Jeffrey Sgroi uses a computer-controlled router to drill halftones into painted Corian countertop material. The computer probably makes it faster. But I suspect that you could make one with careful planning, a drill and a set of countersink drill bits.

Link -via Technabob

Zookeepers at the Tama Zoo and the Ueno Zoo, both in Tokyo, undergo annual training in what to do if an animal escapes. Although the training is serious business, it appears ridiculous to onlookers because they cannot use real animals. This year’s escaped animal drill at the Ueno Zoo featured a papier mâché rhinoceros. It appears to be the same fake rhino they used for the drill in 2008. Link -via Arbroath

See also: the Ueno Zoo’s zebra drill and the tiger drill at the Tama Zoo.

Ask any woodworker if he can drill a square hole, and he'd say that of course ... with a hollow square mortise chisel & bit. But that's kind of cheating: it's basically drilling a round hole and chiseling the rest to make the square hole.

But did you know that there is a way to actually drill a square hole? With a Harry Watts square drill bit (named after its inventor, who patented it back in 1917). Here it is in action:

Confused? Here's a neat animation that shows what exactly is happening (hint: the bit is shaped like a Reuleaux triangle):

Pretty nifty, huh?

These soldiers are drilling in formation. One shoots the beret off of another, who seems unfazed. Either he has nerves of steel or doesn’t realize what happened.

via Say Uncle

"That has been a long-term ambition of earth scientists," geologist Damon Teagle told National Geographic News.

But a lack of suitable technology and insufficient understanding of the crust have long tempered that ambition. [...]

Now, better knowledge of the Earth’s shell and technological advances—for example, a Japanese drill ship equipped with six miles (ten kilometers) of drilling pipe—have put the goal within reach, according to a commentary in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, co-written by Teagle, a geologist at the U.K.’s University of Southampton.

Even so, drilling into the mantle would be "very expensive" and would require new drillbit and lubricant designs, among other things, according to the paper.

But if all goes as planned, drilling could begin by 2020, Teagle said. As soon as next month, the team will begin exploratory missions in the Pacific, where crews will "bore further into the oceanic crust than ever before," the paper says.

I mean, what could go wrong? Link

The Tama Zoo and the Ueno Zoo (both in Tokyo) perform annual training drills so that zookeepers know what to do when an animal escapes. Since they cannot use a dangerous beast, workers dress as the escapee, which gives zoo visitors and web surfers an entertaining interlude. The drill this week at the Tama Zoo featured a Siberian tiger who got out of its pen during an earthquake. -via Pink Tentacle

Previously: Rhino and Zebra drills.

Peter Montgomery made a name for himself in Glendale, California with his over-the-top Halloween decorations. This year, he plans to build a steampunk drill emerging from the earth! This picture is the concept art. Montgomery is trying to raise the necessary funds through Kickstarter, and will give credit and other prizes to those who donate. Also see pictures and videos of his Halloween creations from years past. Link -Thanks, Will!

Andrei Melanyin, seated with his legs crossed, watches the tanks practice from inside a beige tent in the bleachers. As the director of The Invincible and the Legendary, he’s looking for mistakes with a practiced eye. Melanyin is the head of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia, which includes the world-famous Bolshoi Theater, and a professor at the Institute of Modern Art. “They asked me to come in and do something theatrical,” he says of the government organizers of the event. “They wanted something more than just a technical demonstration.” The show he produced skips like a fake gemstone across Russian history, from the violent founding of the nation out of the Kiev city-state in the 12th century to demonstrations of hand-to-hand combat, set to the music of Ravel’s Bolero, by modern paratroopers. The program also includes a reenactment of a raid  on a terrorist camp by attack helicopters, a display by combat dogs and a parade of heavy vehicles running obstacles. And the tanks—not just jumping ramps, but choreographed in a synchronized dance routine.

It’s part of the Russian Arms Expo going on this week. Read more about the tank ballet at Popular Mechanics. Link -via Boing Boing

The Chikyu research vessel is a ship with a drill that can reach deeper under the earth’s surface than any other drill system in the world. At a cost of $540 million, it’s capable of reaching 2,890 23,000 feet below the seabed. Popular Science has an overview of how it works:

In 2007, off the coast of Japan, it became the first mission to study subduction zones, the area between tectonic plates that is the birthplace of many earthquakes. Over the next three years, scientists will tack on at least an extra mile of drill and attempt the most ambitious mission ever: piercing the Earth’s mantle. There, scientists expect to find the same conditions as those in the early Earth—and perhaps the same life-forms that thrived then.

Link | Image: Coherent Images

Michael Rossi says his son would have died if Dr Carson had not acted quickly.

“He came out and he saw us and he said he’s only got one shot at it, and one shot only,” he said. “[He said] ‘I’m going to drill into Nick’s head and try and relieve the pressure’.”

“And he said if we can relieve the pressure he’s going to reach Melbourne via air ambulance in a lot better shape than if we don’t try something.

“Dr Carson told me all he can remember saying is, ‘Get the Black and Decker’.”

Carson consulted with Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace by phone, who talked him through the procedure. Rossi was up and walking around within a couple of days, and has since made a full recovery. Link

Now this is a manly man’s ad. Here’s an advertisement for Makita power tool by Bennie Du Plessis of Saatchi & Saatchi in South Africa – if you look closely, the "pixels" are 20,081 carefully drilled holes!

Link