The end of Radio Shack ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 09:51:55 am
content: http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/31/news/companies/radioshack-future/index.html?hpt=hp_t4I guess its not a surprise but from a nostalgic point of view it's kind of sad.I can remember when I was a kid in the late 70's early 80's having my mom take me Radio Shack. That's were my interest and hobby all started.Remember no internet no other electronics parts stores around either. That was the place.Remember drooling over the catalog??

author: HP-ILnerd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 10:23:37 am
content: Oh no! I consider them my local equivalent to the SEG Market in Shenzhen. Just much,much,much lamer. Where will I get my old, off-brand batteries?How I'll miss the clueless help that's always on the phone helping someone else, the ridiculous prices...now I'll have to drive for 15 minutes to get to a proper electronics supply store.On the other hand, my first Multimeter was one of thesehttp://www.batteryclubusa.com/main/images/radio%20shack%20multi%20meter.jpgand despite being really old works just fine.They were an OK once upon a time, but their advantage was more that they were everywhere than particularly good.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 10:57:45 am
content: They have their values - when you need something right there.It is said to see them go. But times change and we have to evolve to survive. Radioshack failed to.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 10:57:58 am
content: For nostalgia sake, all these things I once owned or still have:

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 11:02:00 am
content: There is a site with scanned copies of RS catalogs going back to the tube days. I like to read them from time to time.Well, here it is:http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

author: bluejonah
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 11:24:13 am
content: Man, I remember going to Rat Shack when I was a kid. Such fun! But, in all honesty, I have no idea how they managed to stay open this long. I thought they were done-for 10 years ago. I certainly haven't purchased anything from there since the 90's.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 11:37:17 am
content: We had those shops in the Netherlands as well under the name 'Tandy' but they closed in the early 90's. Mostly overpriced crap. Where I used to live there where two other electronics stores as well with a much better assortment.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 12:31:00 pm
content: I still have 2 pairs of Minimus 7 speakers that still work. I also have a 20 year old digital alarm clock, red 3.5" digits. The protective plastic layer is gone and there is something rattling around inside, but the alarm is loud, the battery backup functions and love being able to set it to military time. I will use it until it fails and then I will see if I can fix it.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 01:11:25 pm
content: I have a radio shack multimeter (analog) - love it. Some scanners from them, various parts, and remote controlled toys. I like them even though I don't visit them that much.

author: RyanAMT
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 01:18:56 pm
content: This is sad but not unexpected. I loved going in there when I needed a component and the clerk knew what I was looking for, where to find it, and if it was unavailable a possible work around but that hasn't been the case for like 20 years now. This reminds me of Circuit City and other big box stores that are or have failed. They used to staff people who knew what they were talking about and were at least somewhat passionate about the stuff they sold. Those people became "too expensive" so they ditched them and for less money hired people who only knew what the shelf tag and one-sheets said about the products.The only reason I go there now are for things like audio connectors that I need that day, pay a premium for convenience.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 01:50:40 pm
content: Here in Canada it turned into the source, just consumer crap and overpriced things like audio connectors and some switches/leds (5 bucks for two damn leds), went to the states once and the source was amazing, loads of components, cheap leds, switches, toggle switches with the safety covers, it was so good.And now even that is going away, sigh

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 02:11:47 pm
content: QuoteThat's a reflection of technology shifts as well as demographic changes.In the era of ecommerce, more and more retailers will find that they are in the exhibition business than retailing business. Customers feel-and-touch the products in stores and buy online. The same thing happened with the catalog companies and mail order companies but are on a much larger scale now.If you can figure out a solution to this, you are worth billions.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 02:57:02 pm
content: Yeah, mixed feelings. Their clueless clerks are legendary. And trying to be all things to all people in such a small shop seems like a losing proposition (which it apparently is).HOWEVER, there are certain things that you cannot get anywhere else. Prime example: All the shops I have ever seen have a "sampler" of 20-30 different power plugs (mostly the "inverted phone" type) which you can use to discover exactly which plug fits your orphan piece of gear with the lost wall-wart. Then you could buy an "Enercell Adaptaplug" that would fit the equipment, and a wall wart of appropriate voltage and current. AFAIK, this kind of product is available NOWHERE ELSE. Certainly not the service of having all those different connectors to try on your orphan gear. You can't do THAT online. Is there ANY way of identifying exactly which power plug you have? Even with a pair of calipers, it is difficult to measure the inner pin diameter and the outer shell diameter properly.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 03:03:18 pm
content: Tandy,as their Australian operation was called,always were more expensive than Dick Smith,or Altronics,or Jaycar,but they sometimes had weird components that were unobtainable elsewhere.They didn't know quite what to be--an Electronics parts supplier,a HIFI Audio place,a Computer store,or what?The problem was that they were outsold by the major chain stores on the latter stuff,& by DSE etc,on parts.Another failing was what I call "Philips or Kodak disease".They thought that their way of doing things was the right way,even when the rest of the world was doing something else.Eventually they were swallowed up by Dick Smith,who strangely enough,now seem to be in the same position,with the exception of Electronics parts which they don't sell ar all!

