Herculodge

The Grundig Satellite 750 Has Been Delayed Due to an Earthquake in China

Thanks to Mike W, we have this info and link about another delay for the Grundig Satellite 750:

Delayed again :

http://www.passband.com/eton-satellit-750-delayed-again/

I wonder what the USD/Renminbi rate will be when this thing finally is released? maybe they'll be at parity and we'll be making radios for Chinese consumers...

Another Reader Reports Bugs on His Boston Acoustics Horizon Duo

I don't have a Duo, but I do have 2 Boston Acoustics Horizon Solos and I still love them in spite of some minor bugs.

Another reader shows less joy with his Duo:

"I've got 2 bugs on my Boston Acoustics duo when I put my Ipod.
First, with a crazy clock (don't wake up with it!) and snooze... and of course the hotel limit!
Very disappointed by Boston.."

As far as the hotel volume limit goes, here is the REMEDY. 

The Sad Tale of an Abandoned Technology: Regenerative Radio

Longing for a modern radio that brings the glory of old, Terry writes:

While I don't have much luck curbing my Endless Pursuit of More (wherein More Is Never Enough,) I would love a Vacuum Tube Radio to play with and fawn over.

When I was a preschooler, I loved plugging in the old abandoned radio in the barn and staring into the open back of it as the filaments in the tubes began to glow.
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Another abandoned technology (and variation on the vacuum tube) which continues to cultivate interest is the Regenerative Radio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_circuit 
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Ed then points out that there is a sad tale about the regenerative radio:

The story behind the regenerative radio is an interesting one. It culminates with the inventor of FM radio jumping out of a hotel window! 

Ed also provides a link to the sad story: 

http://inventorspot.com/father_of_fm

In Spite of What the Experts Say, the Loss of Casey Kotchman Leaves Me with a Sick Feeling

I've been an Angels fan for several years now and one of my favorite Angels, Casey Kotchman, was the player I wanted at the plate more than any other when there were runners on base. He embodied clutch performance, good sportsmanship, and a humble demeanor. In other words, he was perhaps my favorite Angel. And now he's gone for a big name, a "rental" most likely, Mark Teixeira. I believe the trade was a mistake for several reasons:

1. Kotchman was just coming into his own.

2. Kotchman hardly ever struck out and led the Majors in least amount of strikeouts per at-bats.

3. Kotchman is a great fielder.

4. Kotchman fits with the Angels system.

5. Kotchman is a better long-term player considering age and contract price.

In the end, though, it's the intangible that makes Kotchman so compelling. To me, he was the spirit of the Angels team player. I'm sorry to see him go and a strong case has been made that trading him is a huge mistake in Future Angels Blog. 

Choosing Between the C.Crane CSW and the Sangean PR-D5

Good Morning Herculodge,
     Yesterday I went into NYC to J & R to handle and do a listen test of the CCrane (Redsun 2100), Sangean PR-D5 and Sony ICF-38. The Sangean was less able to pull in the AM broadcasters due to store interference. The CCrane seemed to be the best radio going.
     What is your take on the matter? I am living in North Jersey, home of many 50,000 watt AM transmitters. Does the radio in a home environment have the selectivity to get around these stations to do DXing? Additionally, I recognize the quality control issues with the CCrane and S-350DL compared with the Sangean. So, I would have to consider the latter matter when purchasing the radio of my choice.

Dear Reader,

Since the store cannot possibly replicate a good testing environment, you'll need to take both home and return one.

The FM on the CCrane is superior while the AM on the Sangean PR-D5 is slightly better. I love my PR-D5 but my friend who lives 2 miles away gets overload, perhaps because he lives close to an AM transmitter. Therefore, he needs the band filters for AM on his CCrane. Since you describe a similar environment, you may need the same and may find that the PR-D5 doesn't serve you well. 

It sounds as if the C.Crane CSW is the right choice for you.

Last point: It's hard to make absolute judgments on radios since they perform differently in different environments. Bottomline is I have both radios and I like them both but they are very different.

A Lesson in Manly Writing

Who said writing is not a manly endeavor? It is when it's done in a manly style and addresses manly issues. Take, for example, Brendan McAleer's very manly review of the 2009 Nissan Maxima in The Truth About Cars:

"With 19" rims, doors the size of stainless-steel refrigerators, and a new wider track and shorter length, the Maxima offers pure, broad-shouldered aggression. Overall, the new, downsized– yes, downsized– Maxima looks like some antediluvian antecedent to the G37 coupe just got dredged up from the Marianas trench. And then ate four people."

Coupling a steroid-infused vocabulary with an emphasis on huge muscles and a voracious appetite, McAleer provides us with a clinic on manly writing.  

Ortega 120 Was a Hit and Miss Affair Redeemed by Its Fresh Ingredients

I entered the Ortega 120 Mexican restaurant on 1814 S. Pacific Coast Highway came with high expectations thanks to a favorable review in the Los Angeles Times. While some dishes were bland or underseasoned, there were enough good dishes made with fresh high-quality ingredients to compel me to return.

To start my wife and I had chips and 2 kinds of salsa. The spicier salsa was amazing and I was optimistic about the rest of the meal. My wife's lemon margarita was made with fresh lemons, not the pre-made mix, so my optimism continued.

Then came the appetizers, Calamari a la Diabla and a bowl of guacamole. The calamari was a spicy flavor explosion and I kept saying to my wife, "This is to die for" several times before she said, "Okay, I get it."

But my wife correctly pointed out that the guacamole was bland, underseasoned, and in dire need of more garlic. 

