If this is what a small project looks like, I shudder to imagine what a large project is. Read the rest

Arizona-based scuba diver Dallas, the guy behind the YouTube channel Man + River, has a fun hobby. He dives with his buddies at local creeks, rivers, and lakes looking for lost treasures, recording these underwater scavenger hunts on his GoPro. He's found all kinds of things, including sunglasses, pocket knives, coins, jewelry, cameras, lots of phones, and even a gun.

In this video from late last year, watch as Dallas unearths an iPhone 6 buried eight inches deep using an underwater metal detector and a metal sand scoop.

The phone was found dry inside an inexpensive waterproof case, so Dallas brought it home and started charging it.

Long story shorter: The phone works, he contacts its owner and returns it to him. Watch!

(Likecool) Read the rest

As a kid, I grew up near minutes from the beach and many times saw grownups meticulously sifting through the sand with a metal detector. I imagined they were pulling up diamond rings and pirate's gold. My dad assured me they weren't, though I suspect he just didn't want to buy me a metal detector.  

In any case, these magnet fishing hobbyists have them beat. 

By dropping a very strong magnet underwater, history buffs "WW2 Wendal" fish their local lochs and rivers for valuable metal objects. They primarily explore WW2 sites for discarded war artifacts but often reel in non-military items such as stolen safes and, well, junk.  Sometimes they find nothing at all but, judging from their videos, that doesn't break their spirit. 

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YouTuber Murmiland, aka Ortwin Grüttner, created this one-of-a-kind rafting-themed marble run that takes nearly 3 minutes from start to finish. Follow one yellow marble in a sea of green glass marbles as they cascade down the carved wooden path. Lots of nifty little features. Read the rest

Amid growing fears about safety and security risks from unauthorized drone flights, federal regulators say they plan to require pretty much all recreational drones in the U.S. to be registered. Read the rest

FliteTest tracked down a father-son team who spent five years perfecting their remote-controlled box kite prototype, a plane/kite mashup. They demonstrate two of them below: Read the rest

Author Michael Lind weighs in with this thought-provoking essay about what happens when an art form shrinks to a niche market. Using literature and architecture as examples, he organizes major and minor arts horizontally, based on audience size: Read the rest