I agree, real sad. I too was a pre-teen in the early 80's and I remember how neat it was to have these "secret" catalogs and/or ads in the back of magazines li

I agree, real sad. I too was a pre-teen in the early 80's and I remember how neat it was to have these "secret" catalogs and/or ads in the back of magazines like Popular Science where I could place some cash (or ask mom for a check while I gave her my cash) in an envelope, put it in the mail and in a few weeks I would have these cool sci-fi gadgets in my hand to play with. I was the only one in my friends group who really knew about this stuff apparently (or was the only one geeky enough to think it was cool.) It wasn't just Tesla Coils either. Mail order was in it's golden-years in the 80's and early 90's before the internet. I remember ordering everything from electronic components like caps/breadboards, to magic/card tricks, meters, oscilloscopes etc - all in the many different catalogs I had. I used to even order all kinds of fireworks for the 4th of July through the mail as well back then. Not just snakes and smoke-bombs either, but full on Black Cat (the best) firecrackers, bottle rockets and fountains. Literally send in the money and few weeks later I'd have them dropped off at my front door. Nowadays it is even more amazing as all this stuff is now available in a day or two with free shipping. Heck, I ordered two board games on Amazon the evening of the 19th for with the family the upcoming holiday week and the doorbell rang about 10a the next DAY with them! But nothing beats that feel of a pre-teen and his secret catalogs ordering with his own saved up cash in an envelope and anxiously waiting for two weeks for some off-the-wall gadget to arrive.