- rec.food.cooking FAQ pointer

G'day Vic,

In article <[email hidden]>,

you said:

This is a weekly pointer to the rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion
file. If you do not want to see it every week, you should put the
title, which will not change, into your killfile.

The rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion file is posted monthly to

Two points I've been meaning to raise:

1. Why do you say "This is a weekly pointer..." when in fact you also
say "... is posted monthly ..."?

And, more seriously for the handicapped among us:

2. Why do you used that textured background for the FAQ which makes it
harder to read for those of us with eyesight problems? Does the
background really make it so much better for those with good vision
that their interests should over-ride others? (I have to say I would
find that a difficult argument to sustain personally, if the FAQ was
my responsibility.)

All that said, you efforts in maintaining this FAQ are appreciated.

Quoted message said:

rec.food.cooking, rec.food.recipes, rec.answers and news.answers. It is
also available as an easy-to-navigate frames version at

Quoted message said:

<http://vsack.homepage.t-online.de/rfc_faq.html>.

There is both a link to a no-frames version and a built-in no-frames
content for older or text-only browsers.

The rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion file has two parts. The first
part covers conversion and equivalence. Tables are given for conversion
of oven temperatures, food names, weights and measures. Some useful
substitutions for unavailable ingredients are suggested.

The second part is more descriptive. It outlines some of the commonly
discussed topics of rec.food.cooking and explains a number of food
terms. It also lists other food-related newsgroups and mailing lists,
as well as food-related FAQs, recipe archives and other food/cooking
sites.

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

Phred said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

you said:

This is a weekly pointer to the rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion
file. If you do not want to see it every week, you should put the
title, which will not change, into your killfile.

The rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion file is posted monthly to

Two points I've been meaning to raise:

1. Why do you say "This is a weekly pointer..." when in fact you also
say "... is posted monthly ..."?

The pointer is posted weekly; the FAQ itself is posted monthly.

Quoted message said:

And, more seriously for the handicapped among us:

2. Why do you used that textured background for the FAQ which makes it
harder to read for those of us with eyesight problems? Does the
background really make it so much better for those with good vision
that their interests should over-ride others? (I have to say I would
find that a difficult argument to sustain personally, if the FAQ was
my responsibility.)

Oh.. ah... it is just that you are the first person to find this to be a
problem in all the years... When I first built the page, I sent it to a
few people with an operating system other than mine, to check it for
appearance. One of those people had a severe eyesight problem, so that
even reading normally printed books was difficult. Yet, I got no
negative feedback regarding this matter... Stupid question: Is this
really connected with your eyesight rather than maybe with a flickering
monitor? An old FAQ version with a different, but also textured,
background is at <http://homepage.mac.com/vsack/rfc_faq.html>. Is it
better? I can always change the background, of course, though I
personally like it. Also, the FAQ can of course be found in
rtfm.mit.edu FAQ archives and also on Google. I also used to mention
faqs.org, but it seems to be quite dead... hasn't been updated since
about 18 months or so.

Victor

In article said:

Phred said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

you said:

This is a weekly pointer to the rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion
file. If you do not want to see it every week, you should put the
title, which will not change, into your killfile.

The rec.food.cooking FAQ and conversion file is posted monthly to

Two points I've been meaning to raise:

1. Why do you say "This is a weekly pointer..." when in fact you also
say "... is posted monthly ..."?

The pointer is posted weekly; the FAQ itself is posted monthly.

I should learn to read the detail more closely! 8-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And, more seriously for the handicapped among us:

2. Why do you used that textured background for the FAQ which makes it
harder to read for those of us with eyesight problems? Does the
background really make it so much better for those with good vision
that their interests should over-ride others? (I have to say I would
find that a difficult argument to sustain personally, if the FAQ was
my responsibility.)

Oh.. ah... it is just that you are the first person to find this to be a
problem in all the years... When I first built the page, I sent it to a

I guess I'm becoming an intolerant old [censored] who is happier than
others to make rude comments. :-)

Quoted message said:

few people with an operating system other than mine, to check it for
appearance. One of those people had a severe eyesight problem, so that
even reading normally printed books was difficult. Yet, I got no
negative feedback regarding this matter... Stupid question: Is this

Might depend a bit on the problem. I'm basically myopic (getting
longer with age 🙂 with rather a lot of astigmatism -- which may be
why I find those lines so distracting.

Quoted message said:

really connected with your eyesight rather than maybe with a flickering
monitor? An old FAQ version with a different, but also textured,
background is at <http://homepage.mac.com/vsack/rfc_faq.html>. Is it
better? I can always change the background, of course, though I

I initially thought that other version was great! That was until the
patterned background loaded. So, no, not greatly different. :-(
Don't worry about it. If I'm the only one that's affected by it, it's
not worth you stuffing around with changes. It's not as though I
*can't* read it, I just wouldn't read it for general interest, but am
happy to read bits if looking for a specific answer to something.

Quoted message said:

personally like it. Also, the FAQ can of course be found in
rtfm.mit.edu FAQ archives and also on Google. I also used to mention
faqs.org, but it seems to be quite dead... hasn't been updated since
about 18 months or so.

As a matter of curiosity, have you accessed rtfm.mit.edu recently? I
couldn't find it via HTTP, only FTP. (Maybe that's always been so?)
However, there is what looks like a private web link to a plain text
version of the rfc FAQ (i.e. no hypertext lookups) at mit.edu, viz:

http://web.mit.edu/wchuang/www/cooking/recipes/FOOD_FAQ.txt

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]

Phred said:

Might depend a bit on the problem. I'm basically myopic (getting
longer with age 🙂 with rather a lot of astigmatism -- which may be
why I find those lines so distracting.

I see (no pun intended). Well, yours is a most reasonable request, so
I've just put in a link to a version with plain white background.

Quoted message said:

As a matter of curiosity, have you accessed rtfm.mit.edu recently? I
couldn't find it via HTTP, only FTP. (Maybe that's always been so?)

Yes, that's always been so.

Quoted message said:

However, there is what looks like a private web link to a plain text
version of the rfc FAQ (i.e. no hypertext lookups) at mit.edu, viz:

http://web.mit.edu/wchuang/www/cooking/recipes/FOOD_FAQ.txt

That's an ancient version, at least ten years old, maybe older. Amy
Gale was still in charge of the FAQ then. And it's on William Chuang's
Web site... he is mentioned in the FAQ, too.

Victor

In article said:

Phred said:

Might depend a bit on the problem. I'm basically myopic (getting
longer with age 🙂 with rather a lot of astigmatism -- which may be
why I find those lines so distracting.

I see (no pun intended). Well, yours is a most reasonable request, so
I've just put in a link to a version with plain white background.

Thanks very much for that, Victor -- certainly can't complain about
the service around here! :-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As a matter of curiosity, have you accessed rtfm.mit.edu recently? I
couldn't find it via HTTP, only FTP. (Maybe that's always been so?)

Yes, that's always been so.

Quoted message said:

However, there is what looks like a private web link to a plain text
version of the rfc FAQ (i.e. no hypertext lookups) at mit.edu, viz:

http://web.mit.edu/wchuang/www/cooking/recipes/FOOD_FAQ.txt

That's an ancient version, at least ten years old, maybe older. Amy

Okay. I'll forget I saw it. 8-)

Quoted message said:

Gale was still in charge of the FAQ then. And it's on William Chuang's
Web site... he is mentioned in the FAQ, too.

Cheers, Phred.

--
[email hidden]