author: MLXXXp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 03:14:26 pm
content: Quote from: XOIIO on August 01, 2014, 01:50:40 pmIn Canada, Radio Shack was bought by Circuit City US and the stores were renamed "The Source by Circuit City". Then it was bought by Bell Canada and renamed just "The Source".A while after selling their Canadian division, Radio Shack, or Tandy or whoever had the rights to the name, decided to start opening new stores under the "Radio Shack" name. This didn't work out and I don't think any Radio Shack stores currently exist in Canada.Radio Shack, The Source by Circuit City, and The Source all had/have both corporate stores and franchises.

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 03:21:32 pm
content: I was thinking more about this last night. Just from a looking back kind of thing.In the late 70's early 80's Radio Shack was a different animal. I know there could be a lot of differences from store to store but the ones where I grew up were real parts and component stores. Plus they could order just about anything. The guys behind the counter actual had a pretty good knowledge of things.How many of us in this age group, (close to 50), remember going there. It was better than a candy store. I was like 14 or 15.The magazine at the time have was Radio Electronics. I would wait for that every month. It had all the DIY projects and articles. Then off to Radio Shark you went.Remember the project boxes, grab bag leds, ect.?How about the PCB kit where you drew your traces on the copper with a felt pen and placed it in the etching solution?How many of us had are first projects that had 555's and 4000 series cmos to build a led flasher with parts from Radio Shark.And remember the crappy soldering iron you had because you could not afford the nice Weller you wanted?I also remember the Trash 80's.Yes and my first meter was an analog from them.Maybe I'm just getting old.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 03:29:55 pm
content: I remember when Radio Shack came to town (Santa Ana, California) and took over a couple of the independent electronic parts shops. That was around 1964 IIRC. Even then, it was a mixed bag. They always seemed to have the marketing notion of selling electronics like fast-food joint (McDonalds, et.al.)In recent times they have tried going back to "electronics" by selling Arduino and maker-like stuff, and not so much of the furry toys with a little battery-operated gadget inside. But apparently too little too late.

author: RyanAMT
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 03:52:05 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on August 01, 2014, 02:11:47 pmTo combat that some stores are now price matching Amazon, only items "shipped and sold by Amazon". So now you can touch and feel and then look it up on your phone and price match right in store. Given that some states now make you pay sales tax for online purchases (as if most people are honestly going to claim that during filing season) it makes it sound good. Even with these new price matching programs I still think they are way too late, it's something that they should have implemented years ago.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 03:59:45 pm
content: Quote from: RyanAMT on August 01, 2014, 03:52:05 pmBut even if you are a national chain of shops (vs. one-off mom-n-pop kiosk) how on earth to you compete with Amazon's prices when they probably sell as much stuff in a day as you sell all year? They are selling so much stuff these days, they have started their own delivery service. The last couple of things I bought from Amazon were delivered by a non-uniformed guy in an un-marked white van.

author: jlmoon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 04:13:29 pm
content: Oh how I remember the days of the Radio Shack Outlet store on W. 7th Street in Fort Worth, Texas. I would have a field day in there buying all kinds of extra parts and things from pro-types of days gone by. You could even snag a good piece of test equipment at times. They moved the store over by N. Main a few years later and then it started going down hill from there.

author: RyanAMT
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 04:20:22 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on August 01, 2014, 03:59:45 pmThat's just it, big box stores missed out on the opportunity years ago. Amazon still sends me stuff via UPS but they will be experimenting with same day delivery service once they finish a new warehouse project in the area.

