First the bad news, it’s too late for you to apply for this grant. The good news is that you can vote for the projects you think deserve money to do some good.
The Fun Theory is the group that produced the musical subway stairs and the bottle bank arcade. Now they’ve put out the call to arms on the Internet for submissions that make life more fun and our communities better places. All of the submissions for the fun-theory-award are in and available for your perusal. Some of the most popular submissions include a vending machine that uses recycled cans to play a slot-machine game, a hand sanitizer that makes funny sounds when used, and putting a giant crossword puzzle at bus stops to encourage ridership and make waiting more fun.
[Thanks Matthew][see Matthew’s entry in the contest]
All marketing oriented projects..there is a surprise
One tries to look like a eco friendly public service solution but still ends up being a billboard.
My God most of those are crap. Horrible crap drawn up in paint or on the back of a napkin.
don’t mention how they repeat over and over again.
Seems to be a canine fecal obsession too..
Those ideas are really awfully-done.
imagine a grocery store where everything came in heavy duty locking plastic containers, glass bottles, etc and you get money back when returning
them to be sterilised and repacked with goods. That is a project those dill holes should do. I totally agree those are awful. what would u do?
Wow, most of the ideas on there were pretty lame. I don’t think I’ve rated so many things a “1/5” in all my life! Then I got bored and closed the browser. Best of luck to the panel of judges.
My God. I thought the previous commenters were just being overly critical, but those are literally some of the worst things I have seen in a long time.
Are some (many) of these submitted by children or something? I really don’t want to believe that some of these ideas came from an adult mind, much less the horrendous illustrations that many of them have.
yep those are “bright” minds of today…
the worst idea there: Karaoke bus, noooooooo hell on wheels
Is this a joke? I mean, seriously… is this a joke? I ending up laughing just getting half-way through my first page! The best I saw was the Skandenberg Water Fountain.
@jasoman: You can say that again.
“It’s simple, you add a windmill to the top of the car. Which is connected to the motor and to the battery. All you have to do is is start up the car like normal with fuel, then once you get going, the windmill spins and provides energy for the motor.”
http://www.thefuntheory.com/2009/12/16/windcar
I’m voting that a 5.
I think most of the problem is they didn’t put a filter on what entries got the goahead and they didn’t reach out to communities that actually make stuff. It seems like they wanted to get a variety of concepts so kept the entry rules pretty vague but they went a bit too far.
I do think Powertopia and the One Handed Vending Machine are cool ideas, though. And of course the one I submitted.
its nice to see that the majority agrees here. i am browsing through them, and its like brain damage. i don’t know if its stupid people or just people being stupid, but these are some of the most retarded things i have ever seen. i am still looking for one created by someone with the intelligence of myself at 9 months of age.
@Mephistopheles
yey! perpetual motion finally found !
“When you put in either used chewing gum or cigarettes in to the top the front screen will come on and take a photo of you and/ or your friends. Once the photo has been taken it will be automatically be uploaded on to a website and then you can go on it and see your-self.”
oh great, that will encourage ugly people to litter!
lol this is boring me. clicking the X now.
We’re all trolls, haters and losers according to some of the people who own those projects. We’re guilty of pointing out literal lack of innovation for a huge sum of money that could actually drive something worth while into a finished state.
This is purely marketing, all the stuff looks like something over-simplified that would be used in a marketing campaign..
lol by reading the descriptions, most of those projects are either submitted by people in grades k-2 or people in other countries. i’m betting on other countries. but from what i heard, people in other countries are supposed to be smarter than americans. maybe they just used a bad translator program.
anyway, this time when i clicked the link, i was greeted with funnier entries. funny like browsing youtube. you know, stupid funny, like Weebl’s AMAZING HORSE and searching youtube for Interior Crocodile Alligator.
so someone offered people twenty-five thousand US dollar for their creative idea. this is what happens. the underlying mindset: “its better to submit something really dumb than nothing at all”
yes i do feel that i’ve been a bit trollish today.
HAPPY Used Batteries Container
In México and the world is quite difficult to find places to throw used batteries. Moreover is boring and tedious take it to this collection points. It will always be most easy to throw them with all the other garbage. But not always will be more fun that throw them into a container that can make you feel good, make you feel happy and achieve a smile in your face.
i like to disassemble my used batteries. the ones with lithium foil inside are cool, but the zinc carbon ones are cool cuz you got a zinc casing, and a carbon rod, which i like to scrape clean with a knife and then use for electrolysis. although, i only need 2 batteries for electrodes.. and they last forever unless you break them.
but i would prefer to build cool shit. i wonder if mexican batteries contain mercury..
Mephistopheles – I think everyone should vote for the wind car so that they get the $25k.
It’s just so full of FAIL that it deserves the money :)
Also, those gum-picture things are disgusting.
35 pages of bad ideas and horrible Engish. I’d sooner spoon my eyeballs out than read all that.
Hrmm that was weird, my comment got eaten. Anyway I wanted to say that it’s great to be aware that someone else furthermore mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. That was the first place that told me the answer. Thanks.