HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: armand@comm.mot.com (Arman Dolikian)
Subject: KM Product Info?
Organization: Motorola LMPS STC
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 03:02:18 GMT
Followup-To: misc.consumers

Can anyone relate their knowledge and/or experience with a product 
called Km?     It is sold as a herbal vitamin supplement, with lots
of claims about improving your health,  increasing your lifespan,
reducing succeptibility to getting colds, etc., etc.

The claims sound too good to be true, so naturally I am skeptical.
However, I am in a position where a friend that I care about is 
getting involved as a distributor, and has asked me to try the stuff on
a 30 day "free" trial.

After three weeks, I have not noticed anything (good or bad), and now
must decide whether to continue  (ads say most users sense result
within two weeks, but some may take up to three months).  

Any advise would be appreciated.  It looks like the product is 
marketed using a pyramid-type scheme.  I would also like to advise
my friend if this is so, as they are asking for a significant
"franchise" fee for becoming a distributor.


+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Arman Dolikian                          |Internet: armand@comm.mot.com |
|Motorola LMPS Software Technology Center|   X.400: CAD001@email.mot.com|
|1301 E. Algonquin Road - IL02 Rm 4433   |   Voice: (708) 576-0771      |
|Schaumburg, IL 60196  USA               |     Fax: (708) 576-3131      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: swfc@cs.columbia.edu (Shu-Wie F Chen)
Subject: Re: Is PC Richards Chapter 11?
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 22:11:18 GMT

As far as I can tell, P.C. Richards is doing just fine.  As a previous
poster stated, they have taken over several of Newmark & Lewis's
closed stores.  At a time when most companies are doing badly or just
barely surviving, P.C. Richards is expanding so I doubt that they are
in any financial difficulty.

I have bought several items (TV, portable stereo) from them.  The
prices were reasonable and the salesmen I dealt with were courteous.

I would highly recommend P.C. Richards.  It's too bad that I live in
NYC now where there are no P.C. Richards, just places like Nobody
beats the Wiz.

Cheers,
*swfc





-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shu-Wie F Chen                               Department of Computer Science
swfc@cs.columbia.edu                         Columbia University
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: ron@vicorp.com (Ron Peterson)
Subject: LCD alarm that rings for more than a minute?
Organization: V. I. Corporation, Northampton, Massachusetts
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:20:33 GMT


Can anyone please tell me of a travelers LCD alarm clock that runs on
batteries and has an alarm that rings for more than a minute?  All the
ones I've tried so far shut themselves off after 60 seconds and this is
just not enough to wake me some days.  Ideally it should ring for up
to an hour and have a snooze alarm (which also rings for an extended
time.)  I'm willing to sacrifice battery life for being reliably
awakened.  A wristwatch alarm that has these features would be fine.
ron@vicorp.com or uunet!vicorp!ron
From: julian@frey.lbl.gov (julian cortella)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Optifast
Date: 1 Oct 1992 15:42:30 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley CA USA
Reply-To: julian@frey.lbl.gov (julian cortella)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.128.81
Keywords: diet body metabolism cold time for a new thread sex

In article <1992Oct1.074210.1529@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> tjoa@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Richard Tjoa) writes:
>I was wondering if anyone out there has had experiences with Optifast (or
>the like) liquid diet plans.  More specifically, they say that while
>on the plan, you will very likely feel cold, because your body temperature/
>metabolism will be slowed down/reduced.  A friend of mine was on the plan
>for a while, now she's not, but she's always cold...  Anyone know anything
>about it?
>
>Also, it would seem to me that lowering metabolism rates would be totally
>dumb, after all, wouldn't you want to be burning as many calories as you
>possibly could, while taking in less?
>
Dumb is a mild word to describe these diets.  Yes, your metabolism does
slow down.  That's your body's response to this sudden drop in
calorie intake.  It is the opposite of what a good weight loss 
program should do.  Once you lose the weight after starving yourself,
your metabolism is still low.  So when you go back to "real" food, 
your body cannot burn it up as well.  You gain back everything you 
lost and thensome. Just ask Oprah!

