Building a better mousetrap, or toilet

Innards of the Super Toilet. The
white ring around the green
doohickey is the flapper valve. 

 One of the good things about having a blog is that I have inadvertently created a timeline of projects that I have completed. This helps we when something fails and I can go back and see when I fixed or replaced it. So, back in 2019 I replaced the sink and toilet in the bathroom. I recently noticed that the toilet was running randomly, a sure sign that the tank was leaking into the bowl. So, being the Amateur Plumber First Class that I am I removed the tank cover and literally looked into the problem. I was immediately reminded that I had purchased a Super Toilet, one that could apparently flush dozens of golf balls at once, a useful feature at times. One thing that was a hidden feature that this mad flusher possessed was an increased difficulty of repair, and more expensive parts. For those of you that have reached my lofty status of Amateur Plumber First Class, you know the most common cause of tank water leaking is the flapper valve, a rubber gasket that seals the tank after the flush and the doohickey (technical term) drops back into the tank. Apparently, these flapper valves have an engineered life of a few years before they fail to seal properly and allow the tank water to leak out. Now, why would a rubber gasket last only two years? You would think that buying the American Standard Super Toilet capable of flushing dozens of golf balls would also include higher quality components. However, similar to buying a high end luxury car, you may get a more comfortable ride, but repair costs and intervals are shorter.

As an aside, I haven't noticed an increased efficiency or flushing ability of the Super Toilet. It needs a the normal amount of "courtesy" flushes of any other toilet. I still haven't tested American Standard's golf ball claim, which I assume hasn't been tested by other home owners, for good reasons. Consumer Reports, are you listening? 

Anyway, the replacement of the flapper valve was not as easy as it would be in a normal toilet. After my first attempt, the toilet leaked even worse. At first I thought the leak was coming from someplace else, reenforced by my mistaken confidence in the Super Toilet that the flapper valve wouldn't fail so quickly. But after a time I realized that I hadn't reassembled the doohickey correctly allowing the water to continue to leak. The Super Toilet now stands ready to flush dozens of golf balls, should the need arise.  

A pretty morning in Saratoga

In other news, we had a pre-Christmas shopping trip to Saratoga Springs which was great, except that a block from our hotel, a guy lost control of his Jeep in the snowstorm and hit our Toyota head on. We were stationary at a traffic light and were unhurt. Luckily the car was drivable I wont bore you with the details but eventually his insurance found him to be 100% at fault and we can finally proceed with repairs. The estimate I got yesterday was $4100, less than I expected. They do not expect to begin repairs until March.

So now we enter what I consider the doldrums of winter. Short cloudy days, long cold nights without the benefit of Holiday lights to brighten the mood. Cindy and I are looking into possible winter escapes to sunny locales to help move the grey season along.

My favorite movie

 My favorite movie choice might surprise you, and it's almost certainly not for the reasons you may think. The movie is Silence of the Lambs. On it's surface, it's a film about pathological killers and the depths of depravity that they reach in the death and torture of their victims. But as Hannibal Lector would say, that is incidental to the real theme of the movie. That is what makes the movie so great.

Silence of the Lambs is a thriller about a serial killer in West Virginia who kidnaps, tortures, kills, and skins his victims. This killer is nicknamed Buffalo Bill and he hunts for young women in rural small towns. When he unknowingly kidnaps a U.S. senator's daughter, he brings the full weight of the FBI into the investigation with it's special Behavioral Science Unit. Hoping to get insight into the investigation, figuring it takes one to know one, they interview Hannibal Lector, known as Hannibal the Cannibal, whom is already in custody on previous grisly crimes. Hannibal could hardly care less and toys with interviewers, so the head of the unit decides to send a promising young recruit, student and temporary agent Clarice Starling to interview Hannibal, hoping that the genius, psychopathic murderer will respond to the young woman. Initially, the interview fails, until the end when an "unspeakable" act is committed against the recruit by the prisoner in the next cell.  This triggers sympathy in Lector, who as a child was a victim of sexual abuse. At the last moment, he gives Clarice a lead to follow.

Size alone can be used as intimidation.

So begins the heart of the movie, which is Clarice and the FBI slogging through the horror of the murders, occasionally interviewing Lector. But what is the movie really about? Is it a procedural about solving horrific crimes? Secondarily, yes. I feel the movie is about some men treating woman horrifically, and many men just badly in every day life. While Buffalo Bill is kidnapping, torturing, and killing young woman, men in all walks of life are dismissing, ogling, and insulting Clarice as she struggles through the investigation and struggles with her own demons that arose in her difficult childhood. There are two very telling scenes: One as Clarice enters an elevator full of tall men at the FBI academy, the other as she walks through a crowded airport. Watch how the men look at her, and how she is made uncomfortable by their stares. She has two friends in the movie; her FBI Academy roommate, and ironically, Hannibal Lector. 

A psychopath showing sympathy

Hannibal, the cannibal, develops a fatherly affection for Clarice, and treats her with respect that she does not receive from any of her fellow investigators. He guides her to the proper clues and helps her make the right conclusions about Buffalo Bill. In their last meeting, when Clarice finally discloses the details of her childhood nightmares to Hannibal, look carefully at his face. He has tears in his eyes in
sympathy, something he hasn't felt before. He also knows he will likely never see her again since he has given here all she needs to solve the crime. When she figures out who the killer is, and where he is, her boss dismisses her deduction and ends up sends her off to confront Buffalo Bill on her own, leading to a terrifying conclusion. 

So yes, the movie is a crime story, a horrific crime story, with two deadly psychopaths. In it's depth, it is about how men treat women in today's society, the subtle pressure that they put upon woman by their looks and comments. So Buffalo Bill is at the far end of the terrible treatment of women, with the rest of the creeps in the movie more subtle in their misogynistic behavior.