Mission Statement: Herculodge: The Essential Guide to Saving Your Manhood in an Era of Shriveling Masculinity.
I can be e-mailed at herculodge@frontier.com
I largely agree here with StarHalo. I will say however that my watches, such as my Invicta Venoms and Luminary, get a lot of comments. For me, I love the watches and like the way I look, using an oversized watch as a contrast to my drab "uniform": Dark wash jeans, pullover T-shirt, black tennis. But if you're wearing bling to please others, think again. As StarHalo writes:
99% of people won't notice if you're wearing a watch at all. Of the remaining 1%, 99% of those people have no idea about watches and will only make a mental note if it "looks expensive."
It's the same thing I tell newly adolescent relatives who have discovered public self-consciousness; "You worry a lot less about how people see you when you realize how few people see you at all."
Yeah, my Maxima is a nice car but every 6 months I have to change the keyless key batter, a CR2025 3V. It's a bit of a pain. You have to crack open the plastic case and you wonder if the $350 key is going to break. The above video says to change battery once a year but in my experience, and those on message boards, twice a year seems more like it.
Some websites are devoted to knocking this or that brand because it's not serious enough and proves trivial when standing next to the "real" watches. But some of these people take themselves too seriously. It's okay to have fun with your watches. Not everything has to be so serious. As Jonny writes in his blog Disciple of Chronos:
My new insight is a furthering of that: Invicta is not only about being fun, its about being a kid, or child-like in the non-pejorative sense of the word (that is, playful not childish).
One of my flaws as a parent is impatience, so I can say I am more than relieved to put diapers and cribs behind me. I wish I could have bypassed that altogether, but so be it. I went through it. Carrie went through it. Natalie and Julia went through it. This is a new era.
This is my latest radio find on E-Bay. It's the Sony MR-9300WA and I guess they called it a "Matrix Sound System" model back in the early 1970s.
The seller claimed that it turned on and they could tune stations, but the speaker was "cutting out." I made a "best offer" for around $30.00, shipping included, and they agreed to that bid.
I received the radio yesterday----and am thrilled with it. First of all, I haven't had had any issues with speakers cutting out. I'm wondering if their observation was caused by the "Stereo" position? The band selector has AM, FM and FM Stereo. When you switch to FM Stereo, the "Matrix Sound" kicks in. What I've found is that for some reason----certain FM stations do in fact sound like they are "cutting out." This is most pronounced on talk stations. Might it have something to do with the fact that the voice alone is not broadcasting in true stereo? I don't know. But if you tune to the nearest station playing music, the speakers reignite. Back to a talk channel and volume decreases again (I could see how someone would think the speakers were cutting out.). If you switch to FM (without stereo) the voice is loud and clear. If you switch back to "Stereo" it lowers. With music stations, it's sort of the opposite, though not as dramatic. "FM"sounds fine. But when you switch to "FM Stereo" the sound suddenly separates and becomes louder. I believe this is working as designed----speakers haven't cut out at all. No static on the volume pod either.
I haven't run it through a night of AM DXing----so I can't say how well it picks up distant stations. My guess is that Sony designed this for superior sound, not superior reception. Then again, back in this era, Sony was known as "Sony, No Baloney" and they tended to do things very well in all aspects. Maybe the AM station stalking will be a pleasant surprise.
I'm listening to a classical station now----the radio is in a bedroom across the hall from my office and the sound is excellent----loud, with no distortion. When you hold the radio in front of you, the separation of instruments is pronounced. Listening to rock oldies last night, I noticed how the voice came out of one speaker and instruments were separated between the two sides of the radio. My understanding is that the "Matrix" system uses a total of three speakers, but I'm not a technical guy, so I'm not sure what they do beyond that to achieve the stereo sound from a small radio with speakers that aren't detachable or separated by much space. The shape of the cabinet is unusual and things are angled a bit and deeper than a standard portable----that might be part of the sound engineering.
