For my birthday, I give you Rube Goldberg machines!

Who was Rube Goldberg?

Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist. He was born in San Francisco on the 4th of July, 1883 – and graduated from U. Cal Berkeley with a degree in engineering. His first job at the San Francisco Chronicle led to early success, but it wasn’t until he moved to NYC and began working for Hearst publications that he became a household name. Rube Goldberg is the only person ever to be listed in the Merriam Webster Dictionary as an adjective. It’s estimated that he did a staggering 50,000 cartoons in his lifetime.
(Taken from: https://www.rubegoldberg.com/about/ )

So what did he do?

As you read in the previous mini biography, he was a cartoonist and engineer who took the best of both worlds and made cartoons about comical, super complex machines to automatize things that wouldn't take much of an effort to do.

See what I'm talking about?

OK. So can I make one or what?

Yes, you can! Woo!
As you see in the previous GIFv, you can make one of these with house items, for all kind of purposes. You don't need to ask yourself if you want to, because obviously you NEED to.
So if you want to enter a constest, go here: https://www.rubegoldberg.com/contests/
Registration for online teams deadline is march 25!

Also, sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSSOAtIrYU

These are cool. But just how cool are they?

Let me answer you with the sauce of this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnnMOx9_eBY

So you still think they aren't that cool? It's OK, but at least watch this!

OK Go (with the help of Syyn Labs) made a Rube Goldberg machine just for a music video!

And as usual, the sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w