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posted by martyb on Sunday August 30 2015, @07:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the hacking-without-an-axe dept.

Now that Oxford Dictionary has added the verb 'MacGyver' to the official lexicon, we pay homage to the almighty hack.

With each new update to the online version of the Oxford Dictionary, one can practically hear the laments of pedantic grammarians far and wide. This week, among a few dozen new words, we got “awesomesauce” (having nothing to do with sauce at all) and “mkay” (as in, OK … mkay). Oh how the mighty have fallen.
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In the age of all things DIY, MacGyver has become the patron saint of the hack. And if there’s one thing we love here at TreeHugger, it’s a good hack. A clever use of materials allows old things to live longer, creates new uses for things that may be obsolete, and can basically become a super sustainable way to obviate the need to purchase more and more and more new stuff. Long live the hack! So with that in mind, here’s a round-up of some of our best MacGyver moments.

What follows is a long list of hacks. Some are contrived, some are clever but too niche, some might be useful. Anybody have any to add to the list? Mine is poking string into the can of bacon & chicken grease in the kitchen to make a quick tallow lamp. Works well.


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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday August 30 2015, @08:46PM

    by looorg (578) on Sunday August 30 2015, @08:46PM (#229957)

    Who would have guessed that tampons and maxi-pads are good for soaking up blood.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @09:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @09:20PM (#229967)

    They really do work great for soaking up oil.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @09:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @09:35PM (#229970)

      There was a news story about a guy that uses them under his armpits to soak up excessive sweat. I see no problem using something for other uses.

    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday August 30 2015, @10:47PM

      by looorg (578) on Sunday August 30 2015, @10:47PM (#229981)

      It's not that I doubt they are great at soaking up various liquids -- oil, water, sweat or blood. I'm just not sure it should count as MacGyverism to use something designed for soaking to soak.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by ticho on Monday August 31 2015, @06:32AM

        by ticho (89) on Monday August 31 2015, @06:32AM (#230052) Homepage Journal

        But now we're getting dangerously close to "No true MacGyver" fallacy...

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Rivenaleem on Monday August 31 2015, @01:14PM

        by Rivenaleem (3400) on Monday August 31 2015, @01:14PM (#230132)

        Also, I don't claim to speak to the situations that the OP found himself in when cleaning an engine block "Here, you're/I'm on your/my period, let me just slip this out and put in the spark well to soak up that oil"

        Remember a MacGyverism is when you use innovation and whatever happens to be at hand to solve a problem. Buying a box of tampons for the purpose of soaking up oil in spark plug wells does not count.