eBay shopping lands wild colonial in lock-up A 35-year-old man from the country town of Castlemaine in Victoria has been remanded in custody to face court after spending $AU17,000 on eBay buying bomb-making equipment. Phillip Marsh has told the Bendigo Magistrates Court his intention was to “make fireworks”, after amassing a collection that included potassium nitrate, …
I remember making 'fireworks', using potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur, back in the '70s. Those were the days, when you could make small and simple explosive devices and nobody minded provided you didn't cause damage or inconvenience. Those were also the days when pure and unadulterated sodium chlorate could be bought by the pound at a garden supplies shop.
I don't remember being able to buy detonator cord or anti-personnel mines though. Maybe I wasn't old enough.
We used to nick everything we needed to make black powder from school, although I seen to remember buying the ingredients from the pharmacy as well. My favorite was sugar and potassium nitrate mixed up and rolled in newspaper, made a wicked smoke bomb. Powdered magnesium and homemade thermite were fun too. That was in the 80s and early 90s, when it was considered more nerdy than terroristy. Oh look, a new word!
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