Oh Danny boy!
So growing up, Danny (as he was known) was quite the character. He became a man at 13 (according to Jewish law) and completed his Hebrew classes for his bar mitzvah. I found it quite funny that all the girls at his bar mitzvah were taller than all the boys, except for the girl he was dancing with. This picture stuck in my mind for quite some time.
Amazed that bro had told me later on that he had very little memory of his growing up years. And I remember alot of silly times we had as a family. Wonder if it was selective memory on his part? Or maybe his brain was filled to the brim with all those books he was constantly reading on "how to's"
Some of those book were how to win at chess. As I was the bratty youngest, he would teach me enough to learn how to move all the pieces but never how to strategize, thus ensuring he would win each and every time! A method to his madness.
His room became so filled with electronics and tools that he actually built a shed in our backyard to house all his "stuff" and even put a cot and heater in it so he could spend days holed up with his electronic doo dads.
One in particular that i will never forget was when he told me he was going to create lightning in my room. Um, should I trust him not to electrocute me? So he had built an osciliscope and had some kind of a coil, tesla or vandergraph type of thingamagig and did indeed proceed to amaze me yet again.
Needless to say, I have and always will look up to my big bro and all his scientific knowledge. His motto was, anything can be learned from a book. And he never stopped absorbing data.