author: skipjackrc4
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 04:27:52 pm
content: I think the order of threads in this forum is somewhat appropriate to this discussion:

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 04:43:55 pm
content: People like to pile-on Radio Shack, but I will miss them if they close up... it's clear that Radio Shack was either responsible for starting or encouraging many of our interest in electronics.I remember going there in the late 80's... drooling over the CB radios, saving up money to buy the LED grab bag or resistor grab bag and poring over their catalogs and earmarking pages of stuff I wanted for christmas. It was a bad thing, for me personally, when they got more into consumer electronics, but they had to... there aren't enough electronics geeks around to keep thousands of stores open buying resistors and LED's.Radio Shack's problem is they need something specific to them - anything that can be bought anywhere else easily is always going to be cheaper to buy somewhere else... RS has high overhead per store, so they need to have some really profitable (read: unique) items.They tried with their iGo power stuff and various toys, but as a manufacturer - you don't want to be exclusive with RS... so it just seems like the RS model is a failing one.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 07:41:48 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on August 01, 2014, 03:59:45 pmThat is not their own delivery guy. That is someone they squeeze like a lemon to deliver their goods. Over here the post office is doing the same. The people working for them are self employed couriers who get paid for each package instead of receiving a monthly pay check.

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 07:42:28 pm
content: Quote from: skipjackrc4 on August 01, 2014, 04:27:52 pmI noticed that too.One thing that would've been cool, if they were serious about getting back into the maker / hobbyist market, would be if they had PCB facilities on-site. Some kind of turn-key automated thing where you bring your Gerbers and pick up an etched board a couple days later, for as cheap as they could possibly make it. I would use the %@$# out of that service.With the plethora of DIY PCB tools available to individuals, spending $10k or so to outfit a store with a basic fab seems possible.Then, if they could find a way to offer .. not necessarilycheap, but at least good, reasonably-priced components... man... that would be awesome. This half-hearted attempt of "hey we have Arduinos now... you can build an LED blinker that changes speed with a potentiometer"... c'mon, really? Management lost its imagination some time ago.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 07:43:19 pm
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on August 01, 2014, 04:43:55 pmIt certainly fed my electronicsaddictionhobby, along with a local place calledSkycraft. Lots of fond memories browsing (parts discovery), buying goodies to build stuff out of, and talking to other people that were into electronics (last bit wasthebest part for me, as it kept me going when things got frustrating).It will be sad to see Radio Shack go, but there just doesn't seem to be any way to save them at this point. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long. Guess I should hit the local stores and see if there's anything they have I need before they're gone for good (make one last memory...).

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 07:55:26 pm
content: Radio Shack/Tandy closed their shops in the UK well over 10 years ago. However we still have Maplin here in the UK and they seem to operate a similar setup except they stock/sell stuff from lots of manufacturers.I assume that Maplin do a lot of online business these days but they still have dozens of stores dotted around the UK. Maplins dates back several decades in the UK so they must be doing something right to have survived for so long.http://www.maplin.co.uk/store-finder

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 09:27:07 pm
content: Quote from: nanofrog on August 01, 2014, 07:43:19 pmSkycraft is great. Whenever I am covering for the Orlando Tech, I invariably find my way there with a towel to catch the drool looking at all the old T & M equipment.

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2014, 10:40:25 pm
content: I'll actually be a bit sad to see them go, they're the only place even remotely close that sells components, even as bad at it as they are, it's still occasionally useful.I wonder though if they'll have huge clearance sales, I'd definitely snatch up as much as I could, especially since we have two stores

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 12:54:38 am
content: Unfortunately, that's likely the case. There's a maker group here, and a few of them seem to be interested in DIY electronics, but with most of them, their interest tops out at plugging a few basic components into a breadboard. I would like to think that if the service was available, the community would come out of the woodwork, but that's probably wishful thinking.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 01:19:02 am
content: Quote from: SirNick on August 01, 2014, 07:42:28 pmRadio Shack would already have been out of business if they had tried to stick to the electronics/hobbyist market... getting into cell phones, unique toys and stuff like that is what's let them stick around as long as they have.Their value is in their name and in their network of stores... I wouldn't think they could make money on PCB fab, but imagine if they fostered some sort of maker culture (I HATE that M word but it fits)... almost like quasi hackerspaces in stores. Like how you go to Kinko's or Staples to print stuff.. you could go to Radio Shack to 3D print something, or laser cut something, or to buy a 3D printer or some such.They definitely need to figure something out or they are going to last a matter of months, if that.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 02:18:02 am
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on August 02, 2014, 01:19:02 amSounds great, but I'd be surprised if there's enough people to make a retail based business of it, even if they had the funds to make the changes & cover the marketing. A few areas, such as Silicon Valley, maybe...

