Herculodge

Pushing the Envelope on the Meaning of "Autophilia"

Dr. Dean Edell today reported on a man who experiences sexual arousal from cars. This arousal results in his having "sex" with the cars, but I'm not sure about the mechanics of this operation. Nor do I want to know. The condition of this man's erotic attraction to cars is called "mechaniiphilia." For the article, click on New York Daily News.

At the end of the article, he says he once, in a moment of infidelity, made love to a helicopter.

A Scallop Isn't Always a Scallop

I found out today that the scallop lover is in danger of ordering fake scallops, often made of shark and sometimes stamped with a hole punch or some such device. I first heard this today on  KCRW's  Good Food with Evan Kleiman. Apparently, the taste difference is subtle and you may not know you got ripped off unless you're an expert.

3 Strong AM Performers

Tom Welch has linked me to Three Radio Kings Competition, but I don't know which one is the winner since I can't read the Chinese. If anyone can, please let me know.

Is the Grundig Satellit 750 Late in Arrival or Mere Vapor Ware?

Ed Strnad surmises that, at best, the Grundig Satellit 750 could be in for a long, intractable delay if it should ever materialize at all:

Well, here it is virtually June 1, and there is not a peep about the availability for the 750. I called Amazon and Eton; they pled ignorance. I can't see it suddenly going on sale in 2 weeks with no preliminary publicity or product launch (ie, early review samples sent out)... I think what we have here is another major schedule slip....I hope it's not on its way to becoming vaporware. Also FYI: J&R in NY will ship it free if you pre-order now, but they don't have any idea when it will be released, either.

Many of us incurable radio lovers are disgruntled that a most attractive radio may be put on hold indefinitely. As Mike Walsh writes:

I have a pre-order for one of these things on Amazon, an implied contract which apparently possesses all the solidity of a Tsarist railway bond.

Thanks to Ed for doing the legwork, anyway. I was going to start nosing around on or about the 15th, but this looks like a delay even from this distance. Given that Universal Radio kept their mid-June ETA posted while Eton themselves merely promised "2008", I suppose none of us should be too surprised.

Well, I'm gonna buy some damn thing in June, and whatever it is, it won't look like a purse.

Everywhere I Go, Cops Give Me the Wave or the Nod

I must look like a cop. Everywhere I go, cops give me the wave or the nod. It happened again today. Two motorcycles cops passed me while I was unloading groceries and I got the wave. My students think I look like a cop, paramilitary, mercenary. My father was in the military. My alter ego is a wrestling coach or an MMA fighter, but I am a geek introvert college English instructor who listens to NPR, practices yoga, eats mostly vegetarian, suffers from an unhealthy radio obsession, tends toward the morose and is afflicted with OCD. The whole cop image is a counter-persona designed to ward off the  neuroses and my somewhat pessimistic Hobbesian worldview.  For Carl Jung, my cop persona would be called the Jungian Shadow.

The Herculodge Lazy, Indulgent, Low-Calorie Diet

Okay, low calories is relative. If I can keep the daily count below 3,000, then I'm on "low calorie." But I have certain comfort foods that I cannot abstain from: oatmeal, peanut butter, humus, flat bread. I'm repelled by most meat but remain a "flexitarian," eating some animal protein during family events in which my refusal to eat the meal might prove insulting to others. So here's the diet:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, whey protein mixed in, berries, nonfat milk, bold coffee with chocolate soy milk: Calories 700.

