Zenith 5-S-29 radio case mod explained in excellent, water-cooled detail — Engadget

Living in a time warp – CNN.com

I’d probably pick the 1940s, specifically the war years. Love the movies, love the clothes, love the music. It was also a time when the country was unified behind a common purpose. Not like we’re going to see that again any time soon.

‘Days of Our Lives’ star Frances Reid dies – CNN.com

Days of Our Lives was one of my grandmother’s favorite soap operas. I can still see that hourglass on the fuzzy black and white screen of the console TV that sat in the corner of her small living room. When her “program” was on, I was expected to play quietly and in her line of sight so she didn’t have to get up and miss a scene figuring out what I was up to.

Building Personal Strength: HOPE – My Karma Bowl

Now here’s an interesting spiritual idea from motivational blogger Denny Coates. I have a lot of little odds and ends that I think are imbued with karma, but I’ve never thought about grouping them together where they could create their own little energy field. That’s something I need to think about, although I suspect I might be more inclined to create a karma box. I am big on boxes, a real weakness of mine, in fact. They all seem like little treasure chests in the making.

This just popped up in my Twitter stream and it’s something I really want to remember because it so speaks to my current position in life:

“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson

Right now I’m being blessed with a great deal of work and I can feel it turning a tide, not just an external tide, but an internal ebb and flow as well. Call it luck or call it attitude, but Mr. Jefferson was correct, work breeds change for the good.

This is a transcript of a portion of Tyler Perry’s stage play version of “Medea Goes to Jail.” The video was sent to me last week and I hunted down the text. I think I should read it every day over my morning coffee:

Some people are meant to come into your life for a lifetime, some for only a season and you got to know which is which. And you’re always messing up when you mix those seasonal people up with lifetime expectations.

I put everybody that comes into my life in the category of a tree. Some people are like leaves on a tree. When the wind blows, they’re over there… wind blow that way they over here… they’re unstable. When the seasons change they wither and die, they’re gone. That’s alright. Most people are like that, they’re not there to do anything but take from the tree and give shade every now and then. That’s all they can do. But don’t get mad at people like that, that’s who they are. That’s all they were put on this earth to be. A leaf.

Some people are like a branch on that tree. You have to be careful with those branches too, cause they’ll fool you. They’ll make you think they’re a good friend and they’re real strong but the minute you step out there on them, they’ll break and leave you high and dry.

But if you find 2 or 3 people in your life that’s like the roots at the bottom of that tree you are blessed. Those are the kind of people that aren’t going nowhere. They aren’t worried about being seen, nobody has to know that they know you, they don’t have to know what they’re doing for you, but if those roots weren’t there, that tree couldn’t live.

A tree could have a hundred million branches but it only takes a few roots down at the bottom to make sure that tree gets everything it needs. When you get some roots, hold on to them. But the rest of it… just let it go. Let folks go.”

Buildings reclaimed by nature. – By Camilo Jose Vergara – Slate Magazine

This is a kind of photography I really enjoy — ruined and abandoned places. I’ve been known to tramp around over-grown cemeteries, clamber over rusted machinery to get a better angle, and poke around buildings like these with no eye toward potential peril.

Go through the slideshow. It’s really worth it, especially the shots that compare the state of given buildings over a period of years.

Toshiba updates Qosimo and Dynabook laptops with Core i3, Core i5 CPUs — Engadget

Don’t need it. Can’t afford it. Probably wouldn’t actually buy it. But dang, I love that black and red case.

When Trying to Preserve the Planet Strains the Relationship – NYTimes.com

Here’s a thought-provoking article from the New York Times on couples experiencing marital discord because they have divergent green ethics.

We’ve had more than a little of this kind of tension around here. The only way I’ve gotten my elderly housemate onboard with my efforts to save electricity is by showing here, in dollars and cents, how much money I’ve saved trimming our usage by 20%.

I have an advantage, however. She can complain, but there’s really not that much she can do about it. I don’t even want to think about how complicated this sort of business becomes in a marriage.