author: magetoo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 12:23:45 pm
content: This Radio Shack business is interesting. For as long as I have been reading about electronics online, people have been saying that they're not what they used to be, and that they are going out of business any day now.We never had anything quite like RS here in Sweden. But about ten years ago* (I think) "Kjell & Co" stores started appearing in malls. As far as I can tell, not having ever seen a Radio Shack, they are in a similar business as "the old RS", except they have the tiniest stores with only some popular consumer gadgets up front, and almost everything else behind the counter. They even employ people who know what they are selling. It seems to work.*: Apparently they have been in business for 25 years. I had never heard of them until ten years ago though.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 12:57:02 pm
content: QuoteIt is very difficult to sustain such a business as the customers are spread out extremely thinly. The online business model is more efficient and better suited for this segment.

author: magetoo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 01:35:38 pm
content: Yeah, that's the kind of sentiment that I've seen a million times in the last decade.And here is a business that is doing well, and even expanding, doing pretty much the same thing.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 01:41:00 pm
content: Quote from: magetoo on August 02, 2014, 01:35:38 pmNo, I respectfully disagree. It is NOT "pretty much the same thing". Radio Shack always seemed to have the notion that they could sell high-tech stuff like McDonalds sells hamburgers. And IME, the "clerks" at Radio Shack seemed very often to be people who had been flipping burgers at McD's the previous week.But your Kjell & Co. example makes it appear that they understand the electronics business better (smaller footprint/overhead and knowledgeable staff).

author: magetoo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 06:24:21 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on August 02, 2014, 01:41:00 pmI stand corrected. From what I've read it has seemed like "back in the good old days" things were different, but I suppose I've that's only one side of the story..QuotePerhaps I should try and convince them to expand overseas. :-)

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 06:45:44 pm
content: QuoteThe fact that a business is doing well / expanding has no bearing on the longevity of its business model. Not long ago, Radioshack was doing well and expanding. The history is littered with parts retailers who couldn't make it.It is remarkable that Radioshack survived to this day - hats off to its management. They are really swimming upstream this whole time.

author: magetoo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 07:32:38 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on August 02, 2014, 06:45:44 pmWell, of course. Any business will have trouble when the rug is pulled out from under them.So what is so different about Radio Shack? Same basic business model as far as I can see. Different circumstances, like more tech gadgets being bought online in the US?

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2014, 08:08:38 pm
content: QuoteDemographics in the US. We have more consumers than "makers". The cultural shift was accelerated as 1) cheap electronics became more affordable; and 2) our society increased valued celebrity in athletes, actors, rock stars, ... than workers, engineers, scientists, .... anyone who contributes positively to the society.That's being turbo-charged by today's online cultures.Sadly, that is spreading, as far as I can tell.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2014, 01:06:14 pm
content: Quote from: G0HZU on August 01, 2014, 07:55:26 pmMaplin are dying too:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/10080047/Maplin-profits-slump-by-a-third.htmlThey might be gone in another few years; they've had reasonably flat turnover for the last 5 years, but the profit every year keeps falling, I guess as a result of price reductions and increasing retail costs.

author: Dave Turner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2014, 07:50:33 pm
content: In the UK in the 60's there was a firm called Henry's based in London. It was wonderful for electronics parts, kits etc. For me as a teenager their catalogue was the dream.There is now a Henry's in Edgware Road, which may be the same shop (the memory grows dim) but their products have also changed.www.henrys.co.ukWell at least they seem to still be in business, but I can't help but wish.

author: Terabyte2007
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2014, 01:32:35 pm
content: Quote from: Homer J Simpson on August 01, 2014, 09:51:55 amThis does not surprise me. I have long said that Radio Shack was dead after they moved away from being a true electronic hobbies store which catered to the hacker/maker. I still occasionally drop in for a few parts now and then, but it not like it used to be. I have to drive about 45 minutes to a place called Electronics Surplus in Mentor, OH which is a large warehouse of thousands of electronic components, old test gear and more. This place is a true geek palace!