Then came the main dishes. My Camarones al Mojo de Ajo, spicy shrimp with homemade tortillas, rice, and beans was overall good but with a few problems. One, the shrimp tasted like they were prepared with the same sauce used with the calamari and I don't want an entree that repeats the flavors of my appetizer. While the homemade tortillas were excellent, the rice and beans were sadly flavorless. 

My wife ordered the Tour de Tacos, an assortment of chicken, beef, pork, and shrimp tacos. Overall, they were good, but she pointed out the chicken tasted "funky." I took a bite and indeed it tasted like old flesh suggestive of cat food. No doubt the chicken taco was the worst thing we ate because the meat tasted so old.

The dessert, Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream, was excellent and I would order that again.

For the most part, the ingredients were fresh and well put together and while I will never order a chicken taco, or perhaps nothing made with chicken there, I will return. 

Why Has the Sangean PR-D7 Been Ignored?

A Herculodge reader asks: 

What ever happened to the Sangean PR-D7 by the way? There was a lot of talk about it around this site a few month back, and now that it seems to be out, nobody seems very interested anymore. Unless I missed that. Or maybe you have decided that the PR-D5 is the way to go anyway despite the small speakers?

Reader,

The Sangean PR-D7 has a considerably smaller internal AM antenna (4 inches vs. the PR-D5's 8 inches) than the PR-D5's and its single 2.5-inch monoaural speaker is less sound than the double 2.5 inch speakers on the PR-D5. Therefore, the PR-D7 does not represent in anyway a breakthrough in radio performance. Bear in the mind, the PR-D7 has been available in Europe for some time and is not even a "new" radio. In contrast, the PR-D5 has the biggest AM antenna of any radio and represents a passion for AM DXers. 

Tom W has also provided this update:

The Sangean PR-D7 is sold in Europe as the PR-D7, go tohttp://www.sangean.nl/English/?opt3=PR-D7%20white&opt5=342 to view. The Sangean PR-D4 is sold in North America as the Sonida radio distributed by CCrane. BTW, the PR-D7 gets good reviews overseas and has a 2.5 inch speaker, not a 3 inch speaker.

Dear Herculodge: Can You Save Me from Myself?

Dear Herculodge,

I have an embarrassing problem that points to something incredibly weak that defines who I am. I’m talking about self-pity. I have an indulgent, perhaps narcissistic personality that I’m afraid compels me to respond to all my problems and difficulties with an adolescent, overblown sense of self-pity. When I see myself as being less popular, courageous, and successful as I’d like to be, I become discouraged, frustrated, and overcome by a sense of self-loathing and pity. When I see myself being so damn needy, rather than do things that would make me less needy, I pity myself in such a thoroughly indulgent way that I became even more needy than before. 

Herculodge, I am mired in a vicious cycle and I don’t know what to do. Can you help me? 

 

Dear Reader, 

I suspect one way to deal with your problems is to consider your problems in terms of proportion and degree rather than as black and white absolutes. You say you’re narcissistic, needy, full of self-pity and overcome by a sense of failure. All I can say is join the club. Everyone has those feelings and I gather you’re intelligent and reasonable enough to see that you’re not alone in your plight. The point is that we are all afflicted with a sense of neediness and self-loathing and failure—to a certain degree, but most of us don’t allow these afflictions to overtake us so that we have lost our appetite for life, for our striving to achieve worthy goals and so on. 

I get the sense that you feel that your self-pitying needy condition is so absolute as to distinguish you from the rest of us. Also, I get the sense that you see your self-pity as an absolute condition when I would argue that it is more fluid, relative, and transitory that you would like to think. 

What I see in your inquiry is that you are a man not so much overcome by self-pity, per se, but by absolutes, by a compulsion to see things as black and white. This passion for clarity compels you to oversimplify who you are and a result you are myopic and downright blind as to who you are and as to what possibilities you may or may not have. As a result, you exaggerate your condition and believing in your exaggerated self-definition makes you act upon your deluded beliefs resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy, which in turn reinforces your delusions. 

What steps can I provide that might point toward an exit sign from your dilemma? One, you must not spend too much alone as you appear to be your own worst enemy. Two, you need to recognize that feelings of failure, self-pity, and neediness are part of the human condition and not a unique template that has been exclusively stamped into your DNA. Third, you need to transfer your sadness from the island of yourself toward the suffering that afflicts the whole human race. This kind of sadness is called weltsmertz, the German term for the “sadness of the world.” To be focused on your own sadness will result in narcissistic paralysis. To be focused on the sadness of the world links you to the human race and hopefully impels you to commit your life to addressing the world’s sadness, which I believe is the only “solution” to the human condition. 

New Tube Radio: Acoustic Research ART 1 Clock Radio

No price or date of availability, the Acoustic Research ART 1 Clock Radio features presets, nature sounds, tube technology, and iPod docking station.

I'm intrigued since radio lovers tell me tube radios offer a unique pleasing sound that can't be matched by the newer technologies.

So new becomes the old again. Sounds like a familiar story. 

Not encouraged by this new offering, Ed writes the following:

Ah, it's sad to see that the once-great Acoustics Research company has sunk so low. Any long time audiophile knows AR produced the first fully-assembled real hi-fidelity speakers starting in the late 50's. Called acoustic suspension designs, they are legendary. The AR-3a for example may be the most famous speaker in Audio. Add to this that the company was co-founded by Henry Kloss, who went on to start companies such as KLH, Advent, Cambridge Audio and Tivoli! The company has been sold and resold so many times that "AR" means almost nothing now.