Guy invents flamethrower hands: perplexed when life of superhero does not ensue

It has been awhile since I have found a video of an invention as completely useless, dangerous, and awesome as this. The Pyro system 2.2 reduces the need for radioactive induced super powers by at least 20%. Truly, the inventor is a modern day Blankman.

The Pyro system basically turns your hands into flamethrowers. The inventor uses some pretty simple and readily available supplies. A windproof lighter and those butane tanks used to refill lighters. He added some tubing and extended some wiring, slapped the system on a harness that straps to the wrist and presto instant hand flamethrower.



His YouTube channel everettbradford has several videos demonstrating how this portable flamethrower works and its application. I know in one video he talks about wearing this device that shoots fireballs out of his hands to a Halloween party. This sounded like a pretty bad idea to me. I did the math and here is what I came up with: Alcohol + highly flammable costumes + crowded house + flamethrower hands = 10(Great White Nightclub Fire).

I am not sure, but I think most municipalities would frown on individuals walking around with flamethrower hands. It seems that the ability to shoot fireballs out of your hands would probably constitute carrying a concealed weapon. However, many states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons after completely a training course. I wonder if you can get a license to carry flamethrower hands. Because you never know when you might need to melt someone’s face off.

I will admit there are other practical applications to having the ability to shoot flames out of your hands besides fighting robot ninjas and flying dinosaur scuba divers. Flamethrower hands could come in handy for lighting a pretty woman’s cigarette that you are ten feet away from or maybe heating up day old pizza.

And of course we have to consider the implications this will have on the Renaissance fair scene. I think the wizard guy just became a lot cooler than the barbarian guy, and the Black Night just peed himself.

Oh and for those of you that are worried this system might not be adequate for your flame shooting needs. Our inventor is currently has plans for a Pyro system 3.0 posted on his Youtube channel. This new system promises to give the wearer even more precise control over the flames he will shoot from his hands.

Why you should not attach a v-8 to a monowheel

So I have stumbled across a whole swarm of videos on YouTube highlighting one of my favorite useless inventions the monowheel. The monowheel is infinitely superior to the unicycle, because the operator rides inside the wheel instead of on top of it.

I have always wondered why this incredible mode of transportation never caught on and became a mainstream way of getting around. Well I found a video that pretty much answers my question and effectively ends any ideas entertaining the monowheel as a practical mode of transportation.

Slapshed back to school: the backpack

So it’s August and school will be starting soon. Which means spending money outfitting your children with back to school equipment and wardrobe or if you are going back to school it means you need all this stuff. Well I know the economy is tough right now so I thought I would right a series dedicated to some Slapshed ways of outfitting your child with all their back to school needs without breaking your wallet.
So here is installment #1: The backpack
I chose to start with the backpack, because it is the thing your kid will put all the other stuff in. Every kid needs a back pack, but backpacks can be expensive. Don’t worry about buying one though this video from Duct Tape Stuff on YouTube will show you how to build one out of you guessed it: duct tape. Or if you are more adventurous you can also try following the instructions at http://www.instructables.com/id/Macpack/ to assemble you own Mac pack, a back made from an old Macintosh computer.

Okay so you have the backpack covered. Of course there are plenty of other items you can make at home on the cheap that will not only provide your child with an academic edge, but catapult them to the front of the style class. How about a duct tape pencil case? Who knows stay tuned to find out.

Chicken Bullion Shower Head Prank

Here is an easy do it yourself prank. All you need is a cube of chicken bouillon. You unscrew the shower head and mash up the bullion in inside. You screw the shower head back on and wait. When your unsuspecting victim turns on the shower head they will find themselves taking a shower in chicken broth.
The great thing about this practical joke is it completely harmless and it is adaptable. You could really use any substance that is water soluble and non-toxic. The only problem I see with this trick is that many people turn the water on to adjust the temperature before entering the shower and would catch on before they ever got wet. Course it would still be funny seeing them try to figure out why the shower smells like chicken soup.

How to Send a Secret Message with an egg

Here is a cool way to send a secret message to that hungry spy on the go. All you need is an egg and some vinegar. Okay so hard boiled eggs are probably not a great way to send hidden communications, but would be stellar for practical jokes.


Amazing ! Ghost Message In A Egg - Funny home videos are a click away

The Ultimate Toliet Paper Launcher

The toilet paper thrower is a project from Make Magazine, which was actually featured on Martha Stewart today, kind of weird but goof for the guys at Make Magazine. I chose this project for today’s post because it really embodies a slapshed invention. It is random, improvised, a little ridiculous and pretty impractical. I think the loud noise emitted by the leaf blower will probably blow your cover if you are trying to TP someone’s house, but you’ll look pretty cool doing it.


