By: Kevin Tibbles, NBC News Correspondent

May 10, 2006, MSNBC

An excerpt from the transcript:

Our No. 1 story in the COUNTDOWN, the first law of inventing stuff, don't tell anybody until you've done it yourself.

Several examples now of that including a complete reconceptualization of your toilet, to say nothing of your stomach. We start with our correspondent, Kevin Tibbles, in Chicago.

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KEVIN TIBBLES, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many probably thought Leonardo da Vinci was off his rocker with his flying machines and other inventions, but hey, he was just ahead of his time. Almost everyone's had one of those light bulb moments.

TED VANCLEAVE, AUTHOR, "TOTALLY ABSURD INVENTIONS": Every inventor thinks that their idea is the very best idea in the world.

TIBBLES: What parent wouldn't want a shoe that grows along with their child's feet? Or the safety pin, a special code for your ATM that alerts police if you're being held up. But while thousands of new inventions are patented each year, only a few make it to a store near you. Are big companies stifling the little guy? Hogwash, says marketing expert, Tom Kuczmarski.

TOM KUCZMARSKI, KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: There's no corporate conspiracy here in terms of putting down individual or inventors' ideas.

TIBBLES: Just bad marketing.

VANCLEAVE: When you come up with an idea and you're very passionate about it, but it doesn't mean it's a good, viable, marketable product.

TIBBLES: And lets be honest, some ideas are just patently bad. Take the Birdman of Alcatraz, for birdwatchers who want a closer look.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

TIBBLES: Now, we know someone who could have used one of those -- or the tricycle lawnmower for kids with energy to burn.

VANCLEAVE: The problem is if a kid fell of the back, they would just be scalped.

TIBBLES: But every once in a while.

ANNOUNCER: With everybody is in a hurry to get home for supper.

TIBBLES: Sheer genius wins the day. This guy is actually proud of his beer belly.

KEITH THESING, CO-INVENTOR, THE BEER BELLY: You've got a beverage in there.

TIBBLES: A plastic bladder filed with your favorite beverage that hides under your shirt. Yes, when you've got a mean thirst for something new, necessity is the mother...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it a girl or a boy?

THESING: Well, it's a beer.

TIBBLES: Of adventure. Kevin Tibbles, NBC News, Chicago.