21 Failed Inventions - mental_floss List Show Ep. 324

[@carpelibrum5035]

Ah Mike! You're here on mental floss! Idea channel host + mental floss = epic :)

[@MrHeems]

I loved South Parks take on the monowheel. "Still better than flying"

[@gwkowe]

I want a monowheel

[@VicVonDOOOM]

gwkowe It has no suspension

[@chevchelios1990]

At first, an unfamiliar face on mental floss can make your mood drop- however, Mike's enthusiasm and energy quickly sorted that out! =)

[@99thTuesday]

Nice to still see you this week, Mike

[@swurviie]

The flying Pinto looks like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

[@TheHolySemiColon]

***** Most of their pictures aren't what the actual thing looked like.

[@Tytoalba777]

+RigmaRollin Damn you, you made me think you were HoodoHoodlumsRevenge.

[@swurviie]

James A Clouder Sorry to disappoint

[@lizardquinceanera6893]

2D

[@Fr33zeBurn]

***** Also the left wing clearly comes off when he definitely says the right wing. You had one job.

[@brinstarmedia1411]

6:16 “this will make a fine addition to my collection” ~General Grievous

[@argella1300]

A bit of explanation for stuff like the shower hood: back then, it was common for women to go to the hair salon one a week or so and get their hair professionally curled and styled. Women of color still do this frequently today, but back then, women of all races did it too. Because the styles were expensive, and because hairstyles hold better in hair that hasn't been washed recently, women wouldn't get their hair wet when they bathed. There were also special pillows you could get that would keep your head suspended above the mattress so your hair wouldn't get squished.

[@hixsongarren]

Not gonna lie, i want a monowheel now

[@samramdebest]

wait the monowheel from southpark and other places are real?

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

samramdebest Yep, without the anal insertion. I'm a bit blown away at how early it was invented though. I thought it was rather newish.

[@diceman199]

9_Bucks 93 miles an hour sounds like a challenge to me :-)

[@PSpurgeonCubFan]

+samramdebest turns out Mr. Garrison was way behind the times.

[@Mayhemerz]

Flying car? Should have been a Ford Anglia...

[@bobobonito7694]

Why not an harrison Ford

[@cmckee42]

Mayhemers Should have been a Delorean.

[@Mayhemerz]

Christopher McKee Bobobonito At least eight people appear to get my reference apparently :p

[@cmckee42]

Mayhemers I get the reference, I just think the Delorean is a better example of a flying car. I like many things about the world of Harry Potter, but the interaction between wizards and technology makes absolutely no sense.

[@sandracaraballo9830]

You sir and/ or madam, are my hero.

[@dpearce19]

Mike, you're awesome! Do more Mental Floss. (please).

[@chriscauley4182]

I watch so much Idea Channel that it didn't even occur to me that he was a guest host until the end.

[@kmbehrens14]

Mike, your delivery always cracks me up. Realized this was vacation week for Idea Channel, so this was a bonus! Never stop making videos.

[@MikeRugnetta]

Katie Behrens Aww! Thanks, Katie! :D

[@kmbehrens14]

+Mike Rugnetta You're most welcome! :-D That air guitar solo really got me.

[@mearacat]

I love my Q cat. I use it to scan the barcodes of CDs for a library project I'm working on!

[@olinachan9832]

Dude, a Mono-Wheel would've been so rad to own!

[@KishoreShenoy1994]

The Vespa 150 TAP wasn't a success? Awwww .... shoot!

[@AFKei]

Kishore Shenoy ...Really? Are we firing puns now?

[@KishoreShenoy1994]

Why not:? is it too pun-ishing?

[@CommentorX]

Kishore Shenoy Well that joke was just a shot in the dark.

[@HailAnts]

Doesn't even need a little white flag. Nothing screams "We Surrender!!" better than a gay moped!

[@CommentorX]

HailAnts I used to think mopeds were gay - until I found I could fill my gas tank with $5. And have change left over. Can you do that with your F-150?

[@moxbagel]

Intellivision was awesome! Ice Trek and Nightstalker were some of my favorite games as a kid.

[@jurriaan7]

MIKE! Awesome you've taken over this channel too

[@imkaminski31]

The rifle-vespa is the most French thing ever.

[@MrSomebodyStrange]

It wasn't even a rifle. It was a goddamn 75mm M20 recoilless rifle

[@nitehawk86]

Flying tank does exist. The A-10!