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2014, 01:24:18 pm
content: If anything, Charles Tandy was a hero in my book.The Radio Shack Science Fair 50-in-1 or whatever kits started many of us Aussies into electronics. I owe in some part my professional electronics engineering career and my hobby of electronics to Tandy Electronics. I bought a DX-160 receiver from Tandy in 1975. I upgraded it to a Yaesu FRG-7 which I still own. And I went on to become a ham radio operator with a full call.One day when I was a teenager I walked into the Tandy Electronics store in Niddrie where some young bloke was buying a book called the Integrated Circuit Cookbook. It blew me away to see this "genius" into IC's! That kid was a great inspiration, even though I never said a word to him and only saw him for a few minutes. He help jumpstart a journey which I do not regret, even though I am not financially that wealthy.Electronics people like you and me are wealthy in a way that the majority of multimillionaires are destitute... knowing about electronics.

author: JuiceKing
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2014, 02:01:43 pm
content: Quote from: Dave Turner on August 03, 2014, 07:50:33 pmI lived in London in the late 1970s and remember Henry's. There were a bunch of great hobbyist stores on Edgware Road. Marshall's was another. Are they all gone?

author: GeoffS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 08, 2014, 02:50:21 pm
content: I only know of Henrys from ads in Wireless World in the late 1960's.No money as a poor high school student to buy anything.

author: Dave Turner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2014, 08:50:09 pm
content: Juiceking - as far as I'm aware as suppliers to hobbyists alas yes.However I sit to be corrected.

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 02:34:28 am
content: I don't think Radioshack has any future if it tries to sell DIY/kits or tools. There's no way to compete with specialist suppliers, or even Amazon.There's also not much future in trying to sell low-margin products, even Best Buy has problems with that.Instead they should sell the brand, or change their market to a lower volume, higher margin one.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 03:56:27 am
content: Oh wow! May be RadioShack is better off gone!RadioShack slammed for ads portraying young boys in sexual situationsBy Hollie McKayPublished August 06, 2014FoxNews.com...One new commercial called “The Talk” features a dad talking to his adolescent son about “protection.”“I know you just want to get out and show it off, but you can’t just go swingin’ it around all willy nilly, trying to impress the girls. You gotta be careful,” he warns, before referring to a tablet and adding that the “glass is fragile.”A second ad, “Laundry,” depicts a father holding a laundry basket, telling his son that “mom just finished the laundry,” and asking “is there anything you want to tell us?” The young male nervously responds, “sometimes I have these funny feelings and I’m not sure what’s going on, but I looked online and it said it was normal.” The dad looks dumbfounded as he replies: “Uh, you left your phone in your jeans and it went through the wash…”American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit, pro-family organization is particularly concerned about the messages in the ads, and this week sent out an alert urging supporters to contact RadioShack and express disapproval for their “crude, sick and disgusting” commercials.The original article that caught my eyes:http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/08/06/radioshack-slammed-for-ads-portraying-young-boys-in-sexual-situations/?intcmp=obnetworkAnother source with the videos:http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/radioshack-sexually-suggestive-ads-article-1.1894278

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 04:12:15 am
content: Nothing wrong with that other than fox news having too much spare time in their hands.It's funny, kids that age get it and it's not like we are an overboard puritan society, oh... wait...I mean really, sex is just such a taboo that it's not even funny, not sure about you, but I was sexual aware by age 10 or so if not earlier, and that was via kids my age not adds, you just can't keep them in the dark forever.Tacky, not sure, funny, yup!Edit, I think their response is well done:QuoteWe are not in the middle ages anymore, actually it probably was ok, since kids married at a young age then.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 04:50:42 am
content: That passes for "crude, sick, and disgusting" now? It's almost insulting to the families who truly have rough lives for a "Family Association" to waste time clutching those pathetic pearls.Seems that these days, anyone throwing around the word 'family' can just be immediately ignored as a bleating nutter.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 04:51:16 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on August 09, 2014, 03:56:27 amTheAmerican Family Associationis a rabid right-wing Christianist organization that gets its dander up over anything that they believe is "anti-family." They threaten a boycott at the drop of the hat, and those boycotts are just excuses for fund raising from the rubes.Basically, they're the American Taliban.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 05:02:52 am
content: Quote from: Bassman59 on August 09, 2014, 04:51:16 amI'm glad I'm a child of the 60's my parents didn't care much about family values otherwise I might not be here!

