Do not try this at home!

November 23, 2007 7:19 PM

Household Hacker offers a growing variety of bizarrely improbable or impossible "hacks" using household items. How many errors can you spot?
posted by loquacious (35 comments total)

Haven't spotted any errors so far. But then, I'm posting from a laptop I made out of aluminum foil, a single drip coffee filter, wood chips and an Israeli shekel.
posted by Hello, Revelers! I am Captain Lavender! at 7:29 PM on November 23, 2007 [2 favorites]

I feel deep sympathy towards every person in every comment thread on that site!
posted by nowonmai at 7:44 PM on November 23, 2007

The cell phone interceptor totally worked for me. I caught a terrorist!
posted by stavrogin at 7:44 PM on November 23, 2007

"The RCA cables are the key to this experiment, as they are the only cheap cables on the market that convert the DC power produced by the AAA battery to the AC current required to run plug-in appliances."

See - they have perfectly reasonable answers to any questions as to the validity of any of the hacks that you may ask. It's genius I tell you, genius!
posted by benzo8 at 7:58 PM on November 23, 2007

It looks like nobody who actually tries those experiments can read or write. Either that or they comment themselves posing as ignorant teenagers.
posted by fructose at 8:14 PM on November 23, 2007

Actually, I think the comments blow the whole deal. I wish they did only have comments that were supportive of the projects. It would just be a lot more fun that way :)
posted by vertigo25 at 8:19 PM on November 23, 2007

Nice use of the blinkerfluid tag.
posted by mosk at 8:56 PM on November 23, 2007

That's barely a capon, let alone a turkey. :colbert:
posted by boo_radley at 9:10 PM on November 23, 2007

I'm in love with the first comment in the charge-your-iPod-with-an-onion post, which says: "Now this experiment is believable. I have seen something similar to this done with other things."

It's simultaneously vague and illogical in a beautiful way. "Now this pie made from baby meat is delicious. I have eaten something similar to this made from other things."
posted by tepidmonkey at 9:20 PM on November 23, 2007 [4 favorites]

I can save the universe with a kettle and some string. And look at me -- I'm wearing a vegetable!
posted by dhartung at 9:35 PM on November 23, 2007

I now wonder what they really mean by "Household Hacker" and if the entire site isn't a practical joke, or worse.
posted by Brian B. at 9:39 PM on November 23, 2007

I would agree, Brian B. It is quite possible that this entire site is indeed a practical joke. Or worse.
posted by motty at 10:28 PM on November 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yes, I agree that the possibility is rather high. I used the "probability determinator" introduced on their site, using only a lemon, some duct tape, an old watch, and a length of fiber optic cable, and it showed up as being 57% likely to be a practical joke.
posted by Bugbread at 10:31 PM on November 23, 2007

From the comments on their MySpace page:

How do you make the ipod thing work i put it in for 3 hours with the holes and it still didnt take in any of the gatorade
does it have to be the lime kind of gatoarde?

I'm laughing and crying.
posted by maryh at 10:31 PM on November 23, 2007

Well, the iPod charging one is kind of plausible, I guess, they're only out by an order or magnitude or two, right?

This website doesn't exactly seem like "best of the web" though.
posted by hattifattener at 10:35 PM on November 23, 2007

It's sort of like the bastard child of Adequacy.org and MAKE.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:36 PM on November 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Okay, I watched the rest of the iPod video. I take back what I said about plausibility. It's as good as the rest of them.
posted by hattifattener at 10:44 PM on November 23, 2007

MacGyver would be proud...no ashamed, that's it, ashamed!
posted by TwoWordReview at 10:47 PM on November 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's sort of like the bastard child of Adequacy.org and MAKE.
...And Look Around You.
posted by wanderingmind at 11:01 PM on November 23, 2007

My guess is that the "onion battery" is a variant of the "lemon battery" which does not work as advertised.

