There are two ways of creating a product. The first is finding a problem and creating a product as a solution. The other is by converting nonproblems into problems and providing the answer. Businesses seem to enjoy the latter business strategy because it allows them to create profitable niche markets.

There are lots of goods and services we buy because advertisers have convinced us to do so. These things were not considered problems until businesses and advertisers persuaded us that they were. They offered us the solution in exchange for our cash.

10 Antiperspirant

A century ago, it was absolutely normal to sweat and smell. Then Edna Murphey came along with Odorono, the first commercially successful antiperspirant. Edna did not invent the antiperspirant, though. The first one (called Everdry) was sold in 1903. The first deodorant (called Mum) received its patent in 1888.

Odorono was created by Edna’s father, a medical doctor, to stop his hands from sweating during surgeries. However, Edna discovered another use for it when she realized that it stopped her armpits from sweating. She packaged it as Odorono and tried selling it.

Initially, the product was a commercial failure because no one needed an antiperspirant. Edna’s saleswomen often returned home with their stock unsold. Drugstores also refused to stock Odorono over concerns that it was useless. Stores that stocked it often returned it due to poor sales.

Edna got her break during the 1912 Atlantic City, New Jersey, trade fair. She suffered poor sales at first and had to sell other cosmetics to pay for her stand. However, the summer heat soon got customers flocking to her stand for Odorono. She made so much money at the trade fair that she could afford $30,000 for advertising.

Edna hired J. Walter Thompson Company, a New York–based ad agency to help her drive sales. The ad agency convinced people that sweating was an embarrassing medical problem. However, it added that a doctor (Edna’s father) had created Odorono to cure it. The campaign was successful, and sweating is still considered an embarrassing problem today.^[1]

9 Diamond Rings

Ever heard the saying “diamonds are forever”? Or that you need a diamond ring to propose to your sweetheart? Well! Thank De Beers’s advertising strategy for that. Diamonds do not last forever, and you do not need a diamond ring to propose.

Diamonds top the list of the worst precious stones you could buy. They are almost valueless and depreciate rapidly. A diamond loses half its worth the moment you take it out of the jewelry store. These gems are also more common than you think. De Beers only hoards them to drive up prices.

De Beers diamond ruse began in 1870 when huge diamond deposits were discovered in South Africa. This made diamonds cheap, which was the sort of thing a man called Cecil Rhodes did not want. So he purchased or partnered with most diamond mining businesses, including the famous De Beers, which he used for the new business.

However, diamonds sales were still on the decline. In 1938, De Beers engaged the N.W. Ayer advertising agency to see how they could improve sales. N.W. Ayer determined that diamonds should be marketed to bachelors willing to get married. Buying your woman a diamond was considered the manliest thing you could do.

Diamonds were marketed to women at the same time. The gem was considered a woman’s best friend and the perfect gift from a man who truly loved her. It worked.^[2]

8 Shaving Razors For Women

In the early 20th century, women had hairs on their armpits and legs. It was normal because every woman had it. Women were also fully covered, so no one saw the hair anyway. This changed in 1915 when Gillette introduced its Milady Decollete razor for women. Gillette was not concerned with women’s health or anything. They just wanted to sell more shaving razors.

Gillette often advertised its shaving razors in women’s clothing catalogs where it mentioned that armpit hair was “an embarrassing personal problem” that was “ugly, noticeable, and unwanted.” It added that a hairless armpit was a “feature of good dressing and good grooming” reserved for stylish women.

Curiously, Gillette never told women that they needed the razors to “shave” because shaving was considered a male thing. The company used the word “smooth” instead. As in, women needed shaving razors to make their legs smoother.

Gillette also avoided using words like “razor” and “blade.” The ads were helped by the fact that sleeveless clothes were becoming a fad at the time. So women soon started shaving their armpit hair.^[3]

7 Bottled Water

Soda sales have been on the decline in recent years as people have become more health conscious. This is why top soda makers have shifted their battleground to a healthier drink: water. Bottled water, specifically.

Bottled water is basically an alternative to tap water. But manufacturers knew that it would be almost impossible to compete with tap water. So they decided to compete with soda instead. Today, bottled water is marketed as a healthier alternative to soda. They have positioned bottled water as a “refreshment beverage.”^[4]

The bottled water craze started in the 1970s when Gustave Leven, the chairman of French-based Source Perrier, wanted to expand into the US. Leven already sold his famous bottled water to top US restaurants and hotels at the time. However, he realized that he would make the most money if he marketed it to regular Americans.

Leven also realized that Americans would not pay for bottled water because they already got it from their taps. In 1977, he spent $2.5–$5 million on television ads to promote bottled water as a nonalcoholic drink for cool people. He also spent huge amounts on sponsoring several racing events, including the 1977 New York City Marathon. The rest is history.

6 Cereals

Ever heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Or that skipping breakfast could be dangerous for your health? Or that vitamin-fortified cereals are the perfect breakfast meals? Thank advertisers for that.

Not everyone ate breakfast two centuries ago. And when they did, it was definitely not cereal. People in the 19th-century United States ate almost anything for breakfast. This was often eggs or whatever was left of the previous night’s dinner. Eggs were the perfect breakfast because they were easy to prepare. Hens also laid eggs in the mornings.

However, religion and advertising changed that when the Industrial Revolution came along. People left their farms to work in factories. Most started complaining of indigestion, which was blamed on the heavy meals they ate in the mornings.

In truth, it was because they did not need as much food because they did less intensive work in factories than they had on the farms. However, some members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church came to the rescue by inventing the “healthier” cornflakes to cure indigestion and other problems like masturbation.

However, cereals went mainstream when vitamins were discovered in the 1940s. Cereal makers added vitamins to their cereals and started promoting their products as the perfect breakfast. To ensure that more people ate breakfast, the companies advertised breakfast as the most important meal of the day.

The bacon-and-eggs industry did not just sit around and watch the cereal industry take over their market. Top bacon maker, Beech-Nut Packing Company, hired Edward Bernays to promote bacon as the perfect breakfast food. Bernays persuaded 5,000 doctors to agree that a heavy protein-rich breakfast is healthier than a light cereal breakfast.

Bernays had newspapers publish the results, which he styled like a regular scientific study. This made bacon and eggs another breakfast option. Although it countered cereals as the perfect breakfast meal, it reinforced the cereal industry notion that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.^[5]

5 Popcorn

Popcorn became popular in the US in the 1800s. It was sold everywhere except theaters. Yes, popcorn has not always been synonymous with theaters because these establishments were initially targeted at the rich. And theater owners did not want popcorn ruining their expensive carpets.

That started to change when poorer people began visiting cinemas in 1927. They often brought bags of popcorn, which was probably the only snack they could afford. Popcorn sellers soon caught on and moved their businesses closer to the cinemas.

Theater owners joined the popcorn fad and started charging popcorn vendors for selling outside their theaters. Later, cinemas began making their own popcorn. They even ran ads at the beginning and in the middle of their movies to urge viewers to race to the lobby and grab a bag of popcorn. The ads successfully increased popcorn consumption.^[6]

4 Toothpaste

To be clear, it is good to brush your teeth. However, some think that toothpaste is not necessary because a toothbrush without toothpaste will clean our teeth perfectly.

Brushing wasn’t a thing in the early 20th century. It was so un-American that what we consider bad teeth today was the norm. During World War I, most US Army recruits had such terrible teeth that the Army declared bad teeth a national security risk.

The US teeth culture changed when Pepsodent hired the successful ad executive Claude Hopkins to devise a campaign to help them sell more toothpaste. Hopkins got to work immediately. During his research, he noted that human teeth were naturally covered with a film. Consuming foods like apples will remove this film in the same way that a toothbrush with toothpaste would.

Hopkins somehow managed to convince people that this film was the reason that they did not have beautiful smiles. He suggested that they use Pepsodent toothpaste for the best teeth and perfect smile. The campaign was successful because of Hopkin’s prowess at persuasion and Pepsodent’s mint flavor.

At the time, most toothpastes were flavorless and tasted bland. However, Pepsodent’s minty flavor gave users a feeling of freshness. Several competitors caught on and added flavors to their toothpastes. They also made the toothpastes foam because people loved it and associated it with a clean mouth.^[7]

3 Teeth Whitening

White teeth are considered perfect even though they are not necessarily so. For starters, natural human teeth are light yellow and not white. So yellow is normal and white is abnormal. However, advertisers are currently convincing us that white is normal and yellow is abnormal.

Our teeth are yellow because our dentine (aka dentin) is yellow. Dentine is the part of the teeth beneath the enamel, the outermost layer of the teeth. The enamel itself is white with a tint of blue. However, it is transparent, which is why we can see the yellow dentine.

Most teeth-whitening ads these days claim that yellow teeth are abnormal. The companies promote their businesses on social media, especially Instagram, where they pay influencers to recommend their products.

The major ingredient in their teeth whiteners is hydrogen peroxide, a liquid agent that passes through the enamel and into the dentine. There, it breaks apart the compounds that make the dentine yellow. However, there are concerns that hydrogen peroxide could damage the enamel and cause other permanent or temporary dental problems.^[8]

2 Almost Every Holiday Out There

Most days of the year have been marked as holidays to celebrate one event or another. Most of these days are considered Hallmark holidays—that is, holidays that only exist to increase sales for businesses. They are named after Hallmark Cards, Inc., which sells greeting cards for almost every occasion.

There are holidays like Sweetest Day, which was created by a candy company with the sole intention of selling more sweets. There is also Tax Day, Clergy Appreciation Day, National Boss Day, and Ferris Wheel Day. Curiously, the tag has been extended to traditional holidays like Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day.

In fact, Mother’s Day is one of the most commercialized holidays. It was proposed by Anna Jarvis in the early 1900s to celebrate all mothers. In May 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared it a national holiday in the US. The holiday soon turned to horror for Jarvis as she watched businesses create all sort of items for Mother’s Day.

Jarvis considered this greed because the day was supposed to be about mothers. She tried canceling the holiday but failed despite using press releases, lawsuit threats, protests, and meetings with US presidents. US businesses still rake in billions of dollars on Mother’s Day every year.^[9]

1 Toilet Paper

Humans have been pooping since they came into existence. And we have probably been cleaning since we became smart enough to realize we should do so after pooping. Toilet paper was not around at the time, so people used water, sticks, sponges, grass, stones, shells, straw, pottery, corncobs, and whatever else they could lay their hands on.

This started to change in the fifth century when the Chinese invented the first toilet paper. However, toilet paper was still foreign to the US until Joseph Gayetty invented his version in the US in 1857. However, nobody bought it because they had no need for it—even when Gayetty marketed it as the perfect product for people with hemorrhoids.

At the time, people saw no reason to spend money on toilet paper when they had lots of old magazines, fliers, newspapers, and other similar items at their disposal. Gayetty also had a communication problem with his intended customers because people rarely discussed private issues like pooping.

