Discussion » Questions » Science and Technology » Ridiculous inventions, part 3. Can you think of one?
Element 99

Ridiculous inventions, part 3. Can you think of one?

An ankle watch.

Posted - January 17, 2023
Tags : None

Responses


  • 880
      January 17, 2023 1:34 PM MST
    4

  • 44652
    Right up there with DVD rewinder.
      January 17, 2023 1:41 PM MST
    3

  • 23650

    Car turn signals that take out one of the front headlights when signalling.


    EDIT: And I'm sure there is some wonderfully safe reason for them but I find them terribly distracting. WAY distracting as a driver in the other oncoming car.

    This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at January 21, 2023 8:24 AM MST
      January 20, 2023 4:50 PM MST
    7

  • 5451
    Modern cars and trucks have a whole lot of unsafe safety features, such as low beams that look like high beams which is a road rage incident waiting to happen.
      January 20, 2023 5:15 PM MST
    5

  • 23650
    Yes.
      January 20, 2023 5:40 PM MST
    3

  • 5451
    Some of those headlights were designed by truly evil people.  My husband owns a small trucking company so I know all about these.  In some newer truck models, they come from the factory with the same bulb for the low beams and the high beams.  How could anyone possibly think that’s a good idea?

    When we get the trucks, we have to take the H11 bulbs out of the low beam socket and replace them with low beam H1155 bulbs.  It’s still not just that easy.  The low beam headlights can only be aimed in one exact position.  If they’re aimed too high OR too low, they still appear as high beams to other drivers.
      January 20, 2023 5:58 PM MST
    6

  • 23650
    That's interesting. I surely know that I often notice that others' oncoming lights seem awfully bright.
      January 21, 2023 7:19 AM MST
    3

  • 1633
    This mattress

      January 20, 2023 5:01 PM MST
    7

  • 53526

     

      Those would NEVER work in a harem setting! Grrrrrrr.


    ~

      January 21, 2023 8:20 AM MST
    4

  • 1633
    I know right!  I get that they're trying to be eco conscious and reduce waste and all but, it's seriously cramping some of our styles!!!
      January 21, 2023 10:23 AM MST
    2

  • 844
    The topic is "ridiculous inventions". Yours definitely qualifies!
      January 21, 2023 12:03 PM MST
    3

  • 5451

    Potty Scotty and Potty Patty.

    These are toilets for toddlers that have wheels on them so the kids can ride them while doing their business.

    That’s just what I need.  The kid rolls into the living room on one of those when there’s company.  Mommy!  Look!  I’m going all by myself! 


      January 20, 2023 5:12 PM MST
    6

  • 844
    Wow! Never heard of those. No thanks.
      January 20, 2023 5:20 PM MST
    4

  • 5451
    I have three kids plus one in the oven, so I can look at toilets on wheels and think of everything that could possibly go wrong.  Whoever invented this probably never had boys.  I can already see it getting pushed down the stairs after the kid is done using it.
      January 20, 2023 5:35 PM MST
    6

  • 23650
    Ha!
      January 20, 2023 5:38 PM MST
    4

  • 23650

    Like NYAD, I've not heard of these.

    Why didn't they call them Port a Pots?  :)

    I can see it now -- when Scotty and Patty age a couple more months, and they're learning to ride a bike and they'll piss and poop all over the neighborhood.

    "But, MOMMY, DADDY!!! You were so happy when I pooped and peed while riding before!! WAAAAAAA!!! Why do I have to go to my room? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

    :)



    This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at January 21, 2023 8:26 AM MST
      January 20, 2023 5:38 PM MST
    4

  • 844
    One of my most hated modern inventions is all black plastic things like TVs and laptops that have invisible, unlabeled controls. NOT an improvement over things with visible knobs and markings.
    MUZEN OTR Metal Portable FM Radio Bluetooth Speaker-Pink This post was edited by NYAD at January 21, 2023 8:26 AM MST
      January 20, 2023 5:25 PM MST
    5

  • 3719
    Cardboard milk cartons - designed to be almost impossible to open without splashing, to pour cleanly until at least a third empty, and to re-close when you use only some of the milk at a time.
     
    Flashing headlamps for bicycles - probably not legal, but usually far too intense, tightly focussed and poorly fitted, so far more a danger to oncoming road users than a real way-finding and warning lamp.

    Electric scooters - not proper motor-scooters with their petrol engines replaced by electric motors and batteries; but the powered version of the children's old toy scooter.

    Big-bore (car) exhausts - resonators designed so car owners wanting but not having the skills, means or maturity to make a decent custom-car, can make their run-of-the-mill sales-rep trolleys sound like tractors with broken silencers. In the UK they may be illegal, but anyway would fail the car's MoT tests and probably void the insurance if the company has not agreed its use! I once saw not one, but two, of these contraptions on one small car; not a genuine dual-exhaust vehicle, but a mere Citroen Saxo!

    Toilet-roll cosies - you can't disguise the w.c. so why to try to disguise the loo roll? (Often a small china doll with a voluminous, crinolined skirt; but I once worked for a gold-plating company that gained one contract to gold-plate lavatory fittings including a hinged brass cover roll cover!)

    Inflatable plastic penguins - I kid you not. One of these, nearly five feet tall, kept inflated by an electric blower, was among the allegedly- Christmas "decorations" in a near-neighbour's front garden. They put up this representation of an Antarctic animal, barely a week after packing away their .....

    Illuminated plastic "Hallowe'en" pumpkins....

    ... but had to deflate it due to strong winds a real Emperor Penguin would regard as gentle breezes.




      February 2, 2023 6:50 AM MST
    1

  • 5451

    Cardboard milk cartons

    We had those as part of our lunches in early elementary school.  They were one US cup (240 ml).  I mangled them frequently while trying to get them open, but I still remember my best friend only managing to open up a tiny hole in the top, then shoving his pencil into it to pry it open.

    This post was edited by Livvie at February 3, 2023 2:42 AM MST
      February 2, 2023 2:41 PM MST
    1

  • 3719
    I find you can partly unfold the top then cut the corner off with scissors.

    I don't know if you see them where you live, but I sometimes buy little, single-portion cardboard cartons of fruit-juice, each with a straw attached. You don't open the box but push the straw through a small aluminium-foil disc in the top. So far so good. It works very well.... but if you inadvertently squeeze the carton, the straw emits a squirt of juice over you or the surroundings!

    I rather miss the little "Innovations" mail-order catalogues that used to be packed inside magazines like Radio Times. They offered a wonderful assortment of all sorts of things, including many you don't really need but can't do without. Noise-hair clippers, "sonic" mole-repellers, humane spider-traps, bust-enhancing pads (well, I can do without those), roof-gutter grids to trap leaves.....
      February 3, 2023 2:58 AM MST
    0