Things that should be improved

[Shevek]

I've got a long list of gadgets, but here's one that might affect anyone here to start off:
I was just reading about the size of the LA fires, and it was given as many thousands of acres, which I could not visualize It took some arithmetic to work out that the area is equivalent to a square six miles or ten km per side. That is easy to "see." - Just imagine going that distance from where you are, and you can see what it would mean in familiar geography.
I've also noticed that videos are often over-precise in their numbers, expecting me to remember and compare six-digit numbers flashed sequentially on the screen, and never giving the percentage difference between them, or even rounding off.

 

[Cryptid]

What I want to see improved is greater access to discrete electronic parts -- capacitors, resistors, transistors, et cetera. I'm a hobbyist, and I enjoy tinkering with personal gadgets. My intent is to either restore or improve on their functions. Sometimes, I will even build a simple gadget, rather than gamble on email-ordered procurement and delivery of something already on the market.

But where to get my parts? Even finding a good source of 1/2-inch copper tubing and fittings (for a J-Pole antenna) in my area has been a futile task -- they're all plastic. Only fixtures like sinks and faucets are made of metal.