My overall take on this is that this was Sony doing Bose before Bose was doing Bose. I had a Bose Wave radio that we sold on E-Bay. This Sony basically accomplishes the same thing----a louder than expected stereo sound from a small footprint with integrated speakers. I never heard the radios side-by-side, so I can't say with any certainty how this old radio would compare to a much newer, much more expensive Bose. But truth be told, listening to this radio reminds me very much of that Bose. You turn it on and are surprised by the stereo separation and sound you're hearing from a relatively small radio.
I bought this Sony on a whim. I love Sony and especially Panasonic radios from the '70s. I threw a number out to the seller and was a little surprised that they accepted the offer instead of holding out for more (closer to the $50.00 they wanted). The free shipping made it a no-brainer. I figured if there really was a problem with the electronics that didn't have a simple fix, I'd have a nice straight antenna and the Sony 4 prong power cord to use with other old Sonys----and that would be that. Instead, the radio fired up and has been playing beautifully. I've seen similar ones on E-Bay for around $100.00, so I think I did well with this find. I will say----once again, a nice old radio was literally coated with tar and nicotine! I don't know if it was on a shelf behind a public bar in a tavern----or in a house full of chain smokers----but frankly, the color of the radio changed when I cleaned it. I normally don't use harsh cleaners/chemicals on a radio cabinet, but when I noticed how much soot was coming off but how sticky everything was getting, I switched to "Purple Cleaner" to strip the mess. It worked----charcoal color and a strong smokey smell covered the cloths I was using to clean this thing----and with a lot of work, eventually it ran clear! The color went from a sort of "Platinum Tan" to more of a silver finish. My eyes were watering from the chemical reactions. Wow.
About a week ago, I quit eating sugar and artificial sweetner (except for what I get from fruit). So far I've lost 5 pounds. But the most dramatic change is my psychology. I feel like I've gone from a crippled Superman chained to Lex Luther's torture chair to the unshackled Superman.
Of course, my manic state is partly due to some afternoon coffee (sweetened with Stevia).
The protein bars were a processed, sugary disaster.
The peanut butter sandwiches were a calorie nightmare.
Turkey cold cuts had slime, chemicals, and sodium. Plus I had to keep them iced.
Soy "meat" was high in salt and too processed, not to mention its tendency to soak men's systems with estrogen.
So I finally found something I can make Sunday night and have enough for my work week. I make a huge salad of quinoa and lentils, about 6 cups or so, then drench with a Trader Joe's 12-ounce jar of bruschetta, add Italian or cilantro dressing and top with sliced almonds.
I dish out about 1.5 cups into a Pyrex bowl, bring a spoon, an apple and a tangerine, and I'm ready to go to work without starving.
Taking care of my Mach 3 razors, patting the razor dry and submerging it in a cup of baby oil, helped on my first try as I got a month of shaves (shaving every other day) on my first try.
But my second razor started dragging and feeling dull on the second shave. After 4 shaves, I gave up and threw it away.
The Mrs. and I went for a drive yesterday, we ended up in an antique dealer about 25 miles south of here. I spied a radio I'd seen the last time I was there (2 years ago) same spot on shelf, same sticker, more dust. Sticker said it worked, no apparent damage, good cosmetics. What the heck - I decided to make an offer. We haggled and the thing followed me home. A Nordmende Globetraveler III, a multi-band portable built in 1969 - my first Vintage German made Transistor radio.
Specs:
Size: Rectangular 12.25" x 4.24" x 8.25"
Weight: 11.25 lbs with batteries (5- D cell)
Bands: LW, AM, Marine Band (1.7-3.5 MHz), FM, and 11 SW band (broadcast 13-80 meters)
5" speaker w/ separate tweeter.
Extras: 50" telescoping antenna that rotates\swivels, FM AFC switch, Wide\Narrow bandwidth switch, separate Bass & Treble knobs, tuning meter. The Bass knob also serves as a dial light - turn for Bass adjust and push for dial lights. The Treble knob similar - push for battery test.
