brainwagon

I like to have toys in my office. I like puzzles and gadgets, cool lights and just weird stuff in general. I’ve got got a mechanical singing Christmas tree named "Douglas Fir", a Big Mouth Billy Bass, a plasma globe, a Miguel Tehada bobble head, a Hoberman sphere, some fossil trilobites, a stuffed Marvin the Martian, and various Tick action figures. Still, I’m always looking for more.

Today I noticed that slashdot had linked to this review of a great number of office toys, all of which seem to be pretty spiffy. I’m especially intrigued by the desktop trebuchet kit. It costs $49.99, which seems a bit steep
for a few pieces of wood, but it looks very nice. On the same page is
a nice kit for a “space age” trebuchet that can toss a golf ball 200 feet. It too looks intriguing. In an effort to educate, my fun link of the day is to the Algorithmic Beauty of the Trebuchet website, which contains all the math and theory behind the trebuchet and why it is such a clever bit of engineering.

Thusfar however the toy that I’ve had the most fun in my office is the roomerang. It is a cheap foam version of the boomerang that you can toss inside your office. Thrown properly it cuts about a 6 foot diameter circle and drops back in your lap. It is especially fun to spin your desk chair in the opposite direction that the boomerang goes and then catch it.

But perhaps I’m just looking for an excuse to spin my desk chair around and shout “Weee!”.