Saw Archives

Dice Popper

This is my version of a classic way to “roll” the die for a board game.

Lord Kelvin’s Thunderstorm

Create high-voltage sparks using nothing more than falling water as the source of energy.

True Mirror

See yourself as others see you with a true mirror.

I have long been enamored of catapults. Invented around 400 B.C., they were used until nearly A.D. 1300. So for 1,700 years, catapults were arguably the largest, most expensive, and most powerful machines on the planet. Today, people build catapults for fun: Scout troops, historical reenactors, fathers and daughters, beer-stoked college students. Having built more […]

Lumia Lunchbox Laser

Back in the 1970s, my friend Wayne Gillis and I used to do light shows at science fiction conventions. We had the usual panoply of overhead, slide, and custom-made projectors, and a single, very expensive, helium-neon laser from Edmund Scientific. Calling ourselves Light Opera, and later, Illuminatus, we performed at ConFusion conventions in Ann Arbor, […]