CED Digest Vol. 8 No. 42

CED Digest Vol. 8 No. 42 • 10/18/2003
20 Years Ago In CED History:

October 19, 1983:
* Prime Minister Maurice Bishop of Grenada, who was deposed and 
detained by the army on October 13, is executed.
* Congress passes a bill creating a federal holiday to honor civil 
rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning in 1986, the third 
Monday in January will commemorate his birth on January 15, 1929. 
King is only the second American to be honored by a federal holiday 
(the other being George Washington).

* RCA PRESS RELEASE:
RCA VideoDiscs Restructures Business Affairs Department

A restructuring of the RCA VideoDiscs' Business Affairs Department 
was announced today by Arnold J. Holland, Division Vice President, 
Business Affairs, of the RCA unit.

-- Scott R. Holtzman joins RCA VideoDiscs as Director of Business 
Affairs, West Coast, from Capitol Records, where he was an attorney 
in its Entertainment Law Department. He will make his headquarters in 
Burbank, California. He received a B.A. in Psychology from George 
Washington University and his J.D. from Georgetown Law Center. A 
member of the California Bar, he resides in Santa Monica.

-- Joan S. Aceste has been promoted to Director, Business Affairs, 
East Coast. She previously was Manager, Contracts and Negotiations. 
Prior to joining RCA VideoDiscs in 1979, she was with the National 
Broadcasting Company as Director, Program and Talent Contracts. She 
has also been an attorney with both the American Broadcasting Company 
and the law firm, Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler. She received 
her law degree from St. John's University and her undergraduate 
degree from Fordham University, and is a member of the New York Bar.

-- Phillip L. Rosen, who has been Manager, Licenses and Clearances 
since June 1982, has been named Manager, Business Affairs. Prior to 
joining RCA, he was an attorney with Chappell/Intersong Music Group. 
He received his law degree from Stanford Law School and did his 
undergraduate studies at Vassar College. He is a member of the New 
York and California Bars.

October 20, 1983:
* The gene for the bacterial toxin that causes toxic shock syndrome 
is reported to have been isolated from the bacterium Staphylococcus 
aureus, suggesting that a vaccine for the disease may be possible.

October 21, 1983:
* Philippines President Marcos agrees to name a new commission, made 
up solely of private citizens, to investigate the assassination of 
Benigno Aquino. An earlier panel had resigned amid charges that it 
lacked impartiality.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Rumblefish.

October 22, 1983:
* Vast crowds, including more than 600,000 demonstrators in West 
Germany, protest the planned installation of U.S. medium-range 
nuclear missiles in Europe.
* A gunman takes six persons hostage at the National Golf Club in 
Augusta, Georgia and demands to speak with President Reagan, who is 
on another part of the course. Reagan talks on the telephone with the 
intruder, who surrenders several hours later.
* New York's Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 100th anniversary with 
a day-long concert.

October 23, 1983:
* A terrorist drives a truckload of high explosives through a series 
of barricades and into the Beirut airport in Lebanon. The subsequent 
explosion demolishes the four-story building and kills 239 U.S. 
servicemen. Numerous others were injured, and two days later, in an 
almost identical early morning attack two miles to the north, another 
bomb-laden truck smashes into an eight story building used as a 
barracks by French paratroopers, 58 of whom are killed when the 
structure collapses.

October 24, 1983:
* White House spokesman Larry Speakes, when asked by CBS News if U.S. 
Marines are preparing to invade Grenada, responds that the notion is 
"preposterous." He later complains to top-echelon White House aides 
of being misled by Deputy National Security Adviser John Poindexter.

October 25, 1983:
* An assault force, spearheaded by U.S. Marines and Army Rangers, 
begins a predawn invasion of the Caribbean nation of Grenada. The 
troops quickly seize the country's two airfields and occupy the 
island's power and broadcast stations. The heaviest initial 
resistance comes from Cuban soldiers and construction workers at the 
Point Salines airstrip. The expeditionary force includes nearly 2000 
U.S. troops and 300 soldiers from Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, 
Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent.

