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It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What should we name this one? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Put on your thinking cap and leave an entry in the comments.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: First prize for naming it and a t-shirt goes to Scott-O, who calls it Asscender. Second prize is awarded to ed4linda for calling it the SUC: Sport Utility Compact-o-van. However, ed4linda did not select a t-shirt.
During April and May, Steven will be off writing a book describing his techniques for thinking up whimsical product concepts, and will not be submitting images to Neatorama.com. The Name That Wierd Invention contest will resume Monday, May 30.
It’s the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas for the Museum of Possibilities. Can you come up with a name for this one? Commenters suggesting the funniest and cleverest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: We have winners! First place goes to amanderpanderer, who called it “Petal Stool…you know, for putting women up on.” Ha! Second place to Mysfyt for “The Sit and Stay-Man. (Petal Powered).” Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
Part of this image first appeared in the July, 1983 issue of Road & Track magazine.
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What should we call these? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Start your brainstorming and leave an entry in the comments.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Have fun and good luck!
Update: Ladybuggs takes first prize for Convertuble, and Pat wins second place for Car Pool. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop! Check in next week for another chance to Name That Weird Invention, from the Museum of Possibilities!
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What should we name this one? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Put on your thinking cap and leave an entry in the comments.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: Scott-O had a winning entry with the name First Eye’d Kit, and nik said he’d call it the Emergen-See Kit. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
It’s the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas for the Museum of Possibilities. Can you come up with a name for this one? Commenters suggesting the funniest and cleverest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: First prize goes to Alexandru Popa for “The Hairmet.” Second prize was won by Manticore for “The Mullmet.” Both t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What should we call these? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Start your brainstorming and leave an entry in the comments.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Have fun and good luck!
Update: First prize goes to Deo for Espadrills. The second place winner is amanderpanderer, who called them SKIL-lettos (the newest SKIL multi-tool). Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
Honorable mentions:
AWB, Drillettos
Patrick Girouard, Swiss Army Shoes
SnarKatestic, Handy Heels
Spiffyspork, Mrs. Fixits
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What should we name this one? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Put on your thinking cap and leave an entry in the comments.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: There were a lot of very clever names submitted this week. First prize goes to pismonque for Geri-Go-Round. Second prize goes to Haring Wati, who was the first to submit the name Car-ousel. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop! Other names that deserve a second look include:
Geriatric lazy susan
Senior roulette seat
Mobile oldies dispenser
Spinster (two entries)
Seat-or-rama
Roadtisserie
Geriatric Gyro
Geri-sel
THE OLDS-MOBILE
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What should we name this one? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Get creative and leave an entry in the comments.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: The first-place name selected was Yawn-mower, from kfd90. Second place went to chaise-lawn from Norris. Neither winner selected a t-shirt, which hints that maybe you guys enjoy playing these games with or without a prize!
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. What inspiration does this scene suggest to you? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Let your imagination run wild, and good luck!
Update: We have winners! A t-shirt goes to Skribbler, who won first place with the entry “Soil-ent Whites”. The second place name was “Grampers” from joe satari, who did not select a shirt.
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? Commenters suggesting the funniest and cleverest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: The first place winner is Golfyball for the name Bumpermarket. Second place goes to ladybuggs for the Grumpcart. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
Honorable Mentions:
Stacey Bumper Basket
Michael Wendell Bumpercarts
BrisusCheez BumperBuggies and CrashCarts
ladybuggs Crash Cart
ladybuggs Bumper Buggy
tcchuang The Amusement Mart
ladybugs The Grumple Mover
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Let your imagination run wild, and good luck!
Update: ladybuggs wins a t-shirt for coming up with the name “the Toothsayer”! Also tripleX had the second place winning name with “ayePad”, but didn’t specify a shirt. Honorable mentions to Andrew X for “Den-Tell” and to Trevor for “DenTell Plaque.”
No doubt, the umbrella has evolved over time into a successful, functional personal accessory that works well in keeping rain off. In a driving rain accompanied by a powerful wind, an umbrella may turn inside out, or fail to keep one’s dress or pants dry. But it generally works well, and the latest compact designs – small enough to fit in a large jacket pocket – may cost as little as $10.
Yet it is my hobby to think up alternative ways of solving problems, and this may lead me to propose strange plausible designs or to come up with elaborately-detailed, flawed concepts intended merely as jokes. I like to feel that even though a product has locked into a specific shape and form, and become stylish and traditional over time, other design possibilities may exist “out there” that could fill an empty niche. Some of my designs might be impractical under circumstances of normal usage. While my necktie which doubles as a screw-off umbrella is a possible product, it would feel heavy when worn around the neck.
Two of my designs, published in 1983, became products many years later. One can now purchase a colorful umbrella hat, and in 2005 BusinessWeek magazine awarded a Bronze Design Award for an inflatable umbrella with a hand pump that looks similar to my design published 22 years earlier.
