Homemade
”Wacky Afghan Engineer Develops Remote Controlled Kalashnikov Burglar Alarm
The infamous Kalashnikov has a long and illustrious history of murder and mayhem, which makes it the perfect centerpiece for a contraption developed by unemployed Afghan electrical engineer Hanif Molavizadeh. With only a small movement outside his window, the device will trigger a "song like warning." It will then call Molavizadeh's cellphone which can be used to send a message to the would-be thief through the alarm box. If that doesn't work, the Kalashnikov can be fired remotely to lay down some serious vigilante justice. More »Homemade Conan the Barbarian Booby Trap Almost Stabs Verizon Agent to Death
Long Island is a dangerous place, filled with bad accents and crazy people wandering around, like Verizon technicians. Eric Stetz knows mere deadbolts won't keep them out. No, you've gotta get medieval, Conan the Barbarian style. So he built a booby trap out of a massive knife, crutch and elastic trip-cord to poke intruders in the head. To death. Like the Verizon guy scheduled to visit his apartment. More »Homemade Cocaine-Smuggling Sub: Party Time on Das Boot
When it comes to the millions of dollars involved in smuggling drugs, even coked out dealers can tackle a big, complicated project. Recently, Colombian marines seized a homemade fiberglass submarine big enough to hold 4 crew members and 12 metric tons of cocaine —making it one of the largest such crafts found. Since the sub never saw action on the Pacific, there is no telling whether or not it would have actually worked. Still, if you had to die a slow death at the bottom of the sea, this would be the vessel to do it in. [Reuters]
Charge Up an iPod with an Onion
Who knew you could poke a hole in an onion, soak it in some Gatorade, and then power up an iPod with it? Those must be some serious electrolytes in that drink. Sometimes science just seems like miraculous magic. Just don't be using any of my towels to wipe the excess Gatorade off that onion. [Household Hacker]Nigerian Man Builds Working Helicopters from Junk
A 24-year-old undergraduate from Nigeria is building helicopters out of old car and bike parts. Mubarak Muhammed Abdullahi, a physics student, spent eight months building the yellow model seen here, using the money he makes from repairing cellphones and computers. While some of the parts have been sourced from a crashed 747, the chopper contains all sorts of surprises. More »How to Make a 25mm Bolt Action Sniper Rifle out of PVC Piping
How-to website Instructables is running Launch It, a contest for people to send in their homemade inventions. And here's one of the entries, a 25mm pneumatic cannon. Boasting a two-and-a-half-foot barrel that is one inch in diameter, the rifle has custom bolt-action mechanism, a modded sprinkler valve as the primary firing valve, and a $40 sniper scope on the top. I love the fact that one minute the brains behind the weapon is reminding us about safety goggles, the next he's telling us that PVC is undetectable by X-ray machines. [Instructables]
nsfw
How to Build Your Own Sex Doll
Feel like doing it yourself? Fleshbot points us to a tutorial on how to build yourself a "realistic" sex doll out of spare parts you have lying around. We're not sure how many of us have mannequin parts lying around to make a sex doll out of, but a can of Pringles and the end of a lightsaber we definitely do. More »
homemade goodness
LEGO Milk Scanner
Friedrich Kirschner came up with a 3D scanner that's made out of LEGOs, a bowl, a webcam and milk. What's up with the milk? Well, he dips in whatever he wants to scan in the milk, then takes shot after shot as he pours in more milk. By measuring up the milk in each shot, he can get a semi-accurate outline of whatever he's scanning. More »
gadgets
Homemade Roller Coaster: Less Lines than Six Flags
This homemade roller coaster that was built out in the fields of Oklahoma is pretty cool, I guess. Call me when you add the loops, guys. Then it'll be a real coaster. More »Homemade Bowling in Your Basement: Surefire Cure for Cabin Fever
Check out this homemade bowling alley, a clever setup consisting of lengths of very strong string, a few pieces of wood, and of course, bowling pins and a heavy ball. More »
gadgets
Homemade Solar Cell Built Right In Your Kitchen
With The Man jacking up energy prices, it's probably not a bad idea to start investigating the benefits of solar power. (No, nobody cares about energy derived from the wind, Netherlands, thank you very much.) The solar panel in question is made from cuprous oxide rather than the usual silicon. Science Toys has the step-by-step instructions on how you can turn a trip to the local hardware store into a fun afternoon building a device capable of delivering a whopping 12.5 microwatts of power. Isn't learning fun? More »
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