(YouTube Link)

Do you remember Zach Anner, the Internet sensation who is trying to convince Oprah Winfrey to give him a TV show? He's back with a new video showing viewers around Austin, starting with the Texas State Capitol.

via Urlesque

The National Maritime Research Institute of Japan has developed a machine that can create shapes in a pool of water, including a heart and a star. But that's just to entertain reporters. The primary purpose of the machine is apparently to conduct tests for water safety. At the link, you can view a Japanese-language video about the device.

Link via DVICE | Image: Japan Probe

The Front & Back Clock is powered by two AA batteries, which can be seen from the front of the clock. They're used as hands to indicate the time. It was created by the design firm The Wrong Objects and was featured at the 2010 DMY International Design Festival in Berlin. The clock is not yet available for purchase.

Studio Website via OhGizmo! | Photo: Wrong Objects

(YouTube Link)

This time-lapse video was recorded during six hours at the Enoshima Aquarium in Fujisawa, Japan. It shows a Japanese spider crab shedding its shell. The crab measures over twelve feet across.

via Pink Tentacle | Previously: Crabzilla

Three years ago, Miss Cellania posted a picture of the Aurora Australis -- the Southern Lights -- as seen from the IMAGE spacecraft. The lovely photo above of the same phenomenon was taken on May 29 from the International Space Station. In Popular Science, Clay Dillow writes:

This particular aurora is unique in the sense that it was spotted fairly far away from the South Pole over the southern Indian Ocean, likely as a result of a large ejection of energy that burst from the sun on May 24. The photographer is looking south toward Antarctica, though you can't see the southernmost continent in the photograph. The ISS orbits at around 220 miles, while the aurora was located somewhere in the ionosphere between 60 and 190 miles above the planet's surface.

Link via Popular Science | Photo: NASA

The Pepper Mouth is a USB-powered gadget that sprays a nasty odor into the air whenever someone types swear words on the computer that it's attached to:

There has recently been many incidents where people got in trouble for the language they use in social media sites. Especially young people are not actually aware of what is public and what is private.

Maybe when your "bad language" disturbs you with a bad smell, you will start to understand that it might also have other, more serious consequences.

Link via GearFuse | Photo: Ultra Modern Life Training Lab

(YouTube Link)

Courtesy of YouTube user mountain462, you can watch a kitten riding a tortoise. I advise you to turn the volume on your speakers all the way down -- the background music is really grating.

via Geekologie

He was unable to persuade the gas station attendant to hand over the contents of the cash register:

Just after he walked out to a red pickup truck at a gas pump, another man — who police later identified as Jose Alejandro Romero, 17 — walked into the store with a caulk gun partially visible under a white t-shirt, the affidavit said.

The man pointed the caulk gun at Limuel and demanded money, the affidavit said.

Limuel told police he thought it was a joke when he saw the caulk gun, but the assailant continued to demand money, the affidavit said.

The man struck Limuel with the caulk gun after he could not open the cash drawer, the affidavit said, then Limuel struck back, hitting the man with a plastic trash can.

Romero then fled the scene with a transgendered prostitute who was driving the getaway vehicle.

Link via Say Uncle | Photo: US Department of Energy

I didn't even know that this was actual job. Apparently some people pick up other people's dogs' poop for a living. One lucky soul in this profession recently found $58 in a fresh pile:

In this photo provided by DoodyCalls Pet Waste Removal, Steve Wilson, a worker with DoodyCalls Pet Waste Removal holds a plastic bag of money May 30, 2010, in St. Louis. On a recent call, he noticed money sticking out from doggie doo and after cleaning the bills, placed them in a plastic zip-locked bag and returned what turned out to be $58 to the customer. The money was torn, but the serial numbers were identifiable, which means the bills could be returned to a bank and replaced with new money.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: AP

Aubrey Longley-Cook made an animated video of a running dog by embroidering fifteen individual frames. Pictured above is one of them. At the link, you can view the animated .gif file that is the final product. You can also view the category of posts which show each frame of the .gif.

