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I've been listening to Car Talk off and on for years, but being within range of
of a Public Broadcasting station at the right hour of the week - on a regular
basis - is a bit of a challenge. Even allowing for the fact I can stream most
radio stations to my computer doesn't cover the major challenge: The computer
is in the living room and weekend mornings I am - uh - not. As in, the
horizontal and unconscious version of not in the living room. Oh - or I'm with
the offspring, who hasn't been attentive to anything for longer than 5 seconds
in his entire life. Asking him to dedicate an hour to car repair and
automotively-induced interpersonal relationship issue counselling would be as
futile as trying to convince me to petition for George W. Bush's third AND
fourth terms.
Car Talk has moved into the modern age with the Podcast (TM, C, R, BYOB,) which
means that I finally get regular access. Well. I download it every week and
let it languish on my iPod until I've run out of anything and everything else
that I could possibly listen to. Then I'm reduced to catching up on the
Tappets.
If you were following in Februrary then enjoy. If you weren't paying
attention then you're outta luck because I'm not going to offer explanations:
UPDATE 20090518:
I've removed the image from the main page to save on load times. If you
want to see it, you'll have to follow the link.
-rbarry
Batteries.
In 1963, it was "Plastics," but now it is emphatically: batteries.
How many battery dependant devices are within arms reach of you now? Wireless
mouse, cell phone, camera, laptop, mp3 player, flashlight, camera flash, and
that's just my usual moment-at-the-office sort of day.
Batteries are expensive and they are environmental disasters of their own sort.
And like so many other things in life, you have choices and compromises to make
when you select your encapsulated metallic cylinders of electrical potential.
Rechargeable or Alkalyne.
1.2 Volts or 1.5 Volts.
Reusable or Disposable.
Democrat or Republican.
Some devices are harder on batteries than others. Parker's camera blows
through them at the rate of a full set of 4 AAs in about 30 pictures. I swear
I'm going to get him a real (rather than a 'toy') digital camera just for the
battery savings. His Leapster, on the other hand, seems to turn your common
AA battery into a damning counterexample to the Law of Conservation of Energy.
They last for EVER. But neither device can live on 4.8 volts.
Most devices that want 4 AAs arrange them in a rectangular array in exactly the
same way. Parker's Leapster does this, his camera does not. It would seem to
me that the best of both worlds could be achieved if someone would make a six-
volt battery pack by using FIVE Nickel-Metal Hydroxide cells in a form factor
that exactly matched the standard four-AA-cell configuration. Devices that
require that layout could take rechargeable batteries and suck them dry in
nothing flat and I'd happily throw the pack in the charger and slap another six
volts in the device: rechargeable, reusable, democratic, cheap and easy.
As with all the ideas that I truly love: contact me to license the idea. =]
-rbarry
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