[@FedoraMark]

Still have my Virtual Boy! All the RED!

[@makeartsteph919]

Mike I love you but Elliott!!!??? * squeals in anguish *

[@MikeRugnetta]

Stephanie Cano ngl, no offense taken; I totally agree.

[@dford192]

***** On the other hand it was a nice surprise to see you on the channel!

[@mdd050]

Mike! Hey Mike! Guess what day it is! List Show Wednesday!

[@baltimorez-wad7281]

Intellivision is my 2nd favorite system ever (I still have & play all the time), behind original 8 bit Nintendo.

[@derpmaster2086]

The sad thing is that most of these inventions are things that we've come up for a futuristic setting. Guess they were just too ahead of their times

[@ASilentS]

Based on the assumption that you guys make enough money off these videos to pay for their production, it would be nice to see some of that go towards licensing of photos instead of these inane animations that don't tell us anything about what you're actually talking about.

[@bulletsandbandages6057]

The VESPA 150 TAP carried a 75mm recoilless rifle, used as a light anti-tank gun. The French army actually used them for years as a mobile heavy weapon for paratroopers.

[@willowgritzmaker409]

I didn't know PBS Idea guy was on here. Welp I guess I'm gonna watch more often

[@qwertyoscar]

Mike's Idea Channel is nice but I honestly he is a better host in the List Show

[@ProfessorPuppet]

Hey mike! Great to see you on here. I remember those right angle glasses advertised in TV Guide, back when that was a thing. They has prisms than reflected down toward your feet. The idea was you could lie flat in bed and still see the TV. Would still work on the subway, though if they were just mirrors, the image would be upside down. If you really need to see your phone without looking down, I hate to say it, but that's what Google Glass was all about. Can we consider that a failed invention yet, or are we still working on it?

[@RyeOnHam]

I had an egg cuber and used it alot when I was a kid. That wasn't failed, that was brilliant.

[@StephenStaver]

Not sure if the Virutal Boy would qualify as a failed invention, since Nintendo went on to make the 3DS, and you can see the influence of it now with the latest VR craze, such as Oculus. Virtual Boy was simply ahead of it's time. And I so want one. :P

[@lascar12f29]

the virtual boy wasn't portable and was 3d !! that was REALLY ahead of it's time !!

[@FloridatedH2O]

Everyone should google "Vespa 150 TAP". The on-screen illustration does not do it justice.

[@ghazi2392]

You should have Oscar Martinez from the Office show up as a guest and debunk these myths by starting off with "Actually.." after each myth.

[@voldlifilm]

Bicycle? Forget that, give m a monowheel!

[@Darticus42]

It took me a minute before I realized I wasn't on idea channel

[@MikeRugnetta]

Darticus the Great same

[@rabdag591]

some of these like the baby cage has already been used on this show

[@MiriaJiyuu]

I started this video in a new tab intending to just listen. My first thought was "I was on the Mental Floss page not Idea Channel" Before having to look and confirm that yes it is MF and yes I do hear Mike.

[@Kneedragon1962]

Yes, you can build a mono-wheel quite easily. Quite a few people have done so, over the last century. Controlling it and driving / riding it where you want to go, at the rate you want to go, and particularly stopping it sharply, those are somewhat more difficult. A bicycle or motorcycle is enormously more practical. Apart from several goes at the jet-pak or rocket belt, the US army built a flying platform, in the '50s. It was an engine, a small platform, and a couple of contra-rotating fans. You stood on the platform, and shifted your weight, like a hang glider. The only 'control' was the throttle. And they worked, surprisingly well. But they were very difficult to fly and very easy to crash. The idea was dropped, because enemy artillery was somewhat safer... It was a bit like riding a unicycle - some people just get it, but most don't, and the consequences were not good.

[@cartermoore9535]

Great vid

[@LaceNWhisky]

I had read that the Vespa 150 TAPs were actually fairly successful.

[@OneColdMonkey]

I love my Virtual Boy! ...Not to play though, it's just cool to look at.

[@TheOneSpam]

I would LOVE a flying monowheel... SCIENCE! Make it happen!!!!!

[@megantatum5666]

"Honegar" - combining apple cider vinegar and honey has been around since ancient Egypt. It hydrates kind of like Gatorade and, if you mix it right, is delicious.

[@gakilb]

I LOVED Virtual boy!!!

[@NotOnLand]

You can still buy something similar to Honegar near where I live. It tastes like burning and regret.