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 05:21:03 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on August 09, 2014, 04:12:15 am"American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit, pro-family organization..."I don't think AFA is affiliated with Fox. AFA did the slamming. Fox, and NY Daily, Huffington, etc., are just reporting on it.I read the written form of it and I agree with the AFA.Beside, I am a father, so my view is entirely different than yours. To be sexually aware to me mean "aware that sex is something you do when you are married" which likely is not the same as your definition."From vice carefully concealed, to vice openly displayed..." Robert Grave in "I, Claudius" describing engineering the decline of the empire (so as to return Rome to Republicanism as Claudius wanted). Same applies to culture and civilization in my view. Vice openly displayed is a sure way to destroy civility hence destroys civilization.Rick

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 05:33:35 am
content: I have two healthy kids boy and girl and they are uninhibited, girl is 19 boy about to turn 22.They had their girlfriends/boyfriends, etc. We had talks and made sure they didn't get pregnant or someone else pregnant, no accidents so far.Neither of them are married and I bet they did do it and I find nothing wrong with that.I never said they (edit: AFA) are affiliated with Fox, but Fox News tend to clinch to these type of stories. The thing is that when you are young, things happen in your sleep that you should not be ashamed of because it's just our human nature.Who is to question why those things happen? Maybe AFA should file a claim against nature for exposing our children to sex way too early.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 05:39:10 am
content: Quote from: Bassman59 on August 09, 2014, 04:51:16 amIf rightwingwatch.org say that, it shows how ignorance they are. I am not Christian, nor am I religious. I however hold civility in high regards.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 05:49:46 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on August 09, 2014, 05:33:35 amI am happy for you. Your kids are off the danger zone... My kid is yet young. Shaping the kid to be responsible adult is difficult enough a task. These types of advertisements doesn't help.I am of conservative value. So you and I likely would not agree in so far as those go.As to Fox, their reporting is not very good, and there isn't a reporter there I can say I like. But they are about the only one who isn't merely reading off press-releases but at times provide contrary examples and/or counter-points. I like to read disagreeing reports - you get more info from that. I don't trust press-releases regardless whoever released them.Rick

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 06:05:34 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on August 09, 2014, 05:49:46 amI made sure my kids were aware of STDs so they know they should at least get their (girl/boy)friends tested before anything. I did put a lot of scary stuff in their minds about Herpes specially, let alone AIDS among other things. So they know that it's not healthy to just be Willy-nilly now a days.They got the message before they were sexually active, and I rather they know than to hide things from them and then have to deal with consequences.The fear of health has more weight than the fear of civilization, but you shouldn't live in fear to begin with, but be responsible.Edit: BTW, make them work! dont' raise them to be entitled and lazy no matter how many times they tell you that their friends can do this and that. you gotta be a father not a friend. Friendship comes when they are on their 20's(edit2: maybe 30's since i still school them)

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 06:13:25 am
content: True, HIV is very prevalent here, about 10% or so ( depending on whose stats you look at, so YMMV) so you really do not want to win that lottery. Controllable, but other STD's are also much more worrying, and are less treatable.Getting back to topic, when I was young ( ok, so that was a century ago) There were a lot of electronics retailers in the city, but now they have shrunk down considerably, leaving only 4 in the CBD area itself and 2 others out in the industrial areas, with the other half dozen or so having closed down over the years. Even those left are smaller, having reduced down in size or closed the second outlets they had.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 06:21:29 am
content: Quote from: miguelvp on August 09, 2014, 06:05:34 amI agree with everything you said here except:"They got the message before they were sexually active, and I rather they know than to hide things from them and then have to deal with consequences."I rather my kid (daughter) just go with "just say no." In my view, that is part of discipline. Disciplining oneself until it is the right time and I have a firm definition of when the right time is.Apart from that, we are in agreement.(Sorry SeanB... Saw your message while about to post... Now I will shut up so we can get back on topic)Rick