Over a period of 27 years, I have invented odd-looking bicycles. I began designing them in 1983, but added to the collection as recently as this past year. The theme has always been more or less the same: Ignore aerodynamic and structural efficiency in favor of whimsical appearance. Perhaps the designs evoke an Aesthetic of the Impractical. Of course, my bikes are not likely to be ultra-light, and with several models a rider might worry that pants cuffs could catch on art nouveau-style floral ornamentation.
If it were possible to make these bikes reasonably lightweight, however, I might like to ride one.
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenters suggesting the funniest and wittiest names will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Let your imagination run wild, and good luck!
Update: First prize goes to inky for StairChaise. The second place winner was steamtroll for the Stratolounger. Third place: DS for the name Lofty-Boy, and in fourth place was yuck2me for Loft-o-Lounger. T-shirts from the NeatoShop go out to the two winners who posted shirt selections with their entry! Honorable mentions: The Over-Study, The ChairCase; Over Easy Chair, Chairway to Heaven, Thermo-Chair, The Vertigo Lounger, Decliner, and Reclimber.
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop. Have fun, and good luck!
Update: Congratulations to Madam Atom, who named the boots Ankle Biters, and Carolyn Bahm, who called them Moc Martens. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
For this Friday’s Museum of Possibilities, I risk ridicule by sharing my past attempts to create a hands-free phone. Working for nearly twenty years at a metropolitan newspaper, I watched reporters spend a half-hour conducting a phone interview with a telephone crammed between their upraised shoulder and neck. It was easy to see how neck strain could result. Yet reporters had a problem: They worked in a busy, noisy newsroom where they could not use a speakerphone lest they disturb other reporters and also violate the need for privacy. Moreover, they didn’t like to wear headsets because it made them look like secretaries and therefore uncool!
(Image credit: Flickr user jamelah)
In the humor section of most bookstores it is easy to find books depicting ludicrous inventions that were filed with the U.S. Patent Office. The books include meticulous patent drawings and descriptions, and are good for a laugh. Inventing is an earnest but often awkward process of trial and error. In my cartoon-inventing sideline, I walked a line between seriously attempting to solve a problem in an unusual, but plausible way, and intentionally creating concepts that were obviously wrong and foolish, like those found in those funny patents books.
Decades before there were cell phones, and wireless “earloop” headsets, I was trying to figure out the future of the hands-free phone. These panels are mostly from the 1980s and early 1990s. The final panel, showing ladies using a PDA-type wireless telephone, was a reasonably correct prediction of devices that came into common use a decade later. Yet so far, I have not seen any version of my High Collar Headset! Nor have I seen another of my ideas: a headset built into a woman’s wig.
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? I can’t even figure out what it’s for! The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: Congratulations to qwhacker, who called this “The Long Arm of the Law”. Qwhacker wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The second place entry was from cs, who did not specify a t-shirt:
“The future of traffic enforcement – The Self-Service Ticketing Lane Response Vehicle and Revenue Generator. No longer will officers have to be inconvenienced by weather or in danger from other vehicles on the highway. They will be able to work comfortably from the nearest coffee shop and use Facetime to issue tickets while sipping their latte.
One day it occurred to me that backpacks, when seen from the rear, looked like bugs. A review of backpacking equipment catalogs showed a wide range in pack design and capacity, many of the models bug-like in shape and color scheme. There are small, inexpensive student bookpacks, as well as larger and more expensive daypacks, and rucksacks. There are external- and internal-frame backpacks designed for serious backpacking and mountaineering. I designed a few silly-but-functional Bugpacks that included pouches, internal sections, zippered compartments, shoulder straps and waist belts.
I went on to think up other strange-looking backpacks. One is not likely to see any of these models on a mountain trail, with the exception of the bear-shaped pack. When the drawing below was published in What the World Needs Now in 1984, there were no such packs available, but soon thereafter child-friendly packs in cuddly bear styles began to be marketed to young children.
It’s time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? I can’t even figure out what it’s for! The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: We have winners! A difficult selection, with many entries and many good entries, and ultimately Foosnark rose to the top with arBra, a clever palindrome. old_joe came in second with the Dance Enhancer. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
The future is not entirely unknowable. There are ways to predict what is coming using semi-scientific techniques such as scenario scripting and trend “trigger” analysis. Often, projections can be made by extrapolating from current trends. Indeed, trend trackers and futurists make a living describing what is coming. But there are also the psychics, village idiots, witches, trance channelers, sensitives and scryers who sometimes through effort or by accident tap into what the future holds. Science fiction writers, especially the best ones like Jules Verne or Arthur C. Clarke, have been able to see trends far enough ahead to describe what is coming. And there are inventors, tinkerers, designers and cartoonists who also try to tap into the same “web” of thought that mysteriously spans past, present and future and who in some instances come up with astounding images of future trends and products. (Image source: Blackberry Planet)
more …
It’s time for another round of the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Have fun!
Update: Congratulations to Gauldar, who came up with The Hygenie 2000, and to haricotvert who named this item the Roto-Toother! Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop.
