Peter Landecker's Home Page
[ Scuba diving, ] [ astronomy, ] [ violin, ] [ travel, ] [ photography, ]
[ pets, ] [ fellowship, ] [ alumni, ] [ history ] and [ computers. ]
I have logged almost 1600 dives and more than 1300 underwater hours in 30 countries since 1975 (including almost 300 dives at least 90 feet deep and almost 100 night dives), with most of my dives in Southern California. Each dive is different with so many exciting things to see.
For example, if you would like to see a picture of me with my 400 pound Giant Sea Bass buddy taken on July 5, 2001 as well as a photo I took of this beautiful fish click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took while in the water with one of five different whale sharks near La Paz, Baja, Mexico in November 2007, click here. This whale shark was about 30 feet long!
If you would like to see pictures of me diving in the Aquarium of the Pacific tanks in Long Beach, California on July 22, 2006, click here.
I participated in the first volunteer Reef Check California Survey on April 30, 2006 at Santa Cruz Island. If you would like more information about Reef Check California, click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took of my dive buddy behind a giant sponge at Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman Island, click here.
If you would like to see pictures I took near Darwin's Arch in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador in January 2000 of a pair of hammerhead sharks, click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took of a garibaldi (California State marine fish) at Catalina Island, click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took of a blenny, framed by coral in the Caribbean, click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took of a trumpetfish in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took of a christmas tree worm in Belize, click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took in French Polynesia of a grey reef shark seeming to kiss my divemaster's ass goodbye click here.
If you would like to see pictures taken in Cenote Chac Mool on November 27, 2001 near Akumal in the Yucatan, Mexico click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me and the 22 pound (32 inch long) sheephead fish I caught on September 24, 1999 at San Miguel Island, California click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me and an octopus taken in October 2005 at Eagle Reef, Catalina Island, California by Chris Grossman, click here. If you would like to see a picture I took of Joe Kalohi holding an octopus taken in British Columbia, click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me "diving" in the hot tub aboard the Peace dive boat, click here or here. [This is picture #63 from the Peace photo album at http://www.peaceboat.com/photos.htm.]
If you would like to see a picture of me on October 2, 2004 which was opening day of lobster season in California,
click here
or here.
If you would like to see a picture of me on November 14, 2006 of me and the group Don, Cathy, Lorraine (Don's Scuba instructor) and me with more lobsters,
click here
or here. I caught four lobsters in 15 minutes (a new record for me)! And the visibility was great as I could see the boat looking up from the bottom 100 feet down. That evening, we had a gourmet feast! For both trips, I had been diving with the Muellers at Don's secret spots on their fantastic boat "Bottom Time" off Palos Verdes.
I was former President, Vice President and currently Program Chairperson and Webmaster of The Sea Divers dive club, and in addition was former President of the Aerospace Corporation Dive Club for 6 years.
If you would like to see a picture of me on the cover of Sky and Telescope Magazine, posing in front of a cosmic ray house at Cornell University, click here. I am in the foreground on the right holding the fresnel lens. I helped design the house and inside laboratory experiment.
There are many confusing acronyms in aerospace, so I co-authored "The Acronym Book", published by the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics). If you would like more information about this publication containing more than 50,000 referenced entries, click here or on the following book cover
. [If you purchase this book immediately after clicking on this cover link, then Amazon.com will donate 15 percent of The Acronym Book purchase you make (as well as 5% of other purchases) to the non-profit Beach Cities Symphony (see the next section of this web page).]
I also published about 80 papers and patents related to astronomy and physics; to see them, click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me with my violin and my longtime friend Roy Sonne, click here. Roy and I played violin together in the same high school orchestra as well as in a string quartet. Roy played first violin in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra whereas I aspire to play outside in front of Carnegie Hall. If you would like to see a picture of Roy playing my violin, click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me just before the March 2003 Beach Cities Symphony concert, click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me playing the violin at age 13, click here.
If you would like to see piano music I composed and published at age 10, click here. This composition was included on page 27 of the book "My Hamster Crawls and Other Piano Pieces" by
Paul Ramsier and
published by the New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, CT in 1963 (Library of Congress #63-19940).
I became interested in music because of my mother. If you would like more information about my mom and her music, click here.
