Slobs and Righteous People

The front page of the Toronto Star today had photos of a big todo that occured downtown. There was an SUV-driving, baseball-bat-carrying slob who tossed his lunch unto the street, and a righteous female bicycle courier who dumped it back in his lap. Then a melee ensued which was captured by a nearby photograher. In the background of the first photo, there is a wise elderly couple who just chuckle and walk on.

When I checked CityNoise, there were already 150,000 page views. This is a heavily commented blog site and there were plenty of the hangin is too good for 'em type comments. Sometimes the stories of real life are better than anything you could invent. There was a similiar story in July of the Dog Poop Girl

On one side we have the Slobs who have no problem with anything except their own comfort, on the other we have the Righteous People who are easily offended by any disrespect shown anywhere on earth. Let the battles begin! :-)

"Slob ---------- | ----------- Righteous"

As you might have guessed, I find myself slightly on the Righteous side of the Slob-O-Meter. Which one are you?

Hacking the Honda Civic Stereo - Part 1

It seems I am only one who hears the high-frequency distortion in the speakers of the 2006 Honda Civic. I hear this echo or rattle in female voices and cymbals.. it is very annoying. Yet no product review has mentioned this problem. Anyway, I have solved the problem with enhanced speakers. You can too if you are handy with simple tools.

It is no surprise that these no-name Honda speakers sound like rattling plastic.. they are almost all plastic and have only tiny magnets. They work fairly well despite their cheap design. However, almost is not good enough for me. They degrade the quality of an otherwise fine car. In comparison, even the dirt-cheap replacement speakers found at Wal-Mart have a robust metal frame and magnet.

There is an additional problem with these no-name speakers in that they don't match standard designs. Instead of evenly-spaced screw holes, there is only one mounting screw and two plastic locking tabs. The mounting holes in the front doors and rear deck are horseshoe shaped. I found no aftermarket speaker that fits. But I was not discouraged, instead I converted these sorry speakers into very good quality Pioneer units. Read on!

The photo shows the replacement Pioneer speaker, the plastic mounting ring of the Honda speaker, and the cone assembly which has been cut away from the mounting ring. Compare the shape of the mounting ring to that of the standard Pioneer speaker. Note the ring has plastic locking tabs which do not match the evenly-spaced mounting holes of standard speakers. Fortunately, the plastic ring can be hacked to hold the Pioneer speaker such that no modification to your 2006 Honda Civic LX is necessary.

Tools Needed for modification of Honda Speaker:

• small side-cutting pliers
• screwdrivers
• drill for screw guide holes
• utility knife
• glue gun or silicon sealant
• needle-nose pliers
• soldering iron

Hacking Steps

• Remove the foam tape from the speaker front. Do not remove the magnet side foam
• With the sharp utility knife, cut the cone away from the ring
• On the magnet side, use the side-cutting pliers to snip all the plastic struts holding the cone in place.
• Cut the flex material which aligns the cone around the magnet
• Solder the Pioneer speaker wires to the Honda speaker jack
• Cut the jack from the honda speaker cone and discard the cone. Save the magnet for your fridge.
• On the cone side of the ring, cut away the ring surrond material to yield a flat surface.
• On the Pioneer speaker, score the ears of one screw tab with the side cutters, then wiggle them gently with the needle nose so they break off at the score marks
• Position the Pioneer speaker in the Honda ring such that the tab just cut aligns with the big screw hole in the ring
• Now the Pioneer speaker should be evenly centered in the Honda ring.
• Carefully drill a 1/8' guide hole for each of 3 small wood screws
• Screw the Pioneer tabs to the Honda ring
• Seal the unused mounting holes with silicon seal or thermal glue
• There should be no way for air to leak though the speaker frame or support ring

The previous photos used the Pioneer TS-650M which is an older model bought on sale at Best Buy. I installed these in the front door. For the rear deck I used TS-A1671R also purchased at a discount at Future Shop. Here you see it installed in the plastic mounting ring with the jack from the factory Honda speaker soldered and taped. Speakers other than Pioneer may also fit if they have the extension tabs for 6.75" mounting.

Cheap 1-way or 2-way speakers have a compromised design since a single structure cannot work equally well for bass, mid-range, and treble. On the other hand the TS-A167R is coaxial 3-way so that one part does not interfere with the other. This results in clean, full-spectrum response.

This completes Part-1. Coming soon, Part-2 will explain how to remove the factory speakers from the 2006 Honda Civic.

