Handy Man

Recently, it came to my attention that my car's rear break-light was out. This is annoying. First of all, it's annoying because how the hell is a person supposed to be able to tell that his break-lights are out? I never see them. And second, it's annoying because who knows what it takes to replace one of these things.

Turns out, it takes ten minutes and a phillips head screw-driver. The cost of the bulb (which is completely generic) was a whopping 46 cents at the local car parts store.

So trust me, you can replace the bulbs in your car. It's cheap & easy and will save you oodles over getting a mechanic to do it.

The only tricky part is don't touch the bulb with your hands. Car bulbs get really hot and the natural oils on your fingers will cause the bulb to burn out much faster. That piece of information was not in the owner's manual. However, everything else I needed was.

Yes, I have many friends

One of them is this guy:


I am very honored to know him.

Your Music Sucks!

You remember the good old days, before downloads, when the music on the radio was really good. You could listen for hours. Every song sounded distinct and even the ones you didn't like that much were pretty good. Ahhhh... the good old days.

Things were better when I was young. It would be a cliche except, it turns out, it's true. The music recordings available today are all mastered with a "wall of sound" approach. (This is also why commercials -- on radio and TV -- are always louder than the show you're watching, and why they're consistently so annoying).

It's also why all popular music seems to sound alike. It's meant to sound best when you're driving with the windows open.

There's a fantastic visual & audio demonstration of this effect here.