Herculodge

Are the Del Amo Mall's Fountains a Cauldron of Deadly Avian Flu?

My daughter Natalie ran to the Del Amo Mall’s fountains, leaned on the marble partition and dipped her hands into the water when a stout security guard, a woman, kindly approached me and whispered into my ear: “Don’t let her touch the water. Birds bathe in it and produce deadly bacteria.”

I get it. If Natalie paddles the water one more second she’ll catch avian bird flu and die in my arms while pedestrians eat their Wetzel pretzels. The stout guard’s shift ended and she was replaced by another guard, a man. He did not enforce the no-touch-water policy evidenced by dozens of kids splashing the fountain water. I guess he didn’t get the memo.

Le'ts get real: There was no memo. The first security guard got bored and what does she do when she gets bored, standing around looking at mall rats? She devises crazy stories to scare the crap out of people. On her next shift she'll warn people about radiation levels in the water. Arsenic. Piranhas. Half-decayed corpses underneath the tossed pennies. 

 

 

Gadget Lab Takes a Look at the Retro Sony SRF-18

 

 

Thanks A. Black:

Seems its been available in Japan and a review from just prior to its release last year is here: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/sony-speaker-jambox-clone/

New Sony Radio Coming Up: The SRF 18

 

Mitch and Paul have apprised us of this new offering, the Sony SRF 18. More info at the Sony Store. 

 

Empathy Levels Are Drastically Different in My Twin Daughters

 

Recently I was giving my 27-month-old daughter Natalie a diaper change when without any warning she jabbed me in the eye. The girl is so strong and so aggressive that when she jabbed me, my eyeball moved forcibly into my brain. I could actually feel my eyeball, this orb of semi-soft jelly, hitting brain tissue. I screamed and immediately felt a penetrating headache. Tears gushed out of both eyes. When I looked down at Natalie, she was cackling spittle in my face.  Her gray-blue eyes were flickering with diabolical joy.

“She doesn’t know better,” is the refrain I keep hearing from her mother. But Natalie’s twin sister, Julia, knows better. She exhibits more compassion and empathy and is disinclined to commit physical acts of aggression against her sister, her mother, and me. Natalie on the other hand wallows in the joys of physical assault, biting us, pinching us, jabbing us, kicking us. She responds to our reprimands with laughter.

I’ll give you an example of their different empathy levels. When I’m exhausted, collapse onto the living room rug, and roll up into the fetal position, Julia will walk toward me, throw a blanket over me, and say, “Sleepy.” Natalie on the other hand will pinch and poke my face so that I’ll get up and play with her. Natalie is a charismatic and adorable girl. More often than not, I do as she commands. 

But it's important that Natalie's magnetic personality doesn't obscure our concern over her lack of empathy. Our strategy is to give Natalie the ubiquitous time-out when she commits aggressive acts, but sometimes her mother and I laugh at Natalie’s goofy, comical aggression, such as her tendency to smile at us while pressing her face against ours, often with painful force, and our laughter doesn’t set the tone of a real punishment. Therefore, it’s difficult to be consistent and consistency would help get the message into Natalie’s head that she shouldn’t blind her father.

I notice Natalie is about two months behind Julia in language acquisition. I’m hoping she is only two months behind in empathy acquisition as well.

Thus far I have taught my college class with bite marks, scratches, and a swollen eye during which time I had a splitting headache. I am not an MMA fighter. I’m a college teacher and a father.

The best strategy, according to my wife Carrie, is for me to be stoical or as Carrie puts it: "Don't be so drama." Natalie feeds off drama. If I scream after being poked, the screaming eggs her on. 

Stoicism is the key. My safety depends on it. 

 

 

 

Amazon Selling the Tecsun 398 Blue Tooth DSP Radio for $79.99 and Free Shipping

 

 

 

The Tecsun 398BT seems like a lot of radio for the money, including Blue Tooth compability between its speakers and cell phones, tablets, etc. 

New Sony Portable ICF-18 Radio with Long-Lasting Batteries on Amazon for $21.95 and Free Shipping

Blake has apprised of this Sony ICF-18 big speaker radio that runs on two R20 batteries.

