Ya'll have scared the pants off me. (figuratively speaking !) I've done 10 or 12 T.V.'s and monitors and have had no problems...I guess God was with me 'cause I took none of the precautions you all mentioned. I did hear the swooshing sound twice and I just left it for a while. And I've seen them in the dumpster with the rear of the tube completely broken open, but, obviously, didn't explode. Were these people just blessed, too? Or does this mean that these "accidents" are rare. I hope so, cause I'm scared to do them now, but I love that hunk of copper.