My car's "check engine" light is on.

It's been on for a while, say, four or five months and the car is running fine. It's hard not to think of the check engine light as a a bit of a racket for the benefit of the auto manufacturers and their certified repair shops, such as dealers. I know it isn't true, but it's easy to imagine that the light is a remote-controlled device, activated by the local dealer when his repair revenues don't meet his goals. My dealer told me it would cost something like $105 to simply download and decode the error message in my car that was activating the check engine light!

I've read that you can purchase a simple interface device to view the error code yourself (the access point is under a front seat). The devices cost $20-50, then you need a subscription to a web site to have access to a lookup tool to find out what the codes mean. How on earth would I find myself paying for any of this foolishness?

Perhaps, gentle reader, you'll observe as I do, that the auto manufacturers chose not to create a check engine light function using an LED alphanumeric display. They've already designed the microprocessors with output codes, but they couldn't be bothered to create plain-English (or German, or Japanese, or whatever) results to display. After all, then I would know the difference between "gas cap sensor malfunction" and something more serious. Not profitable for the big car companies and their service partners!

CDs listened to today:

• Tom Petty: Greatest Hits
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 2, "Cello"
• Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2
• Tom Scott: Bebop United
• Samba Mapalanga: Ujumbe
• Gunther Schuller: Symphony For Brass And Percussion
• Tackhead: Friendly As A Hand Grenade
• Alban Berg: Lulu Suite
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce