Category Archives: General Comments

I noticed something today, we often participate in trends that are uncomfortable or expensive, just because everyone else does.

Some examples:

In the ear headphones.   The iPod is the real source of these little ear bud monsters.  They are uncomfortable, don’t sound very good, and get caked in ear wax.  What prompted this post is today I decided to use my Koss over the ear headphones instead of my ear buds on my lunch walk.  They sound 10 times better and are far more comfortable.  I know they make better buds, bud I don’t want to drop a C note on some Shures.

Blue Jeans.  I literally can’t wear them.  They make me break out, regardless of brand.  They also are heavy, don’t move well, and there are hundreds of different cuts.  They shrink in the dryer.  They get wrinkles.  They are expensive.  Yet, most people wear them every day.

SUV’s.  They feel like you are driving a tank.  They steer like a drunken cow.  They ride like a truck.  They are as dangerous (or even more dangerous) than cars.  They get terrible mileage.  They roll over on the drop of a hat.  More than half of new vehicles are SUV’s.

Cell Phones with Camera/MP3 players/GPS/Fishing Lures.  Too many features that don’t matter, and not enough that do.  All I want is a phone that makes clear calls and has kick ass battery life.  That’s it.  Why don’t we demand it?

I am sure there are many more things out there that well all do or buy, but are really uncomfortable or expensive.  Why don’t we rebel and wear some comfortable slacks for once.

It’s 79 degrees at 10 o’clock at night, on October 6th, in Chicago.

I don’t know about you, but I still think it is odd to have to have the air conditioning on 2 weeks into fall.

The leaves are still on the trees, and I just got bitten by 3 mosquitoes.  I hope the climate scientists are wrong, but I have a funny feeling they are right.

Glenn’s photos are up here.

Some of my personal favorites were him looking at the creepy stuffed raccoon at the Little Red School House. 

My parents took us there when we were kids.  Happily it has changed very little in the last 25 years, it is mostly as I remember it.  In a world of  constant change, a little benign neglect is not a bad thing.

Speaking of old things, I went to an antique store at lunch the other day.  Rosebud Antiques in Countryside, IL.  (On LaGrange Road, just south of 55th street.)  It is about the closest thing to Mr. Charrington’s junk shop from 1984 as I have ever seen.  You have to turn sideways to get down most of the isles.  If, however, you are looking for an old Schwinn, they got ’em in spades.  Stingrays, Typhoons, etc.  Coaster brakes as far as the eye can see.

I find it ironic that ‘success’ in Iraq is defined by returning to a previous state of hell.  Casualties are at the lowest level since June of last year.

Mission accomplished.

I don’t know about you, but just being a good as you were a year ago doesn’t seem much like meaningful progress to me.  How about zero combat fatalities?  How about returning vital infrastructure to pre war levels?  How about having less than 3,000,000+ refugees?  That is success.  What we have now is a return to the previous levels of failure.

Thank goodness it is Friday. Nothing too scary this week. Typical Glenn, teething, screaming, but sleeping well.

Work has been keeping me busy, as always, but not too busy.

Even though I an Electronics Engineer, I have a growing respect for purely mechanical things. In particular, mechanical watches. To me, it is fascinating how something designed 100 years ago works so well. No battery, no motors, just some springs and cogs and gears. Automatic watches are an even more amazing chunk of technology. Just the motion of your arm winds the watch. This is done using what is known as a rotor, which is just an uneven weight.

(This is a Seiko 7S26 automatic movement.)

Just look at how much stuff gets crammed in a watch case. This modern movement is based on designs from the late 50’s. It has about 40 moving parts. The more I read about mechanical watches, the more respect I have for long dead engineers and watchmakers.