I WILL NOT WASTE CHALK
posted by Pants! on Dec 1, 2009 - 40 comments

Want to be a good neighbor but don't know how? Now there are checklists! (Chicago and SF focus) [more inside]
posted by puckish on Nov 17, 2008 - 17 comments

Library Finds is seriously beautiful photography and explication of little-seen gems in the library stacks, from a self-confessed "techie, not a librarian, who is quite fortunate to be surrounded by books everyday". From the green to the teal and now to the blue.
posted by donnagirl on Sep 26, 2008 - 18 comments

Paracord is a perennial survival kit favorite, but why carry a boring ol' hank of it when you can get crafty? Parachute cord lanyards, bracelets, watchbands, belts, and other braided items are surprisingly easy and fun to make by following some simple instructions. But they're just the beginning! From water bottle carriers and camera tripods to knife handles, Khukri conversions, flashlight & stick wraps, pace beads, magazine pulls, rifle wraps and rifle slings, there are tons of useful things you can make out of paracord! [more inside]
posted by vorfeed on Apr 28, 2008 - 21 comments

Gravityland. Interactive Web TV series. Watch weekly episodes, respond, contribute. Read blog. Add moves to music video. Play Where in the world is Gravityland? Read comic book. Build FAQ. Somehow, it's all related, and all possibility. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Mar 5, 2008 - 8 comments

Scandinavian Grace's beard cap has inspired the internet. Now plans are available to make your own bearded cap. Have a large head? No problem! Skeleclavas lack a beard, but make warming your head a little more hardcore
posted by betaray on Feb 17, 2008 - 15 comments

Join a community commitment to make a thing a day for the month of February. "knit cook draw paint sodier (sic) write install destroy invent document" are presented as ideas to demonstrate that anything goes. Last year's contributions are currently down, but did run the gamut of media and topics.
posted by artifarce on Jan 21, 2008 - 8 comments

From the Magnolia to the Calliope to the Melph (part 2, 3, and 4), New Orleans projects are notoriously violent, but through the haze of murder and decay there is a project culture of dancing and revelry. Now the projects are being torn down in a mix of protest and unrest.
posted by plexi on Dec 20, 2007 - 23 comments

From Dubai: Go around twice if you’re happy (YT): Vincent Fichard and Matthew Jones put up fake construction signs around town to test the response of passing motorists
posted by growabrain on Nov 13, 2007 - 37 comments

The Moleskine Project [more inside]
posted by psmealey on Oct 19, 2007 - 43 comments

Comically Large Things is a blog about things that are so dang big you could fit everything at Smallist [previously] in any given entry. For example: nose! [via Projects and our own jbickers]
posted by cortex on Aug 10, 2007 - 26 comments

Digitized Book of the Week. An eclectic collection of works digitized from the Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They include books and serials from its collections that focus on Illinois history, literature, and natural resources; rural life and agriculture; railroad history and engineering; and works in translation. A project of MsMolly.
posted by Mitheral on Aug 8, 2007 - 5 comments

"I thought, 'Why don't we just raid the place?' " --the newest and only currently viable way to check up on how the billions and billions we're spending on reconstruction in Iraq is being spent--fake raids by the US military, making it seem like the recipients aren't receiving aid from us, and in fact are being targeted by us.
posted by amberglow on Mar 23, 2007 - 35 comments

How could you make the TARDIS even cooler? First, strip away the whole "bigger on the inside than the out" part, and second, get rid of the ability to travel in space & time. Finally, add the ability to play every arcade videogame ever invented.
posted by jonson on Mar 13, 2007 - 17 comments

The Toymaker offers over 40 free paper toys and pretties you can print out (PDFs) and make yourself, as well as "Stories to be Told by Firelight" - online versions of author/illustrator Marilyn Scott Waters' children's stories and lots of other fun goodies. For people who have kids, people who know kids, people who are kids, and people who love papercraft, illustration, toys, and tales. [more...]
posted by taz on Jul 24, 2006 - 18 comments

Pay to shock a man, or to prevent him from being shocked. MeFi's own bleucube wears an electric dog collar for a study in...well...shocking a man, or preventing him from being shocked. Shall good or evil prevail - charity or malice? It's all on the line. And by "on the line," I mean "available for $1-4 a pop." 10% of the proceeds go to charity. The other 90% go to being awesome. Via Projects.
posted by Sticherbeast on Jul 5, 2006 - 50 comments

A trailer. (link to vid) Some Music. (hit the mp3s-not the photos) A body of work. (embedded .mov) All from you very own MefiProjects! (M.I.)
posted by snsranch on Mar 20, 2006 - 10 comments

Amorphia Apparel (via projects)
posted by philcliff on Mar 14, 2006 - 31 comments

Cardboard Geodesic Dome. A how-to on building a geodesic dome out of cardboard, a bit of wood, some duct tape and paint. Plus some rebar if you don't want the finished dome to fly like a kite. If you like the concept but not the size calculate your own then apply the concept.
posted by Mitheral on Feb 13, 2006 - 14 comments

