Bargain barn

I was in a pretty down mood earlier, but this really cheered me up. WFMU's "Beware of the Blog" just posted this clip from a public access station in Shawnee, Oklahoma from the mid 90's. The host does a a great job of pitching merchandise ranging from the incredibly shoddy to the totally broken.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/

Weird patents

I've always liked odd things in general, and strange and unusual inventions in particular.

Here are a few favorites.

"Device for Waking Persons from Sleep"






http://www.lightlink.com/bbm/walarm.html


"Gas Powered Pogo Stick"

http://www.lightlink.com/bbm/wpogo.html


A novel use of horsepower
http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=GB&NR=1405575&KC=&locale=en_ep&FT=E


One of the great patent drawings: "Voice Communication With a Local Entity"

http://www.google.com/patents?id=cNp6AAAAEBAJ&printsec=drawing&zoom=4

A new application for a plant patent.

Patent title : Dianthus plant named 'WATERLOO SUNSET'

I presume the name for the plant comes from the song,since the same breeder patented a plant named "Ruby's Tuesday".

http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090077698

The Cathedral of Junk

And now for a change of pace.

This is the wonderful Cathedral of Junk, in Austin, Texas. I think it would be worth a trip to Austin just to see this. Vince Hanneman , the builder of the cathedral, started the project in 1988, and estimates it includes about 60 tons of junk.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7816