
Meet the Man Behind America’s Most Dangerous Mail-Order Kits - jalanco
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/information_unlimited/
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ChuckMcM
Ah that brings back memories. I got my first Information Unlimited catalog
back in the early 80's. There was a shop in Los Angeles called "Alltronics"
which got a lot of surplus from the various companies that did military work
and it was great fun to find things you could re-purpose.

We took one project which had some 1uF @ 1000V capacitors which we ganged
together to make a spot welder. You would spend about 15 minutes charging up
the capacitors, move the 'welder' into position (basically two pieces of 3/8"
copper rod that came together in a a rounded point. And then push the button
and "poof!" spot weld. We had to order a push button switch from the IU guys
that wouldn't fuse itself on every time you used it. It was some oil/gel
filled thing, worked great though!

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woodchuck64
I want to meet the Lawyers Behind the Man Behind America's Most Dangerous
Mail-Order Kits.

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blhack
Bob Lazar?

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar>

To the uninitiated, Bob Lazar runs United Nuclear, which is an online store
that sells some...dangerous things.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar#United_Nuclear_and_le...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar#United_Nuclear_and_legal_issues)

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chiph
Ahh. Tesla coils. The one I built in 8th grade took out radio & TV reception
for a block around.

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stephengillie
Did you manage to generate some kind of EMP that affected the electronics, or
did you manage to generate radio wave interference?

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chiph
It was a combination of the spark gap used to create the high frequency needed
to drive the inductor coils, plus the 8+ inch sparks I was creating off the
top of it.

Also - I was able to light a 3' fluorescent bulb held at a distance of 7 feet
away. No wires.

I have remarkably tolerant parents. :)

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meaty
Is there some link with geeks and explosives?

In my youth, if a large bang was heard across the town or smoke was spotted, I
was always asked if it was my fault :) (a lot of the time it was :)

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kragen
Yes, everyone I've ever known who made explosives was a geek. Why is that?

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jwoah12
They knew where to find a copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook.

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davidtanner
A real geek would know the Anarchist's Cookbook is chock full of dangerous
misinformation and avoid it.

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meaty
Especially the picric acid recipe which our chemistry teacher decided to "do
for us" to show how dangerous the JRCB was. Cracked the glass in the fume
cupboard.

Best chem teacher in the world: Mr Atkinson, I salute you for making it
interesting and turning a blind eye when we were stealing chemicals (because
he did it when he was younger) :)

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Florin_Andrei
Picric acid is pretty evil. Don't just store it wet, but store it under a
layer of water. Even then I'd be wary of it. Heck, just avoid it, it's too
dangerous.

The damn thing blew up while being prodded with a stick by a friend, and I'm
pretty sure the concoction was still quite wet.

Well, at least nobody was badly hurt, and we accomplished what we set out to
do - which was to detonate a small amount of PA somewhere on the outskirts of
town. We just didn't envision exploding it anywhere near one of the members of
our team. :/

> _Mr Atkinson, I salute you for making it interesting and turning a blind
> eye_

Yeah, let's not mention "blind eyes" in this context.

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kmfrk
I remember a woman - Austrian? - who sold suicide kits that contained
something people were to inhale.

I don't know whatever happened to her or that story, but I am sure she's not
the only one in the "market".

Enabling people who want to harm themselves is probably more dangerous than
this. The superlative makes this article a little bombastic to read.

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darklajid
I'm not sure if I'd consider that 'more dangerous'. Sure, euthanasia is a
topic best not brought up at parties, but if I ignore the legal and moral
aspect for a second:

The stuff you order from the guy in the article is supposed to be
interesting/entertaining, but might kill you when you build it/if you are not
careful.

The 'suicide kit' you describe says what it does (if it works, if it's not a
scam) on the box. You won't buy it and .. die by accident.

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gadders
You have to admire someone who has built a business like that single-handed.

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gwern
Let's all give this man a hand!

I can imagine that some of his wares could be very... handy.

I'd give my left hand for that Tesla coil.

Let's hope he never hands off the business to an inferior designer.

You know, someone who can't quite put their finger on a brilliant design.

(Oh god I can't stop, there's just too many puns to make... at hand.)

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reinhardt
That was a pretty underhanded comment.

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gwern
I regret nothing!

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contingencies
You handled it well.

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iguana
Information Unlimited was the first thing that came to mind. Growing up in the
90's, I would eagerly await the catalog, then read and reread it, saving up
all the money I could for the wonderfully dangerous gadgets within. The Ion
ray gun was amazing - it would light up a fluorescent tube from 3 feet away,
or send a purple corona into space. I would cut school to stay home and solder
their kits. Their R&D line fielded many of my calls, and were incredibly
patient with me. Pretty awesome to hear about the guy who started it!

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jstalin
I still have his first book, a masterpiece: _Build your own laser, phaser, ion
ray gun, and other working space-age projects_.

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DanBC
You might also enjoy the YouTube channel of 'Photonicinduction'.

(<https://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids>)

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splicer
I still have over a dozen Radio-Electronics and Popular Electronics issues
from the 80s and 90s that show how to make all kinds of neat high voltage toys
:)

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ucee054
_Meet the Man Behind America’s Most Dangerous Mail-Order Kits_

I thought this was going to be about Acme Corporation's Roadrunner-catching
kits