* Part 2 of 3 *        * Part 3 of 3

World's Most Determined Bird

Imagine you must shuffle around the same spot for four months with a big egg between your feet. There is no food. On a nice day the temperature is -50. On a bad day, it is -80 with hurricane force winds. After losing 50 percent body weight, there is another 60 mile trek. This is life for the male Emperor Penguin. The movie is called 'March Of The Penguins' but the 60 mile trek to the mating site is actually the easy part. Many birds are dedicated parents but none are so extreme as the Penguin. Penguins with their comical walk are most like humans so they arouse your interest and empathy.

Honda Civic LX (2006)

The 2006 Honda Civic LX is much improved with increased go-power and a stiffer chassis to provide a sportier feel without taking away from the comfort you expect in a sedan. The fit and finish are excellent. Even though it is said to be a compact car, there is plenty of room for 4 people. There is no hump in the back seat to take away legroom. The LX version adds an immobolizer key to deter thieves, alloy wheels for a sporty look, and cruise control to save gas on long drives.

However, there are a few quibbles. The instrument cluster takes some getting used to. Everything except the tachometer is digital. The speedometer, fuel, and engine temperature indicators are above and behind the tachometer. The radio knobs and push buttons are identical to the air flow controls so I find myself setting the air conditioner instead of changing the radio station. The entire dash is curved instead of mostly flat like you see in many cars. The stereo controls are found by pressing a push button many times so you need to make necessary adjustments before starting your journey, not while driving.

The rationale for this design is to save on the number of parts in the car. There are no sliders or levers which would require intricate assembly. Even the gas pedal is "drive by wire". This makes it less costly to add cruise control.

Motor Trend magazine says it will be hard for competitors to match the Honda Civic. I agree.

even more fries with that?

Morgan Spurlock successfully managed to "shock and awe" in his Super-Size Me documentary. He extrapolated the general trend in modern life to eat too much crap while not getting near enough exercise to it's worst case conclusion that even the doctors did not expect. He force-fed himself at the arches every day but there were side trips to schools where kids were having fries, sausages, and candy for lunch boxed by some cheap food processing company. So it's not just MacDonalds who wish to maintain the status quo but the entire processed food industry and their well paid lobbyists.
My Conclusion: Have an occasional happy meal for variety but eat natural food every day.

shaving cream art

The valve of the a new shaving cream can came off with the cover. When I pressed the cover back on, shaving gel squirted over the bathroom mirror!

Black blogs are popular

I click 'next blog' on blogger and wonder "why do so many blogs have a black background'. Nearly half of them are black. Some have a pink background, others are just white with pale circles.

Since plain white seems bland and business-like, perhaps the blogger wants to be 'un-bland' or cool. On the other hand, perhaps they feel dreadful and black reflects that mood.

I like the blogs with photos. I recently saw one of a person's trip to Iceland. (Sorry, forgot the link). The girl is an artist and that talent shows in her photos.

Now, if only we could get rid of these stupid adverts that clutter the blogsphere!

The cow... the cow!

As I was lying beneath a tree

A robin sent his love to me

And as I wiped it from my eye

I thanked the Lord that cows can't fly.

-- who wrote this?

The rumor of Blackie's demise is true!

Blackie died today. He was a Black Moor, a fantail type fish with a chunky body and a flowing tail. These are hardy fish but prone to swim-bladder problems. He would swim upside down when he got tired of trying to swim with his buddies. There was nothing to do but put him to sleep in a small container of tank water with sodium bicarbonate (found in Alka-Seltzer or Eno).

Don't flush your fish down the toilet. That is cruel because they die slowly under mean conditions. Also don't buy fish from crowded tanks. That would encourage the keeping of these poor creatures under stress. The rule is one gallon of water per inch of fish.

If you park like an idiot.. watch out!

Soon frustrated drivers will be carrying these nifty park-like-an-idiot stickers. Note that the sign is not for you to make a proud announcement, rather it is for that other idiot who can't park neatly between the lines or the cars that are already parked. These folks must suffer from some combination of arrogance and stupidy. Now it is time to take back the parking lot!

Bob's Your Uncle

The expression "Bob's your uncle" always implies simplicity of execution and success or satisfaction with the result. Practice the KISS principle (Keep It Simple) so you can soon say- "Bob's Your Uncle". The following links give lengthy explanations. Apparently, thieves and pickpockets were once called "bobs". The reference does not say but I think London policeman are now called "bobbies" because they used to catch "bobs".

• Reference 1
• Reference 2

Jean and Karla Swap

Another sign of our times

Sign of our times

Interesting sign seen on Yonge Street