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Hello All
From: Richard Quick[SMTP:richard.quick-at-slug-dot-org]
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 1997 11:54 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Hello All
Hello All...
I had hoped to be able to sneak back without much notice, but
my few short posts of the other day resulted in a dozen personal
messages of greetings, questions, and information requests.
So it seems it is best to take a few minutes and send this post
out to the group even though parts of it are clearly off topic.
My reasons for not following the group mail (I never resigned
from the list) were two-fold. Time was (and is) a significant
factor, but there was a far more sinister series of events that
led to my not being here. I would like to tell a true story that
resulted in my decision to completely disassemble my Tesla lab
and move nearly everything into an off-site storage locker at
some considerable inconvenience and expense.
During the Holidays last November and December my Sister in Law
(SIL) separated from her husband and shortly afterwards began
dating an older man who is a public bus driver. We entertained
this couple in our home on two occasions, Thanksgiving and
Christmas. Both times I had worked all day preparing and serving
delicious holiday dinners (my wife does windows but does not
cook) and afterwards we went into the garage/lab for one of my
wall to wall, floor to ceiling spark shows. I had the vacuum
pump running with my first attempt 5 gallon carboy plasma display
energized by the door, 22890v-5KVA x 6' Jacob's Ladder hissing
and growling in the corner, and my 8 inch coil system blasting
the floor, ceiling, and strike shields in every direction.
Ho-Hum for many of us really, but it apparently made quite an
impression on the layman bus driver. Hell, laymen are supposed
to be impressed. Afterwards we looked through my coil photos
and watched some video of my 10" coil dunking the basket ball
hoop in back of my father's house. A good time was had by all.
Two weeks into the new year my SIL and the bus driver broke up.
She moved out of his apartment and he in return began stalking
and harassing her, claiming she had stolen property from him &
owed him $200 on a loan. Despite my repeated urging, the SIL
refused to contact the police or file a civil complaint, even
though the bus driver made implied threats that her 8 year old
daughter was not entirely safe. It turns out that the bus driver
had stolen the SIL's address book which had my name and address
in it, among many others, and he began working through the list
in alphabetical order.
Despite the midnight harassing calls and implied threats, none of
my wife's family (starting with "A") would lift a finger to call
the police and file a report. Instead I was told that they were
"taking care of it" which really meant they did nothing and hoped
the entire thing would blow over. It did not. My wife and I had
had no direct contact with this man since Christmas, and since
her family was mostly represented in the stolen address book, I
really had nothing I could officially complain about.
On January 21st my name finally came up, and I got my first real
taste of how crazy the bus driver is. He called my place of
employment several times (number was in the SIL address book) and
left messages with my receptionist that the local electrical
utility company had arrived at my residence and were demanding
entrance into the garage to investigate a complaint of "illegal
activities". I called the electric company in an effort to
verify the anonymous messages, but after being placed on hold for
20 minutes I decided it was best to leave the office and go home
to ascertain the situation in person. Since I carpool, and my
wife drives the family car to her work, I had to call a cab.
When I arrived home a discreet inquiry with a neighbor told me
that nobody had been by the house.
At 6:30 that evening I received a call at home from the bus
driver, who after clearly identifying himself, stated that the
electric company had been calling him and asking him questions
about my "illegal activities". He said he could not continue to
"protect" me much longer and insinuated that I had performed
experiments on him against his will during the times he was in my
home (he ate like a pig and spent most of his time snoring on my
couch). He wanted money, threatened further harassment,
insinuated my house was destined to burn down, and that some of
my equipment was stolen ("You know you can't buy them trans-
formers, those are illegal."). If I did not come up with money,
or get my SIL to meet him, I would be harassed and/or reported.
These were clearly illegal threats, attempted extortion, and
harassment. I called a family meeting with my wife and brother
minutes later. We decided that it was time to bring in the
police ourselves, but I insisted that I wanted to minimize any
chance of a problem involving the heavy lab equipment. On a
moment's notice my brother and I began disassembly of the entire
lab, and moved everything to his garage. My brother lives less
than 5 minutes away. After 6 trips with his Ford Explorer,
riding with aching arms while watching the headlights of the
utility vehicle pointing into outer space, I was ready to call
the police and file a report.
When the police arrived I explained about the phone calls to work
and the later call at home. Anticipating some future problem
with the bus driver during the events of the previous two weeks,
I had accumulated some information about him. His residence
address, non-pub phone number, work number, and social security
number were given to the reporting officer.
An hour later the officer returned with the Chief of Police just
as I was getting ready for bed. The Chief was responding to the
bus driver's counter claim of an "illegal lab" in the garage.
The Chief was pleasant and seemed to understand my predicament,
but the descriptions that had just been given to him must have
peaked his curiosity (just as one would expect with any small
town elected Police Chief). He informed me that he had no real
right to demand entry into the garage, but strongly insinuated it
would help him to more quickly resolve the complaint.
