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Marissa Explains It All is 225’s complimentary answering service. You ask me something related to local topics and I make lots of phone calls to find the answer. That’s right. Just shoot me an e-mail here. Easy peasy. Come on dearest readers. Ask me something. To get answers to previous questions, read my other blogs here or here.

Question: Who changes the light bulbs in Tiger Stadium?

Answer: Nobody at LSU.

I know. I know. You wanted it to be some lucky, diehard fan that shimmies up the light poles with a giant light bulb grabber-stick. Well, it’s not. As part of the pre-season check, members of the athletic facilities department meet with Brusly’s Sun Electrical Instrumentation, Inc. who conducts an assessment to determine which bulbs need to be replaced. Sun Electric then buys the necessary bulbs, comes to the stadium and climbs the poles to replace the lights. Before this season no light bulbs were replaced but a full “relamping” was done in 2004. Ronnie Haliburton, director of athletic facilities and grounds, estimates each light pole is between 55 and 65 feet tall and there are some 75 or 80 stadium lights. So could you power a small nation with the energy used for the stadium lights? Nobody’s really sure. Haliburton says it’s hard to gauge since lights aren’t the only things using energy in the stadium. But Haliburton says before the west side construction began, it was estimated to cost around $50 an hour to power each light. Quick math: That’s at least $3,750 an hour times three hours per game = $11,250. Now let’s take that times eight home games this season and you can buy a 2007 Toyota Yaris for yourself and eight of your closest friends. Or in other terms, you would have to turn on 1,510 standard incandescent 100-watt light bulbs for 24 hours to equate to the estimated energy cost for lighting one football game at Tiger Stadium. And whew, that’s not even counting other times when the lights are on. But I’m done with simple math for today, so let’s continue with something else. Thanks to Ronnie Haliburton at LSU for his luminous knowledge.

Question: What’s that red ATM thingy that’s taken up residence in Albertsons?

Answer: An automated DVD rental system.

It’s not Coinstar, so stop spilling your piggy bank’s guts all over it. It’s a fully automated, remotely controlled machine called “DVDPlay.” For one buckaroo a night (plus tax), you can rent one of 110 movies, most of which are new releases. Using a touch screen, customers decide which movie they want, swipe a debit or credit card for payment, enter an e-mail address for a confirmation receipt and walk away with the choice DVD. I went through the process last night and it’s really that easy. I half expected the machine to start brushing my teeth or offering me a cup of coffee, but it didn’t. It was by far the most painless movie rental experience of my life. (Yeah. Yeah. Stop muttering “Netflix. Netflix. Netflix.” under your breath.) DVDPlay has already rented more than 5 million movies through its kiosks and hopes to reach 10 million by the year’s end. Nathan Teaford, store director of the George O’Neal Road Albertsons, says all area Albertsons stores have added the kiosks, which are a convenience for customers who are no longer subjected to waiting for customer service clerks. Since the kiosks were installed last week, Teaford says he’s probably seen 30 or 40 customers rent a movie. (No word yet on how many people rented “RV.”) Hold on to your ham sandwich, it gets better. A DVDPlay representative tends to the kiosks every week, replacing the new releases. Boy howdy! What’s next Baton Rouge? Automated fast food? How European! Thanks to Nathan Teaford at Albertsons for demystifying the red thing.