Toilet paper only became a successful product in 1867 when brothers Thomas, Clarence, and Edward Scott marketed the first rolled toilet paper. They found more success as the flush toilet increased in popularity and people became confident enough to discuss the art of pooping. Toilet paper soon became a status symbol.^[10]

Given that so many publications today have become overly politicised and preachy, as well as living on borrowed time in the wake of internet media, you’d be forgiven for thinking that nobody in their right mind buys magazines anymore. Despite this slow death, some super niche mags are still doing it the old fashioned way—providing the reader with stuff they want to read about… if you really like potatoes or corpses, that is.

10 Times Governments Edited Textbooks To Rewrite History

10 Emu Today & Tomorrow

If you want to know about the state of emu farming today and want to speculate as to the future of farming emus, this is the magazine for you! There is a very dedicated, very passionate community of ‘dromaius fanciers’ out there and, armed with the most recent issue of this industry publication, you could join their number, harvest some bright blue eggs and enjoy some surprisingly delicious meat. But what type of meat is it? Technically, emu meat should be regarded as poultry but the good ole’ USFDA have designated emu meat as red meat due to its colour and similar PH value to beef. Emus are lean mean fighting machines and, much like their big cousins the ostriches, they can cut your belly open with a flick of their razor-sharp claws. Thank goodness then that the most recent issue of Emu Today & Tomorrow provides the reader with a comprehensive guide on raising these animals safely. Disappointingly, no centrefold birds…^[1]

9 Spudman

Formerly known as ‘The Times of Ireland’ (sorry guys, this had to be said, we love you really), this publication allows you to really get to know potatoes, giving you an academic understanding whilst you shovel them in your mouth in chipped form. Another industry magazine, Spudman gets way more technical than the jocular name suggests; items include research papers from the University of Idaho (Ok, still pretty jocular) on the best practices of potato storage, forecasts on the fiscal wealth of the potato chip industry and, in an online subsection called Spudwoman, you can see profiles of the leading ladies in the bumpy, beige, potato shaped world. Published 8 times a year, you’ll get your money’s worth if you’re a lover of spuds. Disappointingly again, no centrefold spuds…^[2]

8 Girls and Corpses

Founder, publisher and self-styled ‘Deaditor-in-chief’ Robert Steven Rhine has explained what inspired him to create this delightful magazine:

“Why Girls and Corpses, you ask? Well, if you’re like me, you like two things, beautiful girls and rotting corpses. So, I thought, why not bring these two great tastes together in one magazine?”

Fair enough then. If you think that this is just a silly bit of LARPing, busty models hanging out with B-movie props bought from storage auctions near seedy strip malls in Arizona, you’re wrong. Dead wrong (forgive me, I had to). The corpses you’ll see in this magazine are real! Imported from countries where the rules and regs around cadaver transportation are a tad more lax, these guys grab them for a photo shoot before allowing the bodies to continue to their final destination at bio labs or museums. If you are not overly squeamish at the sight of decrepit, mouldering dead bodies, check these guys out. A genuinely funny, irreverent publication that’s a breath of stinking, dank air for this prudish age. Or a bunch of sickos, you decide.^[3]

7 Elevator World

A whole world of elevators? One would be forgiven for imagining an MC Escher-like planet of perpetual, crossing movement machines but, as you may have guessed, nothing in this magazine tends to be that mind-bending. Their website is a good deal slicker than many entries on this list, showing us that this industry must be on the cutting edge of civilisation, like new tech, AI and Elon Musk. Ok, maybe that’s a tad hyperbolic, but any media company with a dedicated bookstore section on their site are doing pretty well by my estimation. And what books are on sale here? Well, for the low low price of $83.50 you can be the proud owner of the ‘Elevator Maintainance Handbook and Manual’ or, for a bargain $179.99, you can show off to your friends by reading aloud from ‘The Vertical Transportation Handbook—Fourth Edition’. Get your subscription for this mag and after a few months immersion, you’ll be buying your ticket for ‘Lift Expo Italia 2021’, hosted in the historic city of Milan. I for one will not be attending due to the hosts blunder of arranging for the expo to be held on the ground floor of the MiCo convention centre. Fools.^[4]

6 Practical Sheep, Goats and Alpacas

This magazine is not about sheep, goats and alpacas that can assemble an IKEA bookcase without the manual, it is another guide to ownership that will ensure you are kept at the cutting edge of livestock rearing… unless you own a llama or two, in which case (we assume) you can fuck off.

Very much of the same stripe as ‘Emu Today & Tomorrow’, this magazine tells you everything you need to know about raising the types of animals that so kindly allow us to wear their coats and eat their flesh. Starting out back in 2013, this quarterly magazine is a handy guide for anyone thinking about getting themselves a sheep or a goat or an alpaca. For instance; what breed of goat are you going to get? How will you keep your alpacas? What happens when your sheep contracts orf virus? What if your llama escapes? This magazine has the answer for you (save the last question, you know where you can go, pal).^[5]

Top 10 Bizarre Theories From The Father Of The Real-Life ‘X-Files’

5 The Fortean Times

We’ve been making fun of a lot of the entries thus far (no offence meant to all you emu farmers and elevator engineers out there by the way), but that’s simply not going to fly with this venerable, thought provoking magazine. This is the type of mag we need to counter the prevailing culture obsessed with cancelations, moral purity tests and an insistence on self-immolating ideologies. Stemming from the writings of Charles Fort, The Fortean Times could be a shining light that guides us out of the mire.

Charles Fort was an interesting fellow. His works skirt the fine line between the conspiratorial, woo-woo believing spiritualism of the Victorian age and the rational, reason-first approach that the Enlightenment brought to the western hemisphere. This monthly publication seeks to carry on Fort’s work of cataloguing and presenting news and events that confound conventional explanations. Full of amazing photos, really top-notch writing and a strong community spirit, if you are going to subscribe to any mag on this list, get this one. You can even toddle along to their annual ‘UnConvention’ to enjoy an IRL expo of some of the brightest minds in the Fortean field. From strange deaths, readers’ letters about perceived paranormal encounters to in-depth articles on pop culture Forteana and the weirdest news stories one will ever read, the Fortean Times is the magazine for skeptics and believers alike, showing that the middle path between doubt and faith is the safest path for us all.^[6]

4 Twins

Since 1984, this has been the bi-monthly bible for parents who got more than they bargained for exiting the birth canal. There’s lots of media out there for parents but this is the biggest and best resource for anyone blessed with ‘doublers’, ‘trips’ or even a ‘double doubler’ of babies. With book and product reviews, interviews and scholarly articles on all things twin-related, this is a surprisingly exhaustive publication for the multi-sprogged parent.

It’s pretty cool that these guys offer a free digital subscription but it is a bit disappointing that this so-called ‘magazine for multiples’ provides you with only one physical copy when you subscribe to the main magazine!! Come on, Twins magazine, let’s get a buy one get one free offer, please.^[7]

3 Miniature Donkey Talk

Never has a title needed a comma more—imagine it as a command: ‘miniature donkey, talk!’ That’d be a viral video if there ever was one. Alas, you’ll have to read all about the scintillating world of tiny donkeys instead. If you were a fan of Eeyore, clearly the only really compelling character in the Poohniverse, or if you fell in love with the wise-cracking donkey from Shrek that sounded a little bit like Dolemite, then you’ll love reading up about their real-life counterparts.

For 25 years magazine founders and miniature donkey farmers Bonnie and Mike Goss have been providing this niche community with informative, newsletter style articles and a hub for buying and selling goods and services to keep these tiny pack animals looking sharp. All we need now is for someone to create an artificial voice box with pre-recorded lines voiced by Eddie Murphy, and Miniature Donkey Talk will become the most subscribed magazine in the world.^[8]

2 PRO

If you wanted your face on the cover of any magazine, which one would it be? Budding musicians may pick Rolling Stone. Every actor would love to see themselves holding an Oscar on the cover of Variety. Time person of the year, anyone? You’re all wrong. What you need to do is get yourself on the cover of PRO Monthly, the mag for portable restroom operators. Current cover star, John McGreavey was once an accountant who, after doing some of the numbers, decided to buy a porta-pee-pee business. Wiping ass and taking names!

All joking aside, it is quite fascinating that this industry has such an exhaustive, well-written glossy mag to service it. We take public utilities like portable restrooms for granted nowadays, but when you think about it, how awful would any given music festival be without this invention? How many times has a portajohn saved you from shitting yourself in public? Give these guys some love because, along with electricians, sewer workers and submarine network field technicians (https://www.ciena.com/insights/articles/A-Miserable-Day-in-the-Life-of-a-Submarine-Field-Technician-prx.html), they are real heroes living amongst us.^[9]

1 Crappie Now!

No, this is not another magazine dedicated to portable toilets as the title suggests, rather it is a magazine for very specific fishermen. The crappie is a North American genus of freshwater sunfish and they look utterly delicious. One popular method for catching these delectable little beasties is called ‘spider rigging’—this fishing method employs multiple rods arcing over the water (if you imagine looking down at the multiple rods with the boat at their centre, it’d look like a spider, see?) How do I know this? Thanks, Crappie Now!

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a sucker for a subculture. The internal jargon, the sense of community, the meaning drawn from whatever the hell it is they’re doing, it’s great to watch people who truly love doing whatever their passion is. If you fancy a deep dive into the world of crappie fishing, give this magazine a try. If you want fishing to be less crappy, get an issue of Crappie Now! Now!^[10]

Top 10 Best Websites To Bust Boredom

About The Author: C.J. Phillips is a storyteller, actor and writer living in rural West Wales. He is a little obsessed with lists.

With a heaping dose of ‘health and safety hypersensitivity’, any family trip or neighbourhood party can turn into a boring, slow moving dull-a-thon. That grill is too hot, keep the kids away. How deep is that pool? That popcorn is a choking hazard, enjoy some celery soup with your movie. Sometimes, you have to live a little. Not with these products, though. The items listed below will burn you, choke you or pop out your eyes in a second. Enjoy.

10 Products Made From Human Body Parts And Secretions

10 Norodin A.K.A Speed

Who doesn’t love meth? Many happy customers the world over use this wonder drug to increase their ‘vim’ and ‘pep’ before engaging in the usual sorts of activities people like; robbery, prostitution and proclaiming oneself the messiah whilst nude at a public swimming pool.

People in the past were actually able to purchase methamphetamines legally. One brand named version of the drug was Norodin, marketed at ladies who wanted to lose weight. Speed was everywhere. You could even get a Benzedrine inhaler, along with a large scotch and the chicken set dinner, on PanAm flights in the 1940s. That’s exactly what you want on a long haul flight across the pond—a meth head in the middle seat. Speed was popular until a slew of high profile criminal cases all over the world pointed to abuse of these narcotics as a contributing factor. The business moved from control by pharmacists to your friendly, local drug kingpins, bringing an air of the home-grown and rustic to Meth.^[1]

9 A Lot Of Stuff Made By The A.C. Gilbert Company

This company made some pretty cool toys. They also made some of the most dangerous ‘toys’ a kid could ever have the misfortune of playing with. Small cuts, light scalding, choking hazards and pinching injuries are extremely common in kids toys and always have been. Radiation poisoning though? A.C. Gilbert was a multi-talented inventor, but he really pushed the boat out on innovative ways to seriously maim children.