This Friday’s Museum of Possibilities offers ideas for specialized vehicles that fulfill a range of purposes not usually desired nor requested by the auto-buying public, at least not within a single vehicle. Not to be deterred by the clear lack of demand for such vehicles, I have designed a few. The impulse to add unasked-for capabilities to the ordinary automobile is not easily explained. Even the possibility that these capabilities will not work as I have suggested does not deter me.
Would I want to drive a 1990 model sports car while it was in Wash Cycle? Probably not. Would a drum dryer that rotated around the outside of the car muffler actually work? Maybe, but it might be so small as to be nearly useless. And if the car overheated while in traffic or on a long grade, the clothes inside the dryer might bake. That is, unless there was a thermostatically-activated muffler baffle installed.
Remember, the purpose of the Museum of Possibilities is to investigate possibilities, and not to get too hung up on practical matters!
It’s time for another round of the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Have fun with this one!
Update: Congratulations to first place winner ladybuggs who suggested Aquaphobmobile – a vehicle for the “sailor” who is afraid of the water, and to second place winner scarab, who called it a Minnow-Bago. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!
This Friday’s Museum of Possibilities offers several ideas for new types of motorcycles. In this exercise, the concept of the basic motorcycle has been mined for its potential to provide a platform for new uses or added functions. These are not add-ons, conversions or mods, but complete motorcycle designs. Of course, sidecars and small trailers already exist. These concepts are offered merely to widen the discussion!
Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts, but something’s missing from his strange gadgets: names. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop!
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!
Update: Congratulations to first prize winner Jacob Holcomb, who named it Right Side Up, and second place winner Guldaur, who named it Awrygarb. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop! We also have some entries deserving of honorable mention: Amanderpanderer parallelopants, Scarab Tilt-A-World Officewear by Management Vision, Scarab Sidewinder Suit, BrianD Slantaloons, BrianD The right pants!, reba buhr the elongoutfit, Trevor The Turncoat, and Trevor again for Whirrdrobe
This Friday’s Museum of Possibilities offers some unusual architectural designs for buildings located in flood-prone zones, such as low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast. Ideally, regions that are below sea level, prone to hurricanes and storm surges, or vulnerable to levee breaks should be left in a natural state and undeveloped. But that’s not about to happen!
If my designs are seen as over-the-top wacky, they are nonetheless call attention to a serious question of how to design buildings that survive serious flooding of the sort that occurred in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in late 2005. In the future, home power will increasingly move away from an externally-sourced grid of pipes and wires, toward on-site-generated systems. At that time, some of my proposed buildings could remain partially underwater while still supplying residents with their own power. Sewage and water would need to be handled as for a large motor home. Until that day arrives, some of my concepts like Ring Toss Homes leave unaddressed the matter of utility services that are underwater during a flood.
This Friday’s Museum of Possibilities addresses furniture that can be rotated, upended or turned upside down to reveal a distinctly different function. Over a span of nearly 30 years, this trivial and relatively unimportant design challenge has intrigued me. It is a persistent idée fixe for me. It would be dishonest to suggest that such furniture would be indispensable, useful or necessary for a small home or office. Frankly, it is no more than an intriguing design puzzle.
I have a friend, Dirk Dieter, who lives in a single-family home on a sliver of land not much wider than the grass strip that parallels some sidewalks. His home, a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean south of San Francisco, occupies literally 250 sq. ft. He could use one of these designs, perhaps!
Of course one of the several weaknesses of these ideas is that when one function is in use, the other is unavailable. But I challenge my dear Neatorama readers to think up your own flip-over, multiple-use furniture. It is lots of fun to imagine them!
It’s time for another round of the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don’t select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Have fun with this one!
Update: Congratulations to noah, who suggested Club-Foot “Combine with Racquet-Bangles and Mallet-Trousers to be the ultimate ‘One Man Country Club’” and to Caroline who called this Caddidas! Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop. Stay tuned for another contest coming soon!
This Friday’s Museum of Possibilities addresses the many kinds of burdens felt by office workers, and offers to “solve” or ameliorate some of them. Though office workers have more freedom to move about in their cubicles than, say, debeaked and declawed chickens can move inside their tiny coops, they do experience a variety of underlying stresses. For one, they are required to appear artificially perky and cheerful on the job, which author Barbara Ehrenreich says wastes energy that could be devoted to actual work – see Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, and Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America.
Further, they need to keep up with the latest information, work late hours, take work home, and at the same time learn how to keep fit, look presentable and multitask. A good multitasker might be on the phone while answering email and doing “research” online, which might include checking out interesting facts on Neatorama. All in all, there is more to being an office worker than just showing up for work.
While today’s workers do not always need to carry a heavy briefcase to accomplish work at home – a USB stick loaded with PowerPoint files fits easily in the suit jacket pocket – there is nonetheless the need to continue to worry about the job as well as to work after hours or at home. I believe that the available types of office apparel fail to take into account real needs! I have come to the aid of workers of the office world with suits and dresses, jackets and hats designed especially for office professionals!
