Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@qoto.org

@ai6yr Yup, I've already warned some people about this, but nobody listens to me. Lol.

@lauren Yeah, well, I'm writing an autobio anyway, for the historians and genealogists of the future to use. It might fill in some useful details, make connections, reveal certain mysterious stuff. Making money isn't my goal, just archiving it in safe places for future generations. Plus, it's cathartic to tell the stories and set the record straight.

@ai6yr Ima bet it indicates nothing good.

@lauren Hahahaha. That is funny. Lmao. And very cool. You should publish a story.

@AstroHawk Yes, with a bit of luck, things are going to rock tomorrow night.

@lauren Funny thing is, though, I don't regret it. Great experiences. Learned a LOT. Got away with it.

Would I do it again? Most of it, yeah, but there are ways of doing it that don't put your body in harm's way. Prudence.

I mean, do you really have to stand directly over the thing that you've buried in the ground while you light the fuse? Really? If this fails like it might you'll have a bunch of galvanized steel jammed up your ass. What is wrong with you??? As it turned out, I only lost the hair on my head and eyebrows. Instant skinhead. My mother was not amused. And that's just one of my countless "adventures in chemistry".

@lauren Yes, this is related to my "freezes my blood" reference earlier. And I did LOTS of things that could have killed or seriously injured me. You wouldn't believe.

The Force is with me or something. Today, I just shake my head.

@futurebird You're not alone. This association has been happening in my brain since 2020.

@lovelylovely I think we will see more. Lame duck presidents have a LOT of power because they can do things, controversial or potentially unpopular things that a first-termer can't do.

In this case, Biden chose to become a lame duck, but it makes no difference. He's a lame dusk AND he's a master of US politics.

I expect he will drop some bombs between now and January.

@BakerRL75 Cool. Brennan is one of several names I'd like to meet in person, just for fun. I've studied so many hundreds of reports from that crew for the past 30 years, I know all the names. Hah.

@lauren Just as well on the explosives. Thinking back on some of the dangerous stuff I did back then freezes my blood today. Hahaha.

@Lana Good one!

@lauren Yes, other tech. Probably something related to telephones and possibly explosives. Maybe both together. Infinity bugs were quite easy to make, powered by the phone line itself. I found that a range of 100 to 150 feet was do-able using the FM broadcast band. I think I used 2N918 transistors but I'd have to check. Good thing there's a statute of limitations.

@lauren Very cool of you to do that. I was a fanatic about the whole space program. (My career path through my teens was astronomer.) As it turned out, on the day and time of the Apollo 11 landing I found myself traveling and in Zurich, Switzerland. So I went into a bierstube (pub) and watched it on color TV there.

@ai6yr Absolutely true, especially with CW. Radio waves are radio waves, doesn't matter how they're produced. Virtually every radio since the 1920s can hear down to the noise limit. "Old junky" radios work just as well as snazzy new ones and tend to be a lot more fun.

There, I've said it.

@lauren Ima guess "Old Yeller" wasn't one of your selections.