The guys in high school who spent their time building spudguns went on to become the best engineers. Fact.

And so we think this kid, with his DIY propane-powered spudgun (range: 200 yards!), is going to grow up one day to build awe-inspiring bridges, nature-conquering dams, or really, really deadly weapons. If he survives.

Not being engineers, we can’t tell you whether this works or not. In fact, it just sounds really bloody dangerous.

However, master this and you will achieve two disparate but important aims. Firstly, you’ll be good at building stuff. Secondly, your foes will retreat and recoil in fear as the spuds fly.

Potato gun [Instructables]

Embraced by everyone from academics to cowboys to shabby indie musicians, corduroy trousers (or ‘cords’, as absolutely everyone refers to them) are ignored at one’s peril.

More formal than denim, with perhaps a little more ‘cred’, but still casual enough to slip on between a t-shirt and trainers, no men’s wardrobe can really function without them.

From the sleekness of Kenneth Cole’s Destroyed Cords and Tassa Elba’s Luxury Micro Cords, to the traditional cut of Ralph Lauren and Nautica to the green, hemmed, roughish eccentricity of Joseph Homme, this list of what’s hot in corduroy will put the uninitiated on track and satisfy the hunger of the aficionado.

Buy: Corduroy Pants [Men's Flair]

Okay, so once we were old enough to get a car (and too grown up to nurture vivid-enough imaginations), the need for a propeller backpack to wear on our bikes faded. But this is so damn cool.

Propelling you along at around 30mph (or slower in a canoe, apparently), the ThrustPac is a gasoline-fuelled turbine, strapped to the back, providing 20 thrusting pounds of wind-powered, pedal-free transport at around 150 miles-per-gallon.

And is it loud? You betcha!

[From the FAQs]

Is it loud?
The THRUSTPAC motors are very quiet. The propellers make the sound you are familiar with on an airplane. We like the sound as it alerts pedestrians and motorists we’re coming and they’re more aware and cautious because of the attention we receive.

We’d like to write, “What a great idea, we can’t believe no-one’s thought of this before”, but people have thought of this before! Twelve-year-old kids everywhere, sick of pedaling home from school, think of it every day. And here is it. And they can’t afford it. So those poor lil’ tackers can just keep dreaming like we had to.

ThrustPac [via The Red Ferret Journal]