Herculodge

First Look: Seiko SBDC067 Coral Blue Monster

 

 

3 of 4 of Our Sangean Radios Have Button Malfunctions

Our Sangean radios are good performers for FM reception and speaker sound. They are reasonably priced. For user-friendly radios to use throughout the house, the kind that my wife and daughters enjoy using, Sangean is the best bet. 

However, for me a general use Sangean is not my first choice. Because I am an FM reception fanatic, I prefer more of a high-performance radio, the kind that has an SW port, so I can connect a wire antenna to the radio, which usually results in improved FM reception. That's why I have a Grundig G4000A next to my bedside table. But for the rest of my family, it's a Sangean affair. 

However, I should point out a consistent flaw, one that my wife complained about this morning: Three of four of our Sangeans have button problems.

The master bathroom radio, the Sangean PR-D4W, is an excellent value at under $60. However, sometimes when you turn it off, it does not turn off at all. Instead, the radio switches to a nonexistent FM station, like 104.5 or 88.7, resulting in loud static. You have to press off button one or more times to actually have the radio off.

The same problem of the PR-D4 persists in my daughter's Sangean WR-2 radio. 

 

The problem is even worse in the case of the Sangean-made CCRadio-2E because not only do we have the same problem described above, the presets often don't respond until after 3-6 presses. 

 

The only Sangean radio that seems to be trouble-free is the WR-50. We bought it close to 2 years ago for $130. It appears the price is now up to $170. I love the WR-50 but wouldn't be able to use it as a bedside radio for two reasons: One, it has no port for wire antenna. Two, the headphone jack is in the back of the radio. That doesn't make sense. No one wants to stretch an earbud cord around a radio. Headphone jacks should always be in the front or side of a radio. 

13-Year-Old Grundig G4000A SW Radio Replaces Sangean WR-2

Inexplicably, the Sangean WR-2 wasn't getting 89.3 KPCC without static, distortion, and bleed-in from another station, over the last few weeks, even with the wire FM antenna attached to the back of it. Who knows why FM reception is subject to variation. It could be the weather.

In any event, I put the Sangean WR-2 in my daughter's room (she gets her pop station MyFM 104.3 very easily, with the pigtail antenna on the back) and put the 13-year-old Grundig G4000A by my bedside.

The Grundig had been stored in my moist cold garage on a shelf. I resurrected it from the dead, so to speak. I took it into the warm house, sprayed Deoxit on the volume wheel due to oxidation scratchy noises, checked to see that volume scratch was gone, which it was, and I knew I was in business.

Reception for KPCC 40 Miles Away

With the telescopic FM antenna alone, KPCC has a weak signal, evidenced by the Grundig's reception meter, but when I put the wire SW antenna to the side SW antenna port, the reception is strong and clear. 

Over the years, I've had many portables, including the Degen 1103, and some old Tecsun models from about 10 years ago. They all suffered from weak tin speakers. Not so with the Grundig G4000A. The speaker sound is very pleasing. 

Because I no longer listen to AM, I don't have to worry about the inferior AM sound on this radio. I only listen to 4 FM stations: KPCC, KCRW, KJAZZ, and KUSC. All come in loud and clear on the Grundig. 

Over the 13 years, the Grundig has taken a huge beating. When my twins were toddlers, they bent and nearly broke the telescopic antenna, they knocked the radio several times off the counter resulting in some cracks in the outer case, and in general have beaten it to near death. But all operations are working well and for now, until I invest in a Tecsun PL-880 or something like it, the Grundig G4000A is my bedside radio. 

 

Watch Collecting Goals for 2019: Appreciate What I Have

Reading Barry Schwartz's The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, I learned a lot about the pathology of watch addiction:

One. Too many watches leads to brain overload and less happiness.

Two. We must learn to appreciate what we have in order to stave off addiction.

Three. We must avoid comparing what we have with what others have, a true challenge in social media age when people curate their existence in a hyped way. 

Four. We can be happier when we choose what's "good enough" over "the best." 

