2-year old Alejandro had Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Medical insurance wouldn't cover a powered wheelchair until he was 5 years old. That was unacceptable to Shea, his father, who bought a wheelchair on eBay and modified it so that Alejandro could control it with his feet:

After unsuccessfully trying to repair a broken digital kitchen scale [Shea] was inspired to reuse the sensors as pedal inputs. [Alejandro] has limited foot strength and the sensitive strain gauges are perfect for picking it up. Above you can see the sandal-based interface he built. The two feet working together affect steering as well as forward and reverse. The pedal system is connected to the wheelchair using a Digital to Analog converter chip to stand-in for the original analog joystick. 

At the link, you can watch a video of Alejandro maneuvering the wheelchair.

Link | Project Website

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The squirrel who snugs on the rabbit named George is cute enough by itself, but the accompanying dialogue here is priceless. Thanks, but there's no need to go get my camera, because we'd just have to round up the chickens. And I will have to disagree about something having to be "good" to get on YouTube. However, this is definitely good enough to be on Neatorama! -via Arbroath

It's hard to beat the Bacon Taco Shell that John posted here on Neatorama last year, but Nick of Dude Foods has improved upon that timeless design, by weaving the strips of bacon together (what simple yet genius improvement in structural stability!) and making it a breakfast food: Link

Like that? More Bacon-y goodness at the NeatoShop

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Singer Sunny Ozell shares a snippet of conversation with her fiancé, Sir Patrick Stewart. How awesome could it be to get personal acting lessons from a master thespian! Next lesson: how to hold the camera horizontally. Let's all say it together: "Her buns are the best!" -via Digg

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Imagine suddenly finding yourself in a monster movie! A Japanese TV show pranked unsuspecting passers-by with a puppeteer in an awesome Allosaurus costume. Here's the next clip from the same show:

(YouTube link)

-via Viral Viral Videos

Photo: Barbara Gallagher

Everybody loves the beach, including horses! Here are some wild ponies of Assateague Island in Maryland and Virginia sunning themselves on the beach. According to The Dispatch, Pony patrol member Barbara Gallagher took this photo on a busy Saturday afternoon.

There are over 300 wild ponies on Assateague Island. According to local legend, they are descendants of a Spanish galleon that shipwrecked along the coast (others claimed that they were descendants of local colonial horses that got loose).

Photo: Bonnie Gruenberg/Wikimedia

Photo: Christopher Evanson/US Coast Guard/Wikimedia

On the Virginia side of the island, the horse population is kept in check through the Annual Pony Swim, in which volunteers called the Salt Water Cowboys round up feral ponies, drive them across the channel during slack tide and auction some of them off, before driving the rest back to the island.

If Hollywood wanted more women in The Hobbit, maybe they should have just switched the gender of certain characters rather than add in female characters that never existed before. As DeviantArt user aishafee proves, Bilbo works quite well as a female.

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It was all caught on a Russian dashcam (of course). A driver on a cell phone caused an accident. The victim in the other car was unhurt. As you can see in this video, he reaches into the perpetrator's car, grabs the cell phone and smashes it on the ground.

-via Jalopnik

Bob Ross doesn't make mistakes, only happy accidents. But once someone told him that his painting is blasphemy. It is a mistake. To which he replied, "Mistake?" THIS IS PAINTING!!!!

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The Assumption Parish sinkhole in Louisiana has been growing for a year now. In this video, taken yesterday, you can see a clump of cypress trees being swallowed by the hole. First the trees lean a little, then they disappear, then the water rushes into the hole, lowering the water level as you can see on the remaining tree trunks.  

The sinkhole has been growing since it emerged from the swamps sometime late on Aug. 2 or early on Aug. 3, 2012, as the suspected result of a salt dome cavern failure deep underground months beforehand.

Scientists have said this growth is expected as the hole seeks a final shape and size, a geologic process that may take years.

Though the watery hole — now approaching some 25 acres in size at the surface with some sections that may plunge hundreds of feet deep — has undergone continuing edge collapses or slough-ins, rarely have such sizeable failures been caught on video.

Link  -via Daily Picks and Flicks

I don't know who originally took this great photo or what the cutie's name is, but either way, he's just too damn cute to ignore. I can't help but wonder what he is watching on TV with such interest.

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Sorry, pup, but it's just a mirage. Anyway, you wouldn't want the water after you learn what humans have been doing to it.

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(Photo: Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP)

Belgians claim to have invented and perfected what we Americans call French fries. Belgians, though, call them frites and cook them in beef fat. They're also now available on demand in Belgium, thanks to a newly-invented vending machine:

Customers pay €2.50 (£2.13) for a 90-second fry-up of a 135g portion of chips accompanied by fork, salt and ketchup or mayonnaise, with or without harissa, but definitely without the customary moules. Three filters are meant to cut out the smell of the frying.

With a few modifications, perhaps we could have a poutine vending machine.

Link -via Foodbeast

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A couple in Poland were spotted riding a bike side-by-side down the street. This kind of bicycle is called the Sociable; get a look at the front end of one at Wikipedia. It seems quite a bit more sociable than a standard tandem bike, in which you are either staring at the butt in front of you or wondering whether the person behind you is pulling his weight.  -via Daily Picks and Flicks

As one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, little Thor the corgi might be short in height, but he's huge in adorability. I don't know about you guys, but I imagine Loki in this scenario as a little black chihuahua. 

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