One For Laughs and one to think about

[dyknight 0]

Heya the cat and bread one was real funny. But scientifically, I think the cat will land on its feet, since its weight will definitely be greater than that of the butter and turn it the other way round. I had a good laugh, thanks.Anyway, I think it would be possible to install another sensor on the tube, such that it stops inflating once the sides grip the cup. This could be done by detecting the pressure. Once the tube touches the cup, it will "squeeze" the air inside and increase the pressure. You have a brilliant idea.

[Joshua 0]

I don't know about the cupholder idea. With windows, something goes wrong with the wiring and they're permanently stuck until fixed. The technology sounds like it could get a bit pricey and might be delicate as well. It might not work too long in a minivan with a bunch of rowdy kids. However... what about this?A cupholder, plastic as normal, but with something where you pull it and the plastic round parts go inside or outside each other so it can get larger or smaller. It wouldn't be tough to make, could fit many sizes, and then when the silly bottom breaks (as they often tend to do) it might still be possible to tighten it and have it keep working anyway.

[hh89 0]

Since the cat MUST land on its feet, and the toast HAS TO land butter side down, the combination will cause en everlasting spin, which could be used to drive generators, or just for a good laugh.

Ha, that's pretty good. I would have never thought of that...but you do know that what goes up, must come down.

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

The cupholder idea is clever, but unfortunately a bit impractical. In any case, the best sensor would be a weak IR sensor that would be able to see only half an inch above said sensor or so, detecting if an object (such as a cup) was set in place, then the tubing would be inflated snugly around the cup (but not so tight that one could not lift the cup), and then when one began to lift the cup (1/2 inch), the IR sensor would no longer detect the cup and would deflate the tubing.A more practical (and currently implemented) design would be/is a robot-like gripper that snaps to different sizes (not automatically, mind you) in order to hold most any size of cup.

[squeaky 0]

Ha! It seems like you have a engineer side of you that thinks of new ideas and are better for us. The idea of buttered toast landing on butter side down sounds like one episode of MythBusters on discovery channel. It seems like something to really think about. But for the cat, do they actually land on their feet? I wouldn't want to harm the little kitty and be caught by the animal humane people for cruelity to animals. Also, you idea of the cup holding-self inflatting contraption is very creative, but I would think it would be too much of a hassle to account for. There would be high cost inolved if brought on to market and proved unsuccessful and problems would probably occur. Although there are problems, I do like the idea and it seems like something worth testing out! Maybe some modifications would be gel surrounded cup holders that would stretch and accommodate many cup sizes? Or the simple adjustible ring ability that is already been thought of.