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 09:48:55 am
content: I would not have known about the dodgy Tandy ads as we have not had commercial TV in the home for at least 25 years. Commercial TV is poison to the mind like the gossip magazines designed for silly gullible women. Letting young kids watch commercial TV especially at night is bordering on child abuse in my opinion.When I was a kid we rode bikes, built billy carts, made bombs, played with firecrackers, explored caves, and experimented with electronics. At Christmas, you'd see new bikes in the streets. These days, you see none of that. Too much TV, computer games, cotton wool parents, and vexatious do-gooder tree huggers have spoilt it all. The local electronics stores barely sell any kits these days, partly due to the fact most kids have lost the wow factor.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 10:20:35 am
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on August 09, 2014, 09:48:55 amYes. And it is entertaining, annoying, a waste of time, educating, costs money, doesn't share my opinion, provides company. Just like my wife. And guess, what, I keep her. And commercial TV.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 11:26:04 am
content: QuoteLucky that you have some. They are on borrowed time.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 11:29:08 am
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on August 09, 2014, 10:20:35 amI don't think commercial TV would be very educating. My three kids have PhDs or multiple degrees, and have outstanding careers in engineering, computer science and academia. As kids, they did not watch commercial TV and as such they were not preprogrammed with the fickledictated by celebrities and salesmen peddling their wares. And guess what, as adults none of them are bothered with commercial TV at all. There are far better things to inspire them and keep them company.Another symptom from commercial TV is the lie of materialism... you too will be happy if you buy such and such. Feeding those lies to your kids is like feeding them opium. They will never be satisfied. I see all around me many adults who are hell bent on getting more stuff and are never satisfied with their lot.If I were you, I'd dump theTV and keep the wife. You can do what you want. But subjecting impressionable young kids to the barrage of lies from commercial TV is like exposing them to spiritual abuse from a religious cult.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2014, 01:19:13 pm
content: QuoteThat's a poorly structured argument:1) too small of a sample: obviously;2) no control group: who's to say that your three kids, if exposed to TV, would have gone on to become greater achievers in life?3) what's the measurement? what you listed are at best signs of "intelligence", not "smarts" that other people may prefer. In my life, I have seen countless well educated fools.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2014, 03:02:49 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on August 09, 2014, 01:19:13 pmIt is obvious watching crap like Amercian sitcoms, shows about gluttony, hedonistic cooking shows and Big Brother will not help you become good at debugging digital circuitry using a logic analyser. I suspect the brain is kind of like a FIFO buffer. Garbage in, garbage out. Fill your mind withand there is little room left for anything else including education.I agree with you there are countless educated fools, but there are fewwelleducated fools. I know university graduates who know nothing about history, never heard of Apollo 11, and cannot tell you who the head of state is. They don't even know the alphabet, and they can barely write a sentence without making grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. But they can tell you all about the latest Hollywood movies about zombies and which celebrities are shacking up together.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2014, 01:46:34 pm
content: QuoteI don't know. I just heard a research that showed that social skills are better predictors of success than academic skills. That matches up with my experience as well.So it is obvious to me that what you think is obvious may not be so obvious.QuoteProbably not.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2014, 02:33:49 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on August 09, 2014, 11:29:08 am"I know three kids that did well without TV and thus TV is not educating". Hopefully they don't use this kind of logic in their science. ;-)Quote from: VK3DRB on August 09, 2014, 11:29:08 amYes, those poor souls that always need one more DMM with one more digit. I feel bad for them ;-)

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2014, 02:49:20 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on August 09, 2014, 09:48:55 amNostalgia is not what it used to be. These days it's just a rant by inflexible people that reject everything that is new. It was much better when I was a kid.

author: RyanAMT
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2014, 02:02:52 am
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on August 08, 2014, 01:24:18 pmI think most of us owe our interest and work in electronics to RadioShack Science Fair Kits. I remember getting a couple of kits over the years for Christmas when I was young and spending many nights and rainy days doing the experiments and modifying them and just reading the book before bed. I was visiting my parent's at their house a few weeks ago and I saw the old kit sitting on top of a pile of my old stuff - looked kind of beat up and worn but I bet it still works. Another bit of nostalgia, I remember during Christmas season my brothers and sister would fight over the big toy ads while I thumbed through the Radio Shack ads circling everything.Kids these days have Ardunio kits that can do so much and when we were young we were making crystal set radios, basic amps, and burglar alarms.