By Andrew Liszewski
I try not to lose too much sleep over it, but every once in a while the worry that my home will be invaded by a Roman fleet gets the best of me. I’m not proud of it, and I’ll admit there’s a chance I’m maybe being a little paranoid, but I just know the second I let my guard down- BAM!… Roman Centurions knocking on my door. Thankfully I’ll now be prepared though because some clever Greeks (I’m assuming, possibly even the direct descendants of Archimedes, even though their website’s in French) have created a portable solar death ray cleverly disguised as a solar oven.
The horribly named COOKUP200 can be assembled in as little as 10 minutes (I can probably get that down to 8 with years of practice) which should be enough time to get it set up and properly aimed if invading forces are spotted early enough. By default the parabolic mirrors are focused on the cooking plate so that the naive will think it’s designed for cooking, but I’m sure the focal point can be adjusted to cause one’s enemies some real discomfort. It even comes with its own carrying case making it easy to haul up on the roof giving you the high ground, and a built-in orientation sensor helps you properly align it towards the sun. The ~$700 (€499.95) price tag does have me a little worried, but I guess you can’t put a price on your home’s safety.
Oh, this is great! No smoke, no cleaning required, only assembling this seems enough already. Thanks for sharing this one. However, there are some recipes that you need to smoke for the best taste.