Please stay away from liquid diets.  If you want to lose weight, eat
sensibly and EXERCISE.  Exercise will INCREASE your metabolism.  You'll
be able to eat more of the things you want, feel better about yourself,
and sleep better,  . . . . .

For more expertise, refer to misc.fitness.



Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: ganek@apollo.hp.com (Dan Ganek)
Subject: Re: Whole House H20 filter
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 17:55:50 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

In article <1992Oct2.134942.10659@meaddata.com> patb@meaddata.com (Pat Berry) writes:
>Has anyone had any experience with the small whole house filters that are
>installed just after your inside service?
>
>I've seen a few small ones (OMNI brand) advertised from between $39 and $119
>with replacement filters around $6. They are to clean sediment/rust or to 
>clean and purify water, your choice, depending on the filter you buy. They
>look like 3/4" line so it's made for the whole house, not just one outlet.
>
>Are these filters really big enough to do the job for a family of 4? How about
>purifying well water?
>
>--
>Pat Berry            |                     |DISCLAIMER: |
>PO Box 933           |                     | I don't    |
>Dayton, Oh 45401     |                     | speak for  |
>patb@meaddata.com    |                     |   MDC      |


We have one for sediment. Well, we actually have two, one on the
inside  line and one on the outside line. $39 is kind of expensive
for a simply filter. Try your local discount hardware store they
should have them for about $20-$30. Sediment filtgers should only
run about $2 apiece.  

/dan
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: rubin@watson.ibm.com (Bill Rubin)
Subject: Re: DISCOVER card ( MUST READ! )
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1992 21:45:10 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.14 by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: rubin@watson.ibm.com (Bill Rubin)
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In  <1ai3quINNg2m@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>  bd670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Russell I. Dyreng) writes:
>Sounds like a nice card.  Now tell me about the grace period.

I assume you are talking about the Ford card.  Grace period is 25 days.  
Interest rate is 19.8%, so be sure you pay in full each month.  The cash 
rebate is great, I am up to $325 this year with a couple of months still to 
go.  And last month they even mailed out a coupon good for another 1% on 
your largest purchase betwen July and September - mine turned out to be 
$1086, so that's close to another $11 back!  

-- Bill rubin@watson.ibm.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,alt.politics.elections
From: byrd@lucerne.rice.edu (Marc J Byrd)
Subject: Re: Cable Bill Rip-off
Reply-To: byrd@lucerne.rice.edu (Marc J Byrd)
Organization: Rice University
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 00:44:20 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.165315.13389@netcom.com>, strnlght@netcom.com (David Sternlight) writes:

|> 
|> In my view the new cable bill is one of the most blatant examples of
|> a rip-off of consumers by Congress, to shamelessly bribe the
|> broadcasting industry.
|> 
|> It's economic baloney for the broadcasters to claim they should be
|> paid by the cable companies for carrying their programming. To
|> the contrary, broadcasters get paid by advertisers, and what they
|> get paid is a function of the number of viewers. By increasing
|> the number of viewers, cable companies make it possible for
|> broadcasters to charge more for advertising. Thus it is the
|> broadcasters who should be paying the cable companies, and not
|> vice versa.
|> 
|> The whole campaign to get this provision in the bill is one of
|> the most blatant examples of the big lie in recent history.
|> 
|> Congress is now wrapping itself in "consumer interest" as are Clinton
|> and Gore. Instead, this is a betrayal of the consumer--who does one
|> suppose will pay those increased payments to broadcasters. That's
|> right--cable viewers.
|> 
|> Since Clinton is a former Rhodes Scholar, and Gore is economically
|> literate, one must assume they know what they are doing, and this
|> makes them about as dishonest as they can get in attacking the
|> President and claiming the bill is a victory for consumers.
|> 
|> David

Great analysis!  I was wondering just how to interpret all of this.  I
think you really hit the nail on the head in that second paragraph.
May I state it in steps:

  1)  Broadcast networks are paid, according to the number of viewers, 
      by advertisers.

