You know those mornings when you get up and for a split second forget where you are, what your name is, and basically everything else about your life? That sensation is bound to cause some problems when your first vision of the day is a strange sound coming from Mike Krumpus’ Defusable Clock. Although there have been clocks like this in the past, this one is stunningly realistic – as least as far as most moviegoers are concerned:
I thought it would be fun to build an alarm clock that looks just like the type of bomb that we always see in Hollywood movies. I certainly don’t know anything about how a real bomb might look, but in the movies they always have sticks of dynamite strapped together, a red digital readout, and a bunch of curly wires. Instead of just building an ordinary clock, I thought it should have a detonation sequence with a scary countdown just like in the movies. And why not make it “defusable” so I can try to stop the countdown by cutting the correct wire?
Mike created the “dynamite” by wrapping wooden dowels in paper (hopefully you’ll realize that before you wet the bed). He also used an ATmega328 to power the board. If you would like one of your own, Mike will be offering kits in the near future; you can sign up for an email notification on the project page.
Check out a video of the clock in action after the break.
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If your birthday boy or girl needs a little incentive to put some effort into blowing out the candles on their cake, these candles should give them plenty. Sticks of dynamite and little bombs can only be left to burn for so long before something bad could happen. There won’t be any explosion when using these candles, but you are the only one who is really sure about that.
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The guest of honor will probably be a bit amused when you bring him a cake with this Dynamite Candle on it. The moment of panic won’t set in until they go to blow it out and it relights. They know it is fake, or are at least 99.9% sure.
Product Page (£2.59, about $4)
There have been several versions of dynamite alarm clocks or bomb alarm clocks in the past, but this one is by far the best looking. So good in fact, that it would be highly dangerous to transport it on airplanes or across borders.
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There is one great advantage to giving this to any golfer who tends to “blow up” when his day is not going well. That advantage is that it is not real dynamite. Some people just take the game a little too seriously and those people should not be allowed to possess real explosives.
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You may want to be a little careful when you sharpen these pencils, TNT is notoriously unstable. And while there may be no actual dynamite in these pencils, you may get taken to the ground down just for carrying them around. Carrying these around may end up being the best exercise program you were ever on.
Product Page ($1.50)