The ‘Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab’ allowed your budding Einstein to play around with different uranium ores that produced gamma, alpha and beta radiation. Fun! Gilbert also produced a glass blowing kit for kids (presumably so they could engage in the most disfiguring game of pea-shooters ever) and a chemistry kit which included a heaping pile of sodium cyanide, just in case lil’ Bobby jr. wants to bump off the Russian agent next door. Or make a really terrible milkshake for himself.^[2]

8 1920’s Hair Removal

Waxing, shaving, epilating and laser treatments are the ways modern guys and gals use to remove those pesky stray hairs in problem areas. How did the ladies of the 1920s do it? X-rays. I shit you not one bit, folks. X-rays.

The ‘Tricho’ machines, once relatively commonplace in beauty parlours across the USA, were machines that focused doses of X-rays upon the customers’ cheeks and upper lip. This would, after upwards of 15 treatments a year, induce permanent hair removal. And malignant carcinomas. Possibly death. Given that hair removal beauty regimens are more common for men today, you may be curious if this could be just dangerous for ladies in the 1920s. Amazing!—the march of progress, scientific developments, am I right? Well sir, the next time you break your arm, do NOT enquire whether the guy or gal in charge of the X-ray machine minds doing your back, sack and crack. You’ll get rid of those hairs, but gain a few tumours.^[3]

7 The Empire Little Lady Stove

We’ve all read about the dangers of the once popular kids ‘Easy Bake Oven’. This popular mini oven allowed children to play kitchen for real. But for every hundred or so nicely browned jam tarts, you’ll end up burning yourself (we’ve all been there. Damn spun sugar, it’s basically napalm). When you scale it down and allow little kids to do the same, you’re asking for a trip to the burns unit with little Jinny or Jimmy. Imagine your kids’ toy oven could reach temperatures that exceed your own full-size cooker. That’d be the Empire Little Lady Stove.

Modern ovens will reach a temperature of around 550 degrees Fahrenheit before a mechanism clicks in, turning off the oven lest it burn the house down. This children’s toy could reach temperatures of 600 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just about hot enough to bake some lovely chocolate chip cookies in 35 seconds. Ah, simpler times.^[4]

6 The Zulu Blowgun Game

Zulu warriors employed a whole host of deadly weapons when they went to war. Not blowguns, though. To the makers of this wonderfully safety unconscious game, that didn’t matter. Unsafe and tone deaf, a match made in hell!

This crazy game included a blowgun, paper targets and metal-tipped darts. So, an actual weapon then. This is the equivalent of handing a child a loaded Glock 17 and, without training, calling it their ‘new shooting game’. Have at it, kid. Gotta learn to larp sometime.^[5]

10 Products You Aren’t Using The Crazy Way Their Creators Intended

5 Incredibly Inflammable Clothes

In the words of noted physician Dr. Nick Riviera, “Inflammable means flammable? What a country!” Once you get the definitions straight, now you can venture forth into the world and realise that a wire wool jacket may not be the best item of clothing to wear at the 9V battery factory. Victorian ladies had a hold host of incredibly easy to burn fabrics to choose from in a world that still employed candles and gas-fuelled flames for light. Muslin, gauze, all the open weaved cotton fabrics for dresses was a little like wearing a frock made of match heads. One of the craziest fabrics was flannelette.

The coroner of the city of Manchester, England put it best when interviewed for a local newspaper in 1898:

He noted that he had ‘held several inquests on children burned to death owing to their having played with fire in one way or another. Mr Smelt said there had been seven such deaths within a week that he had had to deal with, and he attributed the fact to the cold weather we had recently experienced. Children would go near fires to warm themselves; it, therefore, behoved parents to watch them strictly. They should also avoid dressing them in flannelette, which was almost as dangerous, if touched with fire, as gunpowder’. Still, those dresses looked pretty.^[6]

4 Roman Blinds

A few of these entries seem to cover danger to children. The toys are obviously going to be very kid-heavy, but window coverings? You better believe it. These fancier looking roller blinds are all but impossible to get in the USA these days, at least with the traditional pull cords.

You may think this is public safety run amok, maybe some crazy attempt to avoid lawsuits based on 1 or 2 kids getting friction burns or a toggle in the eye. But according to data gathered in 2015, more than 200 child deaths could be attributed to pull cords on window coverings. Huge retailers like Target and IKEA have now removed them from the shelves. Fair enough then.^[7]

3 Agene-Treated Flour

White bread was fancy stuff until the advent of sourdough and malted tin loaves with a honey glaze topped with mixed seeds. The whiter the bread, the ‘better’. As mass production and higher wages began to take hold at the turn of the last century, demand for good bread skyrocketed. How could bakers make shiny, brilliant white loves consumers wanted?

It’s all in the milling process. The whiter the flour, the whiter the bread. So they’d bleach the flour, artificially whitening the bread, the process getting better and better until you could buy a loaf that was whiter than Casper the friendly ghost’s taint. One chemical that was commonly used was nitrogen trichloride, or agene. In 1949 it was discovered that this process wasn’t producing flour that was safe for human consumption. Agene treated flour caused neurological disorders. How was this found out? Agene flour was also used in the making of dog biscuits, the dogs consumed them and showed signs of hysteria. Hysterical dogs—always a dead giveaway that something isn’t quite right.^[8]

2 Samsung Galaxy Note 7

This phone blasted onto the market in August of 2016, becoming the latest hot property produced by South Korean tech juggernaut Samsung. It caused an explosion of excitement for users… before causing actual explosions due to faulty batteries.

First, the newly released Note 7s would go boom. Samsung told consumers that they could trade in their recently purchased faulty phones for a new, far less explosive one. The problem was that these new improved phones also tended to overheat and blow up. This led to Samsung pulling the plug. Alongside the many hundreds of disappointed consumer whose new devices had combusted, Samsung took a bit of heat too—to the tune of around $17 billion in lost revenue. Ouch!^[9]

1 Any Car Before The 90s

When you look at car accident photographs from the past (if you’re that way inclined), one wonders why anybody would buy a car back then. They were death machines.

Any petrol head, especially stateside, knows about the infamous Ford Pinto (available from 1971—1980) with its genius design innovation—the fuel tank was right next to the bumper at the rear of the car, making even the lightest bump to the back of the Pinto a potentially explosive crash. What about even further back in time? Well, the amazing Briggs & Stratton Flyer, perhaps the cheapest to produce car ever, was essentially a go-kart primarily made from wood. It had no doors. No windscreen. No safety tech at all. Looks fun, until you consider that the mere addition of a scarf to your driving apparel pretty much guarantees that you’ll lose your head.

Speaking of gruesome deaths caused by automotive accidents, here’s a fun fact for all you vintage car collectors. If you’re driving any car made before 1968, the steering column won’t be collapsible. So what? Well, if you get into a prang, the waist belt (chances are you won’t have a 3 point safety belt) won’t stop you getting impaled on the fixed steering column. Even much loved, iconic classic cars are incredibly unsafe. Say you fancy yourself a bit of a Marty McFly and buy a DeLorean. You’ll look cool as hell… until some jackass undertakes you and you swerve. The you flip over. Then you’re entombed in a metal sarcophagus, facing certain death. Why? Those cool-as-balls gull wings cannot open when the car is upside down. Bet you wish you’d made out with your teenage mother instead… “Great Scott!”^[10]

10 Surprising Products Made By Your Favorite Companies, Including The Samsung Machine Gun

About The Author: CJ Phillips is a storyteller, actor and writer living in rural West Wales. He is a little obsessed with lists.

We’ve scoured the internet for ten of the most unusual modes of travel that money can buy (either now or in the not-too-distant future), and ranked them in order of price.

10. Hoverboard (concept)

While it’s clear by now that Marty McFly’s 2015 must have been on an alternate timeline, hoverboards are actually possible on our own. In fact, it was in 2015—our 2015—that Lexus advertised the SLIDE, a bamboo and carbon fiber floating skateboard. In a 37-second viral teaser video, we saw a real-life hoverboard hovering inches above the ground.

Ok, so it was only a prototype concept, but the technology does exist. Maglev trains have depended upon it for more than a hundred years. The trick is a magnetic surface. A Kickstarter campaign in 2014, for the Hendo hoverboard, also used magnets to levitate. But the Lexus SLIDE has a superconductor and can hover on magnets in concrete. And while we don’t have magnets in concrete as standard, you could build your own hoverboard skate park. How much it’ll set you back isn’t really clear, but it’s probably the least on this list.

The only downsides are the 11.5kg weight and the need to top up the liquid nitrogen coolant every 10 minutes or so. On the other hand, that liquid nitrogen does emit some cool-looking vapors from the board.

9. Tron Lightcycle

Being virtual reality, the Tron Lightcycle has been possible for a long time. But only recently has it been rendered in the meatspace. Well, kind of.

Don’t expect to leave any light walls like a real-life game of Snake, or to ride at speed, but do expect to be the envy of any Tron fans you pass. Built by Parker Brothers Concepts, it’s a spectacularly faithful carbon fiber and fiberglass replica with dual hubless wheels and plenty of lights. There’s even a Tron helmet included in the $35,000-55,000 price tag (though no spandex jumpsuit). 

Like Tron itself, the Lightcycle has spawned two generations. The first, of which only five were ever made (in five different colors), was gas-powered, while the second is all-electric.

8. Hoverbike

Channeling Star Wars, the Aero-X hoverbike crosses pretty much any terrain without slowing down—although 45 miles per hour doesn’t leave much to slow down to. Powered by two horizontal propellers, it’s really just a hovercraft the size of a car but it looks and feels like a bike. It also reaches heights of up to 20 feet. The company behind it, Los Angeles-based Aerofex, calls it a “crossover vehicle.”

As for who might want one at $85,000, they vaguely suggested ranchers, emergency services, and border patrols. Let’s face it, though; this is a toy for the rich. 

Although there’s an emphasis on minimizing noise, emissions might be a problem. To avoid the propeller blades seizing, Aerofex installed a rotary engine instead of a conventional piston one. But, as the car manufacturer Mazda learned the hard way, rotary engines are hard to make clean and efficient.

7. Jetpack

Although still in their infancy, jetpacks (and jet suits and belts) are very much here. It’s just that you can’t afford one. In 2015, the CEO of JetPack Aviation zipped around the Statue of Liberty with a jetpack capable of reaching 10,000 feet a speed of 55 knots. The company’s newer model, the JB-10, almost doubles that ceiling and speed. But many other companies are at it, with some offering full customization. Wearable jets are also being tested by the military and emergency services—no pilot’s licence required.

Prices are in the hundreds of thousands. Mexico-based TAM, for example, sells a “rocket belt” for a quarter of a million dollars, while UK-based Gravity Industries has an Iron Man style jet suit for £380,000 (almost half a million dollars).

Don’t get too envious, though. This is one of those rare occasions where the rich serve as guinea pigs for the rest of us, trialing a piece of technology that’s still pretty deadly. It’s easy to forget what a jetpack is: “a jet engine strapped to your back”. There’s plenty of room for things to go wrong, which is why pilots still have to wear tethers. Flight time is also disappointing—typically just seconds or minutes.

