A blog dedicated entirely to things that look like ducks. [more inside]
posted by msaleem at 10:22 PM PST - 32 comments

“I can’t express how extremely disappointed I am that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has chosen to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act," Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski said in a statement issued today. [more inside]
posted by salvia at 9:22 PM PST - 61 comments

The Day There Was No News is moving in its simplicity. The music is from Ben Frost's Theory of Machines, which is pretty good in its own right.
posted by SpacemanStix at 9:03 PM PST - 16 comments

Womb Quake! Follow along as mefi's-own gomichild drops her bundle, live via satellite!*[via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by coriolisdave at 7:33 PM PST - 44 comments

The Control Master a new animation from Run Wrake (Rabbit). [previously]
posted by tellurian at 6:56 PM PST - 7 comments

Seven minutes of terror. A short video on describing how the Phoenix probe will land at the North Pole of Mars on May 25th. Follow updates to the mission via Twitter and the blog. Previously
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:22 PM PST - 38 comments

“I would say ‘No, Hillary.’" The 97 U.S. Senators who are not currently running for President reply to the question: “If you were asked, would you accept an offer to be the VP nominee?”
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:16 PM PST - 64 comments

Buried in a beer can. As an appealing bonus, the coffin doubles as a beer cooler before it's needed for the stiff. With baby boomers getting ready to pop their clogs, many are looking to alternative ways to recycle their remains. A book and radio interview on green burials and some interesting figures on the quantities of wood, steel, copper, bronze and embalming fluid buried each year in the US in conventional funerals.
posted by binturong at 4:25 PM PST - 22 comments

A week in Burma after the storm is the second of two anonymous eyewitness reports at danwei.org of the impact and aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. It is the most gripping and tremendously sad report I have read yet on the human tragedy that is Nargis and the Myanmar Junta's non-response. [more inside]
posted by gen at 3:38 PM PST - 24 comments

Best rectal thermometer ever? And yes, it does play the theme song while taking your temperature.
posted by jonson at 2:47 PM PST - 74 comments

Geese are on the run once again in Chicago, as the City Council overturns its recent ban on foie gras, which had been prompted in part by prodding from animal rights activists. Many chefs (although not all) were furious when the ban was enacted, missing the "exquisite taste, silky texture." They had threatened civil disobedience and even filed a lawsuit. And now epicurians as well as Jewish grandmothers rejoice.
posted by twsf at 2:05 PM PST - 68 comments

Keeping the meme alive, lolmanuscripts. Except they're really lolwoodcuts. Whatever.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 1:59 PM PST - 27 comments

Does riding a bike really help the environment? Mr. Green at the Sierra Club says don't over think it, but a couple of folks trying to measure the energy cycling uses aren't quite sure. There are plenty of excuses for not to riding your bike, but is there a rationale? If you want a go at calculating this yourself, here's a handy guide to the variables. [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan at 1:38 PM PST - 49 comments

100 Must-Read Books (for dudes) Men just have different ... needs ... than women, so apparently they need to read different books as well. However (as a chick myself) I tend to check this sort of thing out in a futile but ongoing attempt to figure out men. Hmmph. Men. Go figure ....
posted by kd at 1:29 PM PST - 90 comments

Novelist Oakley Hall, most famous for the western Warlock, has died at the age of 87. Here's a review of Warlock by Thomas Pynchon, a huge fan of the book.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:30 PM PST - 9 comments

Mulder's Big Adventure is an exercise in awesomeness by Metafilter members Secretariat and Cortex. Join them as they endeavor to riff on all 202 episodes of The X-Files. To refresh your memory of the series, you can watch the original episodes here. [via mefi projects]
posted by cog_nate at 12:14 PM PST - 61 comments

Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear.
posted by homunculus at 10:55 AM PST - 95 comments

Cassette from My Ex is a project to "share the stories and the soundtrack to your earliest loves." Also features a great entry from Claudia Gonson of Magnetic Fields.
posted by deern the headlice at 10:29 AM PST - 9 comments

