Weird

Leonardo da Vinci’s Bicycle Becomes a Reality, Built From Old Notebook Sketches

By Bill Smith May 27, 2026

Andy George of the How To Make Everything channel spotted the famous bicycle drawing tucked into Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus and wondered what would happen if someone actually tried to ride one built from ideas scattered across those pages. The drawing itself turns out to be a later addition, not something da Vinci put there, yet the notebooks contain plenty of other mechanical details that could feed into a two-wheeled machine. George set out to combine them and see whether the result could move under its own power centuries before Karl Drais unveiled his push-powered hobby horse in 1817.

Running DOOM on a Video Walkie-Talkie is Possible, Just Not Practical

By Bill Smith May 25, 2026

People buy video walkie-talkies to facilitate short-distance communication among children and / or family members. Aaron Christophel recognized an opportunity to bring DOOM onto one of these low-cost gadgets. These devices have small color screens, built-in cameras, microphones, speakers, and rechargeable batteries. Models retail online for between fifteen and twenty euros and rely on the TXW818 system on a chip to function. This chip has processing capacity comparable to some wireless modules and supports external memory, as well as four megabytes of PSRAM.

How Compaq’s Name Landed on a New Android Tablet

By Jackson Chung May 24, 2026

Compaq once stood as a giant in personal computers. Decades later, the brand lives on through licensing agreements with other companies. One result is the Qtab Pro, an 11-inch Android tablet now available on store shelves. The story behind it mixes history with everyday hardware in ways that keep drawing attention.

A Secret World 26 Feet Below Las Vegas Can Be Found in This Incredible Bunker House

By Bill Smith May 20, 2026

Entry to the ‘Las Vegas Bunker House’, also known as the ‘Las Vegas Underground House’, starts in an ordinary garage attached to a two-story house that looks like any other on a quiet street near the Strip. From there stairs take you straight down through solid ground into a completely different realm. Built back in 1978, this place cost ten million dollars to create and has stayed almost untouched since then, its main living areas sealed off from sunlight and weather.

Giant Fire Darts from the Mary Rose Deliver Real Firepower in Hands-On Trials

By Bill Smith May 14, 2026

Modern tests have brought new life to a weapon long forgotten from one of history’s famous ships. Crews aboard the Mary Rose carried dozens of giant fire darts among their armaments back in 1545. No one knew exactly how these massive incendiary projectiles worked until a team decided to recreate them and run real world trials. The results show why sailors once dreaded weapons like these on wooden ships packed with gunpowder and canvas.

Minecraft on a 1925 Spinning Disk is an Interesting Experience

By Bill Smith May 13, 2026

Smill sat down with a fresh idea and a kit that arrived in the mail. The British YouTuber had already beaten Minecraft on a receipt printer and on a vape, but this time he wanted something older and stranger. He picked a replica of John Logie Baird’s 1925 televisor, the kind of device that came before every modern screen. What followed turned into four attempts spread across hours of careful play, each one revealing just how far the limits could stretch before they snapped back.

YapStopper 3000 is a Custom-Built Speech Jammer That Stops Any Talker Cold

By Bill Smith May 13, 2026

Makers will always be chasing a dream, a wild concept, and few of those ideas come close to producing results as this one. The YapStopper 3000 is a device that can detect what someone is saying from across the room, add a tiny bit of delay, then fire that precise audio back at them, to the point that their brain can’t seem to put two meaningful sentences together.

Seesaw Chairs Bring Playful Motion to Long Office Meetings

By Bill Smith May 10, 2026

Designer Matty Benedetto of Unnecessary Inventions runs a studio in Vermont where he makes contraptions to tackle problems that no one has ever asked about. His most recent project mixes two known elements to create something new, which has the potential to change how teams handle lengthy discussions around a table. He transformed conventional office chairs into a full seesaw that rocks up and down while spinning in a complete circle.

The Grind That Opened an Unpickable Works by Design NPX-002 Lock

By Jackson Chung May 6, 2026

Lock Noob got his hands on the NPX-002 from Works by Design and wanted to put its security claims to the test to see how well they held up. The lock’s designers created this travelling key system, in which the key’s bow spins some internal gears and the actual key blade moves into place deep inside the cylinder. The key only fits perfectly in the exact position, at which point the keyway seals off, leaving no place for your standard picks or tension tools to reach the pins. To prevent the normal impressioning techniques, the brass ones had a plastic pin inserted.

Recreating the Apollo Moon Landings at Home is Possible, Just Not Practical

By Bill Smith May 3, 2026

Isaac Carlton decided one afternoon to tackle a project that most people would dismiss as impossible. He wanted to film the most famous moments from the Apollo moon landings without rockets, without a massive budget, and without stepping outside his own property. The result looks so close to the original NASA footage that viewers keep pausing to check whether they are watching history or something built from scratch in a garage.