6. Flying Car

There’s a reason flying cars haven’t taken off. Unfortunately, the compromises involved in merging roadworthiness and airworthiness result in barely accomplishing either—and they typically cost more than a plane and a car combined. But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy one.

In 2023, the FAA approved Alef Auronautics’ Model A for testing. Although it’s just the latest in a decades-long tradition (of flops, mostly), it is, say the makers, the first flying vehicle to actually drive like a car. A very slow car, that is, with a top speed of 25 miles per hour. On the plus side, though, it does have vertical takeoff. It’s also 100% electric, with a range of 110 miles by air and 200 miles by road. The idea will be to fly whenever speed is required.

Alef expects to start selling the first flying car by 2025, at $300,000 each. If you’re interested, you can pay $150 to get on the waiting list or $1,500 for a priority spot.

5. Amphibious Limo

Cars you can drive on water and land might seem pointless to us—especially as they compromise on speed. But for the rich, they solve an old problem: getting to and from a superyacht in style. Usually this involves climbing into a dinghy or speedboat and climbing back out at the shore like any common peasant. With an amphibious vehicle, transitioning from sea to land would be seamless.

Not surprising, then, that most amphibious cars are designed with the wealthy in mind. Nouvoyage’s $2 million Limousine Tender 33 is a case in point. 33 feet long, it’s luxuriously furnished (in that horrible corporate way the rich seem to like) with seating for 12, state-of-the-art air-conditioning, retracting roof, gull-wing entry, and a toilet. It can also travel up to 30 knots on water and 85 mph on land—good enough for “making an entrance” as Nouvoyage sycophantically put it, “whether you’re arriving at a film premier in Cannes or a dinner reservation in Les Beaux.” Yeah, or an island full of sex-trafficked teenagers.

4. Personal Blimp

For 20 years, Lockheed Martin was secretly building an airship—a helium-filled blimp capable of floating for 1,400 nautical miles at a max speed of 60 knots. Thanks to its hovercraft-like air cushion landing system (ACLS), it can land on a variety of surfaces, including water, and you don’t even need to use mooring ropes; it’s held in place by a vacuum. 

Unfortunately for the war profiteer, nobody was interested and they gave up trying to sell it. But airships are probably the future. Another company, Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), already has plenty of buyers for its Airlander 10, priced at $50 million. 

They’re not the fastest way to get around, with a cruising speed of 80 miles per hour, but they are much greener than a jet. And for some the slower pace may be appealing. In any case, HAV conceives of the Airlander as a fast, flying superyacht, not a slow, bulky aircraft. There’s plenty of space on board for luxurious lounges, suites, offices, spas, sushi counters, and cargo holds—making it ideal for long-distance cruises, camp-hopping safaris, trips to the North Pole, and sex parties.

3. Private Train

Although exceedingly rare, some railcars in America are privately owned and run. One belongs to former Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman, who refurbished his 1948 Sandy Creek observation car with bedrooms, a kitchen, and a lounge—effectively making it an RV on rails. Another, an old Pullman sleeper car, belongs to the president of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, whose members join railcars once a year for an all-private cross-country trip. Otherwise, private railcars are hooked onto public trains headed in the desired direction. It’s kind of like train-hopping but legal, boring, and expensive: $3.67 per mile, plus storage of $1,800 per month.

Since 2018, Amtrak has actively discouraged the niche mode of travel, saying it causes “significant operational distraction” and delays paying customers on scheduled services. The solution, of course, is to run your own train. 

Enter the $350 million G Train, which, in theory, lets you ride the rails anywhere in the world. This 1,312-foot locomotive—purpose-built as opposed to refurbished—has a total of 14 cars, some with fold-out wings for outdoor dining. There’s also space on board for your fancy cars and motorbikes. Best of all, the shell is made of technical glass which can be switched from transparent to opaque, depending on whether you want to take in the sights or hide your depravity.

2. Luxury Submarine

When it comes to privacy, the rich get nautical. From seasteading to sex islands, the ocean’s where it’s at. Of course, in the age of spy satellites, a surface yacht won’t cut it; a luxury submarine is much better.

Capable of sailing the world Captain Nemo style (but as an evil scumbag fat cat), the 928-foot Migaloo M7 is almost twice the length of the Russian Typhoon, the world’s largest nuclear submarine. Its diesel-electric engines have a range of 1,000 miles between fueling, and it can dive to 1,500 feet. 

There’s no expense spared on board. The M7 has everything from helipads to swimming pools, hangar bays to viewing rooms. It also comes with numerous tenders, including a hot air balloon, SUVs, and that amphibious limousine—as well as minisubs for exploring ruins, shipwrecks, and caverns. The makers don’t specify the price, but it’s estimated to be around $2.3 billion, which, according to Migaloo CEO Christian Gumpold, would make it “the most expensive private object” ever sold. “Would” is the keyword there; the submarine hasn’t been built as the builders are waiting for buyers. What’s stopping them? Among other things, it’s the possible safety concerns; these are uncharted waters in every sense of the term. There’s also the cost of operation, including a crew and regular maintenance. 

1. Nuclear-Powered Mega-Jet (concept)

Although conceived as a flying cruise ship, it’s easy to imagine Tony Holmsten’s nuclear-powered, AI-controlled mega-jet (nicknamed “Flytanic”) in the hands of a megalomaniac. Think Doctor Robotnik’s Wing Fortress in Sonic. 

Capable of cruising for years at a time, the Studio Ghibli-inspired behemoth resembles a jumbo jet on steroids—complete with a vast central dome and tail section viewing deck. There’s space on board for 5,000 guests, or slaves, along with everything you might expect of a cruise ship: swimming pools, restaurants, theaters, sports and medical facilities, and so on. It’s so big that regular aircraft could land on top without trouble. 

Although just a concept for now, all the mega-jet needs is a small enough nuclear reactor. And, according to Hashem Al-Ghaili, who researched and animated Holmsten’s vision, this could be within reach in the next two decades.

The United States government has a department responsible for making sure its citizens don’t eat foods that may be dangerous. Whether this is due to an ingredient or how the dish is made, the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Products Safety Commission have decided that some stuff, no matter how delicious it may be, is just too dangerous to consume.

SEE ALSO: 10 Ridiculous Myths People Believe About Fast Food

Some of the items on this list may actually surprise you, given that you either had them growing up or consider them perfectly fine. These ten foods are considered safe for almost everyone else on the planet. The US government, however, has determined that they aren’t good for Americans.

10 Raw Milk

Remember in school, when you learned that Louis Pasteur figured out how to pasteurize milk, saving millions of lives and making milk safe for everyone to drink? It seems some folks missed school that day because there are people who enjoy drinking raw, unpasteurized milk. Raw milk isn’t necessarily dangerous to consume, but when it is mass-produced on the level the dairy industry puts out milk in the United States, the odds of passing on harmful bacteria increase exponentially if pasteurization is skipped.

Unpasteurized milk can carry dangerous bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria. These and other harmful organisms killed in the pasteurization process can be dangerous to the young, people with weakened immune systems, the elderly, and pregnant women. Pasteurization prevents harmful diseases such as listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and brucellosis, so it makes sense to keep raw milk under control. In the US, 20 states and the District of Columbia prohibit the sale of raw milk, while its sale is heavily regulated in all but 13 of the remaining 30 states.^[1]

9 Lazy Cakes

When having trouble sleeping, some people may take melatonin. In small doses, it’s a harmless supplement that can help regulate sleep, but it is not generally considered a food ingredient. That’s a problem for the makers of Lazy Larry brownies (formerly called Lazy Cakes), as their principal marketed ingredient is melatonin. The Food and Drug Administration found out about this additive and sent a letter to the company responsible, informing them that their cakes weren’t particularly good for people to . . . well, eat.

These cakes are particularly dangerous for children, who might see a delicious brownie and eat it. If a child were to take melatonin, they shouldn’t exceed 0.3 milligrams, but these brownies are packed with 8 milligrams of melatonin. While the nation as a whole hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon and outright banned Lazy Larry brownies just yet, you won’t be able to find them anywhere in Arkansas. The state banned them in 2011.^[2]

8 Ackee Fruit

Sometimes, the most dangerous treats are also the most delicious. That is certainly the case for the ackee fruit, which can be found in West Africa and Jamaica but certainly not in the United States. The FDA has completely banned the importation of ackee fruit into the country,^[3] and it may have been for a good reason: Ingesting unripe ackee will result in something called Jamaican vomiting sickness (JVS), which is pretty much exactly what you think it is. About two to 12 hours after eating unripe ackee, someone with JVS will begin vomiting uncontrollably, may lose consciousness, and is susceptible to seizures. If this happens while you’re out camping, this little fruit is going to kill you.

The reason ackee causes JVS has to do with the presence of hypoglycin, a nonproteinogenic amino acid. It functions by lowering a person’s blood sugar, which leads to an increased use of glucose and ultimately hypoglycemia. There are thousands of people who eat ackee fruit and its products every day without harm thanks to their patience in waiting for the fruit to ripen, but seeing as dozens of people die from eating it every year, the FDA may be on the right track with this ban.

7 Sassafras Oil

Sassafras oil is probably the one product many people have heard of but have never used. That’s certainly true for Americans, seeing as the use of it in commercially mass-produced foods was banned back in 1960. Sassafras is a bit different than other items on this list; you might just have it growing in your backyard. The plant hasn’t been banned, but you aren’t going to find it in your root beer anymore. The reason the oil has been banned in the States stems from the presence of safrole, a constituent in sassafras oil, which has been shown to be carcinogenic, causing cancer in lab animals.^[4]

There is another problem with safrole in that it is one of the principal ingredients of MDMA, otherwise known as Molly or ecstasy. Because the tree produces a component of the popular party drug, it is becoming threatened and may disappear one day. Despite the dangers posed from ingesting safrole, it is still used in a wide array of products across the planet. Some uses are not banned in the United States, but it is no longer included in foods.

6 Haggis (Imported)

If you have never been to Scotland or eaten their food, odds are you have heard of haggis and want nothing to do with it. Take it from the writer of this article, you are doing yourself a disservice! Haggis is delicious! Unfortunately, you cannot import it into the United States, thanks to a ban placed on the dish in 1971 by the FDA. They made the ban due to the presence of sheep lung, which constitutes less than 15 percent of the total dish. The FDA created the ban, which encompasses all lung meat, due to the potential presence of stomach acid and phlegm.^[5]

The ban only exists on haggis imported from the United Kingdom, so there is nothing stopping an intrepid eater from getting some homemade haggis in the States. If you aren’t ready to take the haggis challenge just yet, you may want to learn what it is: Haggis is described as a pudding in the way only folks from the UK can call a meat dish a pudding. It consists of a sheep’s heart, liver, and lung meat, which is then minced with various spices, onions, and oats before it is stuffed into a sheep stomach. It sounds disgusting but is arguably delicious, and many people in and out of Scotland enjoy it.

