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LCD displays, offgassing, and MCS
Yahoo and POP3
Mac Printers
Explains Job's delay of 10.5 Leopard?
LCD displays, offgassing, and MCS
From David
Hello again Charles,
I've been in touch with you about MCS issues and offgassing in the past. I've been dealing with the problem by limiting my computer use to a Quicksilver G4 tower and an older CRT monitor, both which cause no problems for me - provided they are kept cool and the room very well ventilated.
A while ago, I bought a 20" Apple Cinema Display (aluminum), and temporarily gave it to a family member with the hopes it would offgass enough to allow me to use it. No such luck. More than a year later (with regular use), it still makes me ill.
Here's what I'm wondering...
Are you aware of LCD monitors that tend to offgass more quickly or thoroughly than others? I've noticed that the Apple displays are totally enclosed and have no vents, so perhaps are unable to offgass and possibly run hotter than others? I'm tempted to buy a 24" Dell LCD or an LG or Samsung, but wondering if you'd had any experiences with these, or have heard from other MCS readers about their experiences with the current LCDs. Though those non-Apple models are with more plastic than the aluminum Apple display, I'm wondering if the significant "venting" of the internals (on all sides) might allow them to gass out sooner or by nature of running cooler become more usable to people with MCS issues.
Any of your thoughts toward this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much,
David
One more thing...
Your article (a while ago) relating invalidation of MCS sufferers to Gregor Samsa's experience waking as a bug was wonderful, and I pointed a lot of people to it while it was online. Thanks for writing it.
Hi David;
My hands=on experience with freestanding LCD monitors is negligible. I'm a consummate notebook user, and the only (working) external monitor I have in the house is an antediluvian 15" CRT, which had mercifully gassed off before the end of the '90s.
What I would suggest, if possible, is borrowing a monitor from a friend to see how you fare with it in your work environment. If you're acutely chemically sensitive, new ones are likely to all be too smelly. Hard plastics of the sort used for cases and housings are not necessarily the biggest problem. It's the internal circuit boards that are almost always the worst offender, so aluminum housings are no panacea as I know all too well from my aluminum PowerBook.
Perhaps someone in readerland might have some information on this issue to share.
Glad you enjoyed the Kafka analogy. I thought he captured the dilemma of environmentally ill folks uncannily well. The MacOpinion article you refer to was lost in our MacOpinion RAID meltdown last October, but I did use the reference in another article some years back which is still posted here:
http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/june01attack.html
I was, how shall we say, in an *exercized* mood when I wrote it.
Charles
Re: LCD displays, offgassing, and MCS
From David
Thanks for your thoughts on the LCD issue, Charles. Yes, please do publish my letter if you think others may have some input toward this. It need not be anonymous.
Regarding aluminum and plastic casings, you may be interesting in my notebook findings: My 1.25Ghz PowerBook (aluminum) makes me ill, but not right away, so I use it only briefly and when traveling (and with good ventilation). My friend's plastic MacBook (nearly a year old) makes me so ill that I can't be near it - an entirely different smell and it's immediate. My other friend has an aluminum MacBook Pro, which seems to bother me no more than my PowerBook 1.25Ghz (though I've not spent much time on it to know). I'm not sure what to make of all this, but I thought you'd find it interesting.
Thanks again,
David
Hi David;
Thanks;
The intelligence on the offgassing from various recent Apple notebooks is interesting and helpful. Not an auspicious lookout for the MacBook, although I wouldn't be quick to attribute it to the plastic case necessarily. The MacBook and MacBook Pro are built by different Apple subcontractors in the far east respectively, and it's very possible that they use different chemical formulations in their circuit boards. Of course, it *could* be the plastic case. I've had a discouraging number of reports from people who have purchased MacBooks and find the smell objectionable, including individuals who are not particularly chemically-sensitive.
One thing is for certain, aluminum doesn't off-gas!
Unfortunately, my 17" PowerBook, which has been in use for 15 months but is about 3 1/2 years old from time of manufacture, still offgasses copiously enough that it causes me problems, and my wife (who doesn't have MCS) says it gives her a headache when I use it in the car.
My gassed-off Pismos and iBook are a treat to use.
Charles
Yahoo and POP3
from Paul
Hi Charles,
I'm sure I won't be the only one to point this out, but when you called Gmail the only one of the big three webmail providers to provide POP3 access, I'm afraid you got it wrong. Yahoo! Mail has offered POP3 since before Google was even a company (well, at least back to the year 2000), and it still does today. Hotmail is the only odd one out. (BTW on Yahoo! you get a choice of either forwarding your email to another address, OR using a POP3 client. On Gmail you can do both simultaneously, so Gmail still has a minor edge on this score.)
A correction would be a service to your readers.
Thanks.
Paul.
