XPost: alt.comp.software.firefox   
   From: NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com   
      
   In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 21 Dec 2025 01:00:41 GMT, rbowman   
    wrote:   
      
   >On 20 Dec 2025 21:13:29 GMT, Mark Lloyd wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 04:40:52 -0500, Paul wrote:   
   >>   
   >> [snip]   
   >>   
   >>> It is apparently not the same as the old Radio Shack.   
   >>>   
   >>>   "AI Overview [guggle]   
   >>>   
   >>>    Yes, RadioShack still exists, but it's a completely different   
   >>>    business: the iconic electronics retailer went through bankruptcy   
   >>>    and now operates mostly online,   
   >>>    selling consumer gadgets and accessories, while a few   
   >>>    independently-run franchise stores (often hardware or phone shops)   
   >>>    still carry the name, though they're a shadow of the past. The   
   >>>    brand's IP was acquired, leading to a focus on e-commerce, crypto   
   >>>    ventures, and new products like headphones and drones,   
   >>>    not the hobbyist parts stores of old."   
   >>>   
   >>>   Paul   
   >>   
   >> The old Radio Shack was very important to me in the seventies and   
   >> eighties.   
   >   
   >Yes, it was. I would literally mail order stuff from Allied, Lafayette, or   
      
   When I lived in Chicago for 6 years, I could go the main Allied Radio   
   location and get anything they had right away, In college most of that   
   time and not much time for such fun.   
      
   In NYC, I bought a tube tester at Lafayette, on Union Square iirc, and   
   since it didn't have the manual with settings, which was essential, I   
   first asked if it had one. They said they would get me one, so I bought   
   it, and months and months went by. I considered picketing the main store   
   on Long Island.   
      
   Finally 9 or 12 months later it came, and it was an original, not even a   
   photocopy. Amazing.  Soon after, my roommate found hundreds of tubes   
   spread over the ground at the incinerator in Queens, half of them still   
   in their boxes, so I used the tester hundreds of times.   
      
   >other vendors but if you wanted something in less than a couple of weeks   
   >it was RS or a trip to Les Couch's. He ran an operation out of his   
   >basement. It was mostly mason jars filled with components he salvaged,   
   >some labeled or some not. His salvage technique was unusual. Cook a   
   >circuit board over the barbecue until the solder was melted, turn it over,   
   >and whack it on a garbage can, then sort through the haul.   
      
   Wow.  There was another store in Queens that sold brand new left-over   
   parts from TV assembly.  Knobs, handles, fuses, battery holders,   
   resistors, 100's of things... things they bought, say, 1000 of and then   
   only made 860 tvs.  Cost like 5 or 10 cents a piece.  I bought lots of   
   stuff and never used most of it, but I more than got my money's worth.   
   He only sold to people in the trade.  I saw him once reuse entry to   
   someone, but I had printed business cards for Clinton Electronics, which   
   didn't exist, and it got me in. In the 70's they were $1 for 100.   That   
   worked so well I printed cards for Clinton Products and Services, which   
   I figured covers everything, but I never used them.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)