First thing I did after getting home was find the batteries, Windex, rubbing alcohol, Armor-all, q-tips and paper towels. Installed the batteries and gave it a quick test drive. Powers on, no scratchy pots (bonus) dial lights work and this thing receives on all bands - woohoo.
The radio cabinet is black leatherette covered wood - bottom is plastic and top is where the faceplate\dial are - it's plexiglass with a real metal chrome surround. Band selector buttons are metal chrome and knobs are chrome colored plastic. There is also a real metal chrome & plastic handle to carry and pivot so as to prop up faceplate for access while radio on it's side. Speaker grill on one side is aluminum (pictured) and opposite side has a smaller grill made of chrome.
Spend a few hours cleaning & polishing - shined up nice!
I noticed only two problems:
A: LW, AM, and Marine Band share same tuning knob - and MAN is that tuning stiff - hard to turn it - probably dried up great somewhere.
B: The SW band selector switch is rotary - 11 band positions in all. I noticed that a few of the Bands - at first were dead - until I wiggled the band switch knob - sounds like some poor contacts.
Tonight I decided to address these issues - took the thing apart - removal of three screws on the bottom which allow for removal of the top faceplate and then the wood body slides up and off - leaving the metal chassis - a densely compact mass of late 1960's electronics and wires.
Deoxit was the cure for both problems.
The LW, AM, Marine band tuning knob shaft travels through two long brass collars. I sprayed a bit of deoxit at the top of each and then let capillary action and knob twisting work it's magic. Thirty seconds later there was virtually no resistance to turn the knob - deoxit loosened up the grease in there. Used a q-tip to remove excess deoxit.
The SW band selector knob shaft turns ~ six thin round wafer disks, each separated by a inch or so. Each wafer disk has flat metal plates around it's perimeter - these line up with a variety of connectors when rotated - different connectors to make each band come alive. This whole thing was approx 6 inches long - sort of making a cylindrical assembly. This assembly was behind\surrounded by several tiny wire coils all hooking into the jumble of connections the wafer disks are connected to. The wire is like 40-gauge. Tiny-small and thin... My spidy-senses were tingling looking at that assembly. I carefully guided the deoxit plastic tube tip through the wire mess at each disk and deposited a SMALL amount of deoxit - followed by multiple turns of the selector knob. This was to clean the various contacts. Where possible I used a q-tip to suck up any extra deoxit. Also being careful to NOT to get deoxit into any of the coils.
A bit more cleaning, vacuuming up of foam dust and then reassembly.
Now the radio LW, AM, Marine Band knob is easy to turn and all the SW bands make proper electrical contact w/o wiggling the knob.
So - how does this thing work? Overall I'm very pleased - sound is fantastic - perhaps better than my other radios. That large speaker and wood cabinet makes a difference.
NPR classical on FM sounds great
AM sensitivity is good - Albeit, this is not a Panny RF2200. All the northeast US and Canada 50kw stations were there. Selectivity good too - I could clearly hear 50KW 1170 WRVA - some 300 miles away even though 1180 WHAM is a local 50KW station ~15 miles away.
All the usual international broadcasters were there on SW - Cuba, Spain, China on 49 & 31 meters, New Zealand, and Radio Australia were loud and clear on 19 meters. Seems wherever I was there were plenty of US religious stations too. With no BFO or SSB utilities will not be your thing.
While not much on LW these days I did hear the local NAV beacons.
Both AM and SW were greatly improved with a long wire clipped to the telescoping antenna.
I did notice a antenna\ground connection on the side of the unit - I'll have to look into trying those
Regards,
Gregory Mosher
Pictures:
Radio front side and top, then pic of radio on it's side using the handle to,prop it up, then a shot of the front with speaker grill. Telescoping antenna is upper left on faceplate.
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