A Japanese firm is producing a limited run of beer made from barley which spent time on the International Space Station. From The Japan Times:

The brewer will receive orders for the Sapporo Space Barley beer via the Internet until Dec. 24, making 250 six-packs, holding 330-ml bottles, available at a price of ¥10,000 each, Sapporo said Thursday, adding the product will be delivered to customers in late January. Proceeds will be used for the promotion of science education.

The original barley seeds were stored for five months in the Russian module of the International Space Station.

Link via Nerdcore | Photo: Sapporo Breweries

The room pictured above, by designer Jeffrey Miller, was inspired by the work of Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. Erin Williamson of Design Crisis has assembled a gallery of similar interiors.

http://design-crisis.com/?p=474 via Fast Company | Photo: Design Crisis

Jeremy Bell of Toronto, Canada, bought a LEGO kit that assembles into a realistic facsimile of a handgun. Naturally, it struck him as a good idea to bring it to work:

It was the end of the day so Mr. Bell and a few colleagues decided to wind down by playing a few rounds of the video game Modern Warfare 2 at the office before heading home. A little while later, sudden, intense yelling filled the office hallways.

"We originally thought there was some sort of domestic dispute out there ... that was until I clearly heard my name," said Mr. Bell.

"The guy sounded seriously angry and was instructing me to slowly come into the hall with my hands on my head."

It was Toronto's Emergency Task Force, more commonly known as the SWAT team, responding to calls of a man in an office with a gun.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2301787 -- Thanks, Jeremy Barker! | Photo: Global TV

UPDATE 12/5/09: Jeremy Bell has blogged about the incident (via Hell in a Handbasket).

Flickr user roguebantha_1138 spent two hours assembling this snowman that looks like a LEGO minifig.

Link via Geekologie

(YouTube Link)

YouTube user Mechanical Sculptor created this mechanically exploding and retracting picture frame. His channel is filled with videos of similar works.

via Make | YouTube Channel

About 10,000 Americans every year are diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, and most must submit to the surgical removal of their voice boxes. Machine replacements have, so far, sounded raspy and robot-like. But now medical researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa have developed an device that fits into the mouth and tracks the normal movements of the tongue to produce simulated human speech:

The system uses a palatometer: a device that looks much like an orthodontic plate and is normally used for speech therapy. The device, made by CompleteSpeech of Orem, UT, tracks contact between the tongue and palate using 118 embedded touch sensors.[...]

To use the device, a person puts the palatometer in her mouth and mouths words normally. The system tries to translate those mouth movements into words before reproducing them on a small sound synthesizer, perhaps tucked into a shirt pocket.

Link via Popular Science | Image: Jaren Wilke/Megan Russell, The University of the Witwatersrand

deviantART user William Chua of Singapore created this remix of Super Mario Bros. and classical Japanese illustration. He claims inspiration by both Super Mario Bros. and the game Monster Hunter.

Link via Geekologie | deviantART Gallery

Pirates operating in the waters off of Somalia have opened a stock exchange in order to encourage investment in their industry. The market has thrived, and the exchange now provides a business forum for 72 "maritime companies". Mohamed Ahmed writes for Reuters:

It is a lucrative business that has drawn financiers from the Somali diaspora and other nations -- and now the gangs in Haradheere have set up an exchange to manage their investments.[...]

"Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 'maritime companies' and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking," Mohammed said.

"The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials ... we've made piracy a community activity."

Link via io9 | Image: US Department of State

(YouTube Link)

Dana Hanna of Abingdon, Maryland updated his Facebook relationship status at the altar, immediately after the presiding pastor declared the marriage. In The Los Angeles Times, W.J. Hennigan writes:

Hanna explains on YouTube that he did it for laughs and that the gag was a surprise to everybody in attendance except the minister. This would explain his wife’s look as he pulled “his” and “hers” cellphones from his tuxedo pockets.

“This was just done to be funny -- we really don't Facebook THAT often :),” he wrote on YouTube. “I have a lot of family scattered around the country and we all use Facebook a lot to keep in touch.”

You can read Hanna's full explanation at the YouTube link.

Link via CollegeHumor

The Canadian firm K9 Storm offers sophisticated physical protection for dogs out in the field. In Popular Science, Clay Dillow writes:

The Intruder not only protects canines with a sturdy flak jacket enveloping their vital organs, but it sports a wireless camera so the handler can see what the dog sees, as well as speakers so the handler can issue audio commands. As a result, dogs can operate up to 300 yards from their handlers, a big advantage in emergency situations where dogs are often sent into areas deemed too unsafe for humans to operate.

Although the suits cost $20,000 per unit, the enormous expense of training and maintaining a high-end military or police dog may justify the expenditure.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/high-tech-canine-flak-jacket-lets-tactical-dogs-operate-far-handlers | Photo: K9 Storm

(YouTube Link)

This video shows an actor performing the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet, restoring the language to the original Klingon. The play became available in the United Federation of Planets in 2000, thanks to the efforts of the Klingon Language Institute.

via Wandering Goblin | Amazon.com Link

With a flight lasting twenty-six hours and one minute, the US Navy experimental unmanned aerial vehicle Ion Tiger broke a flight endurance record. Michael Barkoviak writes for Daily Tech:

The U.S. Navy's Ion Tiger flew over the Aberdeen Proving Ground on November 16 and November 17 for more than one day, as the 37-lb. aircraft carried its fuel-cell engine, 9.5-lb. compressed hydrogen tank, and a five-pound payload.

Ion Tiger has a a day-night camera capable of surveillance and reconnaissance for future missions, said representatives from the Naval Research Laboratory. The recent test flight was meant as an endurance test, and researchers were quick to point out that much work is left to be done.

Link via CrunchGear | Image: Naval Research Laboratory

This collage portrait of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was created out of hundreds of pictures of computer screens showing Windows' infamous error page, the Blue Screen of Death. It was made by Fraser of PoorlyDrawnPortaits.com.

via Gizmodo | Poorly Drawn Portraits

(YouTube Link)

This video by musician and entrepreneur Derek Sivers provides several examples of American cultural norms that are counterintuitive in other societies. For example, Americans navigate roads with street addresses, but Japanese streets don't have names. So how do travelers in Japan find a particular place?

via Urlesque | Sivers' Website

Students at the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland, decorated the outside of their building with a giant LED clock that displays the time in binary. It consists of eighteen round windows, with green windows representing hours, blue windows representing minutes, and red windows representing seconds.

Link (in Polish) via Gizmodo | YouTube Video | Photo: Wroclaw University