InventorSpot

Many strange things in history have been invented to make a task easier or to just have some fun. Here are three such inventions - all unusual and designed for problems of the head.

If you have children, you already know: They have boundless amounts of energy. No matter what you do, it cannot be contained, right?

Well, think again.

Zen Design Group, based in Berkley, Mich., is now offering a line of toys that convert children's energy into electricity

The creation of the next hot toy or snack is often a long one, involving lots of time and market research. But did you know that the ever-popular Silly Putty, the Slinky and the Popsicle were all invented accidentally?

The advancements of the last thirty years have raised the invention stakes for everyone. What's wrong with that, you ask? Nothing, except that this often results in the less creative among us churning out mediocre or bad ideas when they could be doing something much more productive, like removing shopping carts from the parking lot at a local Wal-Mart! In my opinion, the following two patented inventions illustrate this point exactly.

Brett Foster, who is soon to be the hero of little girls everywhere, made a tiny working television set at a scale of 1:12 and is selling them online for the tune of about $200. This is the real deal, kids.

Have you ever wondered what you could do with crayons other than draw or eat them? Artist Diem Chau crafts detailed sculptures on them.

Speed-cubing - the "sport" of solving Rubik's Cube as quickly as possible - just got a little easier (or at least, faster) with the introduction of the Speed Cubing Kit from MegaHouse.

What do you do when you want to try sufing but a trip to either coast is out of the question? Well you can try to make your own massive waves...but the easier way would be to simply buy a Monojet Surf Board.

Once upon a time lazy environmentalists, like me, tired of pushing our push reel mowers, dreamed of an eco-friendly automatic lawnmower that would cut our lawns on it’s own. Helping us live our green lives more conveniently. Luckily, I have a friend who thinks about me and sends me links like the one for the Robomower Automatic Lawnmower RL-1000 .

I like United States patent 4455816, because it works on the principle that kids aren't just those little people you love and drive to and from soccer practice, they are also the source of a largely untapped and expensive - the average cost to raise a child in America until the age of 18 is around $200,000 - labor pool.

In an effort to harness the power of anime to boost Japan's relations with the rest of the world, the Japanese government has officially appointed Doraemon, an animated robotic cat from the 22nd century, to be Japan's cultural ambassador to the world.

The classic board game Scrabble has a new home online, though it's not an official one! Thousands of people are playing "Scrabulous" every day, even as its inventors face off against toy company giants.

Fitness is a big word in America these days. As our population swells, not just in numbers but also into double, triple and quadruple X sizes, more and more inventions hit the market to help the average citizen achieve their fitness goals, and one of the best inventions out there, patent pending, is The Fitness Challenge.

I'm sure we all remember playing with R/C cars as we were growing up. Hey, it was a drivers license when we were 5. So it's only fitting that when we get older, we get better R/C cars, right? How does a full scale Hummer H3 sound?

This series of 6 Drunken Salaryman cellphone charms illustrates not only the affection Japanese have for these pillars of the economy, but at the same time reminds us that we're all human and act pretty much the same once we've had a few too many.

The following are my picks for the best St. Patrick's day ever, with a few post-St. Patrick's day reconciliation-style inventions thrown in for good measure.

Picture this. You're an entrepreneur who, for the past few years, has found success by creating and operating a black market tax evasion business.

A pacifier for your pet? That's the idea behind the wacky "Oshaburi Toy" from Japan. Oshaburi translates to "Pacifier" in English, though once your pet gets ahold of one, YOU'LL be the one whose mood is improved!

This battery-operated Undercover Mouse mimics the sudden and unpredictable movements of a real mouse moving in the brush. Just as in the wild, the prey is hidden, only noticeable by its random movements. Must be why my cat loves the Undercover Mouse, a new interactive toy by Panic Mouse, Inc.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is a tactical First Person Shooter coming out on PC, Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 on March 18th, 2008 (in North America). In the original Rainbow Six: Vegas, the player controlled a member, Logan Keller, of an elite anti-terrorist group called Rainbow Six. In Vegas 2, the player will create a member of the elite group from the ground up to experience the campaign.