Of course if you don't feel like building your own toilet paper launcher, but you still need some industrial strength TP launching power you could always buy one of these equally impractical and ridiculous toilet paper canons.

Your Own Personal Helicopter Hat

If you thought building your own hovercraft was cool, the personal helicopter kit Gen H4 from Jap will make your head explode with its complete awesomeness. It is a dozen times more dangerous but a 100 times cooler then the hover board which according to my math makes it 88 times more bodacious than the hovercraft.



For those that grew up in the eighties the Gen H4 will conjure up images of Inspector Gadget and his hat helicopter. That is because the Gen 4 is basically that a helicopter hat.

Unfortunately, it will cost you a substantial amount more than the hover board, but can you really put a price on a personal helicopter. Maybe, The Gen-4 costs roughly $30,000 dollars, and that is for the kit to build this incredible contraption. On top of that it seems it may not be currently available in the US. Ace Helicopters was the US distributor but their website is down and links back to the Japanese site.

I am going to research this further, because the world would be a much better although ridiculously more dangerous place, if this was the main mode of transportation. The possibilities are endless. Imagine walking out onto your landing pad attached to your 20th floor apartment and taking off. It looks like we just got one step closer to a Jetson’s world.

How to Become a Centaur

Apparently there is a market for everything. According to inventorgal’s youtube channel the demand for these horse legs has been “overwhelming.” I know the video says they are available for actors and performers but I have a strange feeling these are really marketed to individuals with more eclectic tastes.

So what is the big deal? This helps people fulfill their lifelong dream of being another species, right? Well as much as I love random and weird things the idea of waiting in line behind a 7’ tall centaur at the gas station, who gets an attitude with me because I’m starring at him, kind of bothers me. Maybe I’m wrong but it sounds like renaissance fairs across the country are about to get even weirder.

But that is just my opinion. If you are dead set on having these I found a few videos that may help get you started on designing your own horse legs or legs for whatever animal you feel like inside.

Who am I to judge, right? Just don’t get upset if people stare when you show up at the local grocery store. Remember they’re not judging your horse legs or your god given right to live as a centaur. They’re just wondering why a horse has a pound of beef in their grocery cart, but I digress.


Here is a link to download the plans for these:
Gryphern

The Inspiration for Slap Shed Studio

I remember the first time I saw Gizmo when I was young. It was truly an inspirational moment. It is a documentary mainly about old inventions that never caught on but it ends up making a statement about the human spirit and it has a sweet soundtrack to boot. I’m not going to write a full review of this movie, I’ll just say you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll say why didn’t I think of that. This is part 1 of 8. I will update with a new installment every week.

Bear Killed in Bear Attack

The weather is improving, which can mean only one thing. A rise in bear attacks. I am not sure if anybody saw the story about the Ashley Swendsen in Colorado Springs, CO. She was out hiking when she came across a bear. At first it followed at a distance slowly. The bear was almost casual. Then Ashley made a break for a nearby road. The bear gave chase, but before he could catch her she rushed out onto the road and was promptly hit by a car. Ashley shouted for help, but the driver fled the scene. Oh yeah, Ashley was pregnant. Long story short Ashley and her unborn child are fine, but the bear is dead.




The moral of this story is even bears aren’t safe from bear attacks. “So what can I do?” you ask. Well watch the video and find out.

Nintendo Guitar Hack

I’m not sure if this is cool or incredibly nerdy. Either way it definitely fits the Slap Shed profile. I found this Nintendo guitar hack on a site called NES Paul. The site shows how to take a mini Les Paul and an old NES and make a pretty sweet electric guitar.

NES Paul doesn’t go into a lot of detail about building the guitar, but is enough to give us the basic concept. A couple issues I think you may have with this guitar is artifact noise from the weak plastic frame of the Nintendo. I also think this guitar may have issues staying in tune. I think both these problems could be addressed by internally reinforcing the Nintendo frame and adding speaker foam.

Apply this principle to the bass, standing keyboard, and drums and you are ready to start the ultimate Devo tribute band.

I found a video of a SEGA being used the same way.

