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

Australian artist James Corbett began sculpting old car parts in 1999 while managing a car recycling business in Brisbane. Eighteen months later, he closed the shop and turned pro. Corbett never bends the parts, but uses the existing shapes to create (comparatively) realistic forms. Gallery at the link.

Link via DudeCraft | Artist's Website | Image: James Corbett

(Video Link)

In this video, Douglas Wolk explains the ideas expressed in 18th Century German philosopher Immanuel Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgment using superhero comics. Wolk, a comic critic, is the author of the book Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. Run time: 5 minutes.

via Comics Alliance | Wolk's Blog | Background on Kant | Previously on Neatorama: Kant Attack Ad

A researcher at a Russian university has developed a powdered form of alcohol that will soon make the consumption of vodka more convenient. From The Times of India:

Russian professor Evgeny Moskalev of Saint Petersburg Technological University has evolved a technique that allows turning alcohol into powder and packing it in pills. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer. The new technique can solidify any kind of alcohol, including whisky, cognac, wine and beer.

“Dry” vodka can be wrapped in paper and carried around in a pocket or a bag. Vodka in form of a pill would come handy at parties when “consumers” would be able to calculate their exact required dosage.

Verily, we live in an age of medical wonders.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Now-vodka-that-comes-in-a-pill/articleshow/5282435.cms via Geekologie | Image: US Department of State (not the pills in question)