Five. We should focus more on what we want more than worry what other people think we should want. 

In this context, I have some specific watch goals:

One. Keep my collection in the single digits. 

Two. Sell some watches that are too similar to other watches in my collection.

Three. Rebuy two watches I failed to appreciate when I had them: The Citizen Promaster Sky in gunmetal ( reference number BY0084-56E) and the Citizen Promaster Land (reference number CC3060-10E ). 

Four. Quit collecting? That would be nice but I don't know that will happen.

 

Carl Finds the $205 Sangean ATS-909X to be 95% as Sensitive as His $48 Tecsun PL-606

 

Carl Boches writes:

Just received a new Sangean ATS-909X black color from Amazon. I knew all about the so called deafness of the 909x. As of now my most sensitive small radio is my Tecsun PL606. I took the 606 and the 909X out on my balcony in Cebu, Philippines and tested sensitivity and selectivity. Both radios were side by side, but not so close as to have any interference from each radio. Only the whips were used, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the 909X picked up 95% of what my 606 did.

 

My conclusion is that there are more sensitive radios than the 909X but not by too much and that the ongoing quotes of the 909x being completely deaf is as far as I am concerned a lot hot air. Not to mention that the selectivity is outstanding.

 

 

Semicolons

The world was saved by Superman, Clark Kent; Batman, Bruce Wayne; Wonder Woman Diane Prince; Aquaman, Larry Payton; Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner; Super Woman, Wendy Carlson, and Spiderman, Peter Parker. 

My second favorite pizza is clam; my first favorite pizza is pesto shrimp. 

According to P.W. Singer & Emerson T. Brooking’s LikeWar, Social Media’s Primary Role Has Become a Weaponized Battlefield of Misinformation

According to P.W. Singer & Emerson T. Brooking’s LikeWar, Social Media’s Primary Role Has Become a Weaponized Battlefield of Misinformation

Back in 2010 to 2012, I had the privilege of hiking with a half dozen United States Marines on the Palos Verdes trail every Sunday morning for a two-hour hike. Some of these Marines were my students, and they invited me to have a two-hour hike for strength, conditioning, and therapeutic conversation.

The Marines were my students, and they liked me because I was their critical thinking professor. I was making critical thinking part of a better democracy, and by making a stronger democracy I was making a stronger America. That was the narrative of 2010. And I needed to believe in this narrative because I had just had twin girls. My daughters were born in an ever strengthening democracy. Thank you, very much.

The hike was grueling and exhausting, but nothing to the Marines, many who walked 14 hours a day through rugged terrain in Afghanistan and Iraq with with an 80-pound backpack.

Driving home to Torrance all sweaty and exhausted in my car, I’d listen to the “Tech Guy” Leo Laporte on KFI 640 radio praise the ascent of social media, like Twitter, as he saw social media as a force for positive social change in the context of Arab Spring.

Overthrowing dictators in favor of democratic rule such as Arab Spring was evidence that social media would bring peace, freedom, and democracy to the world.

I was listening to Leo Laporte sing Kumbaya over the airwaves, and I was hopeful that he was right: Democracy will blossom all over the world. I was thinking, “Oh, happy day! I’m a critical thinking teacher helping propel democracy in my own small way. I’m on the Winning Team.”

So here we are, eight years later: How are things going?

Now over half the world is on social media, all my students have smartphones, and is the world a better place?

Is democracy spreading throughout the planet?

Are Americans of different tribes coming to together for shared understanding?

Are politicians of different persuasions working together for a common goal to make America stronger?

Just the opposite is true. We’re in chaos, we’re divided, and we can’t even agree on what facts are anymore as political pundits speak of “alternative facts” and “alternative realities.”

Instead of peace and understanding, we live in the Age of Gaslighting, bullying people with a twisted version of reality to beat them down and tire them out so they’re too exhausted to question lies and distortions.

What happened?

I didn’t have a clear answer until recently I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking.