Hi Paul;
Yes; I'm well aware that Yahoo! offers POP 3 access, but not *free* POP 3 access, which is the focus of the article. I had a Yahoo! email account (I guess I probably still do) back in the late '90s, but stopped using it when they discontinued free POP 3 access. You need a Yahoo Mail Plus! account to get POP 3 from Yahoo!
The sentence in the article read: "One of the things that distinguishes Gmail from the other two 900 pound gorillas of free email - Microsoft's HotMail and Yahoo! Mail, is that it offers POP 3 access support, and very nicely executed POP 3 implementation at that."
I guess I thought that the "free" context got the idea across, but should have added the qualifier "free" to "POP 3 access support." I've now done that, and thanks for the heads-up. I also added parenthetically: "(Yahoo! offers it for an annual fee)."
Actually, there is a freeware hack called YPOPs!that facilitates free POP 3 (sort of) access to Yahoo! Mail. You can find out more about it here:
http://ypopsemail.com/
Charles
Re: Yahoo and POP3
From Paul
Hi Charles,
I'm actually not sure what you're talking about. I have a free Yahoo! account, no extra features, and I have POP3 access. All I have to do is agree to receive commercial advertisements at a rate of about one a week. Perhaps this restriction only applies to new accounts? (Wait, actually I have another Yahoo account that is only one year old, and I also have free POP access on that one.) Anyway, I'm certainly confused, as my experience of Yahoo! does not match yours at all. Thanks for the response, anyway.
Paul.
Hi Paul;
I was 98% sure I had this correctly, but on the off-chance that the policy had changed, I signed up for a fresh Yahoo! Mail account and checked their Help site, which states:
"The ability to access Yahoo! Mail via a POP3 email client (such as Outlook or Outlook Express) is only available to customers of our premium Yahoo! Mail Plus service.
"If you have not purchased the Yahoo! Mail Plus service, you will be unable to retrieve messages via an email client. To determine whether or not you have purchased this service, please visit the My Services page."
Here's the Webpage:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/mailplus/pop/pop-35.html
Not sure how you're bypassing this. Perhaps, as you suggest, they've grandfathered your POP 3 access, but they certainly cut me off.
Charles
Re: Yahoo and POP3
From Paul
Hi Charles, it's me with the free Yahoo POP access again. I know you probably aren't going to believe me, as to you I am just a random internet name, so I'm sending you a screenshot. I assure you I am far to cheap ever to pay *anyone* for an email account. I have threeing email addresses from Yahoo!, and I registered them each about 3 years apart. I assure you that ALL THREE are free accounts and ALL THREE offer me a choice of either POP access or mail forwarding, also for free. I have enclosed a screenshot as evidence...
Paul
Hi Paul;
I didn't disbelieve you. I'm just puzzled.
As I noted in the previous missive, I just tried signing up for a new Yahoo! Mail account, and the policy clearly states that you need the for-fee premium service for POP 3 access.
Charles
Re: Yahoo and POP3
From Paul
Charles,
Well, perhaps they've changed this in the last year or so in this country. I also noticed people saying that in the UK they also had free POP access after the Americans had already lost this feature. Anyway, thanks for considering my comments. Next time I set up a new account, I'll definitely take note of the options. If get the same raw deal you're getting, I will probably steer people toward Gmail instead the way you did. (People I help with set up generally want to use Apple Mail, after all...)
Paul
Hi Paul;
Still puzzled. I'm Canadian, live in Canada, and entered a Canadian postal code when I signed up.
Charles
Mac Printers
From Anthony Connors
Dear Mr. Moore;
I am very sorry, but I've misplaced your eMail about your recommendations for laser printers for the Mac platform. Thank you in advance! What happened is that I recently took over my wife's antique wood desk which was rehabbed for accessibility. Since it's made of REAL wood and not that particle board crap, my iBook and TiBook have need of a printer.
I store A LOT of documents that I would like to print off(ahem, a FEW years worth)!
Thank You!!!
Anthony J. Connors
P.S. Sorry for all the exclamation points. My exuberance over the desk must be getting to me!
Hi Anthony;
That sounds like a great desk. In a former life, before my MCS became really severe, I operated a custom cabinetry business for a while.
I don't recall the printer email, and I'm no expert on that topic, but there was a new tutorial on the topic posted this week:
http://2aday.wordpress.com/2007/05/24/laser-vs-inkjet-vs-dye-sub-quick-buying-guide/
Charles
Explains Job's delay of 10.5 Leopard?
From Kevin Shaffer
Hi there:
Here's a story (with link inside it) about a guy who caught a leopard in his house in Israel.
Maybe there's a connection between this catch and the belated release of Leopard 10.5? Could be they're field testing the next great Mac OSX in the Negev Desert...
Thought you should know.
Best regards,
Kevin
***
Charles W. Moore
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