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From: "Lonnie Hortick" <megalon>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: Radio Shack CED Player
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 13:31:56 -0500

Does anyone repair the Radio Shack CED player?  I have a couple that have
the CED and the spine stuck inside.  I have removed the cover have moved the
main circuit board but can find no gear to release the cover and spine.  Or
can someone guide me through removing these by myself?  I would  hate to
give them up because one of them is one of my son's favorite CEDs!

Thanks in advance,

Lonnie Hortick

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 21:34:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Robt H Huck <bhuck>
Subject: Re: Cleaning Discs
To: digest@cedmagic.com

From: Bob Huck <mailto:bhuck@ameritech.net>bhuck@ameritech.net

I have been hesitant to enter into the discussion regarding the 
cleaning of CED discs.  However, there are times when it is better to 
join the fray!   With all due respect, I would not recommend 
mechanical cleaning of CED's.   After all, the groove width is only 
2.5 microns and there are about 12 miles(!) of groove on each side of 
the disc!   So the grooves can be easily damaged.  Here is another 
technique you may want to use.

Let me give a little bit of history first.  During the development of 
the CED system, it became obvious that surface contaminants such as 
fingerprints, dust, etc., would cause skipping, "locked" grooves, and 
loss of signal.  All of these problems led to the development of the 
disc caddy and the stylus "kicker".   After the caddy was introduced, 
these problems persisted to a lesser degree, but there were other 
playback problems associated with moisture condensation on the disc 
surfaces, even inside the caddy!.  In high humidity conditions (i.e., 
90% RH), sometimes the disc became unplayable.  This, in turn, led to 
the development of the rinsing process (I am a co-inventor of this 
process, patent # 4472337).  The reason for the rinsing process in 
manufacturing was to remove water-soluble materials from the disc 
surface. These surface materials (i.e., low-molecular lubricants and 
salts) were part of the disc formulation and were intended to aid in 
disc release from the press during the pressing operation.   The 
rinsing process removed these materials (prior to the spray 
lubrication process) and subsequently allowed the discs to be in high 
humidity conditions for long periods of time without any significant 
playback problems.  I suspect that some of these materials from 
inside the disc are now (after 15-20 years) coming slowly to the 
surface and causing some playback problems.

  If that is the case, my suggestion is to carefully and quickly 
submerge the disc in pure, distilled water and then dry the disc at 
ambient temperature in a vertical position before re-insertion into 
the caddy.  I don't know how much, if any, surface lubrication is 
removed from the disc by this technique, but I suspect very little. 
The original spray lubricant was silicone-based with a special 
dopant.  You may want to give this a try, especially in severe cases, 
before using any mechanical cleaning process.

All the best!!

Bob Huck

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Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:16:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken McCreath <noodlecoodle>
Subject: NEW YAHOO GROUP
To: digest@cedmagic.com

Hello fellow CED fans!!

I've just launched a new Yahoo group called CED Swap Meet. Basically 
the agenda of this group is to provide the CED community with a forum 
to meet others who are interested in trading discs amongst each other 
instead of buying discs elsewhere ( not that you shouldn't make 
purchases from James Curiel & Harry Libby ). No money is to be 
exchanged. The sender would pay their own shipping costs. I am going 
to be posting my list of discs for trade in the coming week of 
October 12th. Feel free to post your own list at the site. Just go to 
Yahoo Groups and look up the name CED swap meet. See you there !!!

Best Regards,
Ken McCreath

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Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 09:29:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken McCreath <noodlecoodle>
Subject: YAHOO GROUP POSTING ADDRESSES
To: digest@cedmagic.com

Hi there everyone !

Just wanted to add the addresses to the NEW CEDswapmeet group on 
Yahoo. Here goes:

to post a listing : http://www.cedswapmeet@yahoogroups.com

and to subscribe : http://www.cedswapmeet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

See ya there !

Ken

Please feel free to make a posting for discs ( or any other CED 
related products ) you want to trade.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Simon Angling" <simon>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: CED in South Africa?
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 20:12:53 +0200

Has anyone ever heard of a CED player being found in South Africa or 
indeed is there anyone on the list from SA?

Cheers,

Simon
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