Blake writes:

Looks like they are a certain type of rechargeable D size batteries:

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/r20-battery.html

 http://factory.dhgate.com/primary-dry-batteries/r20-battery-p44655359.html

 

Looks like the radio may be bigger than it looks.

 https://www.google.com/search?q=sony+icf-18&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1304&bih=690&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hAXAT5TKCsi-2gXur5CYDQ&ved=0CJEBELAE

 https://www.google.com/search?q=sony+icf-18&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1304&bih=690&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hAXAT5TKCsi-2gXur5CYDQ&ved=0CJEBELAE

 Hmm?:

 

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_icf_18icf1.html

 

Vintage Field Radio Titans from Gerald's Collection

re-post

 

1969 to around 1978. no doubt the pinnacle years of Japanese made portable radios. While Sony and Panasonic certainly lead the way, Toshiba, Sanyo and others were pushed by the excellence of the big two. This resulted in well built , compact super radios as all these manufacturere reached the pinnacle of this technology. Use of the finest materials and cutting edge diodal, transistor and integrated circuitry technology was the order of the day across all brands from japan. The caveat, one of these babys cost you the equivalent of one weeks pay in 1972! But what you got  lasted your lifertime!

 The examples shown here are in new condition and are noted for their quality, durability asnd excellence in true field conditions.  lets introduce them,, the IC77 from Toshiba 1974, the RF 858 wordlboy from panasonic, 1970ish, the rp-7220 trailmaster from sanyo, 1973 and the Toshiba RM201FA. 1969.  as you can see all radios came with protection cases, notably, the rf858 and the sanyo rp 7220 came with hard cases! Of course, all radios came equipped with dial lights, tuning meters and shortwave capabilty.

I can only say that all perform nearly on an eqaul basis to each other. when i compare them to the new chinese fare,, well,, no contest. ALl pereform acutely on all bands with crisp, concsise analog tuning. These radios pop with life while spearing the unseen radio waves from the ether. 

 These radio compact size made them the perfect field radios. Ive included the rf 2200 for scale, as you can see, the 2200 would be a little cumbersome on the trail. These are oocaisionally offered on ebay, if you see one thats well preserved, get it.

Just remeber, Sony and Panasonic pushed Sanyo Toshiba and others to excellence in this period, dont overlook them!

 

New Tecsun? The RD1220

 

 

Ante has apprised of a Tecsun neither of us have seen before, the Tecsun RD 1220.

Blake Promotes the Sangean CL-100 to Clock Radio

 

Blake writes a mini review on one of the best small radios for the money, the Sangean CL-100:

I convinced my wife that we needed a weather radio. I then convinced her that the Sangean CL-100 was the best. Excuses for a new radio are about impossible to come by with how many radios I have. But we must heed the advice of the TV weather man and get a weather radio, right?

As it turns out I absolutely love the Sangean CL-100. Started in the master bathroom. It has now been promoted to my clock radio. I do not want to see any light or clock next to my bed unless I turn it on. The CL-100 lets you blank out the lcd and all I need to do is hit the snooze bar should I want to see the station or time and I can set the number of seconds it is displayed before it shuts off. I can see the screen well from my pillow and if someone could not they would just need an acrylic radio stand.

AM sensitivity is a little better than average but AM sound and clarity is very good. FM is excellent. The speaker has very good tone on voice and will play loud enough to fill a large room with ease.

The Aux-in is great for listening to podcast. I was shocked that it replaced my Grundig G5 as the bedside radio. But I do like waking up to a "Humane Wake-up System" beeper vs. the radio. I have also learned to effectively use the CL-100 in the dark. This type of build quality in today's market is very rare. 

You Buy a High-End Automatic Watch for Intangibles, Not for Practical Timekeeping

 

 

Addressing some comments about the practical timekeeping of a Citizen Eco Drive to more expensive automatic movements, Tom Costin writes:

The eco drive is better at the functions of a time piece than most automatics. It keeps better time and is nearly indestructible, but has no soul. It is the Nissan GT-R of watch movements.

If you can afford a ferrari, you're probably not going to buy a GT-R because of the intangibles that come with a ferrari. They are the dynamic qualities that outweigh the static qualities that make the GT-R faster, more reliable, cheaper. The dynamic qualities don't make the ferrari better per se, just more desirable.