Parallel Wales. They came from Wales, and settled in places called Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. They brought new contributions to the American fabric, but also old names that took on new meanings. Now, more than a hundred years later, what echoes remain? (via Projects)
posted by selfnoise on Nov 18, 2005 - 10 comments

Vintage Projects do it yourself plans, vintage reprints and building ideas from the 40's, 50's and 60's for farm, workshop, woodshop, machineshop, kids and camping. Includes plans for a pop-up camper, toy excavator, snow blower, and concrete block machine.
posted by Mitheral on Sep 9, 2005 - 18 comments

Chris Barr is available on Thursday for the next two months. So what you ask? You can schedule things for Chris to do and view things he's done in the past. I especially enjoyed the "ask strange women to hold a sign saying I Like Spike" and "ask a bunch of random folks what is on their iPod." Can wait to see what he has to do next.
posted by mathowie on Mar 11, 2005 - 31 comments

LEGO Logic Gates - It's like Babbage, but with bricks. All the gates except XOR are here, and he goes on to develop a clocked flip-flop. While practical mechanical computers may be out, even at the nanotechnological scale, nanomechanical memory may be in.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim on Dec 14, 2004 - 14 comments

The Pig Wings Project: "Rhetoric surrounding the development of new biological technologies make us wonder if pigs could fly one day. If pigs could fly, what shape their wings will take? The Pig Wings Project presents the first use of living pig tissue to construct and grow winged shape Semi-Living Objects."
posted by taz on Sep 28, 2004 - 2 comments

H2OLLAND. Get your feet wet with an exposition of projects.
posted by four panels on Jun 14, 2004 - 3 comments

I'm not a fan of followup posts, but this is cool enough to mention. Remember the challenging question of how to turn $14 into $1,000? BirdD0g has taken that noodle-scratcher of a problem and turned it into his personal challenge, and he's taking everyone along for the ride at 14bucks.com. He's got until April 15, 2005 to turn it over into a grand, which sounds like plenty of time, but that's a lot of profit to turn over (7000% return on investment). Who wants to take my $14 bet it doesn't happen?
posted by mathowie on Apr 29, 2004 - 38 comments

Self-built science toys. Too much fun with the world around you. I'm making the Binaca cannon first thing tomorrow.
posted by skyscraper on Jul 12, 2003 - 14 comments

How to build a bomb isn't all there is to the Internet as press would have you think. Anyway it's harder than just getting some plans, as this guy found out. So why not build a bomb shelter instead? Or build your own train, hovercraft, speedboat, car or plane - can't fly - don't worry build a flight simulator! Toast your success with DIY firewater cooked with your solar furnace. Enjoy your CB radio, listen to MP3s or toy with your sextant. And with all the kinky clothes and loads of pervy toys to make who has time to build bombs? I can see the bumper stickers now "Make leg spreaders, not war!"
posted by DrDoberman on Oct 14, 2002 - 13 comments

Attention hipsters: Afghans for Afghans is a grassroots project inspired by "the Red Cross Knitting Tradition" which is soliciting hand made afghans to send with the American Friends Service Committee to refugee camps. So if you've recently taken up knitting to be trendy or to deal with these troubling times, make yourself useful -- knit or crochet an afghan for an afghan refugee. (And hurry, the deadlines are fast approaching.)
posted by palegirl on Dec 30, 2001 - 7 comments

Software projects are notorious for time and budget overruns (examples that come to mind include Mozilla and the Denver Airport baggage system). There are a large number of design methods, development processes, and programming methodologies that claim or hint at objective estimation of development schedules, project complexity, and programmer productivity. Unfortunately, they're all bunk.

"The creation of genuinely new software has far more in common with developing a new theory of physics than it does with producing cars or watches on an assembly line."

Programmers, try telling that one to your next customer.
posted by lagado on Nov 21, 2001 - 21 comments

This comment made me wonder what your favourite "project that never quite happened" was.
posted by johnny novak on Aug 24, 2001 - 10 comments

hoursong: A streaming index of songs based on ideas and associations to a different theme. Whether it's the song, the artist, the album, the lyrics, the video, whatever; the theme can be tied to anything, and everyone can submit their own song that relates. You can also create discussion and song threads on every submission.
posted by magnetbox on Feb 27, 2001 - 16 comments

The HalfBakery is a site that's probably been posted here sometime in the past, but worth revisiting. It's a site which allows you to post your crazy ideas and get feedback from others, and possibly find links to similar ideas. Kinda cool.
posted by triptych on Jun 12, 2000 - 4 comments

I'll need a jetpack, a sonic devestator, and maybe one of those hoverboards. Future Horizons is like a clearinghouse for all those cool ads I used to see in the back of magazines.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe on Feb 15, 2000 - 1 comment