I'm betting this site is simply a collection of what Snopes calls "fool's errand" videos, which seem to be a current Internet fad.
posted by Tube at 11:12 PM on November 23, 2007

Aww man, I really wish that glowing Mountain Dew video were true. That would be so awesome. I would glow.
posted by Mister Cheese at 11:24 PM on November 23, 2007

In school, I learned that communications come in three types: informational, persuasional, and entertainment. I never found a counterexample until I saw this site.
posted by thalakan at 11:36 PM on November 23, 2007

In school, I learned that communications come in three types: informational, persuasional, and entertainment. I never found a counterexample until I saw this site.

You mean disinformational? Because there's been quite a few examples of that sort of communication during the last 7 years.
posted by maryh at 11:42 PM on November 23, 2007

As far as I know, the "charge your iPod with an onion" video (and maybe the rest of the stuff) was done by a guy on the SA Forums.
posted by mrbill at 12:17 AM on November 24, 2007

here's the SA Forums thread where the guy comes up with ideas for new videos.
posted by mrbill at 12:20 AM on November 24, 2007

I was all geared up to voice my irritation at the overuse of the term "hacks" today, when I realized that this site is a joke. It seems to be poking fun at those "Make" retards who think they invented making things.
posted by jayder at 12:49 AM on November 24, 2007

I'm so happy that I now know how to clean all of my old grimy pennies!
posted by janetplanet at 2:10 AM on November 24, 2007

At first, I read janetplanet's comment as "Now I know how to clean all of my old grimy penises." For a split second, I thought, "NO, janetplanet! Don't do it! THE SITE IS A JOKE." Then I thought: "Wait a minute."
posted by Tiresias at 3:19 AM on November 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

I had many guests over for Thanksgving and guess what my oven would not work!! I was on google looking for alternative ways to cook a turkey when I stumbled upon your site and video. At first I was skeptical but I figured what the hell its my only shot. I am happy to reveal that not only did it work but to raving compliments infact I will be cooking my Christmas ham with the same exercise. thanks for a great turkey and for saving my Thanksgiving I owe you one!!

Comment by zolttrain — November 23, 2007 @ 7:14 am

The fake comments are gold.
posted by nonmerci at 3:29 AM on November 24, 2007

Reminds me of Viz magazine's useful Top Tips only with a lot more effort involved. Funny though.
posted by itsjustanalias at 4:00 AM on November 24, 2007

I didn't see it mentioned there, but I hope everyone knows you can secure your internet connection with an old car or truck. Y'see, under the hood of those vehicles is an enclosure where the engine sits - that just happens to be called the firewall! Instead of shelling out big bucks for antivirus software or encryption programs, you could simply place your laptop, smartphone or desktop into that engine crevice and you're protected from malicious attacks!

And next time, I'll show you all how to build an 1/8" audio jack out of a toothpick, some aluminum foil and a rubber band. You'll be able to kiss your Monstercable adapters goodbye!
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:57 AM on November 24, 2007

If your Remote gets hotter than hell near the bottom and over heats from the wires connecting going from the batterys you know who to blame. After 20 minutes of messing with this totally STUUUPIUD idea my remote got so hott I had to dissconnect the wires in fear of the whole thing melting into a puddle of rubber.
The batterys would probably die before this ever happend but I wouldn’t put it past me.Their is no way this is going to work come on people quit wasting your time. And isn’t it just a remarkable coincidence that -zolttrain- and -thomasaanderson- are the ONLY people who say they have gotten it to work and that they use the SAME exact punctuations and talk the same way?

It's a wonder to me how someone can be perceptive enough to notice patterns in the punctuation of other commenters but at the same time gullible enough to fry his remote because he actually tried to make any of these projects work.
posted by scalefree at 8:10 AM on November 24, 2007

Bah, this was done much better by Infinite Solutions. See Google TV.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:44 AM on November 24, 2007

Should have a Macguiver tag
posted by Gungho at 11:43 AM on November 24, 2007

And none of you guys tried the cable bypass block with the 2 coax connectors, small bread board, a couple of resistors and a coil? Come on now, someone here could probably come up with something better, huh? Let's hear some ideas.
posted by winks007 at 6:44 PM on November 24, 2007