It’s incidental arson day (aka Guy Fawkes) here in NZ so should be fun to see the sky light up, assuming the rain stays away (it’s possible). It’s still weird to see fireworks for sale in regular supermarkets, since they were banned many years ago in Australia. I nearly bought a box full myself, just because they were there, but then I saw something even better, something I have wanted since ages ago:

Yep, it’s a good ol’ fashioned plasma ball (or lamp). Way fun to finally have one, I’m already experimenting with wrapping the globe in foil, which seems to turn it into a sort of poor man’s Van der Graaf generator. Now I just need to create a Leyden jar and I’ll have my own FCC non-compliant indoor fireworks kit!

Speaking vaguely of NZ, there is one thing I really hate about it here, and it’s not the weather– It’s the goddamn television. More specifically, it’s the fact that about 20% of air time appears dedicated to infomercials, while the same amount again is reserved for hocking extortionate and retarded SMS "services". Apparently for only $4.50 I can purchase myself, via TXT, a horrible smiley, a horrible background image, a horrible ringtone or a horrible subscription to a competition to win what appears to be a fourth generation iPod with a sterling silver back (which means it looks just like any other iPod, only for some reason the backplate is made of a ridiculously heavy and expensive metal instead of strong, light aluminium).