A list of intriguing things

One: At a time when all of us are freaked about overly intelligent computers, here’s a reminder of the beauty of technology. Computerised Numerical Control or CNC machines are primarily used to manufacture stuff like surgical instruments and pacemakers—where precision is key. Artist Bruce Shapiro turned them into sand artists as part of his project ‘Sisyphus’:

The mechanism of the Sisyphus draws on basic physics and motion control to design endless mesmerizing patterns on the sand. A layer of sand covers the table, and a small, magnetized iron ball rolls atop the sand… Two motors are controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer, which is ‘playing’ the pattern files by magnetizing the iron ball on the sand until you unplug it. So Sisyphus’s “eternity” is as long as users decide.

Shapiro’s aim is to get the sand table into people’s homes as a piece of art—similar to a painting you might hang on the wall. You can see how it works below—the lead image shows you one of the patterns created by the machine. (Interesting Engineering)

Two: Speaking of innovative artists, meet the members of the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra—a 10-piece ensemble that plays music on… carrot marimbas, celery guitars, pepper horns and cucumber-phones:

In the 25 years since, the orchestra has created around 100 instruments, released 4 albums, and performed more than 300 concerts all over the world. They’ve rubbed leeks at the Shanghai Arts Centre, banged on pumpkin drums at the Royal Festival Hall in London, blew through pepper horns at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and rattled bottle gourds at a sold-out 1,800-seat auditorium in Moscow.

The edible instruments can take up to two hours to carve. And any leftovers are chopped up to make a vegetable soup for the audience. Now, that’s really cool:) (Atlas Obscura)

Three: Here’s a literary iteration of a commonplace sight—the book fountain. Doesn’t sound like much but there are only seven such installations in the world. And they look seriously cool—like the ‘Amelia Valerio Weinberg Memorial Fountain’ in Ohio:

Here’s its famous cousin in Budapest—called The Open Book Fountain:

You can see all seven of them here.

Bonus fountain: This astonishing ‘clock’ fountain at the Osaka City Station—which displays the time—along with pretty patterns! See a longer clip here. Bored Panda has an entire list of other cool fountains.