I opened the garage door where the family station wagon was
serenely parked. In the open half of the two car garage
a pair of saw horses were set up with an innocent carpentry
project next to my workbench. In the rear of the garage I showed
him my electrical "lab". The main power cabinet, pig trans-
formers, coils, capacitors, gaps, strike shields, vacuum pump, 5
gallon carboys, etc., had been removed. I had left my arc welder
plugged directly into the 100 amp main and I pointed out that it
was wired to code. A damaged scooter frame was on it's side with
the ground from the arc welder clamped to it. On a folding card
table in one corner I had my lab all set up.
I have a "rustic homemade" (early high school) hand cranked
static generator (vinyl record) that is supposed to spin a small
tin foil ion motor. It worked a few times, 20 years ago.
Probing the electrode with a plastic handled screwdriver I
managed to get a tiny spark or two (cold, very dry day), but I
found that piezo-electric gas grill igniters were more fun than
this old junk, and I had several of those on hand.... Add some
old (primary school) 10 penny nail electromagnets wound with bell
wire, a collection of electromagnets from gutted doorbell
buzzers... I tried to energize an electromagnet, then an old
ignition coil, but that was when I discovered that all my dry-
cells had died, probably years ago. I just _knew_ that one day I
would need all this stuff. The highlights were plugged into a
multi-strip: when I flipped the switch it fired a Jacob's Ladder
I had wired up from a 9kv 30ma neon and a couple coat hangars, it
also turned on my cheap Radio Shack plasma globe (yard sale $5).
Some rolls of plumbers tubing, romax, old electric motor cores,
B+W TV & computer monitor guts, dead computer cards + drives,
some flea market HAM equipment, boxes of scooter parts and some
hunks of old carpet pulled out from under the basement steps
completed the picture of junk chaos. Lots of coil stuff are
still buried/mixed in the boxes, heaps, and piles, but a layman's
eye sees nothing but junk. My wife had helped by pulling our
junk boxes out of the basement and piling/dumping/dropping them
into the garage as I moved the heavy coiling equipment out.
I told the Chief of police that the only contact I had had with
this man previously was to feed him Thanksgiving and Christmas
holiday dinners. My wife nodded. I explained again about the
stolen address book, the bus driver's abusive\stalking relation-
ship with my SIL, the calls to my wife's family and their refusal
to call the police, and finally the call to my place of employ-
ment and the threats made to me at home.
I stopped and looked the Police Chief straight in the eye and
told him I thought the man was "absolutely insane". I told him
that I was very worried about my family's personal safety and
that I wanted the man arrested. I told him I was ready to sign
criminal complaints right then and there. The Chief looked down
at the card table and junk heaps again, then turned for the door.
I walked out with him and I shook his hand as he got into the
police car. The Chief said he would get back with me.
I finally got to sleep on a handful of aspirin washed down neat
with four fingers of Bushmills, my scotch would have been a waste
that night. Stomach empty, my nerves shot, I remember laying in
bed waiting for the whiskey to work at 1:45 am, and thinking
about the best way to deal with work rumors flying from the
receptionist's desk about my "illegal activities" at home.
The Chief of Police came by the house the following day. He was
waiting on the curb when my wife came home early. He told her
that the bus driver was not likely to be bothering us again, but
that if he did, a report had already been filed and that he, the
Chief, would follow up on it personally. He advised her to
contact the phone company and have "trace" installed to track any
future harassment calls, and to call the police immediately if
the man was seen in the neighborhood. My wife stated that the
Police Chief told her that, and I quote, "I do not appreciate
some "nut case" bothering the citizens in our community." He
told my wife that under no circumstances would he tolerate a
repeat incident of harassment from this man.
I made a decision that day to keep my stuff in storage until a
considerable period of time had passed. My brother began
complaining almost immediately about the clutter my equipment
was making in his garage, so to appease him I rented a locker for
$40 a month and we moved everything again. There it sits,
untouched, for over six months.
I have thrown myself into my office work since then, earning a
promotion. In my weekend free time I have been gardening,
landscaping, and learning to fish trout and smallmouth in the
spring fed Ozark streams. I recently had a much needed, but
minor, surgery to remove some troublesome hardware from my left
ankle, a result of a nasty fracture some ten years ago. With the
chronic pain and swelling greatly reduced I plan on doing some
trail backpacking this fall on the Ozark ridges while the leaves
are turning.
But I really miss active coiling. I was up late several nights
this past week watching my old videos and thinking of the joy to
feel a variac tugging in my hands again. As promised by the
local Police Chief, I have had no further problems with the
disturbed bus driver, but if I start back with active coiling
here it is going to have to be small. This last experience has
really made me much more private and introspective. Most of my
wife's family is still banned from our home as a result of this
affair.
So, please let me get back into things slowly. My time is more
limited than ever before in my life, and my interest in coiling
is only now starting to rebud after a rather severe pruning. I
think I would prefer to sit back, read some, and post lightly and
occasionally.
Richard Q.
... If all else fails... Electrocute the bus driver!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12