The Most Useless Machine Ever/New Years Resolution

Happy New Year everybody! Hope all y'all had a good and safe celebration and that there aren't too many throbbing headaches this morning.

I, being the old man that I have become, brought in the New Year reading a book I got for Christmas (Atlas Shrugged/Ayne Rand, loving it, thanks Mom!), while sipping a Talisker 10yr single-malt scotch. That is just the way I roll...

Anyhow, yesterday I came across the 'Most Useless Machine Ever'...


...And it fascinated me. Like it's name implies, it is a useless machine. All it does when you turn it on is reach out with an arm and turn itself back off. Yes, you can probably find a manufactured box that does the same exact thing at a silly knick-knack store, but that isn't the point. I am so fascinated with it that I have decided to make it one of my resolutions.

I, Mike D, resolve to build the 'Most Useless Machine Ever'. More important than building it, I resolve to learn why/how it works.

There, it is official!

Back when I was a wee laddie, I thought that electronics was the way that I was going to go. I'd get the Radio Shack (oh snap!) IC catalog and thumb through library books, but I never had the patience to learn. Now I do! This can be another feather in my "do-a-lot-of-things-ok" hat.

If you want to build one your yourself, head over to Instructibles to find out how.
[h/t Gizmodo]

BTW, anybody catch the circular references in this post? No? I was drinking Talisker, from the Isle of Skye. Home of the MacLeod Clan. I have a great, great grandfather MacLeod. The song on the YouTube is by a Kevin MacLeod... Weird! I know, only to me...