Dancing Cornstarch Creatures

This is a great experiment to create a really cool effect. You simply take cornstarch add in some water until it forms a thick consistent mix. Add the mix to an old sub woofer. You want to make sure its old, because this is going to pretty much ruin the speaker. Place the Cornstarch mix in the speaker and play a 120hz wave through the speaker. You can find sound modulators online that will allow you to play specific frequencies through your speaker. Blow a little air into the cornstarch and a very interesting thing begins to happen. Little creatures form in the cornstarch and start to dance.

This is a really fun experiment. It could be used to make a pretty cool music video, if you cut out the sound and added another track. Try adding food coloring or the solution from a glow stick. Have fun.

How to Toilet Train a Cat

So I was watching a friend’s cat a few weeks ago. He was a sweet enough cat but he was really getting on my nerves. He would knock over glasses, scratch my feet with his claws, and tried to jump out a 10 story window. The thing that annoyed me most about this feline was his litter box. This is why I couldn’t have a cat. The concept of the litter box is pretty nasty. Every time he jumped up on my counter or my lap or couch or anything, all I could think of were his paws digging around in a box of litter. I cleaned it every day, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s pretty nasty.

Well apparently there is a solution, right out of Meet the Parents, with what seems like an incredible amount of effort you can train your cat to use the toilet. Problem solved, right? I’m not so sure. The more I think about this one the more I am torn. Would I rather have little bits of litter everywhere and dirty paws touching everything in my house or have the pleasure of random cat turds floating in my toilet. How embarrassing would it be if you had a date over and they asked to use the restroom? So, until they figure out to teach the cat how to flush too, I’m probably going to hold off on cat ownership.

Lazarus The Fly

I would like to start this blog by stating that I do not condone animal cruelty nor playing god, but I thought this was too cool not to post. Apparently, it is possible to revive a nearly drowned fly with a little bit of salt. I say nearly because dead is dead and there is no coming back from that. I am not a biologist but I would imagine the fly enters a state of suspended animation similar to hypothermia and the salt acts as a catalyst to speed up the reanimation process.
Again this would be a cool way to win a bet, but I ask that you use it wisely and don’t torture any innocent flies. SO if you are going to attempt this please only attempt it on drowning flies you are trying to revive too impress your hippy girlfriend or flies that have committed the most nefarious of acts.

The Musical Fruit

No not beans. I am not much of a musician, but I came across the idea of musical fruit recently on the internet. The idea of making musical instruments out of food is actually a pretty old idea. Gourds have been used to make all kinds of instruments since humans started keeping a beat. Of course Slap Shed Studio isn’t content with a plain old gourd. I found a video showing how to make an Ocarina out of a carrot. This definitely qualifies as a Slap Shed instrument.



Of course an instrument doesn’t have to be made of fruit to be inventive, creative and completely ridiculous. There seems to be a whole trend of crazy homemade instruments. Some of them actually sound pretty good others not so much.

Let’s see what kind of instruments the Slap Shed Studio community can come up with. However, I encourage all those making fruit out of produce to please buy local

Update:
Check out this blog for more on food and inventions: Tasteful Inventions

Build Your Own Hover Board

It seems that the dream planted in every child since the release of Back to the Future II has finally been realized. Okay so maybe the Airboard is not quite as cool as the hover boards in Back to the Future II, but it has the distinct advantage of being real. It works on the same principle as larger hovercraft. A powerful motor is use to direct air contained by a rubber skirt downward. This causes the craft to hover above the ground on a cushion of air.

These are available for sale, but I have also included a clip from the Gadget Show on how to build your own hover board. Since that is what this blog is all about.

So here is the deal I would like to challenge all my faithful readers (I am pretty sure there are 3 maybe even four of you) to build their own hovercraft and submit pictures or video of it.

Remember “You can’t take a hover board on water unless you have power!”

I know this is the second day in a row that I'm going to an outside source for the randomness. This was posted on a great blog called failblog.org. Quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs.


see more pwn and owned pictures

Interesting Inventions

Thought this video was pretty cool and I wasn't able to come up with any of my own ideas today, so I took the easy the way out and posted a funny invention video.

Reliable Transportation for under $200

I can’t wait to get a bicycle so I can convert it into a moped. There are several kits available, on the market that allow you to convert your pedal powered bicycle into a gas fueled machine. The kits come with everything from the engine to the fuel tank. They claim to go up to 40mph, which makes them adequate for getting around in town. What I love about these kits is your bike retains all the cool benefits of making you look like your athletic, while not actually requiring you to make any of the effort. They also get great gas mileage, and are pretty affordable starting at $150 (this includes the engine). Depending on your local laws you may not need a driver’s licenses or tags because of the small engine size. Make sure you check because these laws vary from state to state.
All you have to do is dust off that old bicycle sitting behind the mower in your garage (if you don’t have an old bike, trade for one on craigslist). Purchase a helmet for $50. Purchase a bicycle motor conversion kits for $150, and follow the instruction to install. There you know have reliable transportation for under $200.
I will put of video of me installing one of these as soon as I get a bicycle.