Link via DudeCraft | Individual Frames

Three years ago, Alex blogged about the largest gold coin in the world. This one million dollar Canadian gold coin weighs 220 lb and is worth about four times its face value. And now it's up for sale:

The 100-kilogram Gold Maple Leaf was, in fact, recognized by Guinness World Records in October 2007 as the planet's largest gold coin.

The four sold that year cost the buyers more than $2.3 million each based on the coin's intrinsic value at the time. The $1-million coin contains 3,215 troy ounces of gold.

But the price of gold has nearly doubled since then. Earlier this week, it reached a record high of $1,254.50 U.S. per ounce. Some analysts have predicted the price could hit $1,500 U.S. within a year.

At Friday's price of about $1,230 U.S. per ounce, the metal value of the coin to be sold in Austria was just over $4 million Cdn.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/small+change+colossal+Canuck+coin+worth/3143307/story.html via The Presurfer | Photo: Dorotheum

Paleontologists have discovered what they believe to be the largest known bed of dinosaur bones. It's in Hilda, Alberta, and covers about 2.3 square km. Their findings suggest that a precursor of the triceratops, found in large numbers at the site, may have traveled in herds numbering in hundreds to thousands of members. Why did so many die at this location? Senior researcher David Eberth thinks that the dinosaurs may have been trapped by rising floodwaters:

Rather than picturing the animals as drowning while crossing a river, a classic scenario that has been used to explain bonebed occurrences at many sites in Alberta, the research team interpreted the vast coastal landscape as being submerged during tropical storms or hurricanes.

With no high ground to escape to, most of the members of the herd drowned in the rising coastal waters. Carcasses were deposited in clumps across kilometres of ancient landscape as floodwaters receded.

“It's unlikely that these animals could tread water for very long, so the scale of the carnage must have been breathtaking,” said Mr. Eberth. “The evidence suggests that after the flood, dinosaur scavengers trampled and smashed bones in their attempt to feast on the rotting remains.”

Link via Geekosystem | Image: West Virginia University at Parkersburg

This clever bit of graffiti was spotted in Ottawa, Ontario. It's patterned after Charlie Brown's iconic shirt and inverts Charlie's expression "Good grief" with the inscription "Grief ain't Good."

Link via Albotas

UPDATE: In the comments, Nick gives detailed information about this site. Thanks, Nick!

The (apparently anonymous) artist responsible for the webcomic Abstruse Goose expresses the ordinary mysteries revealed to the scientifically literate mind. At the bottom of the comic, he quotes Carl Sagan saying "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge."

In the links, you can find an interview with the cartoonist.

Link via reddit | Interview | Previously: Symphony of Science

(YouTube Link)

Artist and engineer Joan Vallvé made robots that can play the violin and the glockenspiel. They're on exhibit this weekend at Sónar, a music festival in Barcelona:

The "Violí MIDI" and "Metal·lòfon MIDI" are part of the project to design and construct an automated musical environment. This environment must be able to play live, and that is why it has been designed to be easy to handle, reliable, stable and completely portable. The roots of the project lie in a reflection on the use of robotics as a tool for musical composition and performance. The media and surroundings influence and determine the artist's creative process. A new environment, a new language and a new interface will produce new creations and new musical styles. This is therefore a new format which calls into question the limits of the concepts of singer-songwriter or musical group.

Robotic instruments have so far been polyphonic percussion instruments and melodic instruments using plucked strings. Other musical timbres, registers and functions have still to be explored. On the horizon of the project is the creation of an interface adapted to the characteristics of each instrument, making the automated musical ensemble into an automated musical environment. The project is also based on constructive simplicity, the recycling of components and free hardware (Arduino), as well as the MIDI protocol due to its flexibility.

Link via Make | Vallvé's Website