With no fanfare, Google Wallet launched today insofar that Google Wallet modules have been spotted out in the wild. Yesterday, TechCrunch reported on an email to Google Wallet partners that out-and-out said the launch would be today. Now, despite the fact that the official website still says “Coming Soon,” a module was spotted at Peet’s Coffee Shop in San Francisco.

While Google Wallet is nothing to sneeze at, it sort of makes sense that it would roll out without the red carpet for a couple of reasons. The only currently compatable phone is the Nexus S 4G, which is only available with Sprint, and only in the U.S. Also, merchants need to have the Google Wallet module in order to take payments. and MasterCard is the only credit card partner for the moment. Suffice it to say not many of us are really able to use Google Wallet right out of the gate.

On Monday, Inocenta Hernandez from Guatemala City had the spectacular good fortune to step out of bed and not immediately fall to her death. How is that spectacular good fortune? Well, prior to her stepping out of that bed, a monstrous 40-foot-deep sinkhole had opened up underneath it. Awoken in the middle of the night by a loud bang, Hernandez had gotten out of bed and gone outside, thinking there had been a car crash. After a gentlemen informed her that the sound had actually come from her home, she eventually discovered the impromptu death-pit that had spawned beneath her as she slept.

Lucky for her, the sinkhole appeared squarely underneath the bed in such a way as to avoid disrupting anything in a dangerous way. A half a foot in any direction could have meant a disastrously different outcome. The area is no stranger to sinkholes, but this one still stands out in its freakishly pin-point, but oddly benign accuracy. Looks like someone’s got a new laundry chute.

Check out another horrifying picture after the jump.

What seems like an apparition the likes of which not seen since Jesus on toast, this window print left by an owl striking glass is actually the real deal. The dusty print was left by the substance that coats the bird, a powder made of disintegrating keratin in the bird’s feathers. The bird, which experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have identified as a Tawny Owl, struck the window of a home in Cumbria in the UK town of Kendal.

Experts believe the bird to be a Tawny Owl based on the size and shape of the print, and the fact that the species tends to inhabit gardens more than others. The homeowners didn’t find the bird nearby, so believe that the bird probably wasn’t hurt too badly from striking the window. Even so, it still seems like this one had to hurt.

(via Boing Boing)

Look Ma, No Hands! Proving once more that it doesn’t take human abilities to use tools, scientists have documented a fish using rocks to smash open clam shells. While the ability to use tools used to be viewed as a purely human trait, researchers have shown that an assortment of animals can put objects in their environment to work, including chimpanzees, crows, and even octopuses.

The new photographs of a blackspot tuskfish in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef represent the first instance of tool use documented in fish. However, there are already some critics saying that because the fish doesn’t touch the tool (the rock) it doesn’t count as tool use. Researchers are pushing back, saying that just because the fish don’t have arms to pick up the rock doesn’t mean that it isn’t using the object to manipulate circumstances in its favor.

Because founding and expanding a multibillion-dollar company in his 20s apparently wasn’t hard enough: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken it upon himself to only eat meat from animals he has personally killed himself. Though it might sound radical on its face, the idea behind this “personal challenge” is to make Zuckerberg more ethically connected with the food that he is eating.

Zuckerberg explains:

This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have. This year I’ve basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I’m eating is from animals I’ve killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I’m eating a lot healthier foods and I’ve learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals.

I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn’t want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me. I don’t have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from.

The first animal Zuckerberg killed since taking up this challenge was a lobster, which he boiled alive; since then, he has slaughtered goats, pigs, and chickens. After killing the animals, he takes them to a nearby butcher in Santa Cruz, after which he tries to use as much of the meat as possible.

(via Fortune. h/t Laura June.)

Chinese bloggers accused broadcaster News Broadcast (Xinwen lianbo) on Chinese Central Television for trying to pass off footage from the movie Top Gun (right) as footage from a recent air force training drill that took place on January 23 (left). The news segment was supposedly reporting that a target was hit by an air-to-air missile, causing the pictured explosion. As one may notice from looking at the juxtaposition of the screen captures, both scenes look nearly identical, right down to the pattern of the fire and placement of debris. I personally think News Broadcast should embrace this blunder, and only use scenes from famous movies, taking the stance that real life mirrors the movies so much, and there’s all kinds of lessons to be learned from them. Or something.

(Ministry of Tofu via Foreign Policy)

Here’s something to do while snowbound: Try to break Coty Keowprazawaza‘s world record for most glasses worn at the same time, which is currently 18. According to the Universal Record Database, the glasses must all be worn on the head, face forward, and stay in place without adhesives. Soooooo, yeah. Something to do today.

(via The Universal Records Database, via Lindsey Weber)

If there’s anything I’ve learned from family vacation, it’s the impact of “ooooh, ahhhhhh.” Niagara Falls, one of the world’s natural wonders, is sometimes regarded as a cheesy tourist spot, but if you’ve seen it up close, you know it’s no Madame Tussaud’s (which does happen to be in Niagara Falls, but moving on…). Now Flickr user Russ Glasson has shared some previously unseen pictures of Niagara Falls taken in 1969, when the Falls were dewatered for maintenance. Meaning: They turned off the Niagara Falls. Whoah.

A new study published in the British Journal of Psychology suggests that, contrary to the popular saying, nice guys finish first, and actually do quite well with the fairer sex.

How many nice guys reading this just groaned?

Agent M, Marvel comics blogger extraordinaire was tweeting with some friends yesterday about “Kitty Avengers and Kitty versions of Marvel characters on Twitter,” and things went naturally from then on.

Which is to say that six different professional artists made a score of interpretations of different Marvel characters as cats.

See below, of course.