Hand-e-man

Hope you have an inspired day! 😉

Faucets and frost-free faucets are 'blooming' late this year in Minneapolis.

Yesterday and today, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the usual "6 per spring" needed replacement, at 3 different addresses.

It's me. 🙋🏼‍♂️

Every year, I typically get calls about 6 burst frost-free faucets in spring. This is the 1st of Spring 2026.

This is what I'm doing Friday, 5/1.

This is the direction the entire planet, including the U.S., should be moving: everything user serviceable, with ample, easily-accessible and affordable parts, slowing/removing planned obsolescence.

The European Union already forced Apple to abandon its proprietary charging port and adopt USB-C across its entire iPhone lineup. It just did something bigger. A new EU mandate requires every smartphone sold in Europe including Apple devices to feature a battery that can be replaced by the user without specialist tools, without voiding a warranty, and without sending the device to a manufacturer approved service center. Batteries must maintain a minimum capacity threshold after a set number of charge cycles and replacement parts must remain available for up to ten years after a model goes on sale.

The consumer electronics industry built its current business model around batteries that degrade, cannot be replaced at home, and create a natural upgrade cycle every two to three years. The EU just legislated that model out of existence in the world's largest regulatory market. Apple, Samsung, and every other manufacturer now faces a choice between redesigning their devices for the European market or accepting that their current hardware architecture is no longer legally sellable there. Given that no company walks away from European consumers voluntarily the phones are going to change and once they change for Europe the rest of the world will ask why theirs still do not.

The goal. Started h-e-m in 2005, sole income since 2011.

It's that time of the year!

Check the date on the back of your detectors. Smoke detectors typically last for 10 years from the date of manufacture, after which they should be replaced because their sensors can degrade and become less sensitive.

If your gas oven isn't heating up anymore, it might be that this, the igniter, has failed.