If you would like to see a photo of Los Angeles Opera Music Director James Conlon on September 21, 2008 posing with my 95 year old mother and me backstage at Dorothy Chandler Hall, click here. My mother Mildred was Maestro Conlon's first conducting teacher.
If you would like to see a picture of me on Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa in October 2002, click here.
If you would like to see a picture of me on the Great Wall, China in July 2005, click here.
I traveled to Ghana with the Friendship Force of Los Angeles and stayed in several homes there. If you would like to see a picture of me with Ghana President John Agyekum Kuffour in October 2007, click here and here.
The tortoises chase after me in my backyard! I use four-footed lawnmowers. California Desert Tortoises are endangered (although not in my backyard), so I have to license them with the California Department of Fish and Game.
In late June 2000, one of my female tortoises laid 7 eggs, and I incubated these eggs at 82 °F in a heated ice chest in one of my bathrooms. Click here to see a photo when 6 were out of their shells and the last one was trying hard to be free! A six inch long ruler is shown for comparison.
I was part of a UUSC delegation to monitor the November 2003 elections in Guatemala.
I took the only photo previously displayed on the UUSC Homepage and some of my photos appeared in the Winter 2004 UUSC Newsletter.
If you would like to see a picture I took which is on all the materials (including the cover photo) sent out by the UUSC as part of their November 2004 Guest At Your Table campaign,
click here.
If you would like to see a picture I took which was used by the UUSC as part of their report on human rights history in Guatemala,
click here.
Please come back soon and visit me.
Please click here to sign my guestbook.
This website was last revised on March 5, 2009.
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Travel
I enjoy seeing the world and taking vacations. I average about one international trip a year. I have spent a total of about four years abroad, visiting 90 countries. I have a world map on the wall in my study, with pins indicating places I've visited, and the map is well covered.
Photography
I enjoy land-based as well as underwater photography. I take 35 mm color slides, 8 mm video and digital images. Underwater photography is especially challenging. I give periodic slide and movie shows to my dive club and other organizations, and this is an excellent way for me to share my adventures.
Tortoises
I have 4 adult and 3 yard-raised California Desert Tortoises. If you would read an article about our yard-raised tortoises which appeared in the Tortuga Gazette,
click here. All three baby tortoises mentioned in this article are now adults, each weighing more than 8 pounds.
In the summer of 2008, several of the females laid a total of 37 eggs; 10 currently very healthy hatchlings resulted. Click here to see them having a hearty lunch.
Fellowship
I have been a member of the South Bay Unitarian Fellowship (SBUF) for about 35 years. Here I experience liberal religion within an extended family setting. We try to make the world a better place. We have weekly Sunday programs and a few other events. I am currently the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) representative for SBUF. I was formerly President, and Treasurer and currently Vice President of this organization.
If you would like to see a picture (2.6 Mb) which I took of children in Rabinal featured by the UUSC on their program poster as part of their "Guest At Your Table" program,
click here.
Alumni
I was a member of the Bronx High School of Science West Coast Alumni group for about 15 years (until it became inactive). Here I socialized with others who shared a common educational, cultural and geographical heritage. We met a few times a year in the Los Angeles area to have special events or plan for them. We still have occasional gatherings. In addition, I occasionally attend alumni events from Cornell University (where I went to graduate school).
History
I have been a member of the Manhattan Beach Historical Society group for more than 10 years. Here I get in touch with my local roots. We meet monthly in an historic beach cottage. In addition, I am helping to capture the history of Camp deBenneville Pines in Angelus Oaks, California.
Computers
I dabble in computers and am Webmaster for the Beach Cities Symphony Orchestra, the South Bay Chamber
Music Society, the South Bay Unitarian Fellowship, the Bronx High School of Science West Coast Alumni, the Manhattan Beach Historical Society the Pacific South-West Institute of Religious Liberals, for Mildred Landecker
for Lenore Snodey and for the Friendship Force Los Angeles
as well as for The Seadivers Dive Club.
This page is accessable with
http://www.lafn.org/~bf684/index.htm (version without any advertisements),
http://geocities.com/plandecker,
http://geocities.datacellar.net/plandecker.
You can contact me at
landecker@cyberdude.com or
landecker@geocities.com.
.
