Archive for 2017

Newer Entries »

Bulb Trouble

Jan

17

2017

There are a number of fun things that happen when you drive a 15-year-old car. One of which is replacing light bulbs.

One headlight stopped working. Not knowing exactly how old the bulb was (worst case: 15 years), I stopped by the parts store and bought a pair of headlight bulbs.

After I got home, I opened the back of the headlight and started to replace the bulb. Once I finally unplugged the bulb from the connector, I was greeted by a lump of melted and burned plastic. The connector of the wiring harness was partially gone and the terminals were not making a solid connection. I put the new bulb on just for fun but it didn’t fare any better. So I adjusted the terminals on the connector and plugged the old bulb back in. Success! So I left the old bulbs in place.

Since I didn’t trust the connector (something is not right if plastic is melting and charring), I ordered a replacement wiring connector. The bulb stopped working a couple days later again, so I swapped out the old connector for the new connector and the bulb has been fine ever since.

Then a couple weeks later, the turn signal starting blinking rapidly. That usually means one of the bulbs burned out, so I went and bought replacement turn signal bulbs. However, the new bulb didn’t work either.

Hmm…

I put the old bulb back in and it didn’t work. I set the assembly down so I could figure out what was going on and the old bulb started working again. Turns out the wiring harness was a little flaky. The bulb stopped and started working a couple more times as I reinstalled the turn signal assembly. But I got it stable and everything was good.

For a couple days.

Then the turn signal started blinking rapidly again, telling me that the wiring harness flaked out again. So I ordered a replacement turn signal connector and wiring. And I drove for a few days with a bad turn signal while I waited for the equipment to come in the mail.

Finally, the connector arrived. I went out to the car and turned on the signal. I was surprised to see that the front turn signal was fine and the back turn signal was bad. Of course, the back turn signal uses a different bulb than the front. So now I had to stop at the parts store and get a new bulb.

I replaced the back bulb and everything was fine.

So now I have a spare set of headlights and a spare turn signal connector, so I’ll be prepared in case they ever go out.

Moral of the story: diagnose the problem before buying replacement parts, not after.

Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.

Job 5:27

Posted in Mishaps | No Comments »

All-Haiku Bowl Results, 2016

Jan

12

2017

Okay, okay, it is 2017 at this point, but the results are headlines as 2016 because they match with the 2016 predictions made in 2016 for the 2016 season. Also, the results are not all-haiku, just the predictions were. A more accurate title would be “Results for the All-Haiku Predictions made in 2016”.

Before the bowl games commenced for this past college football season, I made some predictions. Here, for your reading enjoyment, is the tally of those predictions. Note that the results are not in haiku form, in contrast to the predictions.
(more…)

Posted in Sports | No Comments »

Football Hindsight

Jan

10

2017

Here are some entries for the Hindsight is 20/20 Department:

  • Maybe a college team that didn’t win its conference shouldn’t be in the playoffs ahead of the team that beat it and did win the conference.
  • Maybe the Heisman should be awarded after the bowl games.
  • Maybe we shouldn’t doubt the Packers, especially if Aaron Rogers makes a declaration as such.

Regarding the second point: maybe Lamar Jackson had a lackluster bowl performance because he’s not that good. Or maybe it was because LSU was looking to shutdown the Heisman winner. Or maybe it was because Jackson already won the Heisman so he wasn’t very motivated. There may be other reasons too, but all of them reinforce the idea that the Heisman should come later.

When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers.

Joshua 8:20

Posted in Sports | No Comments »

Football Winner Guesser Results – 2016

Jan

5

2017

It is time once again to update Some Blog Site readers on the results of my Some Fun Site project to create a more accurate football prediction method.

The 2016 NFL season is over, and here are the most accurate methods for predicting regular-season game results:

  • ITP: 62%
  • MPWLS: 61%
  • MPW: 60%

This is the first year that neither MPW nor MPWHFA have been the best predictors of wins. Since I didn’t change anything, I will chalk that up to a statistical anomaly. Or maybe I can blame the Rams for moving to LA.

(For the ideas behind the methods, please visit the Some Fun Site page.)

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

Exodus 1:8

Posted in Sports | No Comments »

Animated Favicons

Jan

3

2017

I realized recently that you can use animated GIFs for favicons. And if that sentence meant nothing to you, come back another day for a different topic.

In general, I’m a fan of animated GIFs. And I don’t care what anyone else says, I’m pronouncing it with a hard G. But animated GIFs don’t belong everywhere. And a favicon is one of those places because it looks like the page is always loading.

At first, it seemed like a good idea. It would set your webpage apart from the crowd. But people are so conditioned to having a repetitive movement near the tab bar mean that something is loading, so they would be annoyed with your page for not loading. If they paid close attention, they would see a difference between the loading icon and the moving favicon, but not many people are going to notice that detail.

In summary, don’t animate your favicons.

Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I will never be moved.”

Psalm 30:6

Posted in Technical | No Comments »

Newer Entries »