According to a Popular Science story published earlier this month, turning up the volume of music in a bar increases the rate at which the patrons drink. Which I suppose makes sense. When you can't talk to anybody, you always have booze to be your friend. In fact, a 22 percent increase in music volume yields a 26 percent increase in alcohol consumption. That answers my long-standing question about why you'd want to make your bar ungodly unpleasant to be in. But, sadly, it also suggests that the problem won't be fixed any time soon.