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Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

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Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#101

Post by [deleted] »

MarkMc wrote: post #58
throwawaylinux wrote: post #26

He is a persona non grata since he started advocating for sustainable population policies. Funny how nobody talks about that any more. I've had an "environmentalist" get red faced and belligerent toward me for daring to suggest the most effective way to reduce humanity's environmental footprint would be to reduce population. Insisting that the earth's human carrying capacity was 100 billion(!!) and therefore I was wr…

Immigrants generally increase their income, and income is inversely correlated with birth rate. So wouldn't a high level of Australian immigration reduce the total world population, relative to a low immigration level?

[deleted]

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#102

Post by GekkePrutser »

stephen_g wrote: post #90
GekkePrutser wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, the places that sell 5 cent resistors etc were where I would hang out. But nobody does that anymore. People just buy the cheap crap from Aliexpress :'( And nonbody makes enough money selling individual components. It's such a stark difference. I remember there being a Radio Shack in mainstream retail centres like Broadway Shopping Centre. Now if you find a similar shop it'll be in some run-down industrial est…

I'd recommend people interested in electronics to go directly to somewhere like Digi-Key online for ordering parts. It's a bit of a learning curve to work out what to filter out, but you get exactly what you want for even cheaper what the retail stores could do, and for most projects it doesn't take much (a few interesting ICs) to put you over the threshold for free shipping for people in the US. The threshold for in…

True but ordering is often not a great option. Many times when I was young I'd be working on a project and find I was missing some part. I could just jump on my bike and go buy it right away.

Now it means several days of waiting every time.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#103

Post by Grimburger »

neurotech1 wrote: post #13
desertraven wrote: post #5

Dick Smith is a legend. Great sense of humour, prioritising philanthropy and buying local. My favourite product of his was the parody of Redhead Matches, a box of matches with a woman’s face on it. Dick sold matches called “Dickheads”, with his face on them. A friend of mine growing up had Dick perform an emergency landing on their property (in his plane). He must still be an avid flyer as we both attended the same a…

I had the pleasure of meeting Dick at a Christmas party many years ago. Buying locally made, locally owned is a major priority of his and should be for every Australian.

> locally made, locally owned

Why exactly? Can you elucidate on this viewpoint. Australia has a huge proportion of dirty coalfired power so anything energy intensive would be better produced elsewhere, Australian emissions per capita are among the highest in the world, so supporting more workers is again a bad argument, the world needs far less Australians given their rate of consumption.

Does it simply just boil down to stonecold nationalism?

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#104

Post by Grimburger »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #26

He is a persona non grata since he started advocating for sustainable population policies. Funny how nobody talks about that any more. I've had an "environmentalist" get red faced and belligerent toward me for daring to suggest the most effective way to reduce humanity's environmental footprint would be to reduce population. Insisting that the earth's human carrying capacity was 100 billion(!!) and therefore I was wr…

The traditional environmental and green parties in Australia really can't handle the immigration issue, it's very taboo to talk about with these groups because they somehow associate it with racism (despite the UK and US making up a huge amount of Australian permanent migration). The Greens simply won't discuss it despite being the elephant in the room regarding habitat loss and increasing emissions.

Dick is easy to write off as just another "old racist white guy" but his arguments were all environmental based, the guy cares a lot about the natural world and conservation.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#105

Post by runsonrum »

nikau wrote: post #92
siquick wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically the Dick Smiths brand is now owned by Kogan who specialise in importing and selling grey market goods in Australia.

> Ironically the Dick Smiths brand is now owned by Kogan who specialise in importing and selling grey market goods in Australia. Bit ironic to make a fortune importing shit from HK in the 80s, then selling off your name and face as a brand, and then complaining about people not buying Australian.

This is what I see too! Glad to see that I'm not the only one that does.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#106

Post by neurotech1 »

desertraven wrote: post #17
neurotech1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dick at a Christmas party many years ago. Buying locally made, locally owned is a major priority of his and should be for every Australian.

Wholeheartedly agree. Your comment gives me Aussie vibes, yet it looks like you’re in the US. Did you relocate?

Yes. In the US now.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#107

Post by jimmux »

akdor1154 wrote: post #72
tim-- wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The maker hub is pretty cool! They have a 3D printer service, where for ~$0.40 per gram you can bring your STL file, and they will print it while you watch a movie at the Cinemas next door. I wish there were more places like this in Sydney. I have floated the idea of starting a hackerspace in Sydney City with a bunch of friends, but it has never really got beyond the talking phase. The cost of renting a small (~90 sq…

There is one in a cbd library in melb which works ok - maybe that could be an option?

Is that different to the one at the Docklands library? I've been meaning to check it out since things have opened up again.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#108

Post by dools »

burntbridge wrote: post #74
dools wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are doing our fair share by land mass it should be 500m by 2050. I find it astonishing that people have an easier time believing we can colonise Mars than that we can colonise the centre of Australia.

We have the land mass but not the water.

Desalination and water recycling are the way of the future. Everyone just has to grow up and stop being so squeamish about things everyone will eventually find normal.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#109

Post by dools »

dunco wrote: post #98
dools wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are doing our fair share by land mass it should be 500m by 2050. I find it astonishing that people have an easier time believing we can colonise Mars than that we can colonise the centre of Australia.

land mass =/= habitable land mass. Help me understand your view because I simply cannot fathom how you must think to want 500M people in Australia. Have you traveled? Do you want to live the way people live in overcrowded countries? Do you think there will be some trickle down economic effect for you? Do you place any value on the environment?

I don't see how Aussies expect to live on the least densely populated continent right next to the most densely populated continent much longer. The only question is on whose terms we reclaim arable land and begin the process of populating currently unpopulated regions. I reckon the average population density of Japan is a pretty good target, and that's what I'm basing the 500m figure on.

My point is that people assume we can turn Mars, an entire arid planet with no water, into a habitable place but that we can't turn deserts on earth into habitable, arable land.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#110

Post by dools »

prawn wrote: post #59
jlawer wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can colonize the centre of Australia. There just isn't a reason to do so. You can see wherever they find a patch of minerals, a mining town springs up. Decades ago, there were towns all along the train lines to support the rail services, but as trains got more reliable they were no longer required. There are few advantages to being in the centre of Australia. Many of the people who live there do so because they ha…

"We can colonize the centre of Australia. There just isn't a reason to do so." Also, you drive through a lot of less arid farm land before you get anywhere near desert. Including past dying country towns (many below the Goyder Line). We could increase the density of rural properties (from large farms down to farmlets, etc) or do more to boost living in fading townships well before there was any reason to make the des…

Haha yeah man. The people who say "Fuck off we're full" are the ones who are "full of it". I was speaking to an Egyptian taxi driver in Sydney one day about that "fuck off we're full" political party and he was like "bro you're EMPTY, look at this place we're in the middle of the most densely populated capital in the country and there's still barely anyone here"
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