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128 Comments
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -4/+54I seem to remember making the same thing in boy scouts. Only difference is the acrylic panel.... this isn't much of an "invention".
- AgentMull, on 04/09/2009, -2/+42Welcome to the 2nd grade.
- jayhawk88, on 04/09/2009, -7/+36"By allowing users to boil water, the simple device could also potentially save the millions of children who die from drinking unclean water."
Easy there, CNN. You know prisoners make these all the time with shoe boxes. It doesn't exactly rank up there with cold fusion on the Genius Invention Scale. - furatail, on 04/09/2009, -3/+29First of all, who has already done this. Who remembers Bill Nye the Science guy? He showed kids how to construct one. I built one of these way back in my preteen years. This is almost Onion worthy.
- jcaino, on 04/09/2009, -4/+29Really? I remember building these when I was a kid. I pass a guy on my way to work nearly every day (when its sunny out) who I see cooking his lunch via solar energy.
- jayhawk88, on 04/09/2009, -1/+20Next up: Incredible new invention allows you to kill an animal from a distance by hurling a pointed stick at it. Also, Fire: Fad or here to stay?
- WhaneTheWhip, on 04/09/2009, -3/+20I think the reporter may be living in a similar box, this "solution" has been around for a very long time... in fact you can buy solar cook kits at stores that sell camping gear.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+15They did. You can find it in 5th grade text books, boy scout manuals, and countless other places. Been around for years. Just look up solar cooker on the wikipedia.
- yaosio, on 04/09/2009, -1/+13I wish I could invent things that already exist.
- cheeze_ballz, on 04/09/2009, -0/+11exactly -- i was telling a buddy that i did this 20 years ago in boy scouts...this definitely isn't a 'new' idea.
- yerdaddy, on 04/09/2009, -1/+11This is what CNN has been reduced to.
- eqrunner, on 04/09/2009, -3/+12Oh come on, I did this project when I was in cub scouts and again in Boy scouts. This isn't revolutionary. This is in the survival handbook
- novakaine, on 04/09/2009, -2/+11He invented this? Right...
We made these in the boy scouts. - snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+8Some companies already mass produce solar cookers. Just look up solar cooker on the wikipedia and you'll see a really simple one in use in Ghana.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -1/+9These things are already being mass produced. Hell one company has local distribution in Kenya and donated around 10,000 to Darfur.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+8Yeah, the guy won 75k for making something that's already being made by factories and being distributed in 3rd world countries. (not to mention being made by small children everywhere as school projects) It would be nice if the morons running this gig bothered to see if the submissions were rip offs or not before handing out rewards.
- jayhawk88, on 04/09/2009, -0/+8Exactly. I mean I guess it might be noteworthy if a guy does come up with a way to pre-fab these, making them extremely cheaply and easily, but CNN needs to tone it down with the "It'll solve world hunger and save millions of children" nonsense.
- Laminarcissus, on 04/09/2009, -0/+8In a related story: 5th-grader Discovers Secrets of Magma Flows Using Baking Soda and Paper Mache.
- cffury13, on 04/09/2009, -4/+11Who knew we could use the sun to cook stuff. Man, science is amazing.
- schnikies79, on 04/09/2009, -3/+10We made these in elementary school (the 80's).
- relientchevette, on 04/09/2009, -1/+7yeah um I built these in Boy Scouts, so why is this guy so great?
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6A couple of cardboard boxes and some aluminum foil is simple enough to not really require prefab. I mean honestly, if a 7 year old kid can make one of these without the help of an adult, I'm pretty sure you could just send a ***** ton of card board boxes, some scissors and some foil to a third world country with a little instruction pamphlet.
- sultanica, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6Does CNN think this is some new Invention? Bunch of cross eyed brown nosers!
- Arghblarg, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6What, you deny that Africa has deforestation problems caused by people burning trees for firewood? And you deny that trees take in CO2 as part of their metabolism? Neither is propaganda, they are both scientific facts verifiable in 5 minutes of googling.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6It's already being used in 3rd world countries. They even have mass production of various models of these things with local distribution centers in 3rd world countries. This really isn't anything new.... at all.
- mwilhelm, on 04/09/2009, -0/+6I consider this an improvement over britney-watch; even if it is less truthful.
- lead2thehead, on 04/09/2009, -1/+7Most camping stores already sell these.
- vilago, on 04/09/2009, -2/+7I would have to agree with most of the comments here that this has been done before. Here's pretty much the same thing with a pizza box: http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/age ... The source code says its from '99.
However, i have to add that even though this has been done before a simple thing like this should not be overlooked for its uses. Simple? yes. Useful? most definitely. I think the idea of using it in 3rd world countries may be far fetched but the thinking behind this is very progressive. This is how we should all be thinking people! - garryw, on 04/09/2009, -1/+6I made this in cub scouts about 20 years ago, where's my Nobel prize???
- FredFredrickson, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5We tried to made these in 7th grade. Mine sucked, hehe.
- MasonZombie, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5For reals, I was baking cookies all the time with these things.
- DanNZN, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5what snapcase said, we did this in elementary school like every earth day (or something like that) to make hot dogs and such. He might have made a little bit better design but not so much invent it.
