Meat-Eating Furniture, No For Real
If you don't have batteries handy for your clock, or if you have a problem with mice in your house, never fear. With meat-eating furniture in the works all of your problems will be solved. All you need is a few flies and some cheese.
Developed by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, meat-eating furniture provides the same functionality, but also can rid your house of pesky, unwanted creatures.
Perhaps the biggest product thus far, the digital wall clock has reached new heights. Instead of being powered by batteries or a plug, the meat-eating clock gets its energy from the common house fly. It's just a prototype so far, but developers are trying to make it so that about eight flies can make the clock run for 12 days. This is how the clock will work (as seen in a video):
What we have here is a belt. The white thing is a belt that's covered in honey. So it operates just like standard flypaper. Flies would be attracted to that honey. They'd land on the belt, get stuck, as you can see it is moving down very, very slowly, and right underneath here there's a blade and
the blade scrapes off any insects that have become stuck to the honey. They fall into the microbial fuel cell underneath. And this is the device that turns that organic matter into electrical energy.
Also in the works is a lamp that is powered by incoming flies as well. This could help lower your electric bill, because the more flies that go into the lamp, the more it will shine, leading to fewer-used outlets in your home. The more meat-eating lamps the better!
We all hate flies, and spend too much time chasing them around the house with a fly swatter in hand, usually to no avail. This carnivorous clock could be the answer to that problem. Time flies!
The second biggest development is a table that will rid your house of inhabiting mice. The table encases cheese bits that will lure the mouse, who will then shimmy up the table leg. As they reach the middle of the table, they are tragically decapitated by the rotating blade, which looks like a simple hole in the table.
I am all for the fly-eating clock, but the mouse-eating table is just horrific and inhumane, as a clock needs to be powered; a table does not. I wonder what PETA would have to say about this. Sure the mouse dies quick and painless, but the overall idea is just eerie. I love mice, and when there is one in my house I catch it alive and release it at the park.
What's you take on this? Would you be the first in line to buy one of these products, or would you join PETA's fight against animal cruelty? Take a look at the site and photos of the products, in addition to the videos below; it might help your decision-making easier.
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