  2)  Cable companies, by providing a user-friendly medium for broadcast
      networks to integrate into, are actually providing a service to these
      companies, providing more viewers and therefore should be paid the fair 
      market value for these services.  

Extremely simple!  

But congress, with influence from who knows where (maybe its a payoff for
the way the press treated the democratic convention ;^), decides that, while
(justly, IMHO) regulating the cable industry to prevent monopolies, to also
make cable companies pay broadcasters.  

For what?!?!?  

I think if I ran a cable company, I would stop carrying the networks, and
let people put in antennea to pick them up.  A little extra hassle, but could
provide the service less expensively than the competitors.

-- 
Marc J. Byrd - byrd@rice.edu        
Rice University                    
Dept of Elec & Comp Engr          
XUV Holographic Microscope Project
From: boucher@csl.sri.com (Peter K. Boucher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: ATT reconnection incentives
Date: 5 Oct 1992 18:08:12 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Lab, SRI International
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: omaha.csl.sri.com


My wife was recently pressured into switching our "dial-1"
access from ATT to Allnet.  Shortly thereafter, I received
a letter from ATT offering me $50 worth of free calls, if
I'd switch back.  I was tempted, but sort of never got
around to sending the form in.  Today, I received a check
from ATT for $75!  If I cash the check, they'll consider
my endorsement permission to switch me back to ATT "dial-1"
service.

What's next, FREE FANTASCTIC FUN-FILLED HAWAIIAN VACATION?


-- 
Peter K. Boucher
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Science Lab, SRI International             Software Engineer
333 Ravenswood Ave. #EL-237                         (415) 859-3927
Menlo Park, CA  94025                               boucher@csl.sri.com
From: egreen@east.sun.com (Ed Green - Pixel Cruncher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Quicken Checks not from Intuit?
Date: 28 Sep 1992 19:04:13 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, RTP, NC
Distribution: world
Reply-To: egreen@east.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: laser.east.sun.com

In article 3591@aa.cad.slb.com, oneill@mailhost.aa.cad.slb.com (Patrick G. O'Neill) writes:
>
>Could someone describe what Quicken is?  It sounds like a money
>management program.  I'm currently using _Managing Your Money_ from
>MECA Software and have found it very helpful in keeping track of
>budgets, paying bills, and managing portfolios.  Does anyone know
>of the advantages of one of these products vs. the other??

Quicken is just a ledger.  It tracks and balances accounts.  It
understands two or three basic types of accounts, and it can be fooled
into handling probably half a dozen, according to how they are set up
and used.  For what it does, it is very good.  It is fast, easy to
learn and use.

MYM attempts to be a comprehensive financial control/analysis program.
I never used it for a high-volume account (checking), but it's stock
management is good.  MYM also includes some kitchen sink programs that
have nothing to do with money, but are reasonably good, such as a
rolodex, an appointment calander, a word processor, etc.  Fortunately,
not all of these need to be loaded, or even on the disk, for the
program to run.  MYM is a good "total" package, if you can stand
Tobias' glib humor.

If you want all your loans, insurance policies, stocks, bank accounts,
tax records, and wine collection in one place, where you can push the
"net worth" button and watch it all add up, use MYM.  If you do all
that on your own (computer S/W there or not), but you want to put your
checking account and maybe a few mutual funds on line, use Quicken.

All IMHO, of course.

---
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...
From: swisher@cs.utexas.edu (Janet M. Swisher)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Hazardous water park - Schlitterbahn (long)
Date: 5 Oct 1992 01:08:52 -0500
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: boogie.cs.utexas.edu

