# Inventions you have thought up in your head **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302 "2002-04-18T13:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/21 "2002-04-18T19:49:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Briminator \* > \*\*Porn flip books. nuff said. \*\* I’ve seen one of these. My grandmother had it. She would buy anything at yard sales and stuff like that just as long as it was cheap. It was, I think, antique-y looking pics of a couple having intercourse. ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/22 "2002-04-18T20:35:53Z")
A system that lets you connect a game console controller to one USB port on your PC, and another USB port to the console. You could record your playing, then send the file to people having trouble with that level. Then they would play it back into their console. You could also use it to capture and repeat secret move combinations for fighting games. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/23 "2002-04-18T20:57:51Z")
A few things… Using the tech that has cameras recognize faces of wanted people in crowds how about one in my oven. That way when my frozen pizza is ‘done’ in a sexy voice it could say “Hey Zebra, I’m ready!” and automatically turn down the heat so my frozen pizza won’t burn. (I guess it might recognize ‘done’ for other types of food as well). Also you know those little ketchup packets you get from fast food places? Wouldn’t it be great if _hair gel_ came in those litttle packets. You could keep one or two in your pocket or small purse much easier than a big tube of the stuff and then you could do hair touch-ups when you are out. I also want a small cleaning robot that would crawl over my tub and bathroom tiles cleaning it all day and night. In the morning I would have a freshly scrubbed shower while it goes and sits in the recharger waiting till the soap scum builds up and I send it out again. x-ray glasses that **really** work and let you see chicks naked would be cool as well. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/24 "2002-04-18T21:03:20Z")
An interactive tombstone, but I think someone already patented something similar. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/25 "2002-04-18T21:23:07Z")
A gizmo that speeds up SDMB access. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/26 "2002-04-19T00:40:59Z")
A cat-toast electric power generator. As in the old theory, postulated by some mad scientist somewhere on the Net, cats always land on their feet and toast always falls buttered-side-down. Strap a piece of toast, buttered-side-up to a cat, feet pointing down, and theoretically, the whole thing should hover. Thus, strap a piece of toast to one side of an axle and a cat to the other, in opposite directions, and it should provide a rotational force that can be harnessed. 'Course, the cats’d eat the toast, and that’d cause the whole thing to collapse. ---
**Author:** ![Tarkus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Tarkus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarkus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/27 "2002-04-19T00:41:34Z")
Ya know those coffee bags that you use like tea bags by Maxwell House? **THAT’S MINE!!!** I actually had a proto-type. See what happens when you have no idea about how to protect or sell an invention. What’s even MORE annoying is that they’re not too bad! I’m such a :wally ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/28 "2002-04-19T04:08:08Z")
When I was about ten or so, I remember watching my Dad fill up the old gas tank, and he was carefully filling it up to an even dollar amount. And thus, I came up with the idea of adding a set of buttons to the gas pump that would allow you to fill it up to any even increment you wanted, hands free. A few years later, I saw a gas pump with buttons like that on it, and I figured I had already lost my fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Joyfulgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f04885/32.png) [@Joyfulgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joyfulgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/29 "2002-04-19T04:36:53Z")
A game called “Jump to Conclusions.” It would be a mat you set on the floor in front of you, and when you’re trying to make up your mind about something, you just… eh, never mind. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/30 "2002-04-19T04:38:02Z")
Small, flimsy, plastic lenses that are in contact with your eyes thus correcting sight problems. They would be called Contacticles[sup]TM[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/31 "2002-04-19T05:37:21Z")
A chick magnet. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/32 "2002-04-19T05:43:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monster104 \* > \*\*A chick magnet. \*\* They have chick magnets. Well, actually they’re a set of powerful magnets that you attach to your dick so you can attract women with braces. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/33 "2002-04-19T06:01:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam yax \* > \*\*My idea is for a product that would meld the best features of a GPS unit, a dive computer with an altimeter and a PDA. I’d call the product the **Trip Log**. \*\* In Japan, SONY sells a little GPS receiver that just records the position, and software to later plot the course on a map. They also have a software that combines this GPS log with a set of digital camera photos. By comparing the timestamps the software knows where each photo was taken, and it automatically generates an illustrated trip record. Of course, being SONY products they don’t work with non-SONY stuff (e.g. the software wouldn’t work with Garmin GPS receivers.) ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/34 "2002-04-19T06:18:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monster104 \* > \*\*A chick magnet. \*\* Well, they already have [Stud Finders](http://bearep.com/bearepstore/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=96). > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Briminator \* > > \*\*Porn flip books. nuff said. \*\* Flip books? Heh. _POP-UP_ books are more like it. ---
**Author:** ![trainwreck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/fbc32d/32.png) [@trainwreck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trainwreck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/35 "2002-04-19T06:28:47Z")
A set of plastic dinnerware/utensils (plates bowls, cups, silverware) that melts at about 450 degrees or so, and an extruder/mold/sanitizer…you eat, rinse the stuff off, run it throught the machine, and everything is fresh and new… you could buy different colors of plastic to match whatever your kitchen looks like, and you could even mix colors like playdoh… if it broke, it wouldn’t matter… so maybe it is a really bad idea… JC ---
**Author:** ![DaWodin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DaWodin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaWodin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/36 "2002-04-19T06:35:56Z")
🆒 time has given me many great ideas which would be commercially viable but alas, im usually high when i think of them and forget before i can initialize them ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/37 "2002-04-19T07:12:10Z")
I actually have a separate thread about my own invention, thought up when I was still a child. An _Antigravity Flying Device_. It was only tongue-in-cheek, and I don’t know if it will ever have any practical applications. But you may find it interesting. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110315) you can see it for yourselves. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/38 "2002-04-19T11:18:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > **I was musing about wearable computer setups one day, and it struck me that keyboards always seem to be a sticking point.** I’ve had similar thoughts, I wanted to build a virtual keyboard that tracked hand movements and allowed you to type anywhere on anything. Unfortunatly, [its been done](http://www.senseboard.com/). There’s a different version that uses a projected laser thingy but I can’t find the link for that. And, **CRorex** , I’m not sure the genetic engineering and particles weapons make you a dork, although I’ll be a little scared when a thread shows up entitled “I’ve made a working particle weapon, who wants to come test it” … SD ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/39 "2002-04-19T13:16:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > \*\ ***tevya** , water makers exist in all sizes, including designed for life rafts. I’d provide a link, but since they’re commercial sites, I shan’t. \*\* Aw man! I wonder when it was invented because I told my second grade teacher that I thought this would be a good invention. I bet she went and pattented it and is living rich off of my good idea! ---
**Author:** ![DrFrasierCrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@DrFrasierCrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFrasierCrane)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302/40 "2002-04-19T13:34:20Z")
A sinus vacuum, he says as he suffers through seasonal allergies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-you-have-thought-up-in-your-head/104302.md?page=1)