1024 Cheerleaders! See what your favorite 32*32 icon would look like at a football game.
posted by Class Goat at 9:57 AM PST - 7 comments

Emory University English Professor Mark Bauerlein's new book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future posits that "[t]he dawn of the digital age once aroused our hopes: the Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and ultra-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children....we assumed that teens would use their know-how and understanding of technology to form the vanguard of this new, hyper-informed era. That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their minds had the opposite effect." Some beg to differ. An interview with Mark Bauerlein; Bauerlein on CBS News. [more inside]
posted by ericb at 9:09 AM PST - 112 comments

Ladies, before you go searching for love from one of those online matchmaking sites, be sure to tally up your merits and demerits on this Marital Rating Scale.
posted by Dave Faris at 8:17 AM PST - 70 comments

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country [more inside]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:11 AM PST - 103 comments

If hydrogen-cell cars are no good, how about hydrogen-cell motorbikes!
posted by nthdegx at 7:58 AM PST - 22 comments

Google Maps now integrates with Wikipedia (click "More" tab). Concharto is a geographic wiki for documenting historical events. Flick also has a map service.
posted by stbalbach at 7:57 AM PST - 22 comments

Thomas Dolby builds up his songs before your eyes layer by layer in a podcast. Leipzig is Calling. One of Our Submarines. I Live in a Suitcase. Flying North. She Blinded Me with Science. Hyperactive.
posted by wittgenstein at 7:27 AM PST - 32 comments

Liberty City vs New York City
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:13 AM PST - 42 comments

George Plemper's extensive photographic record of south London working-class life from the 70s and early 80s, in particular children at Riverside school Thamesmead, was left hidden away in carrier bags for three decades. Now he's put it on Flicker
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:11 AM PST - 10 comments

British artist Lucian Freud's painting of a rather... portly slumbering nude just set an art world record. Someone laid down a nice, fat 33.6 million dollars for it: the most money ever paid for any work by a living artist. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:35 AM PST - 48 comments

PBS's Frontline has just released Storm Over Everest, a new report that chronicles the 1996 Everest disaster. The story was most notably told by Jon Krakauer in his award-winning book Into Thin Air, which ignited a flurry of letters (pun definitely intended) about the roles of guides and Sherpas on the mountain.
posted by aheckler at 5:58 AM PST - 17 comments

The $100 House Essay Contest. Write a 500 word essay on why you deserve to win the house. Submit it to James Mathias, along with $100. If he receives 2,500 entries... a winner will be chosen and awarded the home. If enough entries aren't received, he'll return the money. Finally, a chance to get that dream home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Or... an extra $179,900.
posted by avoision at 5:25 AM PST - 33 comments

Before the advent of Cellular phones and the internet, cities around the world were entwined with a series of webs hanging precariously overhead. Their function: to relay messages from one part of town to the next. And the pioneers who were put in charge of this arduous task--the Switchboard Operators. The first choice for this new source of employment was a disappointing failure, not surprisingly, but then a new breed of worker emerged on the scene. These hardworking individuals were the epitome of good behaviour and gritty determination. Patient and understanding, they were always expected to fulfill their tasks, no matter what the cost. And, to their credit--they are still remembered today for the unique place they held in some peoples hearts.
posted by hadjiboy at 5:10 AM PST - 19 comments

The Evolution of Computer & Video Games (Google video) The Evolution of Computer Commercials (video) The evolution of mobile phones (video)
posted by desjardins at 4:15 AM PST - 10 comments

Monster's Den: Book of Dread might be the best free dungeon crawl RPG on the web. If it ain't, it's damned close. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin at 1:47 AM PST - 30 comments

The UK Ministry of Defence has just released previously classified documents detailing numerous UFO sightings and alien contacts from across the country. Report yours at UFO Watch.
posted by MrMustard at 1:28 AM PST - 5 comments

Vatican's chief astronomer states that belief in alien life does not conradict faith in God. Fr. José Gabriel Funes, a Jesuit preist and chief astronomer for the Vatican, stated in an interview in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper, that, "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation." [more inside]
posted by Snyder at 1:04 AM PST - 72 comments