Don't Be So Rube!

For someone who advocates simplicity over the complicated, it's odd that one of my favourite things to watch are Rube Goldberg machines. Now some of you might be thinking to yourself what exactly is such a machine though it is more than likely you've seen several, while others might be making jokes about me being simple, for those I say this:

You're not coming to my birthday party!

No cake for them. Anyway. A Rube Goldberg machine is best described as a device that performs a simple task via a complicated and over-engineered action, often in the form of a chain reaction. Wallace & Gromit have many of these in their adventures. Other examples are littered throughout pop culture; the opening of Back to the Future (sadly I couldn't find a good clip of this), how one gains entrance to The Goonies home (with bonus truffle shuffle!), and of course a more modern one. It's not just movies either. Many of you may remember the TV commercial Honda put out several years ago displaying various car parts interacting with one another and culminating in the presentation of the car. Even the music industry has dabbled in the magic of the RBM with the band Ok Go using one in their video for the song This Too Shall Pass. I've even seen a man build one in his apartment with the function of proposing to his girlfriend. Needless to say she said yes. I'm almost certain she may have um-ed and ah-ed about it without the machine. Yes, the Rube Goldberg machine has permeated the media over the years and I for one and happy for it. I'm not alone in my adoration either; annual contests have sprung up around the world, inviting people to try their hand at building ever more elaborate contraptions in order to blow up a balloon, juice an orange or water a plant. On top of being fun, these contests encourage fresh thinking with the main contest in the USA sponsored by big corporate names such as Lockheed Martin.

We've all lined up some dominoes and set them tumbling at some point in our lives. I've always wanted to have a go at making one myself and who knows, maybe I will somewhere down the road. There are even people out there whose very jobs are to create these wonderful feats of engineering, and while I'm sure it can get stressful at times having to reset everything after each attempt, tweaking steps hear and there, the finished piece must bring a great sense of accomplishment. Each action and reaction precisely measured and coordinated to get you where you want to go. An idea that could be easily applied to day-by-day life. No rushed steps, just one measured moment after the other until you're where you need to be.

Mull that over the next time you keep stumbling from one disaster to the next. But don't forget to have a little fun along the way. These guys did.


[EDIT: I'm actually ashamed of how I ended this. "Applied to day-by-day life." UGH! What was I thinking. Pretend I didn't try to be deep or some such nonsense and said something gosh darned hilarious instead.]