The main premise of the book is that even though social media has many functions--showing cat videos, posting photos of your kids so grandma can see them, posting selfies of your six-pack torso shot at the gym on Instagram, promoting your brand--the dominant role of social media has become clear: Totalitarian and extremist trolls taken over social media and turned it into a battlefield of weaponized misinformation and authoritarian propaganda.

Totalitarians and extremists throughout the world are using social media to wage war against democracy, and right now they’re winning: That is the very persuasive thesis of LikeWar.

Here are my Four Takeaways from the book:

One. The Internet has gone through its evolutionary process and is now in its adult stage. It’s stopped evolving. We know what it is now. So what is social media. It’s a vector for false information. Why? Because information on social media is algorithmically tailored to conform to your cognitive biases so that you become isolated in your false information bubble.

Two. Social media is foremost a battlefield with no borders, and instant misinformation attack can happen without notice; faster than bombs, misinformation can affect political opinion.

Emotionally manipulating masses of people by disseminating misinformation in a viral saturation bomb is the new warfare.  

Three. We have to see information as a weapon when three things happen.

One, the information sticks because it pulls emotional heartstrings by giving people a story they want to believe in.

Two, the information gains mass appeal and becomes the dominant narrative to explain an event or a policy.

Three, the information has the power to affect the behavior and beliefs of mass populations.

The American military is deeply concerned about these totalitarian trolls. For example, the United States Army has a Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk where they engage in Social Media Environment and Internet Replication, known as SMEIR; it simulates social media scenarios where misinformation is weaponized and unbridled chaos ensues. You can cause more chaos with less retaliation and less expense through social media weaponization than you can through traditional warfare.

Four. Finally, there is no escaping this battlefield. We can’t turn back the clock, we can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube; we can’t put the Genie back in the bottle.

Don’t count on the Tech Bros who are making billions of dollars off their social media platforms to protect us. They’ve proven inept in controlling the misinformation flow. In fact, their platforms are allies in this misinformation.

Meanwhile, they’re allowing authoritarian governments to take over social media for the purpose of dismantling democratic governments.

We have to know how this war works; otherwise, the trolls, terrorists, and foreign enemies will take us over. Look how divided our country is. The trolls are already winning.

Think about that next time you distract yourself with a cat video.

Dominant Effect of Social Media Is Totalitarians Waging War Against Democracies: Reading P.W. Singer & Emerson T. Brooking's LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Social Media Blossomed with Optimism

Social media starting taking off around 2009. It started getting positive buzz around 2010 and 2011 during Arab Spring. The world rejoiced as Twitter was seen as a way of bringing people together. Social media would bring people together. I remember hearing Leo Laporte singing praises to social media and Twitter on 640 KFI around 2011.

Today over half the world is on social media. Whether we like it or not, social media dominates our existence.

Today social media has many purposes and functions: sharing cat videos, doing unboxings, talking about watches, sharing photos of the kids with grandma, showing off your pecs after a sweaty workout at the gym, people promoting your brand.

Of course, these are social media functions, but don’t be fooled. For all the fun we sometimes have on social media, these functions are not what the Main Function of social media has become.

The optimism that many of us had 7 years ago about social media is gone. And it should be gone because now we’re grappling with a brutal reality.

Social media has been taken over by bad people, evil people, totalitarian-leaning people who have made weaponized misinformation the dominant mode of communication on the Internet in the service of dismantling democracy and democratic ideals. Authoritarian governments have learned to troll democratic societies in the interest of dismantling democracy, and it’s working.

This is the number one story about social media today.

Misinformation has become weaponized because the most clever and savvy social media users have learned they can wage war on their enemies with more immediacy and potency with weaponized misinformation and manipulation and bombs.

This is the the persuasive thesis of P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking in their book LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of the book, which comes out in about a month.

The foundations of this book are five core principles:

One, the Internet has gone through its evolutionary process and is now in its adult stage to be the “preeminent medium of global communication; half the world is now on social media, so social media is a ripe battlefield for information and propaganda wars. Bad people know this is the place to wage war. Most of these bad people are totalitarians trying to destroy democratic societies.