Mid-morning snack: almonds, orange: Calories 200

Lunch: Greens, beans, sliced soy links, shredded cheese, bruschetta or salsa on toasted flat bread. Orange. Calories: 600

Mid-afternoon snack: nonfat plain yogurt with 2 medjool dates. Calories: 300

Dinner: Flatbread or half bagel with peanut butter and berry preserves, nonfat milk, fruit. (can be exchanged with lunch). Broccoli. Or barbecued fish instead of peanut butter concoction. Calories: 500

Snack: Apple, celery. Calories: 200

Bedtime: Small bowl of high-fiber cereal. Calories: 300

Calories in Theory (2,800)
Calories in Reality based on overeating, sneaking in little bites of ice cream, etc. (3,300)

Save Your Manhood Tip #57: Why You Cannot Wear Flip Flops During the Jack Bauer Era

I should let you know--those of you with a keen interest in manliness and the things that accentuate your masculinity--that I have stopped wearing flip flops during the Jack Bauer Era. Yes, I know that during these warm summer months it would be nice to keep the feet cool and put on a pair of sandals or flip flops before you go to Trader Joes or do whatever errands you must do.

But you must gear up with shoes and socks, no matter how warm it is outside. For one, we learn from watching the heroics of Jack Bauer that any moment can thrust us upon danger without warning and we must be ready to react. Running full speed is not a pretty sight in flip flops. Nor is having your pants sink below your ass. So wear a belt before you go outside.

Let's be clear. Whether we are saving ourselves or some damsel in distress, we must look sharp when we do it. Dorkiness and heroism don't mix.

The TV Radio Band: Will It be Useless in 2009?

A reader has pointed out that 2009 should be a challenging year for those who use their radio's TV band:

I wonder if the purchasers/owners of "TV audio" radios realize that in much of the U.S. after February, 2009 over-the-air TV signals will change to ATSC digital thereby rendering that TV band unlistenable with such analog radios. One could patch the RF signal from an ATSC-NTSC converter box ($40 rebate coupon available from Uncle Sam) into the radio if one figures out a way to get the RF into the radio with no external antenna input. Perhaps an F connector to alligator clip adapter attached to the headphone's cord should do the trick. Of course the "sound system" would not be very portable.

Tom Welch reports that Sangean is already adjusting to the new "radio environment":

For Sangean radios, you will probably see the NOAA weather band replace the TV band. In fact, the new Sangean DT-400W pocket radio does just that replacing the DT-200VX's TV band with the weather band.

The Tough Love Doctrine of Erich Fromm

In Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving he argues that the challenge of being human is confronting our “separateness” from the world, from others, and ourselves. Confronting our essential loneliness and isolation is terrifying and we can respond like most with misguided attempts at overcoming our frightening isolation: consumerism, disappearing into a person or institution larger than ourselves who becomes our “parent” in the worst sense of the word, which is to say we try not to overcome our loneliness by letting some other entity suffocate us and make all our decisions and be the sole provider of our identity and in the process we become emotionally crippled children.

The only way to overcome our separateness, according to Fromm, happens to be our strongest desire: the urge for “interpersonal fusion,” which is romantic love, both spiritual and physical, combined with an orientation in which the person loves all of humanity, which is the only way he can truly love himself. Failure to achieve this interpersonal fusion means to grovel in emotional retardation as one tries feebly to transcend one’s loneliness with all sorts of absurd self-destructive compulsions.

What’s amazing is that in 123 pages Fromm gives us both the problem of human existence and the solution and he does so without resorting to the easy homilies and platitudes of odious self-help books. His solution to the human condition, namely that we must love as an art and to do so requires dedication, commitment, and consistency, is a prescription that many will find intimidating and repellant.

In this regard, Fromm, a non-theist, is like the religious prophet who tells the people that the cure for their ails will be a painful albeit rewarding one.

Finally, offering a plan of self-transformation that requires diligence and ardor is in many ways un-American, for what is more American than the quick fix and the 10-Step salvation program?

iLounge Gives Boston Acoustics Horizon Due with iPod Cradle Its Coveted "Highly Recommended" Rating

All things iPod iLounge has done a thorough review of the Boston Acoustics Horizon Duo with iPod Cradle the much tauted "highly recommended" rating with a grade of A minus.

Ed Strnad wrote a review, expressing a similar high esteem for the Duo, for Herculodge.