5 Casu Marzu

Most Americans reading this may be scratching their heads wondering what casu marzu is, and there’s a reason for it which you’ve probably already guessed: It’s banned in the United States. The traditional dish from Sardinia is made from sheep milk that contains an ingredient the people at the FDA may have gagged at learning: live insect larvae, more commonly known as maggots. Yes, you read that correctly—when prepared in the traditional way, this dish contains a cheeseload of maggots.

Casu Marzu is made by placing a wheel of pecorino cheese outside with a small portion of the rind removed. This allows a fly, Piophila casei, to lay its eggs in the cheese. Seeing as these little buggers can lay up to 500 eggs at a time, there are going to be quite a few maggots inside. As they mature and eat the cheese, the acid in their stomachs breaks down the cheese fat, making the cheese incredibly soft. The chef knows the dish is ready to be served when several thousand maggots are present. It’s up to the person eating the dish whether or not they want to eat the maggots whole or by mashing them into a paste. Many do this, while others flick them aside. While casu marzu is certainly banned in the United States, it is also banned in the EU, making it difficult to find . . . should you want to.^[6]

4 Mirabelle Plums

For most of the foods on this list, the United States government banned them for health reasons or environmental concerns. For the mirabelle plum, their reason is quite different, thanks to rules making the fruit protected from importation due to its designation as a “protected origin” food.^[7] This designation is the result of an agreement between the French and American governments aimed at helping the French market. As a regional delicacy in France, the country prefers to keep it in-house as a means of attracting tourism. This isn’t unusual for France, which protects a number of regional delicacies, including certain peppers and wines.

Because of this agreement, it is nearly impossible to get a mirabelle plum into the United States. If you want one (and you do, they are delicious), you need to travel to the Lorraine region of France. You can even attend a two-week festival in honor of the fruit and its economic importance to the region in the city of Metz. They hold a mirabelle festival every August, when the fruit becomes ripe. They do grow in other countries outside France but should be enjoyed when cultivated from their native soil.

3 Fugu

This food is so dangerous, it nearly killed Homer Simpson! Fugu is the sushi cut from a pufferfish—you know, those cute fish that blow up at the sense of danger. These fish possess within their bodies an incredibly toxic chemical called tetrodotoxin, a type of neurotoxin and one of the deadliest substances in the world. Because of the danger from eating it, the United States slammed the ban hammer down on serving it, but there are a few places you can get it. In order to serve fugu, a special license is required, and in Japan, three years of training are required before a chef can serve the dish.

If you ever end up eating fugu but then start to feel a little sick, you might have ingested some of the toxin. Here’s what you have to look forward to: some light dizziness followed by outright exhaustion, headache, and nausea. If you ingested a lethal dose, you will begin to have difficulty breathing and then enter a state of total paralysis in which you are unable to do much but contemplate your poor life choices. When the body is completely paralyzed, your lungs cease to work, and asphyxiation occurs. There is no antidote to tetrodotoxin, but your life can be saved with a stomach pump and the ingestion of more charcoal than anyone would want to eat.^[8]

2 Shark Fin Soup (Eight States)

Shark fin soup is a traditional dish found mostly in China and Vietnam, but it has made its way around the world since it originated sometime in the Song dynasty roughly 1,000 years ago. The dish is considered a luxury item and is traditionally served only during special occasions. It is also considerably expensive, costing anywhere between $50 and $100 per serving. You may be picturing a bowl of broth with a shark fin sticking out of the liquid, but it is made using the meat from the fin, which is dried and shredded after the skin is removed. One of the reasons the dish has been so prominent in Chinese culture is due to the belief that it helps prevent cancer, among many other purported benefits.

Its use in Chinese medicine has caused the demand for shark fins to skyrocket, which has caused a decline in a number of shark species. The biggest problem occurs when fishermen pull in sharks, slice off the fin, and throw the bleeding fish back in the water to die. In order to help conservation efforts, many nations have written laws and bans protecting various species targeted for the dish. While shark fin soup is banned in only a handful of states, the US has established a law requiring that sharks caught in American waters be documented before a fin can go on sale.^[9] By the end of 2017, efforts to completely ban the dish in the United States were underway.

1 Kinder Eggs

Saving the best for last, Kinder Eggs are probably the most ridiculous ban the United States has placed on an imported item. For most of Europe, these candies are ubiquitous and a nostalgic part of most people’s childhood. Kinder Eggs, also called Kinder Surprise, are hollow, egg-shaped chocolates containing a toy. The toy comes in a yellow plastic shell, and it can be just about anything. Whether they are promoting a film or are releasing their own line of toys, these can range from small cars to intricate playsets, unique characters, or just about anything imaginable. Sadly, it’s the toy inside that the US government has set its sights on.^[10]

Thanks to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, food items cannot be sold if they contain a nonnutritive object. Since there is very little nutrition in plastic toys, Kinder Eggs fell victim to the ban hammer. In 1997, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reexamined the ban based on some eggs brought illegally into the United States. They determined the presence of small parts in the toys presented a health and safety risk to small children under the age of three. The fine for bringing a Kinder Egg into the United States is a whopping $2,500 per egg. Ferrero, the company that makes Kinder Eggs, was able to create a modified version to market in the US. The new product started showing up in stores at the end of 2017, but they differ considerably from their European counterpart and just aren’t the same.

Are you experiencing symptoms of imbalanced frequencies? Low cellular voltage? Psychic aberrations? Well, sit back and relax. There’s a wellness device just for you—even if you don’t feel diseased.

Warning: This list may contain misinformation, if the title wasn’t enough indication already.

10. Spooky2

Did you know that all medical conditions have specific electromagnetic frequencies? If you did, you’ve probably heard of the Rife machine. Invented in the 1920s, it delivers pulses of electromagnetism to cure almost any disease. Unfortunately for the inventor, and possibly for the world, mainstream science was hostile. The earnest engineer Royal Raymond Rife died penniless and embittered, and, in the years since, his already ruined legacy has been further sullied by snake oil salesmen and scandals.

More recently, however, especially during the feeding frenzy of COVID-19, Rife has made a big comeback. Marketed on Facebook as “the affordable Rife device for every home,” Spooky2 Scalar controversially promised to “protect you and your family from this terrible virus.” Supplied with a specific frequency for stopping the disease, as per Rife’s theories, the device came with additional assurance that “scalar energy provides optimal energetic support for the immune system.” The Federal Trade Commission disagreed and sent the company a warning. But don’t let that slow you down. The basic kit only costs $1,600 and comes in a reassuringly rugged briefcase with a cutesy smiling ghost logo.

9. Electropsychometer

Despite what Scientologists would have you believe, the E-meter wasn’t invented by L. Ron Hubbard. The Electropsychometer, as it was originally called, was invented by Volney Mathison, a chiropractor, for use in psychotherapy or analysis. This is ironic given Hubbard’s avowed antipathy to psychotherapists. But he had another use in mind: falsifying serious aberrations or criminality in a user with so-called “discreditable reads”. This is Scientology’s on-ramp.

The Church’s E-meters are assembled at Gold Base, California, a high-security compound under constant armed guard. Each unit usually costs $4,000, but you can pick up non-affiliated Electropsychometers or ex-Scientologist (FreeZone) E-meters for less. Just have a look on eBay.

They’re no more than crude lie detectors, polygraphs lite, galvanometers with tin can electrodes. Powered by leaky batteries, all they do is gauge your skin’s electrical resistance. Hubbard, however, believed (or pretended) the device could eliminate illness—for which the government sued him. Nowadays even the Church admits the device can do nothing by itself. But in the hands of an unscrupulous entrepreneur… Remember: you can’t help anyone until you get rich.

8. BioResonance Machine

Internal organs playing up? Don’t delay! Scan them for imbalanced frequencies and perform a non-linear statistical analysis today! All your organs, cells, and tissues emit electromagnetic waves, don’t you know, and their frequency changes in response to different stresses. In fact (or whatever), each disease has its own “signature resonance frequency”. So it’s possible to scan for pretty much anything without an invasive procedure. Simply attach the electrodes.

Developed (and presumably abandoned) by Russian scientists in the 1990s, this technology has now been perfected by the wizards at OBERON in Florida. Not only can the BioResonance Machine scan your organs for diseases; it can also heal them in no time—in the comfort of your home! It’s just a matter of altering your damaged cells’ frequencies via headphones.

There are no side effects, no chemicals, and no inconvenience, and it works best alongside good nutrition and other treatments… Yes, that’s consistent with placebo—but don’t be a sheep. Another bioresonance company, Rayonex Biomedical, actually has clinical proof of efficacy for cervical spine syndrome, or neck pain. Okay, so pain is easily treated by placebo, and yes, the study was conducted by Rayonex itself, and yes, they seem reluctant to carry out more trials given there’s no evidence—only anecdotes—for the other conditions listed. But did we mention it’s non-invasive?

7. Stimulations VII

Small cup size getting you down? Forget surgery. The Stimulations VII vacuum device can permanently, non-invasively, expand your lilliputian breast tissue. Just place the self-sealing dome over your bust and activate the pump for an enlargement of up to four cup sizes! It can even regrow breasts that were surgically removed by mastectomy. 

Well, that’s if you can find a Stimulations VII on the market. In the early 2000s, one ungrateful customer took the Iowa-based manufacturer, New Womyn, to court for refusing to refund her $2,000. She hadn’t read the small print. By “18-month money-back guarantee,” the company meant she had to use the device for 18 months before she was eligible for a refund. And she would only be eligible if, throughout that time, she’d visited a doctor once a month.

Fair enough. But she kicked up a stink all the same and poor Dan Kaiser, New Womyn’s CEO, was ordered to pay a $90,000 civil penalty.

6. BioPhotonic Scanner

If you’re the sort to wonder how many carotenoids you’ve got in your skin, this device is for you. If you don’t care, this device is also for you—because you should care, what’s the matter with you. Carotenoids are antioxidants that give orange, red, and yellow plants their color. They include beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene, among others. And, according to experts, they may be one reason why eating fruits and vegetables lowers the risk of disease. What the BioPhotonic Scanner does is check that you’ve eaten enough (which, if you suffer from anterograde amnesia like in 50 First Dates and don’t like keeping a food diary, is no small thing).

Critics say it only measures carotenoids in the skin, and isn’t a reliable measure of your overall antioxidant status. But their only basis for saying so is the total lack of scientific evidence—which means their argument falls down as well. If there’s even a remote chance the BioPhotonic Scanner can measure your antioxidant health, can you really afford not to buy one? Just think of the money you could save at the greengrocer, knowing when to stop buying vegetables.

Plus, if your scan shows sub-optimal carotenoid levels, the same company that sold you the scanner will sell you antioxidant supplements. Beat that for convenience.

5. BioCharger

Sometimes all you need is some more “subtle energy”. Invented by Jim Girard, the BioCharger delivers pulsed harmonics, at a frequency of your choice, to weakly vibrating cells—re-energizing and revitalizing your natural magnetic energy, aligning your mind and body, and raising your cellular voltage. Sure, you can do the same by walking barefoot, releasing negative emotions, listening to pure sounds, and drinking alkaline water, but this is a lot more expensive.

