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March 1967 Popular Electronics
 Table of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Popular Electronics,
published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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In July 1966,
Popular Electronics magazine invited its readers to submit examples of
ridiculous statements made by people supposedly "in-the-know" about electronics
and/or technical subjects. Space was allotted to it in four later issues as
well, all of which I have now posted with Sequel 4 of "Just When I Forgot My
(Soldering) Gun!" finishing it out. Stories of customer remarks are always good
for a laugh, like the housewife (remember those?) of an engineer who, upon
having a repairman tell her the TV had a problem with an intermittent tube,
called her husband and told him to pick up a new intermittent tube. Then there
are the puns, like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neumann exclaimed on seeing
his new ham ticket, "What me W0RRY?," and that connecting together all the
batteries on earth end-to-end you would have a world series. What about having
your color TV picture tube "deloused?" Enjoy.
See also the
first installment,
sequel 1,
sequel
2,
sequel 3, and
sequel 4.
Electronics Implausible Remarks
 The unabated flood of entries in our contest on nonsensical
remarks about electronics continues on its merry way. Although the "type" of submission
seems to have changed - there is a steady incoming flow of puns - we are pleased to see
that this contest still has an enormous following.
If you have heard a wild, implausible, or inane remark about electronics, why not
tell us about it? Send it in and you may win a soldering gun, a prize that will help
you "snuff out" some of those people who talk without thinking.
Typical remarks have appeared in the July, September, November, and December issues.
All About Wives
For some inexplicable reason, "wife" remarks are always good for
a laugh and five of the better stories received in the past few weeks concern equipment
repair as seen through the eyes of the female side of the household. One hi-fi service
call involved what was obviously a frozen motor shaft in a record player. When this fact
was announced, the offended housewife exclaimed, "That isn't true; it's never been that
cold in this room.!"
The electronic engineer's wife who is always phoning her husband in the office decided
to take things into her own hands when the TV receiver went bad, so she phoned a radio-TV
service shop. After she explained the trouble, and the shop diagnosed the symptoms, the
wife hung up and then telephoned her husband to bring home an "intermittent tube."
When another wife had the TV repairman come over to the house, it didn't take him
long to spot the source of trouble, for there was the 300-ohm lead-in hanging a good
1" away from the TV receiver antenna terminal. When this fact was pointed out, the wife
indignantly stated that she couldn't see "how come" the TV signal had traveled 25 miles
through the air to get to the antenna and then couldn't jump this last remaining little
gap.
Then, there was the woman who had the repairman come in to fix the vacuum cleaner.
Claiming that it needed new brushes, he removed a worn brush, placed it on the table,
and said, "Look at this." The housewife exclaimed, "Well, I'll be! There's not a hair
left on it."
Finally, there was the housewife who had received a solid-state stereo receiver as
a Christmas present; when the repairman arrived, he found that the a.c. cord hadn't been
plugged in. Why not? Obviously, anything - according to the housewife - that uses transistors
uses batteries.
Puns, Puns, and More Puns
The 1967 Lafayette Electronics catalog has a "Tube Gadget"
listed on p. 277. It is described as a "combination 7 and 9 pin miniature tube straightener
and tube puller." It must be specially made for bent tubes .... A group of Californians
that reconditions old cathode-ray tubes supported Ronald Re'gun for Governor .... Mad
Magazine's Alfred E. Neumann exclaimed on seeing his new ham ticket, "What me W0RRY?"
.... RCA Victor has a recording crew in Haiti taping some voodoo music - it seems they
bought the rites.
A woman in my neighborhood with a new color TV receiver had the repairman come over
to delouse the picture tube .... Now that I'm interested in electronic espionage, my
wife wants my bug detector to get the moths out of her closet .... A customer in a hi-fi
salon rejected stereo discs, claimed she wanted some new multiplex recordings .... How
come that raven in my room keeps saying "Neper More"?
My soldering iron developed a short and my wife can't understand why I don't lengthen
it ... Did you know that if you keep a roll of solder in the refrigerator you can make
better cold solder joints? ... You've got to watch those store clerks; the last one didn't
know anything at all about collapsible cable ... My wife's brother is so stupid
she believes
that if I hooked together all the batteries on earth I'd have a world series ... Did
you hear about the fellow who thinks that heptode tubes are cool frogs?
Winners
This month soldering guns go to Michael Breuning, Dennis Courtney, Bruce
Feezel, Robert Fleischer, Leroy Ireland, J. V. Luczynski, Don Norwood, Bruce Potterton,
Charles Saleeby, Larry Simko, Earl Switzer, and Byron G. Wels.
Posted October ___ , 2023
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