In article <COSC16TT.92Oct4235729@menudo.uh.edu> DGray@uh.edu writes:
:In article <81059@ut-emx.uucp> cwlng@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu writes:
:
:   didn't know how to get the insurance company's name. I am pretty 
:   sure that Schlitterbahn wouldn't give it to me. Any suggestion as 
:   how to get the insurance company's name?	
:
:Because they ar enot required to.  This is completely irrelevant to
:you though.  You cannot sue the insurance company anyway (well, you
:can but the insurance company has not damaged you in any way).  You
:sue the water park and their insurance company is obligated to defend
:them.  They have absolutely no responcibility to provide you with som
:much as the time of day (and likely have been advised to do exactly
:that -- say nothing).
:
:   On September 24, I received a reply from the General Manager,
:   Richard Faber, of Schlitterbahn which I have attached to this 
:   posting. In his letter Mr. Faber said they are investigating 
:   the matter. I hope he is sincere. 
:
:   Schlitterbahn is now closed for the winter. I intend to write to	
:   Mr. Faber before the their re-opening next summer and ask him what
:   his investigation discovered and what actions he had taken if any.
:   In the mean time, I am not pursuing the matter any further.
:
:This may be a bad idea in the long run.  There are statutes of
:limitations that are kind of important.
:
:Since you don't seem to understand how liability cases work I would
:suggest you talk with an attorney of your own -- someone who is
:working for you.
:
:Good luck with achieving your goals in this matter.

My understanding of the original poster's intentions was that he was
not planning to bring a liability case against Schlitterbahn -- he
just wanted them to correct what he saw as unsafe operating
procedures.  Thus the point of getting the insurance company's name
would not be for a lawsuit, but to bring the unsafe procedures to
their attention, since they would have to pay if someone were
seriously hurt and DID sue.  The insurance company would therefore
presumably put pressure on the water park to correct things.  

A statute of limitations is irrelevent if he's not suing.  The plan
he's described makes sense to me.  It also seems like there's gotta be
some state agency that regulates and inspects rides like this.  If you
can't figure out what agency it is, try calling your local state
legislator, and see if their staff can figure it out.




Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: staffan@ca.serum.kodak.com (Kenneth Staffan (x37507))
Subject: Re: DISCOVER card
Organization: Clinical Products Division, Eastman Kodak Company
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 12:16:40 GMT

In article <semVYbz0BwwD91iL8X@transarc.com> Edward_Engler@transarc.com writes:
>
>I believe that Discover has the lowest merchant
>fees of any card (hence their fast growing acceptance at many
>merchants).

I would be interested in hearing if this is true or not.  I heard
contrary from places which did not except it, when I inquired if they
did...

Ken
---
staffan@serum.kodak.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,ca.driving
From: duncan@ravel.ati.com (Jim Duncan)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: GM Parts Ripoff
Date: 26 Sep 92 03:28:52 GMT
Reply-To: duncan@ravel.ati.com (Jim Duncan)
Organization: KUFX 94.5 FM Stereo, San Jose, CA 'The Fox'

In article <1992Sep24.134929.1134@pegasus.com> richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) writes:
>>the cost, I said "I'm not paying $192 for $5 worth of rubber" and
>>walked out. Yes, that's $192 for about 15 feet of weatherstripping.
>
>Just a side note, in the future treat all your weatherstripping with
>Silicon spray about every six months and it will last lots longer.
>
Now that I see how unbelieveably expensive it is, this is not a bad
idea!

This almost takes the discussion to rec.autos.*, but a fellow employee
finally pointed out that it's time to start doing business with J. C.
Whitney again.   In the case of weatherstripping, they sell a variety of
cross sections for a $1 or 2 per foot.  Also, I came up with a hardware
store improvisation that might work.  

-- 
KUFX |      w  ["]                            | WA6MBV     
94.5 |...   |___|_____..duncan@ravel.ati.com  | Jim Duncan  
FM   |          H                             | ----------   
********  \_____I_____/  37 3 10N/121 59 10W  **************
From: masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Storage Unit Burglarized
Date: 26 Sep 92 12:35:18 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

How about suing the owners of the storage facility for failure to
perform? Seems to me they failed to keep your stored items safe, so
they failed to perform the service for which you paid them.

> Since I didn't buy the insurance, offered for the storage units, it
> seems I can't complain and, even less, ask for some kind of
> reimbursement.

I don't see that that's true. From what you say, either the guards
were negligent or the theft has the strong smell of Inside Job.

