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If I Had A Lawn I’d Rent It Out To Bugs Bunny
If I did have a lawn of any kind, I’d set this up. None of that Gnome or Flamingo business!
This lawn ornament idea will give neighbors the impression that a certain silly wabbit has taken up residence on your property.
For those who do have a lawn of some kind, they could probably get all this at Home Depot today. The mailbox, decal letters, and a wooden post. Ideally it would be a smaller mailbox, I just used this size so you can see it in the picture! As for the hole, I recommend burying two small stacked black potting plants, so you can remove the top-most one and empty it if need be. A round black stone could also do the trick. I’d also make the mailbox removable for easier mowing.
If you want to mess with the mailman once in awhile you could leave half-eaten carrots strewn about near the hole.
Sorry for all the Looney Tunes posts as of late. I guess when I work on one idea featuring LT, they all sort of creep into my head.
Self-Cleaning Door Knob
Many moons ago, I took a Food Safe course for the province of BC, which helped certify me for work in the food service industry. All the basics were covered, like food handling and basic hygiene.
One topic was the importance of washing hands. It was enough to make me a germaphobe for a few days, certainly impacted many habits in my life. The instructor pointed out that after we wash our hands, the effort is somewhat nullified by the door handle in the bathroom - especially at home (because doors at work usually pressed by clean hands when exiting, but not everybody washes their hands at work), because we close the door with a dirty hand when we commence our use of the facilities.
I am seeing an emergence of Hand Sanitizer dispensers being placed outside public washrooms at work places, which is the right idea. But those seem so optional!
With that I have devised this “self-cleaning door handle”, which basically cleans the handles with a sanitizing agent, after every turn of the door.
Here is how it works: there are two cylinder handles that intersect through a main drum. As the handle is turned, a cylinder would fall through the main drum handle (gravity at work) and get cleansed with a sanitizing coat. There will always be a clean handle at the ready. The sanitizer is stored in a reservoir above the handle (or can be built inside the drum). The cylinder handles will each be fitted with another sliding cylinder, which would be used to indicate which handle is clean using color markers (green is clean).
This would be ideal for the inside knob of the bathroom. You could probably make a more industrial-type version with squeegees wiping the surface of the handle cylinder, but eventually you’d need to open it up and clean all the grime. Ew.
Spongebob Squarepants Lamp
This lamp is based on an episode titled “Jellyfish Jam”. One scene has Spongebob haplessly affixed to a ceiling light by a horde of jellyfish, resulting in light emitting from all of his pores.
That scene also had Spongebob spinning around as a sort of makeshift disco light. That design could work, but I opted for a static pose which is friendlier for everyday use - not too distracting.
Mad Scientist Gear Part 2: Door Handles
Nothing like an entrance to your evil lair that proclaims “Mad Scientist At Work!” to thwart angry mobs or worse - roommates. I’ve devised a basic solution: valve door handles like the ones found on a Submarine hatch.
This handle gives the impression that there is dangerous substances sealed within. This also could be mistaken for a bomb shelter or a panic room. All three impressions would mess with people actually.
The basic doorknob one is functional, the large one affixed to the middle of the door is for decoration. You could even paint the door silver and glue a bunch of bolts to the perimeter to complete the look.
I was very surprised that the valve doorknob handle does not exist - commercially or as a homebrew device. I figured the Steampunk community would have beat me to it by now. Asleep at the wheel, Steampunkers! Ha. Wheel.
Mad Scientist Gear Part 1: Light Switches
It recently dawned on me that I tend to laugh maniacally and wring my hands just before I hit the ‘Publish’ button for every post, so therefore I must have a Mad Scientist complex. As I began to cope with this realization, I thought it would be best to come up with some ideas that would suit my lifestyle.
So I begin the Mad Scientist series with a pair of light switch designs, both of which resemble an old-school industrial fuse box lever. These simple accessories are often equated to Doc Brown or Dr. Frankenstein, where the act of flipping the switch was the moment of truth - there was no turning back.
At least these would make the act of turning the lights on or off much more dramatic. And I’m all for drama. Now excuse me as I hit the ‘Publish’ button: Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
If IKEA Made Geeky Furniture Part 13: Zombies
If IKEA Made Geeky Furniture is a series of concepts, they do not exist. The prices in the images are meant to parody the IKEA catalog.
Let’s be honest, many of us look like reanimated corpses when we wake up in the morning. That universal trait is probably what inspired the creation of Zombies in the first place.
And now you can have a bed frame that will compliment your horrendous morning state - a morgue slab. All you need to complete the look is to cover your bedroom walls with white tiles and install a few flickering fluorescent light tubes.
Apologies for going all dark and macabre for this one. Death is a squirmy topic for many. However Zombies have become a huge geek staple this past decade (perhaps to the point of over-saturation), so their inclusion here on my blog was unavoidable.
But what is avoidable are Google image searches for ‘Morgue’. That poop is messed. I just wanted some reference, not a gruesome George Romero slide show.
Speaking of Romero I am convinced that he, and probably Stephen King, have a bed like this. That’s how they roll.
This frame features a few cabinets to store some junk. The front feet are placed in a more centralized location to give the appearance the slab is floating. The mattress does not retract. Though I could probably design a Murphy Bed that has the facade of a morgue storage container - maybe another time.
