Future Inventors of America

Kids invention competition in San Diego:

I like this one:

Flip-flops were augmented with a cardboard shield in the front to keep out dirt and sand.

But here's the full scoop:

"Inventions go as simple as a button on your clothes to more complicated than an atomic submarine," said Martin Teachworth, a physics teacher at La Jolla High School. He organized students to staff the two-day display of projects, held Wednesday and yesterday in the Scottish Rite Center in Mission Valley. About 10 percent of all entries come from La Jolla High. This was the 19th year of the event. It began after Jo Anne Schaper, then a science teacher in the San Diego Unified School District, heard a presentation by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lamenting that fewer Americans were getting patents compared with foreigners and urging efforts to stir students' interest. Schaper persuaded the district to let her start the competition.