According to the shut-ins at BioCharger, “over 90% of our day is spent indoors, blocked from nature’s vital energies.” They’re not suggesting you go outside; this machine is a high-tech alternative. Anyway, at $15,000, you’ll have to stay in to afford one. Don’t worry about the science; there are loads of testimonials. There’s also a 45-day guarantee, so there’s really nothing to lose besides the non-refundable $250 shipping fee.

With its plasma gas spectrum tubes and menacing red glow, the BioCharger certainly looks the part. Nobody has to know it doesn’t work. You could even make your money back by charging friends for treatment! That’s what Michael Nguyen does; the fecal transplant enthusiast is one of the BioCharger’s most high-profile advocates and even he admits it’s a glorified placebo about as effective as journaling. He still uses it, though, and so should you.

4. Electro Physiological Feedback Xrroid

In 2005, an Oklahoma woman suffering joint and leg pain wisely entrusted her health to the EPFX quantum biofeedback device. That her husband died using it for cancer didn’t matter; she believed it could nurse her back to health. The worst of her husband’s illness—the side effects of chemotherapy—she rightly blamed on the hospital. Neither does it matter that she died the same year.

EPFX salesmen have only good things to say. Even the developer himself, cross-dressing self-described genius William Nelson, who as a teenager helped NASA save Apollo 13, says it cures cancer and AIDS. Stinking rich from selling the things—17,000 of them at 20 grand a piece—he’s got a Budapest mansion with servants and a movie studio. When he’s not on tour giving pep talks to salesmen, he stars in his own movies about saving the world from the villainous FDA. He also has eight doctorates. But that’s all by the by.

EPFX treats the root cause of illness, not just the symptoms. It also has a display to watch healing occur in real time. Arterial cholesterol blockages, for example, appear as little white blobs that shrink and disappear during treatment. Similar to the BioResonance Machine, EPFX detects electrical imbalances (voltage, amperage, electron pressure, and so on) and immediately sets about correcting them.

3. Zapper

Finally, a wellness device that doesn’t bamboozle with a high-sounding sciencey name. Invented by Hulda Clark, doctor of physiology (okay, zoology), the Zapper kills parasites, bacteria, and viruses without harming bodily tissue. It does this by delivering low-voltage electrical zaps through the two supplied handheld electrodes. Not good enough? We can see you’re a sharp one. Why not ride business class with the Orgone Zapper model, which not only zaps but orgone-heals too. Just don’t use a Zapper if you’re wearing a pacemaker! Or pregnant, for that matter, as it can’t tell parasites from babies.

Even if you’re not suffering an infestation, the Zapper may still be for you. Some users report an aura-enhancing effect from just half an hour of use. Clark recommended only seven-minute sessions, but we use it for as long as we like. Just stop when you start seeing burn marks. And show no fear! Sweat can be a problem.

We know what you’re thinking. You can do all this yourself with a car battery, right? But Clark’s Zapper comes with positive offset square wave—and you don’t know what that is, do you?

2. Ozone generator

Hole in the ozone layer, bad. Therefore ozone, good. Therefore pumping the stuff right into your home, even better. It’s unimpeachable reasoning like this that brought us the ozone generator, improving the lives of thousands of investors and salesmen. There are always naysayers, of course: the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Lung Association, the Food and Drug Administration, and various so-called scientists, all of whom insist that ozone is harmful at high concentrations indoors. They’ll tell you it takes years for ozone to eliminate toxins, and that in doing it’ll release a lot more.

But forget about that and think about this: if it’s harmful to us, it’s harmful to parasites—bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. So there’s really no surer way to banish stink and disease from your home. Besides, ozone is all-natural. Just plug the mechanical discharge unit into the mains and a high-voltage electrical field will do the rest, transforming all your smelly used oxygen into pure, clean ozone.

1. Hyper Dimensional Resonator

This one’s a little different. It’s a radionic time travel device that can help with astral projection by emitting unlimited white chi energy. Invented on a farm in Nebraska in 1981, it’s actually the souped-up version of an earlier prototype, the Sonic Resonator. The main improvement is a caduceus coil electromagnet. Operation is simple. Strap on the time-coil headband, spit in the witness well, add a quartz crystal, place the electromagnet between your legs, and turn the dials to the date you wish to visit. (Both go up to 10.) Then meditate while rubbing the rubbing plate. You should be transported—astrally, unless you happen to be sitting on a grid point or vortex, in which case physically—to your desired spacetime coordinates.

Users commonly find themselves aboard UFOs, in other countries, or in parallel dimensions and time lines. Some have returned with objects, only to see them disintegrate. Other times it’s more subtle. One user, after a seemingly unsuccessful session, woke up feeling strange like he was in the wrong place. His suspicions were confirmed when he opened the fridge and couldn’t find the cookie dough he left there. He called his wife at work and was astonished to hear there wasn’t any there in the first place. Another got to use it with the inventor himself, back in 1989: “When he turned it on, clouds formed in the room, and sparks danced around the chandelier.” At first it seemed like nothing had happened, but when she next sat down to watch her favorite movie, Shane, “dialogue she’d memorized was altered or spoken by different characters.” She said it scared her to death.

But don’t be put off; the Hyper Dimensional Resonator is a wellness device. Consistent use can nurture your spiritual growth. Just don’t get blood in the witness well; it’ll attract demons.

Whether you want to be that guy at a party with an iguana on your shoulder, or you just can’t live without an adorable little monkey, odds are, you’re into exotic pets! The exotic pet trade is global, and it includes many cute and interesting animals.

Of course, not everything available is necessarily a good pet. Some are incredibly difficult to care for, while others are just plain dangerous. These ten critters may have seemed like a good idea at first, and there are places where you can own them, but you absolutely shouldn’t.

Top 10 Exotic Pets That Killed Their Owners

10 Prairie Dogs

Prairie dogs are adorable rodents found throughout the Great Plains of the United States. They are often seen standing outside their burrows as lookouts for predators. Prairie dogs are a type of ground squirrel, though they don’t have long bushy tails. Regardless, they are cute little critters, so many people have taken them in as pets.

This is probably the worst thing you can do, but not because of potential damage to your home. Prairie dogs are social creatures that live in family groups of between 15 and 26 individuals. These groups are called “towns,” and they can span a large area. Inside their groups, prairie dogs engage in grooming and oral contact called “kissing.”

Depriving a prairie dog of its social grouping means you will have to take the place of dozens of prairie dogs. Taking one as a pet means you’ll have to spend several hours each day grooming and caring for your prairie dog. This may be fun at first, but eventually, the little furball will see less and less of you (in most situations).

Some people have taken in prairie dogs and managed to care for them properly. However, it’s recommended you take in more than one. Caring for them is difficult and time-consuming, so keeping these critters is a responsibility few can fulfill. Ultimately, it’s far better to leave them alone and watch them from afar.

9 Fennec Foxes

Fennec foxes are one of the few foxes taken in as pets, and they are best known for their large ears. They are the smallest of all the canids, weighing less than 3 lbs. (1.3 kg) at most. Their large ears, small size, and adorable features make them desirable as pets (They look like Pokémon). Still, you need to know what you’re getting into if you adopt one.

Fennec foxes are crepuscular by nature, so they are most active at twilight. Even if they are tamed, this isn’t likely to change, so you’re getting a pet that would undoubtedly wake you early in the morning or keep you up at night. They also love to dig and have been known to create large holes, looking for insects to eat.

It is illegal to own Fennec foxes in most places, so you’ll want to check with your local laws to make sure you can have one. If you cross that hurdle, you’ll need to feed your pet properly, and regular dog food won’t cut it. It can become a large part of their diet, but they’ll need more.

You have to supplement their diet with fresh fruit, vegetables, and freshly killed rodents. They will live longer in captivity (14 years instead of 10), but they require a lot of specialized attention and accommodation. They should not be adopted lightly, so do your research and prepare accordingly if you insist on having one.

8 Servals

A serval is a species of wild cat found throughout the non-rainforest regions of Africa. They evolved to have the longest legs of any cat (relative to body size) and are often spotted with a golden-yellow coat. They are gorgeous animals, and while they look somewhat like a domesticated cat, that’s not what they are.

Some serval cats have been tamed, but they aren’t a domesticated species. Despite this, they have held a place in human history for quite some time. Their representation has been found in 4,000-year-old Egyptian art. They were often given as gifts from Nubia, but today, they’re a part of the exotic pet trade.

Servals are illegal to own in many places, but some parts of the world welcome them as pets. The biggest problem with keeping them as pets is that people think of them as a sort of exotic cat. In a way, they are, and they aren’t, but the biggest difference between the two is the Serval’s need for a large area to explore and hunt.

They aren’t going to be content sitting on a bed in your apartment — these animals need to stretch those long legs! They require special (expensive) diets and often need specialized veterinary care. They also mark their territory and don’t adjust to litter boxes well. Ultimately, it’s far better to adopt a standard-issue housecat and leave servals to their natural environment.

7 Capybara

The capybara is the largest rodent species, and it looks a lot like a giant guinea pig. Like everything on this list, they are cute and fascinating animals, which can be adopted as pets. Of course, they’re on this list, and you should avoid adopting them for various reasons.

Like prairie dogs, capybara are social creatures, and they usually move about in groups of 100 individuals. Some live in smaller groups, but they are never alone, and they should never be left alone. They’re rather large, but saying these are the largest rodent species may not paint the right picture.

When they think of rodents, people tend to picture mice or other small animals, but these guys can grow to two feet in height (0.6 meters) and weigh in at 170 lbs. (77 kg). That’s significantly larger than most dogs, and because these are social animals, you can’t keep only one… you’re going to need to get several.

Capybara are legal to own in very few places, and if you do keep them, you’re going to need ample space. They will need a pool of standing water and around 12 feet by 20 feet (3.6 to 6 meters) of space per pair of capybara. They may be cute, but keeping them as pets is costly, challenging, and inadvisable.

6 Kinkajous

Kinkajous, also known as “Honey Bears,” are small frugivorous mammals native to Central and South America. They are related to raccoons, and while they look a bit like primates, they aren’t related to them. They live in the trees and are nocturnal, so they don’t interact with people in the wild.

They are hunted in their natural habitat for the exotic pet industry, though it can be difficult to purchase one. Still, you can get kinkajous as pets in some parts of the world, but like everything on this list, you shouldn’t unless you have a lot of time, money, and space.

Kinkajous may be kept as pets, but they are rarely considered tame. They tend to scratch and bite their keepers in zoos and in homes, so they don’t make for great pets. Their saliva carries dangerous bacteria, which can cause severe and potentially deadly reactions in some people if they are bitten.

Aside from the potential danger, it’s difficult to house a kinkajou in an environment suitable for them. They live in dark rainforests, so they have light, humidity, and flora requirements that can be difficult to maintain. You can get them as pets, but it’s best to leave these creatures in their native habitat.

5 Sloths

Sloths have become popular critters, thanks to the plethora of photographs and videos shared online. They are adorable little slow-moving animals, and pretty much anyone who sees one immediately wants to adopt it as a pet. They are actually legal to own in many places, leading people to believe they could be good family pets. Of course, they’re on this list, so they aren’t!

