Wacky Gadgets

The Sandford police department from the film Hot Fuzz would definitely appreciate this particular device. Some of you might remember the “swear jar” that the clueless cops kept there, and the terrific scene where Nick Angel (Simon Pegg) fills it up when he vents his frustration against the other officers’ ignorance. I don’t think I ever had a swear jar growing up, but I can see where it would come in handy. I’m pretty certain that the entire budget of The Osbornes came from that family’s daily bleeping.

So why not make a swear jar that looks like something some comic book character would say when he or she is cussing? By comic book character, I mean those of old-school fifties and sixties superhero comics. I’m pretty certain comic characters can pretty much say anything they want, as long as their book didn’t fall under the Comic Code authority.

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Boredom is a dreadful thing, so you should always find ways to get rid of it.  Thankfully, Think Geek is always around to rescue geeks from being sucked into a bland dark place in their mind.  Now you can spend your days strumming on a fake guitar on your shirt.  It has all the major chords and plays them out loud for all the world to hear.  Whether they like it or not.

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Instead of getting a skull that lights up and requires you to plug it in or toss in batteries, go for this slightly more convenient design.  It features a built-in solar panel to make it so that you can sit this out during the Halloween season and not need to worry about it till Halloween has passed.  Since it will be all over with as of Saturday, perhaps you should consider this for next Halloween instead though.

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Grown up on a diet of illusionists and magicians, that you want to emulate the careers of David Blaine and David Copperfield instead of taking the traditional engineer/doctor/lawyer route? The Freaky Body Illusions set ought to get you started on the right footing then, letting you perform seemingly “miracles” by stretching your ear to an inhuman length and levitating on the spot among others.

Perfect for scaring the local kids and giving elderly relatives a heart attack, the range of disgusting acts you can perform with this set is delightfully wide. All in all, you can take pleasure in making your audience (or just the cat if you can’t rustle one up) feel quite sick with these clever little tricks. You can snap bones in your neck, discover a disembodied hand, even tear someone else’s arm off – all with the help of the included instructional DVD. Of course, the Magic Circle might not approve of these secrets being divulged, but that won’t matter a jot when you’re merrily terrifying anyone watching you yank a blood-drenched and still-moving arm out of a box. Of course, the tricks are surprisingly simple and just require a little bit of acting (not method-acting) and rehearsal to make a convincing show. Included are all the props you could need for these illusions, such as a box (with one panel missing), a fake ear, a fake arm (with gore detail), a bone-click simulator, a fake hand and various other bits and pieces to create the impression that you’re doing yourself some irresponsible harm.

The Freaky Body Illusions will retail for £24.99 and ought to make for a really wacky gift set.

happiness hat from Lauren McCarthy on Vimeo.

They say that frowning uses less muscles than a smile, and frowning too much might just result in an undesired, sad look on your face permanently if done once too often. Enter the Happiness Hat that ought to change all that, leaving you with a perpetual smile without having to carve one out for you. How is this possible? No, it doesn’t use some sort of laughing gas or anything of the sort, but rely on a traditional Pavlovian-style approach by driving a metal spike into its wearer’s head should he or she make the mistake of frowning. This is made possible by an embedded bend sensor which is attached to the cheek and measures smile size, while a servo motor helps moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. That ought to leave you with a perpetual smile, that’s for sure.

Source: Gearlog

If you have a co-worker that really just needs paid back for their charming personality, here’s the way to do it.  It’ll allow for you to sneakily drive them crazy, but not do any actual harm to their computer.  This USB drive can be jammed into the back of the computer where they’re highly unlikely to find it, unless they should inspect the back.  However, by that time you’ll have gotten at least a little enjoyment out of their frustration.

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I think that most of us would agree that CSI: Crime Scene Investigation isn’t designed for six-year-olds. However, if you have a six-year-old that happened to watch it, then perhaps they would be inspired by the forensics people. This is assuming they wouldn’t have nightmares.

I am assuming that this is the target audience for the Spy Gear Evidence Kit. This All-in-One Inspection Set is designed for future detectives, as it highlights all the nifty aspects of it. For example, it has a 7 piece fingerprint kit that allows your kids to use lifting tape, glow in the dark powder, and an LED flashlight with UV Blacklight. This kit also has tiny ink case and a 2-sided fingerprint card for more fingerprint fun.

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SnowShorts put Rosebud on a kid's bum.

When something is designed that is so obvious, you have to wonder why it took so long for someone to come up with the idea. This is the case with SNOWSHORTS, which takes the idea of a cardboard box and marries it to skipants. HUH?

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