- rambler12013, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5My dad would make these when I was a kid. And boiling water? We would make bread, stew, pot roast, basically anything you could at around 350 degrees. This guy is no inventor.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5Buckeye and mindfolded, you're both morons. They already make these things for people in 3rd world countries. Not just for camping stores in developed countries. ***** if you just look up "solar cooker" on wikipedia right on the top of the page you see one being used in a 3rd world country.
- shoelessschippa, on 04/09/2009, -0/+5Cool! Now i want to make one. You should also look at the solar kitchen, hospital and engine that were designed by the people from Gaviotas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaviotas
http://dharma-haven.org/five-havens/gaviotas.htm - snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4Yep... it's already been done. They're making them for the 3rd world already. If you even bothered to wiki these things you'd know that.
- tgjerusalem, on 04/09/2009, -5/+9Individual people in desperate circumstances have been making solar stills to clean water for ages, too. But most don't, because they don't know how, don't know they need to, don't have the plastic or glass they need, or just don't think of it.
But if someone with access to resources and distribution channels realizes the potential, and gets these things made cheaply en mass and distributed, it can make a massive contribution towards public health in many countries. - MiChuhSuh, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4FTA:
"In the West, we cook with electricity, so it's easy to ignore this problem," he said. "But half the world's population is still living in a stone age. The only way for them to cook is to make a fire."
You gotta love this guy. He thinks of something that little kids do for group projects (Boy Scouts, jr. high), then claims that it's a new invention that can save the world, and then pulls off a triple-double by combining a smug false-humility (I'm just a man... who will save the world) with the arrogance of slapping the rest of the world by calling it "stone age."
YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DIDN'T REALIZE THIS WAS NOT A NEW INVENTION JACKASS, DON'T SAY THE REST OF THE WORLD'S IN A "STONE AGE."
Again:
"In the West, we cook with electricity, so it's easy to ignore this problem," he said. "But half the world's population is still living in a stone age. The only way for them to cook is to make a fire."
I didn't realize propane flames were actually composed of electricity. I want to introduce Hank Hill to this guy. - inactive, on 04/09/2009, -2/+6Now the world solved 2 problems they can cook in by day and sleep in it by night.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4mindfolded, the article title and description on digg came directly from the cnn article in this case. Guess you didn't read that part.
- novakaine, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4Forgive silly me for liking accuracy in my "news".
- TheMachine1, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4I made one 2 years ago. You use a plastic oven bag as the cover. I was not that impressed with the functionality of the device.
http://solarcooking.org/plans/ - MiChuhSuh, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4We had a competition in 8th grade to build the best solar oven using the focal points of aluminum foil parabola (to really concentrate the light) in our trigonometry class. We split into teams of 2-4 and one group was so successful in concentrating the sunlight that their hot dog caught fire. (I know that to some of the older people who forgot this stuff it might sound crazy but it's really not, it's a simple plug in formula and this was in an average California school district)
How this guy claims to be an inventor is laughable, almost as laughable as the people hyping him up like he just saved the world (literally claiming that.)
The only thing he added from what a bunch of jr. high kids did is add black paint. Great, tell people in developing countries with low consumer safety regulations to put cheap paint (LEAD) in the same heated up place that they boil water and cook food. SMART. - moduc, on 04/09/2009, -0/+4The people who gives out the award should be put on TV ads for dumbest people on earth given their status and education.
I remembered watching American inventor show and the kid who made a bicycle won. How ridiculous. All he did was add a place for someone to sit in front of the bike. That's like everywhere in 3rd world country, except people sit on anything such as steering wheel (I even did that in the US), or on the front wheel's bolts/nuts. The kid just put something for people to sit on. In fact that thing also was made before. It's usually to support letters or a bag. Here, it's just stronger for someone to sit on.
If I am to create this cooker things, I wouldn't go with cardboard. That's asking for fire hazard. Why not something link aluminum. Thin sheet are cheap (look at all the Pepsi can). I would use the acrylic and make a fresnel out of it. In the middle of the cardboard would be a small aluminum base to cook water, or other type of food.
I am pretty sure it can be cheap. - snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+3Agreed that the people that gave this guy money are remarkably retarded.
But one thing, about the cardboard, is that they have an aluminum lining, and it doesn't get hot enough for the lining to actually ignite the cardboard that's touching it. And they're already mass producing several versions of solar cookers for distribution in 3rd world countries, so this "invention" and the fact that some ***** gave him cash is even more retarded. - tao52nyc, on 04/09/2009, -0/+3So...has he posted the plans for free on the interwebs?
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -0/+3What I'm pointing out is that it's been done and is being done already. You pointed out that it's intended for people in 3rd world countries. And guess what! They're already being distributed there in several (better) varieties.
Oh, and nice flame by the way. - miamicat, on 04/09/2009, -0/+3I think i saw this on Zoom.
- snapcase, on 04/09/2009, -1/+4They're already mass produced in many different varieties. This is old hat.
- SpeedStix, on 04/09/2009, -0/+3Ps.. found his webpage...3,2,1 everyone on digg visit it so we can crash it.
http://kyoto-energy.com//index.php -
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