Year: 2005

Twinkies turn into fiery black husks in a few minutes. A Clue board game bursts into flames. A Richard Simmons video melts into a sticky plastic glob. As a concept, it’s funnier than a Letterman stunt — and based on real science.

In the late 90s, bass player Ezra Daly couldn’t find a decent stand-up bass for under $1,000. So he decided to make his own.

So you want to polish up your metalworking skills, you’ve just bought a welder, and you’re interested in mechanical engineering. If you’re like Michael Dowling and Noam Davidson, you acquire a shop- ping cart and build a go-kart out of it.

In the small town of Lebanon, Oregon, you might see Richard Flanagan cruising down an empty farm road in his homemade, jet-powered go-cart. But you’ll definitely hear him.