What could possibly go wrong? This flame thrower (which you can see in action in the below video) was created by an Instructables user called PDRWLSN. While he titled it “Moose/Bear Repellant”, we’d like to think of it as the most exciting way to burn off some eyebrow hairs while lighting a cigarette*. See, it’s a gun-shaped device that contains “various bits of copper tubing, plywood, some laser-cut acrylic parts, butane, and the pulse-ignitor from his gas grill to start the fire burning.” It throws a flame about a foot and a half in length and could easily be misused in a thousand different ways.
Best part? He was kind enough to give us detailed instructions on how to make our own (Instructables… get it?).
Although who the heck cares about safety when you’re clearly having as much fun as the people in the above video clearly are? Can’t watch the vid? Well, you just have to find a way. It’s a bunch of Darwin Award candidates propulsing themselves in the air with the aid of two bungee cords, an ATV and two tall poles. The “system” was developed by the Pope family in Hobble Creek Canyon, UT and filmed with a Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D and accompanied with music that will make you feel like impending death is is just the peachiest thing in the world.
Not enough?
Watch the below video to see where these folks got their inspiration.
The geek angle? Must you ask? Putting something like this together is the stuff of geeks, trust us.
You might think it’s far too early to start thinking about a Hallowe’en costume, but if you had hopes of following in Volpin Props’ footsteps and making your own Daft Punk helmet, you’re about 3 months too late. That’s because it took them 4 months to make this replica of the robo-like helmet that Thomas Bangalter wears during performances and other public appearances.
And even if you did have aspirations of building one of these yourself 3 months ago, the process looks very involved, particularly if you’re completely unfamiliar with prop-making techniques. And, Harrison Krix has been through all of this before, as last year he completed a 17-month build of Guy-Manuel’s helmet. AKA, the other Daft Punk guy.
So you’re probably better off just sticking with that tried and true hobo getup come October 31st.
According to Fatboy Slim, everybody needs a 303, but since they’re no longer manufactured and hard to come by, not everyone can find or afford a Roland TB-303 sequencer. There are software-based alternatives, but who doesn’t prefer the hands-on approach when it comes to making music? Researchers at the University of Southampton certainly do, so they created the d-touch sequencer and drum machine which can be simply printed and easily assembled at home.
You’ll still need access to a PC to download, install and run the Audio d-touch software suite, and a mountable webcam so the apps can see your paper timeline laid out. But even someone with basic origami skills can assemble the ‘sample’ cubes, and even if you have no musical capabilities whatsoever, you’ll be creating fresh beats in no time.
At this point the Audio d-touch software is robust enough to let you import samples as WAV files, or record and assign your own sounds or audio bits to a specific cube. And even though you have to register and the software requires an occasional internet connection to send usage reports back to the researchers, the d-touch system is completely free! And technically, even recyclable, once you realize you will never be any real competition for Mr. Slim.
Sugar and caffeine can’t hold a candle to a shot of adrenaline when it comes to waking you up. Which is why we feel this bomb-shaped alarm clock, which looks like it was ordered directly from the ACME catalog, would be far more effective than the countless number of alarm clocks we’ve brought you in the past. Designed and built by Mike Krumpus from Nootropic Design, when the countdown for the alarm starts you have to snip one of 3 wires to ‘diffuse’ the situation. And every time the countdown begins it’s a different randomly selected wire that does the trick.
Now granted, having to replace the wires every single night before going to bed is probably kind of annoying. And knowing the bomb is actually made from paper towel tubes takes away some of the adrenaline producing fear that would help wake you up in the morning. (Even though the clay version pictured below is certainly convincing.) But if it’s fear and adrenaline you’re after I’d suggest packing one of these in your luggage and convincing airport security it’s just a travel alarm.
I can’t seem to find any information on who created this amazing, gigantic hammock bed. But I do know one thing: it’s awesome. You could polish off an entire box of Ritz crackers on it, Cookie Monster style, and never have to worry about rolling over onto crumbs in the middle of the night. Also, if you happen to build one (it certainly looks like a DIY effort) strategically placed above your kitchen, you could easily just drop dishes into the sink or garbage into the can. In fact, with sufficiently long utensils you could even prepare breakfast without ever getting out of bed. We may be onto something here…
As people used to say in the now defunct website Digg, the title says it all. But if you feel like you must know more and clicking on things isn’t your thing, then perhaps we can mention that this helmet is a creation of one Jenn Hall, a resident of Philadelphia. And before you jump to the comments to profess your knowledge of how old this is by intertubes standards, know that we’re aware. Yes, it dates back to the distant July of this year. A month ago. But we still think her helmet is cool and worth mentioning an entire month later.
There doesn’t seems to be any plans for her to make them for money, though she does provide a step by step so you can make your own.
While a digital facsimile could probably be created in Flash in an afternoon, I like that Jeff Highsmith took a completely (well, almost completely) mechanical approach to his Peak 97 arcade game. It features a couple of articulated climbers with sharp pointy hands and feet that climb a sloped plywood wall covered in carpet. The climbers are controlled by a twin dial remote, and two players can compete to see who gets their mountaineer to the top of the peak first. It’s powered by Arduinos and other cheap electronicy bits, as Jeff’s goal was to build it with as little investment as possible. But it still looks like it would be a great addition to any games room, and since the climbs are timed, there’s plenty of room for competition.
Since it’s not available on Nintendo’s Virtual Console, and probably never will be, my old N64 is the only way I can still play Rare’s classic shooter Goldeneye. But this most recent portable N64 conversion, as massive as it may be, is probably the only way I’d ever consider sacrificing my old console. The ‘who’ part of the conversion is currently lacking in details, but the ‘how’ is elaborately detailed in over 75 photos you can find here. I mean some of the more technical bits are obviously lacking, but if you’re confident enough to even try and attempt a mod like this, you’re probably already competent enough to figure that stuff out on your own.
Related Tags: DIY, flame thrower
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