Ever found that you always seem to be on the opposite side of the room to that of your pint when socialising? The solution is clear. With homing beer coasters the drinker would wear a mini homing beacon which would send out a constant signal to the hovering beer coaster. The coater would remain at a constant 1 metre distance from the wearer. Once the glass is empty a weight sensor is alerted and the coaster returns to the bar to be refilled, before resuming its standard orbit.-- Odwin, Jan 20 2001 Sure! I like it. You just have to maintain enough mental clarity that you don't lose your homing beacon. I guess you'd wear it around your neck--that could work. (An implant seems a bit much, unless you've devoted your life to tippling.) Anyway, this seems a more palatable option to the one I've always employed: Just find someone else's glass and drink what's in it. Chances are, they--or someone--has yours, anyway. Drinks tend to go the musical-chair route at the parties I've had, but then again, I've never been too picky about stuff like drinking out of other people's glasses or picking something I've dropped up off the floor and eating it. We're germ-y no matter what, so what're a few more germs? Nothing. No big deal.
One obstacle I can see is everyone's homing device beeping at once. It's like with cell phones: One rings and everyone jumps at once. ("Is that my phone or yours?") With drunk people, you can see where the confusion would be augmented.-- rachele, Jan 20 2001 waug:
"Mid-air hovering problems"? Your parties sound like they're infinitely more interesting than mine...-- rachele, Jan 23 2001 Mad Magazine proposed a version of this using magnets. Of course, this also raises another possibility: how about a coster that fastens to the bottom of the mug?-- supercat, Jan 23 2001 "tippling"??-- absterge, Jan 24 2001 1 meter is the perfect distance for someone to either:
1) Accidentally knock into your floating glass;
or
2) Take your beer without you even knowing.
Besides, would the coaster know the difference between an empty beer and a being imbibed beer?
Why not just invent a necklace with a special stable cupholder in it? You could wear your beer around, and always have it with you, like croakies for your beer.-- ShoutingMatch, Jan 28 2001 Just put your beer into one of those foam cuppy thingies and your problem is solved.-- Vance, Jan 30 2001 I was thinking of something like this last night in the pub. It was busy and I was watching the football, standing room only, and I thought how great it would be if my beer could float say on a propeller driven (three at least for stability) coaster. To save my hand getting cold and bored holding my pint, the coaster when unwanted would float above me, just high enough so that when I jump around to celebrate goals I won`t disturb my now heavenly elixir.... and hey presto, I have my own personal fan to keep me cool.-- howlingq, Mar 21 2003 random, halfbakery