

US inventor finally granted patent for snowman construction - suprgeek
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/us-inventor-finally-granted-patent-for-snowman-construction-2011098/

======
btn
Of course, you have to do a _little bit_ more than roll together some snow
into the shape of a snowman to infringe (it definitely doesn't cover "snowmen
and snowwomen as a whole").

The patent actually covers an internal skeleton of spheres that snow can be
layered on top of. The spheres must be lighter than the snow and coated in
some sort of adhesive that attracts snow by means of a static electric charge
from an attached Van de Graaff generator.

The amount of research the inventor claims to have put into this is absurd,
but quite entertaining to read.

    
    
      Of course, all of the problems of making snow men/women is part of what makes it 
      fun. Getting a whole group of people around and working together. Being 
      outside in the snow for hours. And, yes, having a doofy lop-sided snow man 
      does have some charm. And, even if you don't have enough snow, who cares anyway.
    
      That may be true. But we are living in the 21st century now. We have created the 
      Internet. China is getting ready to send a person to the moon. And we invented 
      silly putty, perhaps one of the all-time greatest inventions a big kid 
      ever invented. Can't somebody build a better snow man?

