
>a local mechanic to change out.  I have the 3.0 Litre

   Having just gone through the "timing belt" routine with my 1986 Isuzu,
   let me regurgitate what I found out.  Background:  I had a minor problem
   fixed on my Isuzu, the guy told me a bunch of things it needed (such as
   new ball joints, new timing belt, etc.)  Since this was a place on the
   Interstate that I had stopped in because a fuel filter was causing me
   a problem, naturally I told him that I'd get all that stuff checked
   when I got back home.  He said "well, that's up to you, but some of
   these things could be pretty dangerous if you don't get them fixed".
   Typical scare tactics at service stations on the Interstate.

   Anyway, after I got back home, I went to my regular mechanic, whom I
   have reason to trust implicitly, and told him all this stuff.  He did
   a check on the car, and said all the ball joints, etc., were fine.  But
   he asked me if I had ever had the timing belt changed.  I said no, it
   had never given me a problem (83000 miles on the car).  In his low-key
   way, he told me that the timing belt on the Isuzu Trooper II is supposed
   to be changed at 40,000 miles, and that it would be $130 for parts plus
   labor to change it.  I asked him what would happen if I didn't, since
   I had gone 83000 miles with no trouble.  His reply was: "Well, it may
   last forever.  But if it comes apart while you're driving down  the road,
   the damage to the engine is probably going to be pretty bad".

   Like I said, I trust him implicitely.  So I got it changed.  I am not
   a mechanic, and possibly someone else on the net knows more about it.
   But for now, I'm going to change them when the owners manual says to.

John


--
John W. Nall              | Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
nall@mailer.scri.fsu.edu  | Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306

 "Disclaimer:  A society which requires disclaimers has too many lawyers."
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.consumers.house,alt.folklore.urban
From: rlatham@fwhnm02.fwrdc.rtsg.mot.com (Max Headroom)
Subject: Cricket chirp rate versus temperature
Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban
Organization: File Cabinet
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 19:52:14 GMT


This is somewhat unrelated to the original post about
killing crickets....

I once heard on some morning radio show that the 
rate at which a crickett chirps can be used to
determine the temperature.
It was something like counting the number of 
chirps for a number of seconds, and adding
it to some other number, to obtain the temperature.

Has anyone heard of this, and if so, what was
the 'equation' used?

Russ Latham (rlatham@mailbox.fwrdc.rtsg.mot.com)
From: lindab@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: test
Date: 7 Apr 1992 17:40:45 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

test.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: swarup@linus.mitre.org (Vipin Swarup)
Subject: Re: capturing caller id data
Reply-To: swarup@mitre.org
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
	<1992Apr7.172401.10710@mdd.comm.mot.com>
	<8bYf02a7c0uY00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
	<1992Apr9.003049.10833@mdd.comm.mot.com>
	<1992Apr09.204424.26503@clarinet.com>
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 17:14:43 GMT


In article <1992Apr09.204424.26503@clarinet.com> brad@clarinet.com (Brad Templeton) writes:
> The real value of caller id comes when connected to a smart answering
> machine which can (depending on the time of day) either:
> 
> a) Put the call through immediately if it's from a number you like,
> 
> b) Put the call to an answering machine/call screener if it's a number
> you don't know, anonymous call or number coded for this function.
> 
> c) Reject the call if it's a number you hate
> etc.

What I don't understand is why people want Caller ID to be a telco
supplied service which clearly upsets a lot of people, and for which
they'd have to pay several dollars every month for the rest of their
lives.  Why not have Caller ID be a protocol implemented within phones
-- purchasing such a phone would be a one-time cost and would give
both the caller and the callee complete control over the feature.
(Brad's smart answering machine only gives the callee such control.)
The scenario would be as follows:


<Ring, Ring>
Your phone establishes connection, 

<Your phone's prerecorded message>: "Sorry, I only accept identified
calls. Please enter your phone number after the beep... Beeeeeep"

<Caller>: Bip Bip Beeeep Bip Beep Beeep Beeeeeep

Your phone now processes the touch-tone beeps and decides whether or
not to ring.


This could be refined endlessly: displays on the phones, changeable
messages (e.g. if you want name information rather than phone
numbers), different ring tones, phones that automatically handshake
using the above protocol, etc. None of this is difficult or costly to
implement ... both the caller and the callee have complete control
over the use of the protocol ... and it provides the means for much
more accurate identification than telco supplied Caller ID.