MIXED BAG

Anna writes... Why does askbobwillis.com SUCK?

Well, there are actually two reasons:

1. Because it is not Ask Jim.
2. Because it does!

Anna also writes... Why are my earphones labeled "Left" and "Right"? I have 3 different pairs of earphones, and they're all labeled. However, if I put the "left" earphone in my right ear and vice versa, I don't notice any sound difference.

What the HECK?

It’s not just your earphones that are marked left and right, speakers are also marked left and right. Chances are most of the time, you won’t notice a difference and it doesn’t really matter. Both tracks are often different, but it usually won’t matter whether you have the earphones on backwards or not. The only time it would make a difference would be if you were watching a video where something was moving from left to right, the sound would be from right to left.

In the late sixties, when stereo was first becoming commonplace, many audiophiles considered it a gimmick. Those who were classical music fans thought the only time stereo would make any difference was during a crescendo from one side of the stage to the other, but those were far and few between. It was the “pop” music scene that really made strides with stereo when they started recording each instrument on a separate track. They would then use mixers to place those tracks on separate speakers. Quite honestly, I haven’t paid attention to music for 30 years, but if when you say “, I don't notice any sound difference” you mean there is no noticeable difference between the left sound and the right sound, you should listen to some old Beatles songs from their Sgt. Pepper of White album. They did a lot of experimentation with stereo. You will notice a difference, though it still probably wouldn’t matter if you swapped earphones.


Adam writes... Last night I locked myself out of my car. AAA came and stuck a tool called a "slim Jim" (ha-ha, that's you're name too!) inside the window jam and just popped the lock open. Note, this is not at all related to "popping and locking," a widely practiced hip hop dance move.

So can you use a slim Jim to open any door on any car? If so, why don't more cars get broken into with these things?

I can’t say for certain that a slim Jim will work on any car, but it will work on most. The reason that there aren’t more break-ins is because most people don’t know how to foil locks. The only thing locks do is to keep honest people honest. Someone who wants to defeat a lock can usually do so. The more knowledgeable you are about locks, the easier they are to defeat. People who are locksmiths and those who work for towing companies understand how a lock works and where their “soft underbellies” are located. There is actually a profession called “Repo” man. That is a person who will repossess cars from those who run afoul of their payments. They are armed with a slim Jim to get the door open, plus a tool that fits on a ratchet wrench that will pull the ignition out of the steering column. With their knowledge, tools, and practice, they can get into a car, start it up and take off faster than if they had keys.

Slim-Jims are probably sold by J.C. Whitney plus dozens of web based auto parts places. Another handy way to break into a car is a simple coat hanger. You only need to get into the door where the lock mechanism is located, and pull it up to unlock the door. Jim once made his own Slim-Jim and has had occasion to use it successfully, as well as the simple coat hanger method. It’s all about the tools.

Brian Writes... Not to age you, or anything, but I was wondering if you could give me some basic info about the Slide Rule. Whenever I come across one, it completely baffles me, and I can't even figure out how to do simple arithmetic... much less use it to land a man on the moon.

Not that slide rules were before my time, but they were beyond my educational experience. Other than some basic principals, slide rules were not taught or used much until you got to some advanced classes in such fields as engineering. As Jim is way behind on his answers, let me just refer you to the HP museum website for a full explanation about slide rules, their history and how to use them.

http://www.hpmuseum.org/sliderul.htm