Sloths may seem cute, so they don’t seem threatening, but they are wild animals. Sloths haven’t been domesticated, and they need to remain in their natural habitat. They thrive in the canopy of tropical rainforests and don’t do well in captivity, even if you take great care of them.

Despite appearances, sloths can be dangerous to people. They have large sharp teeth, and they aren’t afraid to use them. A bite can deliver a bacterial danger to a human, but more than that, they are strong. Pound for pound, a sloth is three times stronger than an average person, so an aggressive sloth can be dangerous.

For the most part, a sloth makes for a lousy pet because it’s stressful for the animal. These aren’t creatures accustomed to humans, so they don’t adapt well to captivity. While it’s true they will live longer if well cared for, they are best left to trained keepers or their natural habitat.

4 Monkeys

There’s no denying that monkeys are adorable. They look like furry little babies you can play with and enjoy. Even Ross had one on Friends for a little while, though David Schwimmer said how much he hated working with it. Monkeys are cute, but they don’t make great pets.

It is legal (in some places) to adopt a monkey, and there are several options. You can legally adopt a capuchin, guenon, tamarin, marmoset, macaque, or squirrel monkey. Ross had a capuchin, which is the most common monkey pet. They are also often used as animal actors, so you’ve probably seen them acting cute on TV.

The reality of owning a small monkey is far different than whatever makes it out of the editing process on a TV show. They can be expensive to buy (around $7,000 and up), and caring for them is also costly. They require diapers, special food, specialized veterinary care, and a lot of attention.

Monkeys can become aggressive and dangerous to you and your family. They can’t be kept in a small home either, as they require a large area to jump and climb. Keeping them in the house is often seen as cruel, so if you want to see a monkey, the best thing you could do is head to your local zoo.

3 Chimpanzees

If your interest in primates extends beyond monkeys, you may decide to bring a chimpanzee into your home. These members of the Great Ape family are our closest animal relatives, so they would make excellent pets, right? No, no, and a thousand more noes! Unfortunately, keeping a chimp is not a good idea.

Regardless, you can keep them in pets in some areas of the world, though it’s illegal in most places. Like monkeys, they require diapers outside their enclosures, as they’ve yet to master toilets. If that doesn’t dissuade you from getting one, they can live for up to 60 years in captivity and require a massive amount of time, money, and attention.

If you’re still on the fence about getting a chimpanzee as a pet, you need to understand that these creatures are unpredictable and incredibly strong. A chimp can weigh up to 154 lbs. (70 kg) and stand as much as 4 feet 11 inches (150 cm). They are also around 1.5 times stronger than a human.

Chimps have been known to become enraged and maul humans. They have the strength to rip a person’s face off. Literally. They are dangerous to strangers and their caregivers, so do as the good Dame Jane Goodall advises, and do not try to keep a chimpanzee as a pet!

2 Tigers

If you watched Tiger King, you’re probably aware of the sad fact that there are more tigers in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild. It’s unfortunate but true, and the numbers are staggering. Around 5,000 of the big cats reside in the U.S., while only an estimated 3,900 are in the wild.

Despite being the largest cats in the world and an apex predator, people have been keeping tigers as pets for centuries. Tigers are, in no way, domesticated animals. They can be kept as pets in loving environments, but at the end of the day, you’re bringing a 600 lb. (272 kg), 11 foot (3.3 meters) monster of teeth and muscle into your home.

While many tigers live in the States, they are illegal to keep in most places. The biggest problem with keeping a tiger is that they need a large area and a lot of food to remain healthy. You can’t take them to the local vet either, so you’re looking at a massive expense that is always hungry.

Captive tigers eat around 9-18 lbs. (4-8 kg) of raw meat five days a week. On top of that, they need to roam in a territory of up to 40 miles (64 km) for males. Females can work with a smaller area, but most people can’t accommodate either. They can be incredibly dangerous, and they can and will eat you should they choose to do so — there’s not a lot you can do to stop that.

1 Bears

Bears are the largest land carnivore roaming the world today. While they do look adorable, they are insanely dangerous. Depending on the species, some bears can grow to massive proportions, and their claws are like small blades attached to all of their paws (which are huge). Despite this, there are plenty of people who have kept them as pets over the years.

Caring for a bear is as difficult as it sounds, but some people do it. They can very rarely make good pets, but only to certain people in very specific situations. Most countries do not allow their citizens to keep bears as pets, but some areas permit special licenses. Still, it’s not advised to take a bear home with you if you’re not a professional keeper… even then, it’s inadvisable.

Bears are large animals weighing up to 1,500 lbs. (680 kg), and they grow quickly. A bear cub can grow into an adult in very short order, and caring for them is not easy. They require a lot of food and a large enough place for them to roam about. They aren’t going to be happy in a small enclosure.

If your pet bear decides it doesn’t like you anymore, that’s pretty much it. In the war between human and bear, the human doesn’t come out on top. These are massive beasts with sharp claws, huge teeth, and the strength to tear a person apart.

10 Uncomfortably Odd Stories Of Exotic Pets

As technology becomes more advanced by the year, the products that were once only seen in movies set in the future have now become available for us as regular consumers. Household robots that can do our chores? Got it. Delivery drones? We have those now too.

With the number of technological advancements we’ve made in recent years, the possibilities for the future are infinite. Maybe that dystopian future controlled by robots isn’t too far off after all…

Related: 10 Astonishing Feats Of Modern Technology

10 Amazon Astro

In this day and age, we have robots that can complete tasks of any kind in your home. The iRobot will assist you in vacuuming. Keurig will provide you with that oh-so-necessary cup of Joe before work, and you only have to turn to your smart speakers to tell you the weather.

Amazon’s new Astro home robot is one that will trump them all. More pet than robot, Amazon Astro has the capabilities to map out your home and perfectly orient itself with the different rooms in your house. In doing so, Astro can perform security checks while you are away using facial recognition features, deliver things to other rooms in your house, or even play movies and TV shows. This thing won’t give you the creeps like the NS-5 machines from the film I, Robot. Instead, it ventures around your home on three wheels and greets you with two large eyes on its main screen, which gives it a more cute-than-scary look. Although Astro is still only available to buy through invitation, anyone can request one. It likely won’t be long before Astro is widely available.^[1]

9 Transparent TV Screens

We’ve seen them in about every futuristic movie out there, from Divergent to The Maze Runner and even Iron Man when using Jarvis. Those with a fab for futuristic screens of all types will be pleased to know that multiple companies are rolling out their own versions of the sought-after transparent screen televisions.

Among the top brands is LG, which has 55-inch OLED screens that are, you guessed it, transparent. This screen by LG is mainly geared to be used as a commercial storefront display. However, it is only a matter of time before they start hitting the consumer market, and you’ll be able to have one right in your living room.

Another major brand in the clear TV market is Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, which released a transparent TV for home use back in 2020. Although the hefty price tag of $7,200 made it basically out of the question for any sane person, the TV set was still a marvel of technology. Similar to LG’s version, it is a 55-inch OLED panel capable of being fully transparent when in use or turned off.^[2]

8 VR Headsets

Who doesn’t love the ideas of a world with endless possibilities, as seen through the headsets worn by characters in Ready Player One? Indeed, with some of the events that are happening in the real world, wouldn’t it be nice to have an escape from reality?

With the invention of virtual reality headsets back in 1968, this was now possible. Although it wouldn’t become popular until the mid-2010s, VR is now widely used today for both commercial and entertainment purposes. Boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic, total virtual and augmented reality headset sales reached 11.2 million units just last year. Virtual reality is likely the future of gaming, as it provides a much more immersive experience for the user. Not only that, it provides great commercial uses as both consumers and producers can have more in-depth interactions with their products through VR.^[3]

7 Self-Driving Cars

A bit of an obvious one but necessary to put in nonetheless. We all know that the primary purpose of robots is to make one’s life easier. In arguably the most gruesome part of the day, sitting in traffic for your morning commute, wouldn’t it be better if you could just sit back and relax while the car does all the work for you?

A car’s ability to do this is nearly here. With Tesla’s autopilot feature, one of the most advanced in the industry, users can just sit back while the car can accelerate, slow down, or even change lanes for you. There’s no doubt many people would love to use this feature in heavy traffic or an open stretch of road. The real question is whether or not you would trust the system after the various incidents that have occurred while people were using autopilot and not paying attention.

Another company at the forefront of the self-driving car industry is Mercedes-Benz, the first company to sell a level-3 autonomous vehicle in 2022. Even on their home page for autonomous research, they claim, “Today’s discussion no longer revolves around whether the technology will deliver on its promise but whether people want what the technology can deliver.”^[4]

6 Smart Glasses

Wearable technology has had an upward trend in recent years, especially with products like the Apple Watch and self-lacing shoes. Now, that technology has moved elsewhere, to the inner parts of eyeglass lenses.

There has been a fair share of companies that have taken a step toward making various types of smart glasses. Some take pictures, others play music, but the ones that are really from the future are the glasses that can display information on the lenses right in front of your eyes. Companies such as Google have created smart glasses that will make you look like a cyborg. However, the average consumer wants smart glasses which could pass as normal ones.

Many of the smart glasses of today use augmented reality features so the user can watch movies, look at navigation instructions, and do other small tasks. Glasses such as the Vusik Blade also have built-in cameras. The downside is that they are expensive and chunky.

Apple has been rumored to be entering the smart glasses market sometime in the near future. With the amount of AR technology that they are bringing into their current product lineup, this prediction doesn’t seem too unrealistic.^[5]

5 3D Printers

Having the ability to make basically anything in a matter of a few hours seems like something that can only be accomplished with the highest level of industrial machinery. In the early 2010s, 3D printers were still extremely expensive for hobbyists and private consumers. Premium features such as heated printing beds and a thinner filament were only available on higher-end models.

When Creality entered the market in 2018 with its Ender product line, the standards for hobbyist 3D printing were set. This printer had all the features of higher-end competitors, but its big selling point was the price. Now, consumers could purchase the Ender 3 for under $200, something that was unheard of at the time of its release.

Nonetheless, 3D printing technology is something that has revolutionized almost every industry. Parts of any proportion or size can be readily available in a couple of hours for very low costs. (LINK 16) As long as you learn the software to use these machines from the future, the possibilities that can be created with 3D printers really are endless.^[6]

4 Iris Scanning Smartphones

It’s always cool when we see a movie character approach a door that leads to a top-secret room, and then they lean into the keypad and have their retinas scanned. Nowadays, features like this exist in the most abundant pieces of technology that we use: our smartphones!

Chinese phone maker Fujitsu was the first to introduce iris scanning to a smartphone in 2015. Since then, it hasn’t been an incredibly popular feature, especially with recent phones, but it has been one of the coolest. Samsung made this feature available on its Galaxy S9 and S9+ models, which were the best-selling phones when they were released.

