In article , =A4NoSuchThing
says...
BDK wrote in
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I would have never thought of the bulb trick.=20
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Years ago, my nephew and I dropped an M-250 into a stream from the=20
roadway of a bridge. It was dark, and I watched the lit fuse as it went=
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into the water. Despite my nephew's assurance that it would not=20
extinguish due to the water, I was sure it did. Leaning over the edge, I=
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strained to see it. Apparently the firecracker turned over in the water,=
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fuse side down. Wham, it went off, bright light, loud sound, and=20
splashing water. It wasted my mind. For a short time, my nephew had to=20
guide me back to the car. The military and police have exploited such=20
ideas for crowd control. Unexpected flashes, loud sound, and in the case=
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of your hapless victim, perhaps a shock too.=20
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For the life of me, I can't see why people move into Covenant Regulated=
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Neighborhoods. My co-worker was the president of one neighborhood=20
association, he was proud that he refused a woman the right to have a=20
yard sale, as the parking problems that would temporarily arise would be=
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"inconvenient" for others.
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Regards,
=20
Dr. Artaud=20

I don't know why, but when my dad's surplus store closed in 1970, I took=20
a lot of the oddball stuff that didn't sell, including three grocery=20
bags full of those big flashbulbs. I used them for jokes, putting them=20
into a lamp and the huge "POP" it would make and amazingly bright flash=20
always made people jump. In a dark room, ONE of those bulbs would cause=20
you to not see anything but a blueish blob for several minutes, but 4 of=20
them was total overkill. Just one was kind of painful. I was asleep and=20
missed the brightest part of the flash, and they were behind the=20
curtains too, but I wasn't able to see much of anything for a while, so=20
it's no surprise he ran into one of our many huge Walnut trees.=20

I have a friend who's parents are being hassled by the condo board where=20
they live for painting their trim a "unapealing color". It's light grey,=20
and the only colors they mention as a no no are yellow, red, green, and=20
any "obnoxious" color. No explanation of how this is determined.

It looks fine to anyone except the board members.

I would live in a crappy trailer someplace before I would live in a=20
condo or apartment again.

BDK

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I had a simple ground plane antenna, with no connection between the
shield and center wire on the coax, and I made a box that had a relay=20
in it that was connected to 4 100 watt sized flashbulbs sitting in the
windowsill. When/if the coax was pinned, the relay would fire 110 volts
to the bulbs, and would scare the crap out of him. A week went by,
nothing.=20
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Then, one night, I was asleep. It was about 5AM, and the lights go
off. When I could see again, I could see a tall skinny guy staggering
towards the street that ran past the back of our yard. A pair of
pliers was on the ground and a pin was welded into the coax. My friend
and I drove past where the moron worked, and there he was, with a
banged up face and broken nose. He had run into a tree after being
blinded by the flashbulbs. Later on, he apologized and gave me a huge
roll of coax to pay me back for the pinnings.=20
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