Does an alley in Wisconsin where it rains beer have anything to do with this month’s issue of SDM? Absolutely not, but I thought you would find it as intriguing as I did!

This month I’d like you to turn to page 125 and glance at SDM’s Technology Solutions & Skills. This department is a transformation of our long-standing Kinks & Hints, which was phased out in the beginning of the year. Back in the day when alarm panels were more popular than video cameras, installers prided themselves on devising customized security systems using wire and relays to make equipment perform in a way it wasn’t originally engineered to do – to cause an alarm signal to trigger a microphone or a buzzer or a light, perhaps. These self-professed security system architects would reveal their ideas to their peers through the pages of Kinks & Hints.