Biometric passcodes such as fingerprint readers or facial recognition are featured on nearly every new smartphone today, especially the flagship models. Despite more companies choosing those methods over iris scanning, it is still a cool feature that is usually only seen in sci-fi movies before coming to the consumer phone market.^[7]

3 Smart Refrigerators

Here’s a piece of history I bet you didn’t know: Refrigerators that can connect to the internet have been around since the late ’90s. In fact, one of the first newspaper references to smart refrigerators was claiming that you could “live like the Jetsons.” But really, an internet-connected fridge? What’s the point?

The smart fridges of today can display useful information such as the weather outside or current news. The most useful feature they offer is the ability to see the items inside without having to open the door. Although this feature will really not save you any time at all (since by the time you command the fridge to take a photo, you could have already opened the door), it is still cool to see a typical household item be given a neat element of technology. After all, who wouldn’t want to have the ability to watch TV or movies on your fridge?

Overall, these fridges haven’t been popular since every feature available on them is also available on that smartphone you always keep in your pocket. But who knows? Maybe one day, they’ll be smart enough to do the grocery shopping for you?^[8]

2 Smart…Rings?

Adding to the category of wearable technology from a dystopian future are wearable rings. Sound odd? Yeah, I agree. Most of the smart rings on the market have features similar to your average FitBit. They can monitor heart rate and even your blood oxygen levels.

The cool factor in smart rings comes in the other features it has. Monitoring health is a pretty good start, but the ability to make phone calls in just a tiny ring is a step up. With the ORII smart ring, you can do just that. Although a little larger than other rings in physical size, it could be advantageous for those who may not like wearing smartwatches to have the ability to make phone calls with a tiny ring on their finger. Another cool thing this ring can do is turn off smart lights, open smart blinds, and more through the use of gestures. An all-in-one ring that can do just as much as a phone in a form that’s a fraction of the size. Now that is some cool technology.^[9]

1 Live Video Drones

The concept of drones itself seems to stem directly from a dystopian future. Drones that can make deliveries, security drones, drones that can go places humans can’t—the list goes on and on. Drones have recently become extremely popular with consumers and hobbyists, as they can be purchased for cheap and are a lot of fun for some people to build.

In this day and age, drones are already changing the industry. They can look and see where wildfires are spreading, survey and spray crops on farms, and even assist law enforcement at large events. The technology and agility in quadcopters are very impressive, allowing them to have many different uses. Not so long ago, drones were only seen in predictions of what the future would look like. However, nowadays, drones are everywhere and readily available for people to buy at little cost.^[10]

Every day, we face new challenges that force us to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Whether we are at home, in the wilderness, or out in the ocean, an accident can endanger our lives and reduce our chances of survival. According to survivalists, preparation is the first step towards conquering anything, especially when we can’t control whatever is happening. For example, when a boat is sinking or we get lost in the woods, how would we react? While knowledge and training are valuable for surviving, having a good complementary kit improves our chances of staying alive.

Here are the top 10 kits you can buy to survive any situation.

10 Out-in-the Wilderness Survival Kit

Ever heard the phrase that “cities are urban jungles?” Well, no matter how tough life in your neighborhood, city, or apartment gets, it can never compare to the wild outdoors. Whether you are going camping, hiking, or climbing, the wilderness can be challenging for anyone. Anything can go wrong at any moment and if you are not well prepared, there is no corner bodega to save you. Fortunately, the world came up with wilderness survival kits.

Kits like the Jinager wilderness survival kit has everything you need to survive the wilderness—if you know how to use everything in it, of course. If you are a survivalist or know enough to get you through a night lost in the woods, the kit comes with some pretty handy tools.

• Firestarter to make the freezing nights warmer.
• Whistle to signal your location and ward off wild animals.
• Woodcutter to make splinters fire-worthy.
• Tactical pen for self-defense and peace of mind.
• Rescue blankets to protect you against all the elements.

9 Stranded In-The-Middle Of The Ocean Survival Kit

Ah, the majestic ocean blue. To sail upon its waters is a luxury. But, as history proves, the ocean is as scary as it is beautiful. Stories of the Titanic and other tragic seafarers show that the ocean can be punishing to those that are not prepared for it. Once a ship starts sinking, passengers have little time to prepare tools that can help them stay afloat as they await help.

Depending on where you are in the ocean and how terrible the wreck, you could survive! How, you ask? With a kit worthy of landlubbers. Something like the Landfall stranded in the ocean survival kit prepares you for an emergency at sea. The kit’s tools include:

• PW SOLAS Flare that burns brighter and longer to signal help.
• Emergency Space blankets for maximum warmth.
• Alkaline batteries for lights.
• A Comprehensive Guide to Marine Medicine Handbook.
• A Standard VHF Radio to communicate with nearby ships.  

8 Festival Party-Of-A-Lifetime Survival Kit

Forget sliced bread, antibiotics, and Beyonce. Any true raver knows that festivals are the best things to ever happen to humanity. Whether you are 21 or 51 years old, going to Burning Man or Coachella will leave you broke and wanting more. After all, we only live once right? Totes rage, bro.

Yet, while partygoers post the best pictures on the dance floor, they never share what happens after dark. Once the music dies down and the performers leave to the comfort of their tour buses, everyone fights for survival. The weather, the hangovers, the questionable decisions… Fortunately, humans have invented a kit to help you out with your uninhibited festival experience. You could make a kit on your own—or you could just buy one. The Gentlemen’s Hardware festival survival kit is a good example of what you’d need to help your post-rager recovery.

• Red ponchos to keep the stinging wind away.
• Flashlight torch stash to light your way in unfamiliar territory.
• Earplugs to keep all the unwanted noise out.
• Spork to help you dig into whatever festival food is easiest to digest.

7 Roadside Emergency Survival Kit

Despite their utility, safety ratings, and widespread use, cars are unpredictable. They break down when you don’t want them to, they run out of gas on a country backroad where there’s no service, and no matter what name you give them, they never respond to it. Even more frustrating, cars like to give us problems when we are the most underprepared. Luckily, with the right tools, you can be your own roadside assistance.

If you’re like me and are car illiterate—outside of being able to drive the car safely, of course—sometimes it’s better to just trust that you’re getting everything you need in one purchase. This SlimK Roadside Emergency kit is a lifesaver for any car trouble emergency.

• Jumper cables for reviving a dead battery.
• Heavy-duty tow rope for the push when all hope is lost.
• Tire pressure gauge to measure tires for stability.
• Car toolkit for every need.

6 Pet (Cat or Dog) Survival Kit

Animal lovers know that a happy pet makes the best companion. Pets have fairly simple needs. They aren’t these complicated, spoiled balls of human emotion that constantly mix up that craving for a donut as a need rather than a want. If your pet has food, water, and shelter, they have little else to worry about.

So, when preparing for any event or disaster, it’s important to treat pets as family members and prepare for their safety. A pet survival kit may be the difference between a happy pet and a sad one. And sad pets are the actual saddest.

• Quality dog food enough for one dog or two cats.
• Clean water for hydration.
• Shelter for your little friend’s best comfort.

5 “The World Is Ending” Doomsday Survival Kit

The world could end any second. It could be a nuclear war, viral pandemics, or even deadly meteors. Whichever doomsday theory you support, you can only be so prepared. A bunker may do well for a zombie apocalypse, or your typical fall-out shelter situation. But if a series of asteroids hit the Earth, well, it may not make a difference where you’re hiding.

While there’s no single doomsday survival kit with everything you would need, the best option is to have a little of everything. No—you don’t need a truck full of toilet paper. A good doomsday emergency survival kit should have at least the following gear to make the apocalypse a little more bearable.

• Emergency survival gear for every scenario.
• Medical suppliers to dress any wound.
• Fishing tools for scouring food in nearby waterways.
• The perfect outdoor gear set.

4 Newborn Baby Care Survival Kit

Babies. They are precious. They are also hungry, crying, pooping bundles of “oh my gosh, what am I doing, how am I supposed to take care of this human?” When faced with raising an infant, especially as a new parent, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Plus, it’s not like you can just take care of them using the things you use. Babies require gentler, smaller tools. Although there’s no proverbial “guide” to raising kids, there are plenty of survival kits to help you get through those early days. But don’t rush it. Babies are only babies once—and are actually pretty easy to take care of compared to adults.

This baby grooming kit comes with the right tools to keep your baby looking healthy and put together—unlike your 4-days unshowered hair because you’re taking care of a baby. One of you has to look good, right?

• Baby scissors for cutting delicate fingernails.
• Nail files and clippers.
• Special baby brush and comb to smoothen hair without hurting the scalp.
• Nasal aspirator and drug feeder.
• Finger toothbrush for gently cleaning the baby’s teeth and gums.

3 The-Day-After Hangover Kit

Everyone loves a good party and if we are being honest, the best parties are those we can’t remember. (Drink responsibly, my friends.) Still, after a night of superhuman socializing, dancing, and bonding over sweet cocktails, our bodies can and will shut down. We weren’t meant for that kind of sustained greatness, no matter what our alcohol tolerance may be.

Whoever came up with the festival survival kit must be friends with the hangover kit guy. Hangovers are the body’s response to too much alcohol. For most people, especially if you’re over 30 years old, a hangover makes waking up practically impossible. Though we should learn from our night of excess, we instead created a kit to make those bad decisions “worth it” and repeatable. For example, “Hey, you survived the night!” “Yeah, and this morning. Let’s do it again!” 

If you’re planning on doing it all over again, or are getting ready for the hangover of a lifetime, these items are hangover survival kit must-haves.

• Electrolyte packets to restart your body faster than water alone.
• Stomach relievers to calm the storm brewing in your bowels.
• Makeup remover wipes for the ladies.
• Mints, gum, and Tic Tacs for fresh breath.
• Pain relievers to dull a pounding headache.
• Eye drops to eliminate irritation and sleepy eyes.

2 Bride-zilla Emergency Survival Kit

For every bride, careful planning is the first step towards that perfect wedding. Yet, even the best wedding planners make a few mistakes and forget to order the small things that do make a difference (despite the groom’s instance that they don’t). A bride needs peace of mind, even at the last minute, otherwise, they probably will not emotionally survive the day. And ultimately, the most important details are the one’s she wears. Having been there, even with 100 bobby pins in my hair to hold everything in place, I still needed one more at the last minute. And I didn’t have it. Nobody had one… If only I had a wedding day survival kit.

This floral wedding survival kit has all the supplies a wedding might need to be successful.

• Striking makeup bag that won’t be easily missed amid the wedding hassles. 
• A cache of makeup and hair supplies a bride and her maids need for the entire day.

1 Public Bathroom Nightmare Survival Kit

Everyone has at least one story about an unfortunate trip to a public restroom. For most of us, visiting the public bathroom is like a trip to the underworld. I mean, how can you miss the toilet bowl? Sometimes, it seems like the person that visited the stall was waging war with their digestive system. But at other times, some people are just savages who choose to leave a trail of destruction in their wake.

This public restroom survival kit ensures that your trip to the gas stop toilet is safe and sanitary.

• Charmin toilet seat covers for protection.
• Charmin Freshmates to go wipes that work better than dry tissue paper.
• On-the-go hand wipes that are handy when there’s no soap or water.
• Compressed towel tablets.
• Discreet carrying case for all your essentials.