[@h0m3st4r]

Another failed invention by Thomas Edison: the voice-driven sewing machine. To make it work, the user had to bellow long, loud and at an unwavering pitch into the mouthpiece, which proved more tiresome than pedaling.

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

h0m3st4r God Edison was a fucking moron. Thuggish crook.

[@N8DulcimerOld]

9_Bucks Said the ignoramus who probably saw some five minute expose on Edison and thinks that his business tactics make him any less of a genius.

[@N8DulcimerOld]

9_Bucks So that's the extent of your artillery? He gypped Tesla? He also accomplished and invented a plethora of incredibly useful things beyond that. He was also way the hell more brilliant than Tesla as is evident in his body of work. Say more dumb things, please.

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

TheKinkyTwinkie He was really good at sending thugs after people and buying patents he took claim for that's for sure.

[@MrHws5mp]

The Vespa 150 TAP wasn't armed with a "rifle" in the sense of a long-barrelled small-arm, it was armed with a RECOILLESS RIFLE, i.e. a 75mm recoilless anti-tank gun that would normally be carried in a jeep or towed on a two-wheeled field carriage. The idea of putting it on the Vespa was to make it compact and mobile for parachute troops. It was never supposed to be fired from the Vespa: the latter was just to transport it. It wasn't a failure either: about 500 were produced. The only reason there wern't more made is that there arn't that many paratroop units to use them in the western world.

[@TheLost_and_Tony]

I remember the Qcat thing you had to get them at Radio Shack, I think I had one but I can not remember they might have been out by the time I got to the mall :(

[@Zuraneve]

I used to have a CueCat! I never really found a use for it though.

[@elvisg7]

We do use these sort of glasses for rock climbing because looking up at someone for long periods of time really hurts yours neck. It's not widely used but I wouldn't say it's a failure.

[@notbobby125]

3:19 The USSR made the most "successful" version. Not only did it have the problems Mental Floss described, to actually get it up in the air at all (with assistance of an actual plane), the engineers had to drastically reduce the weight. So, they removed most of the armor, downgraded the cannon, removed most of the ammunition, and even had to take off the HEAD LIGHTS. So, you have a tank that couldn't get into the air on it's own, was completely defenseless in the sky, and on the ground it's tissue paper armor and tiny main gun basically made it target practice for any other tank.

[@pyrotechnic48]

I guess General Grievous didn't get the memo on the mono-wheel being "uncool"

[@wolfeman351]

I have a Cue Cat. Reads bar codes great

[@trueloveis4u]

wolfeman351 wasnt there a kids toy in the 90s that scanned bar codes and u used it to get monsters or whatever?

[@trueloveis4u]

trueloveis4u oh ya skannerz oh it was in 2000

[@seandavison3916]

I used to own an Intellivision! triple action: Greatest game ever. also burger time, and frog bog

[@gl1500ctv]

Sean, there's been modern remakes, including a PC version that included a number of games as well as a new console with 60+ of the original games built-in. See: www.amazon.com/IntelliVision-AtGames-Flashback-Classic-Game-Electronic/dp/B00K2BOG66

[@AvailableUsernameTed]

Sean Davison Oh man! .. I forgot Intellivision ever existed - and that we had one.

[@LizaPrx]

Burger time and frogger best games on it! Still have mine and play them all the time

[@WhatsBliss]

The egg cuber definitely took off, just not in the US. Egg shapers are all over Japan.

[@witerabid]

The glasses with which you can read a newspaper over your head still exist! Some rock climbers use them to not have to constantly look up when belaying the lead climber. Google "climbing glasses" or something like it.

[@GabeNewellDFTBA]

The machine gun *and* anti-tank rifle on the Vespa 150 TAP could be fired while attached to the scooter, it just wasn't effective for aiming precisely at range, something an anti-tank gun isn't meant for anyway. It didn't fail because it couldn't be used, it was just too situational. French paratroops didn't really need the added mobility because, you know, they could drop anywhere.

[@Ntmoffi]

Next video should be: "12,001 failed inventions from Japan."

[@jamesslick4790]

A concept like the "Flying Saucer" (UFO) camera makes TOTAL sense for the Air Force. If such a device could help spot unknown aircraft, THAT has military value. Remember, "UFO" means "Unidentified Flying Object", It does NOT have to mean alien craft flown by "little green men from Mars", It could mean, new advanced, yet unknown Soviet aircraft. It's not like people in the 1950's were stupid. SMH

[@Thrawn80p]

General Grevious (sp?) had a pretty cool mono-wheel

[@lucaspolodna2432]

The One wheel bike Would be fun to ride down the interstate ;D

[@kaylaweisselberg1138]

The camp I work at actually has four egg cubers.

