Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Elegant Solution, Inelegant Solution
I'm not sure exactly how long ago it was, but for a while now Dentyne gum has been very hard to find in the tradition soft-stick format. The chicklety stuff is everywhere, but the old inch-long mini-sticks have been hard to come by. (Our local United Grocers/Cash-and-Carry sells it in bulk, which is nice; but it's the 8-stick packs instead of the big 30-stick ones, which is our preferred form factor.)
A few months ago I saw a new style pack at Safeway. It's box the same size as the one the chicklety gum slides in and out of, but it unfolds in a way that's not entirely dissimilar to an old-school cigarette case. The individual sticks of gum are even tucked in like I'd imagine cigarettes might be. (If I smoked and used an old-school cigarette case I might think otherwise, but not doing either I've allowed my imagination to roam a bit.)
I can't quite picture Cary Grant looking suave with this new Dentyne packaging, but I bet Spencer "Licorice Pistol" Tracy would get a kick out of it.
(UPDATE: You can get a free pack of gum, and kind of see what the packaging looks like, here.)
In the inelegant solution department, I've found a way to partially solve a problem I've had with my iPod and the car FM transmitter. Because of the way the iPod connects to the transmitter (through the dock connection), you can't control the volume using the iPod clickwheel. This is a problem when I have my iPod set to shuffle and a track from Magical Mystery Tour (very soft) is followed by a track from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack (very loud). The intuitive thing to do is to spin the clickwheel down, which means your speakers blare until you remember to adjust the radio volume.
One of the nice features of my FM receiver (the DLO Transpod) is the line-in port on the side of the unit. This allows you to transmit from more than just the iPod (a portable CD player, for instance, or another brand of MP3 player). What would happen, I asked myself (quite casually so as not to raise suspicion), if I ran a cable from the iPod's headphone jack to the line-in port? Answer: I now have some control over volume via the clickwheel. The really loud songs still need an adjustment via the radio, but the clickwheel turns the volume down enough that your ears don't bleed. And the iPod still charges (and broadcasts most of the signal) from the dock connection.
Unfortunately (and hence the inelegant adjective) the cable I bought is six-feet long, about five and half feet more than I really need. Coiled up, it's manageable--and it gets the job done--it's just not what Cary Grant or Spencer Tracy would do. Rick Moranis, probably would, or maybe Christopher Lloyd as Rev. Jim Ignatowski, Doc Emmett Brown, or John Bigboote, but I can't remember the last time I asked myself "what would Louis 'The Keymaster' Tully do?"
Something tells me there might be an "Adventures With Electricity" blog entry in the not too distant future.
A few months ago I saw a new style pack at Safeway. It's box the same size as the one the chicklety gum slides in and out of, but it unfolds in a way that's not entirely dissimilar to an old-school cigarette case. The individual sticks of gum are even tucked in like I'd imagine cigarettes might be. (If I smoked and used an old-school cigarette case I might think otherwise, but not doing either I've allowed my imagination to roam a bit.)
I can't quite picture Cary Grant looking suave with this new Dentyne packaging, but I bet Spencer "Licorice Pistol" Tracy would get a kick out of it.
(UPDATE: You can get a free pack of gum, and kind of see what the packaging looks like, here.)
In the inelegant solution department, I've found a way to partially solve a problem I've had with my iPod and the car FM transmitter. Because of the way the iPod connects to the transmitter (through the dock connection), you can't control the volume using the iPod clickwheel. This is a problem when I have my iPod set to shuffle and a track from Magical Mystery Tour (very soft) is followed by a track from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack (very loud). The intuitive thing to do is to spin the clickwheel down, which means your speakers blare until you remember to adjust the radio volume.
One of the nice features of my FM receiver (the DLO Transpod) is the line-in port on the side of the unit. This allows you to transmit from more than just the iPod (a portable CD player, for instance, or another brand of MP3 player). What would happen, I asked myself (quite casually so as not to raise suspicion), if I ran a cable from the iPod's headphone jack to the line-in port? Answer: I now have some control over volume via the clickwheel. The really loud songs still need an adjustment via the radio, but the clickwheel turns the volume down enough that your ears don't bleed. And the iPod still charges (and broadcasts most of the signal) from the dock connection.
Unfortunately (and hence the inelegant adjective) the cable I bought is six-feet long, about five and half feet more than I really need. Coiled up, it's manageable--and it gets the job done--it's just not what Cary Grant or Spencer Tracy would do. Rick Moranis, probably would, or maybe Christopher Lloyd as Rev. Jim Ignatowski, Doc Emmett Brown, or John Bigboote, but I can't remember the last time I asked myself "what would Louis 'The Keymaster' Tully do?"
Something tells me there might be an "Adventures With Electricity" blog entry in the not too distant future.
Mikesell