Updating the Jug Line
The Jug Line is a pretty simple concept. Tie some fishing line to a milk jug. Tie a hook and bait to the other end of the line. Place the jug in water populated with fish. Return in a few hours and collect fish. Of course there are a lot of things that can go wrong with a jug line. The first is the current or a hooked fish may carry the jug line away from where you placed it. Now, you have to spend all day looking for it. The second problem is a hooked fish is an easy meal for other fish. So the longer a fish stay hooked in the water the more likely you are to have caught a fish head.
Well I came up with a Slapshed update to the jug line that will solve both these problems. By placing a GPS tracking unit in the milk jug and having it activated by a simple circuit when the jug hooks a fish, you can be notified on your cell phone when you catch a fish and where you caught it is located. To make it easier to identify the jug when you go to retrieve it I also added a beacon light.

A Better Kite?

So spring is upon us and we are entering prime kite flying season. I am not an expert acrobat kite flyer, but I do get fairly competitive about how high I can fly a kite. I also hate launching a kite. You know the routine.

“Keep running. Faster, wait no let me try running away from you.” This same script is repeated a thousand times.

Well I think I may have developed a solution to running around trying to launch a kite, and created a shortcut to instant altitude. I call it the RAK or rocket assisted kite. I will keep you updated on its progress. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Hopefully, it will be ready for Easter.

How to Roast Coffee

I'm working on a couple projects right now, but I managed to put together this little video on coffee roasting. It is by no means a comprehensive guide. If you want to find out more check out How to Roast Coffee at Home. Enjoy.

The Dancing Spy

Thought I'd post a silly animation I made. I hope to do a how to on animation but am still trying to decide the best way to show this fun little hobby. I used microsoft paint and windows movie maker. Just a warning this cartoon about a spy going clubbing is pretty pointless overall. Hope you enjoy.

Strange How to number #1

How to get rid of the dreaded bathroom burglar

Everyone has been there. You are utilizing the facilities when you hear the footsteps, coming closer and closer. Inevitably, those footsteps stop right in front of the door, just before the handle begins to jiggle. What was a peaceful private moment now feels like an awkward version of a horror movie, all because the bathroom burglar did not get the hint from the closed door.
However, a little ingenuity and a few inexpensive items available at the local hardware store will allow you to rid yourself of bathroom burglars for good. After reading this article, you will be able to install an “Occupied” light on the outside of your very own bathroom. This light lets everyone know, “Hey! Keep on walking; there’s no vacancy at this inn.”
Remember you will be working with electricity so safety is of the utmost importance (Seriously if you have not worked with electricity before you don’t attempt this). The first thing you need to do is turn of the power to your bathroom at the circuit breaker. Then gather all your equipment. You will need the following items: Safety goggles, electric drill, screwdriver, door contacts, light socket, red light bulb, electrical wire, and wire cutters.
Okay you are ready to begin building your early warning system for passerbies. Mount your light socket eye level on the outside of the bathroom door. Next, mount the door contacts. Place the bottom contact on the top edge of the door. Place the top contact on the doorframe directly above the bottom contact. Cut a piece of wire a little longer than the distance between the light socket and the bottom door contact. Connect the wire to the light socket and the bottom door contact.
We are half way there, but the next part gets a little tricky so pay attention. With the wire, measure the distance between the top door terminal and the light switch in your bathroom. Cut a piece of wire several inches longer than you think you will need. Connect one end of the wire to the upper door contact. Drill a small hole just bigger than the wire directly above the top door contact. You will feed the wire through the hole, but you need do something first.
Go inside the bathroom and unscrew the light switch, so you have access to the back of it. Run the wire though the wall and to the light switch. Attach the wire to the light switch. Reattach the light switch to the wall. Screw in your light bulb and turn on the power at the circuit breaker.
That is it you are done. From now on, whenever the door is closed and the light switch is on you will be able to enjoy that day’s newspaper or your favorite periodical in peace.

I enjoy randomness and hope to spread that joy to the world. I like to write and am always starting strange products. I hope to share these projects with you. Maybe you'll find some of them useful, but you probably won't.
I write for a few other sites and will probably plug these without shame. So strap in and enjoy the ride.