Two,  social media is foremost a battlefield with no borders and instant attack can happen without notice; faster than bombs, misinformation can affect political opinion, affecting elections and major foreign policy decisions.

Social media is not a place of peace and understanding as we wanted to believe during Arab Spring of 2010. The worst of human instincts and motivations have taken over social media to make weaponization the dominant mode of communication.

Three, We have to think differently about information. Now social media is the dominant mode of information, and by social media’s very nature of algorithmically shaped information to match people’s cognitive biases, most information people receive is manufactured, curated, and patently false.

This misinformation has changed how wars are fought; why use bombs and other weaponry when it’s cheaper and more effective to use weaponized misinformation? A manufactured event or fake news can be more destructive than a torrent of bombs.

Don’t believe me? The United States Army has a Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk where they engage in Social Media Environment and Internet Replication, known as SMEIR; it simulates social media scenarios where misinformation is weaponized and unbridled chaos ensues. You can cause more chaos with less retaliation and less expense through social media weaponization than you can through traditional warfare.

As a result, we must look at information differently. Information is no longer people sitting around reading books.

Information is short bursts of digital dissemination, often in the form of weaponized misinformation that sticks. Why does it stick? Because weaponized information is not based on truth; it’s based on simplicity and immediate emotional appeal.

Truth is now irrelevant: "Pull people’s emotional heartstrings," and "control the narrative," and you win the war.

Four, Social media battles have changed what war means: Elections and battles on the actual field can be won or lost because by controlling the opinions and beliefs of the masses. War and politics have never been so entwined with each other, so say the authors of LikeWar.

Five. Finally, there is no escaping this battlefield. We can’t turn back the clock, we can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube; we can’t put the Genie back in the bottle.

Don’t count on the Tech Bros who are making billions of dollars off their social media platforms to protect us. They’ve proven inept and indifferent except for protecting their image. Meanwhile, they’re allowing authoritarian governments to take over social media for the purpose of dismantling democratic governments.

We have to know how this war works; otherwise, the trolls, terrorists, and foreign enemies will take us over. Look how divided our country is. They’re already winning.

Because I Prefer a Smaller Collection As I Grow in My Watch Hobby, Should I Sell Black Seiko SBDC051 and Keep the Blue SBDC053?

During the last 13 years of my watch hobby (obsession), I've noticed two major changes in my tastes and habits:

Smaller Collections Preferred

One, I cannot tolerate large collections, as they are a source of anxiety, they tend to make my life too busy, they tend to compete too much with one another, they tend to "cancel each other out," or some similar effect, and I find myself worrying too much about giving any watch ample wrist time. I find having a small collection, about 5 or 6 watches, to be in my comfort zone. 

Smaller Sized Watches Preferred

In the beginning, I wanted only a Muscle Watch, oversized timepieces, so that I was operating on the principle The Bigger the Better. Without shame, I could rock a 52mm watch. I even wore a 60mm Invicta Sea Hunter at one point, but that one tugged at my sense of decorum and screamed "clown watch!" 

In the last 9 months, I've lost close to 50 pounds. My trim self looks better in watches in the 42-44mm range, a size that I would have considered puny several years ago. 

Currently, I have 6 watches in my collection. In the above photo pose, I'm wearing a Seiko SBDC051, which I like quite a bit, but I'm thinking of selling it. Why? Because I have the blue version SBDC053 (below) and I find the two watches compete with one another and by selling the 051, but the above photo, taken with me and my family at a nice restaurant, Ortega 120, has a certain sentimental value. Will I sell it? I'm on the fence. 

Glycine Airman Purist 42mm Refund Request Submitted Due to Misaligned Hour Hand

I was feeling the love for my Glycine Airman Purist 42mm, received yesterday from Jomashop at a great price, but I had to submit a refund form after discovering that the hour hand is significantly misaligned. It's too bad since I was liking the wrist presence of this Glycine. But I need to be able to tell time.