Flame Gun - Ideas that didn't make it (but should have)...

Snowy front walkway gotcha down? If it were 1972, there'd only be one way to take care of it and feel like some kind of crazy superhero at the same time, and that's with this Flame Gun found in a TV Week from that year by Mark Frauenfelder and posted on Boingboing (via Make). Shovels are a pain, snowblowers annoying at best, but this, this, is definitely the way to go. Let's look at the product claims to see if it measures up: "Clear stairs (except wood)," check. "The gun of 1000-and-1 uses," hmm, not really sure what all those other uses are. "So easy even your wife can use it," well, that was the 70's, I guess. Even if the melted snow does refreeze into slicker, more dangerous ice after you're done, I can't help but want to use one. And that's the kind of irrational desire that should have caused it to fly off the shelves... oh well!