Why, when I was a boy, we didn't have these ultraslick consumer gaming devices for entertainment. No sir, we had to make our own toys! Of course, even at that tender age, I was a little different from the other kids. While they fashioned yo-yos and paddleballs, I devised a series of handheld gamma-ray projectors. Many were the happy summer days I spent accelerating the evolutionary development of the frogs and lizards in the local pond. Ah, youth!

I don't know about you, but I prefer my applied sciences to be dramatic and full of spectacle. Ideally, with pyrotechnics involved. I've spent a good part of my career exploring various theoretical avenues regarding detonation and deflagration, but always with a practical goal in mind: I want to see stuff blowed up real good. So I was heartened to see this slight variation on the theme: The Portable Hurricane Machine.