Xbox 360: 120mm fan mod for quietness

I wanted to watch a movie yesterday, but my Xbox's fans are too loud. So I decided to do something about it!

Fuel economy vs. speed

We all suspect that going faster decreases your fuel economy, and I did an experiment to verify this!

Sock experiment

Following on the heels (pun totally intended) of the windshield wiper experiment (which, by the way, indicates no difference between the two brands), I have started a sock experiment. My old socks developed holes in the heels, so I bought new ones:

• 6 pairs of the more expensive Hanes Premium Cushion Low Cut (78% cotton, 20% polyester, 1% natural latex rubber, 1% other fiber)
• 10 pairs of the cheaper Jerzees (a Russell brand) Low Cut (84% cotton, 13% polyester, 1% other fiber). 

The Hanes socks are identifiable by the black "Hanes" lettering (my old socks have red lettering, and the Jerzees are blank.

To remove bias in usage patterns, I will FIFO my clean sock supply (so each sock is worn exactly once between washes) and will randomize them upon queuing. Now we'll see which ones wear out first.

Windshield wipers

With it being the rainy season and all, I decided to replace the windshield wipers. The old ones are at least 3 years old and don't really squeegee the water away so much as spread it around underneath, leaving concentric trails of water droplets.

At the store, there was quite the assortment of windshield wiper blades. After debating between the "economy" and "premium" brands, I decided to test them both out. I have currently installed a 21" Rain-X ($9) on the driver side and a 19" Anco ($5) on the passenger side.

In the first test, there is no difference between the two - they both remove all the water, and do so absolutely silently, which was a surprise to me because I'd gotten so used to the noise from the old blades that I thought something was wrong when I hit the wiper control and didn't hear anything in response.

So now we'll see if one lasts longer than the other.