[@johndufford5561]

Yeh, I invented sponge-rubber heels for flaminco dancers to save their kidneys, buy they didn't catch on....

[@THEFIRE360]

Monowheel look so cool

[@MultiMemich]

He made it back to salon... What a shocker! I always wonder if hosts will end up in salon...

[@docgalen]

I had an Intellivision!

[@NerdfightingWhovian]

My first essay as part of my fine art degree was on baby cages, fine art sure is weird sometimes!

[@mariesoullier]

I remember the Virtual Boy. The graphics were horrible, it was like looking into the big barcode scanners at the supermarket.

[@emmacoerver640]

The Monowheel, now featured in Men in Black 3

[@TheNanoman79]

Someone needs to get the mono-wheel into production.

[@Diceyed]

ALL HAIL THE VIRTUAL BOY!

[@jr52990]

I actually own some Lazy Glasses. (90degree glasses to read downwards without looking down.)

[@blaze2fire1]

Haha the jet pack joyride iOS game was so inspired by #4

[@pyrotheevilplatypus]

CueCats are very useful if you belong to LibraryThing (who bought out the rest of the stock, I believe)

[@NoodleyBits]

I used to have a CueCat. Wasn't very useful at the time since it had to be connected to your home computer and didn't work half the time.

[@dispelll]

who else had honey and Apple cider vinegar as a soar throat remedy as a kid? I loved it. I think I would actually buy that honey vinegar drink.

[@themotherbrassica]

Honey and apple cider vinegar, when used in the right proportions with water, make a refreshing and delicious drink. You're missing out.

[@magister343]

I remember that my dad used to drink a mix of honey and apple cider vinegar quire often when I was young. My sister mixes both of them with tea quite recently. I guess the Honegar guy could get then as clients.

[@micahphilson]

I think Star Wars based a type of drone off the monowheel!

[@gl1500ctv]

Did anyone else hear "Flying car, Ford Pinto" and picture the AMC that was used in "The Man With The Golden Gun?" Sounds like the same concept.

[@NorthernChev]

My neighbor had the Intellicast in 1980. At the time the Intellicast had absolutely incredible graphics compared to all other consoles of it's time. But it retailed for just shy of $500 in 1980, which is equivalent to $1445 in 2015. ...yeah.

[@fdsajkl76]

I'm surprised Ouya wasn't mentioned.

[@mczenk5095]

Definitely like this host

[@nori9686]

I never got it: Why do they "go back to the salon" in the end? Is there a specific reason?

[@Yukosan13]

I'd love to see the monowheel in action. . :-)

[@elysianemily]

How about a flying Ford Anglia? Hey Potrerheads!

[@TheJttv]

I would have to say the bell rocket belt was more a sucsess then a failure

[@Lone-Traveler]

ive actualy had honeigar and its actualy realy good

[@ratatataraxia]

Can't stand when they surprise me like this.

[@TrailRat2000]

I have a cuecat somewhere. I got it free from a book cataloguing software company...

[@Kamakiri86]

My brother still has the Virtual Boy we got for Christmas that year... Oh I remember the eye strain and back pain!!! Also having to drive to a city 3 hours away to find an AC adapter. lol

[@crashwg]

Virtual Boy and a :CueCat on the shelf behind me as I type. :) To be fair, I wouldn't have the :CueCat if it weren't modded. It has been "neutered" to operate as a simple bar code scanner. I still use it occasionally for cataloging purposes.

[@RVRMTNS]

I'm sorry, I might be overlooking something very obvious, but why do they always say, "I return to the salon to tell you.."? It appears to me that they've never changed location in the video. My theory was that they use a green screen to replicate the back drop in order to reposition the host at numerous angles without moving the camera, before finally using the actual "salon" backdrop.. but then I thought that was too much. Anyone know?

[@justjoe233]

Reichelt didn't jump from the top. People said that if he'd jumped from a higher place, it may have worked

[@Apledore]

Well, that was fun, but I wish they would have gotten a bit more into how some of them failed.

[@anewman513]

At the time, IntelliVision was awesome - way better than the Atari 2600

[@Eric.Morrison]

Tom Haverford take notes