Take a metal vessel with a thick base. Fill it with water, and place it outside your back door.

Now comes the clever bit...

Up in orbit, astronauts or robots harvest space junk and asteroids, and gather up a chunk into a ball. Aiming carefully, they launch this ball out of orbit and down towards you, glowing red hot with atmospheric friction.

It lands in the vessel, and boils the water. You then make coffee.
-- pottedstu, Dec 05 2001

Dial-A-Smite http://www.halfbake...m/idea/Dial-a-Smite
Celestrial wrath but no coffee. [Aristotle, Dec 06 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Top 5 Cosmic Myths http://www.space.co...myths_020903-5.html
[tastymcj]'s link as a link [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Yes, I thought of this while waiting for the kettle to boil.
-- pottedstu, Dec 05 2001


would there be a 1-800 number you could call or a website on which to order a boiling?

p.s. i think we need more truly half-baked ideas such as this.
-- mihali, Dec 05 2001


Make sure you specify very clearly whether the volume to be boiled is measured in liters or gallons.
-- beauxeault, Dec 05 2001


I like the reverse way better:
1) Take your (already full) kettle to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
2) NASA kindly places your kettle in the rear of the space shuttle.
3) Once in space, astronauts slap a heat shield on your kettle, aim it at your house and let 'er rip.

The bonus? Even if *you* don't get hot water, *somebody* does.
-- phoenix, Dec 05 2001


Sounds like a good idea, except for the following:

http://www.space.com/ scienceastronomy/ top5_myths_020903-5.html
-- tastymcj, Jan 22 2003


Yes a thick metal base.... about half a mile thick and wider than Australia should do the trick.
-- FloridaManatee, Jan 23 2003


[+] another great idea from the way-back hb!!
-- xandram, Nov 15 2010


Excelent. Could extend to making soup by putting veg in a bucket. Squished, hot veg = soup.
-- saedi, Nov 15 2010


//Take a metal vessel with a thick base. Fill it with water, and place it outside your back door.//

Well, that part's doable.
-- doctorremulac3, Nov 16 2010


You could use a really big meteor impacting some distance away, and arrange for a tektite to land in your coffeepot.
-- baconbrain, Nov 16 2010



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