Message from eshorer

[Anonymous]

I am reposting a revised challenge that I made on the Net back in '96. How time flies when you're having fun!
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Unuseless Inventions

Ed Shorer of El Sereno Middle School, in Los Angeles, writes that his school wants to challenge other schools to "top our 'Unuseless Inventions' (Chindogu, in Japanese)." These are inventions that are "almost" a good idea. This project, an adaptation of a Japanese book by Kenji Kawakami, is a lot of fun for students. See these sites for examples:
http://www.pitt.edu/~ctnst3/chindogu.html
http://website.lineone.net/~sobriety/

Any interested persons are encouraged to contact him about sharing photos and text of inventions online. If all goes well, they will get some of their best Chindogu uploaded to a homepage within a few weeks.

Contact:
Ed. Shorer
[email protected]
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While my original project dealt with inventions without a direct connection to East Asia, simply by going through Kawakami's books with students (there are two), one can find examples that are specific to Japanese culture, and thereby teach about contemporary Japan in a fun and engaging manner.
Comments? Suggestions?