The world of inventions covers all the extremes, from the useful to the humorous. Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist with a flair for drawing humorous, but seemingly useful inventions. Check out the Purdue Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at www.purdue.edu/UNS/rube/
rube.index.html. You can view some unusual patented inventions at Wacky Patent of the Month, colitz.com/site/wacky.htm. Invention involves vision, insight, and real engineering skill, and many people think that Buckminster Fuller was an exemplar of all these qualities. You can learn about some of his inventions at Buckminster Fuller's Inventions Web site, www.wnet.org/archive/bucky/invent.html. In Japan, creating strange inventions is a pastime that many people enjoy. You can learn about the Japanese art of Chindogu in 101 Useless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindogu by Kenji Kawakami (W.W. Norton & Company, 1995).