Showing posts with label failures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label failures. Show all posts

Friday, December 4, 2015

More and other bad ideas

When you're like us, you've got ideas firing off all the time. Morning, noon and night, it's just an endless stream of notions to help make people's lives better. The law of averages is that they can't all be great. Just know that every substandard invention we show you here is offset by about 40 awesome ones.

That said, let's take a look at some of these turkeys (not the good kind, that you eat with stuffing and stuff)...
RADIOVISION
THE IDEA: Actually see your favorite radio programs instead of just listening to them like some boob!
THE (failed) EXECUTION: I took the back off of an AM radio and strapped it on my Uncle Neil's head. He liked being able to see inside of a radio while listening, and I guess there's entertainment value in that. Certainly the experience would have been more enjoyable if radios had any moving parts. Like, any. At all.
PS: My Uncle Neil still has this prototype and it continues to be his preferred means of following his beloved Chicago Cubs, even after baseball season ends.
PPS: Nobody likes my Uncle Neil.


YODELING METER
THE IDEA: Not what it looks like; the meter isn't measuring her yodeling. It's a standard household water meter that yodels when you use the bathtub, flush the toilet, run a faucet, etc.
THE (failed) EXECUTION: I had hoped that it would cut down on water waste but I overestimated people's hatred of yodeling. Turns out, some people actually enjoy it.


BOTTLE TAPPER
THE IDEA: Who has time to leave a bottle upright and pour the contents into glasses as needed when you can invert it and attach it to a device that uses the power of gravity to dispense sparkling beverages and needs to be cleaned thoroughly after every time you use it?
THE (failed) EXECUTION: Everybody, as it turns out.


HAM PLATES
THE IDEA: I know you're looking at the "truck nuts" but we would never come up with something that lame. No, this is about the license plate made of potted pork meat product, which was supposed to be a survival aid if you had no provisions and got lost in the woods or something.
THE (failed) EXECUTION: Illegible, delicious (dogs chasing you everywhere).


SHADY HAND
THE IDEA: The Original Sun Visor! 3-D! One Size Fits All! (Sorry, only available in Caucasian)
THE (failed) EXECUTION: Not enough people this stupid:




THE "TAKE THAT!" SATCHEL
THE IDEA: Fend off would-be muggers by aggressively firing the contents of one's valise at them.
THE (failed) EXECUTION: Most would-be muggers took the name literally because they don't mind the relatively minor inconvenience of picking up the contents of one's valise off the sidewalk. 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

They Can't All Be Winners


Of course, not all our inventions are spot on successes, you know.

Let me showcase a few that didn't cut the mustard* ...


"Light Up That Fag" was plagued with all sorts of faulty issues. (The invention moniker being one of them.) Developed for smokers to partake while out in the rain, the little umbrella kept catching fire or blowing over in the wind (attempts to sturdy the pole of the umbrella at the time were met with heavier and heavier materials, thus advancing jaw aches), storage issues when not in use and more glitches I'd rather not go into.
 

 As well, "Double Your Enjoyment" did nothing but dramatically shorten the life of cigarettes. Additionally, the filtering system used often caused one smoker to inhale the other's exhalations. (*eewwwww*)


"Curly Bed" was a smash hit at first ... until people started stretching in their sleep, falling to the floor and being awakened violently. (Eventually, more than a few emergency room visits were the nail in the coffin for this product.)


The "Kick and Catch" (the at-the-time latest and greatest in innovative exercise and fishing accouterments) kept getting caught in swimmers' bathing gear. And, if you used them sans swim trunks, there was always the possibility other "things" might end up on the business side of a hook, if you know what I mean.
 

"The Hammerhead"® allowed construction workers to pound nails not only in a single swipe but with 99.6% accuracy. Additional attachments (the "boom and gone" snap on bonus attachment seen in the photo above) allowed for effortless demolition projects. Overall? Pretty nifty. Unfortunatley, severe concussions were an ongoing issue.
 

"Insta-Bald" gave users the immediate gratification of seeing what they would look like bald. But it was discovered this was a one-use product; once donned, there was no reason to go back for seconds. ("Good grief! I look terrible bald!)
 

The "Kid Cry Crusher" needed more R&D ...
 

... and "Shower Hood" users were often subject to too many accidental deaths from asphyxiation.
 

"Keep My Soup Crackers Crispy, Bub!" was a failure from the start ...
 

... and "Stick It, Butter!" found itself too popular, resulting in unprecedented high cholesterol rates.

I know what you're saying: "I can hardly wait to see what Clark has for us tomorrow, Unbelievaguys!"

Right?

*Whose ideas were these? Was it one single Unbelievable ... or was it a collaboration of Jeff, Clark and myself? Did two of us put our heads together and come up with that first one? With a different gentleman taking the place of another for Butter Stick? I'm not telling ...