Zak

I consider what I deal with to be embarassing and shameful to be honest.

It is shameful, but the shame is not yours. The shame belongs to the culture that would treat you this way and those who perpetuate it. Escaping it is difficult, dangerous and something to be proud of. Exposing it will help to destroy it, and is honorable.

Write your book.

I've never rocked the boat to the extent where they've needed to be

The way you phrased that suggests you believe they might need to be violent if you "rock the boat". This is a serious warning sign even though that probably isn't exactly what you meant to communicate. It suggests that it's normal to feel justified in doing violence to relatives who don't conform.

Security consultant Gavin de Becker promotes the following framework for evaluating the threat posed by potentially violent people:

• Justification - does the person feel that they've been somehow wronged to the extent that violence is justified to remedy the situation?
• Alternatives - are there still options available to the person that will placate him without violence?
• Consequences - does the person understand what's likely to happen to him if he uses violence? Does he care about those things as much as he cares about doing the violence?
• Ability - this one is fairly self-explanatory.

Your phrasing[1] indicates that the justification will be present when your family becomes aware of your decision. When that happens, there will probably be few alternatives available to them as they see it. It's hard for me to guess to what degree they'll care about the consequences, so the safest thing for you is to remove their ability to harm you. Depending on how savvy and determined they are, it may be a challenge to simply avoid them. I imagine there are resources available to help you in that regard, but you probably have a much better idea what those are than I do.

[1] Even if unintentional, it reveals the sort of thinking going on. Don't put it past your family to do these things, and don't try to talk yourself out of it if you feel there is danger. Those instincts evolved to keep you alive. Listen to them.

Do tell us - not just because it will keep us bored internet people entertained for a few minutes, but because it may serve as useful advice for anyone reading who's in the same situation. I suspect there are a dozen lurkers who say nothing for every comment posted here by someone in similar circumstances.

Building one of these is impressive, but it's not quite as impressive as you might think. A how-to was published in Make magazine and much more information can be found in forums. OP's work does not likely contain much in the way of original design.

Actually detecting fast neutrons means he did a good job though. A lot of hobbyists only get as far as containing a ball of plasma without any fusion taking place.

According to the CDC, a gaseous ozone generator was found inadequate for decontaminating hospital rooms of MRSA bacteria. Ozone is used at very high concentrations to sterilize medical equipment in small enclosed containers.