"Science" -or- "Blowing Shit Up"

I enjoy doing little "experiments" at home occasionally, little projects that have all the fun of "blowing shit up" but which can be rationalized as being science experiments that are somewhat educational. For some reason, this makes my husband nervous.

For instance, I've done this grape in the microwave trick before, though I wasn't as anal about the precise division of the grape or finding the microwave's hot spot. The main thing is to leave the small piece of skin connecting the two halves:

http://c3po.barnesos.net/homepage/lpl/grapeplasma/

I've never gotten a ball of electricity, but I've seen the electric arc.

So, my readers, do you have similar things you like to do, crazy stunts or projects that can be passed off as "educational" in some way? If so, please do comment!

Link extravaganza

I don't usually do this, because I assume that interesting links and articles are viral, and you'll end up seeing them passed around your FL anyway, but I've run across a lot of good stuff (some serious, some cool, some silly) the last few weeks I wanted to share in case you hadn't:

-Fat Positive artistic nudes (Not Safe for Work, obviously). I really like the set with the mesh dress, especially:
http://www.adipositivity.com/

-Eddie Izzard imagines Darth Vader at the Death Star Canteen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp69rg6Hdlo
(If the link doesn't work, just google Eddie Izzard and "death star canteen")

-Fat patients do better after heart attacks than normal weight patients, but health "experts" still keep pushing weight loss. BFB's critique:
http://www.bigfatblog.com/fat-helps-heart-attack-dont-be-fat

-The link between being fat and having high blood pressure gets weaker, but health "experts" still keep pushing the idea that fat equals death!
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/07/truth-comes-hard.html

-Super cool article about why individual bugs aren't too bright, but swarms are smart:
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5/

-The New "Seven Wonders of the World":
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/photogalleries/seven-wonders/index.html

-Kate Harding does a great job articulating some things I've thought for a long time about why not all fat people are compulsive and/or binge eaters but why fat compulsive/binge eaters often have trouble getting appropriate help:
http://kateharding.net/2007/07/10/so-close-and-yet-so-far/