- Steve (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: giand@opencon.com (Deepak S. Gianchandani)
Subject: "Roadkill" in the luggage (Re: Damn those airlines!)
Followup-To: misc.consumers
Summary: Luggage check in procedure
Organization: OpenCon Systems, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 15:25:58 GMT

In article <charlesv.717434303@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca> charlesv@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca (Charles Van Duren) writes:
>tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan) writes:
>
>
>>In article <1992Sep24.174700.546@gordian.com> bruce@gordian.com (Bruce Hafford) writes:
>
>[...complaint against airline deleted...]
>
>>From a George Hayduke book:
>
>[...roadkill in suitcase story deleted...]
>
>No airline will fly if an unattended suitcase is on board. If you buy a ticket,
>check in, check baggage, but don't board the plane, the plane won't depart
>with your suitcase.
>


	Wrong! I'm sorry you loose :-). -- How often do you fly ?? -- I have
had my luggage get there one flight before me and on the same
trip to D.C. one shuttle (flight) after me. Note: The porters just
check if you have a valid ticket for the flight -- beyound that on
Local Fights withing the U.S.A. (not International) there is no checking done.
Besides, I can still check in and get a seat on the flight without me
ever occupying the seat. 

>And if they don't follow this procedure, they should. Otherwise don't fly
>with that airline. That's how the bomb got on PanAm 103.
>
>CvD
	Procedure?????????? -- I don't know if you saw report on "Hard
Copy" or some similar "news" -- where these people put in a fake
"Bomb" in both the Luggage and in Hand Luggage of the investigators
luggage -- and at only ONE airport was he "caught". Again What
Procedure???? and which Airline's have that Procedure???????? :-).

	Please note at all the major airports in the East, there is a
fight in the air every minute, and there is a flight arriving
every miniute.
From: tanner@bcsaic.boeing.com (Jim Tanner)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Damn those airlines!
Date: 29 Sep 92 21:58:21 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle

In article <BvAu5q.JxJ@news.cso.uiuc.edu> acheng@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Albert Cheng) writes:
>
>In article <1992Sep27.183310.25892@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>, Brian.E.Hannon@dartmouth.edu (Brian E. Hannon) writes:
>>As many prior posters have noted, this level of security is frequently
>>not present on domestic(US) flights, but most international flights
>>work this way.  When you check in for your flight and check your
>>baggage, your name goes into the computer as having checked baggage. 
>>In most cases, it all gets loaded on the plane and you go merrily on
>>your way.  The folks at the door to the plane collecting boarding
>>passes check to make sure that they got all the boarding passes back
>>from everyone who checked in.  If your boarding pass never turned up,
>>they'll first try to find you, but if they can't, off go your bags.  It
>>is rare that people will check in and then not get on the plane, that's
>>why it's usually not a problem.
>
>I don't see how this can be done in practice.  If I check in first one
>in line, my luggage is now at the bottom.  Are they going to unload a
>thousand luggage (a full 747), looking for one single bag?  The airlines
>don't record the luggage types either, so the luggage handling crew will
>have to check every luggage tag.  Not a fun chore.

Several times that I've flown to Europe through London Heathrow the
procedure for the flight out of Heathrow was:  1) check in for flight,
give them your luggage;  2) at the boarding gate, give them your
boarding pass and walk down stairs; 3) identify your luggage (they had
all the luggage for that flight laid out on the floor);  4) board the
airplane.  The ground crew only loaded luggage that had been identified
by the passengers actually boarding the airplane.

I also have a friend who had the following experience (flying to
Israel, I think).  They went throught the typical checkin, give them
your luggage, collect boarding passes, and board the airplane routine.
Then they sat on the plane for a while, until it was announced that
some luggage had been loaded for someone who didn't board the
airplane.  They made everyone get off, unloaded the luggage, had the
passengers identify their luggage, and reloaded only the identified
luggage.

I can't say how common these practices are.  It may be that the
airlines vary their practices by location, destination, and the
current threat situation (however they evaluate that).
Newsgroups: misc.consumers