How Smart Is the Octopus? [Via Pharyngula]
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 8:40 PM on June 24, 2008 (58 comments)

Breakdown. First-hand accounts of the impact and stigma of mental illness. Moving subject matter presented in a way that updates traditional newspaper reporting.
posted to MetaFilter by GuyZero at 1:05 PM on June 23, 2008 (18 comments)

Do you enjoy classic 2D platformers? Then boy, are you in luck! The indie game community is thriving, and a good majority of its games are exactly that. I've spent many hours playing these unique, beautiful, and often exceptional projects, and there's quite a few - more than I can count on my fingers! - that could stand toe-to-toe with the finest contemporary games. Inside is a list of some of the greatest indie platformers, based on community recommendations and my own experience. Enjoy!
posted to MetaFilter by archagon at 3:28 AM on June 24, 2008 (48 comments)

This fun Japanese contact juggler's clip is proving popular lately, but he is not the first Japanese practitioner of the art to surface online. Here are several more highly entertaining Japanese contact juggler clips worth watching: one, two (starts about 1:06), three, four, five. (all via the highly entertaining Ministry of Manipulation's blog).
posted to MetaFilter by madamjujujive at 8:13 PM on June 5, 2008 (27 comments)

Self Made Scholar hosts a comprehensive collection of links to online classes in over 80 subjects. They also link to collections of free books and audiobooks.
posted to MetaFilter by Upton O'Good at 9:01 PM on June 1, 2008 (7 comments)

Faithful live-action recreations of "classic" Garfield comic strips. (Quicktime required.)
posted to MetaFilter by Prospero at 1:57 PM on January 14, 2008 (83 comments)

Comedy duo, Ramenz (ラーメンズ), aka Kobayashi Kentaro and Katagiri Jin, also known as the Japanese versions of Mac and PC, have recently done a number of shorts collectively called "The Japanese Tradition." Apparently, these tongue-in-cheek pseudo-instructional vids about famous aspects of Japanese culture (Tea, Chopsticks, Sushi, Origami, Apology, Onigiri, and Relationships) have been fooling a lot of non-natives into thinking they are actual guides. (YouTube, each approx 4-6 min).
posted to MetaFilter by ikahime at 9:30 AM on March 29, 2007 (35 comments)

"Words & Stuff" is a column on wordplay. It lasted from January 1997 to September 2003. The six alphabets of content include pangrams, nonlimericks, monosyllabism, names for wind, Gilbert and Sullivan's Xena, Warrior Princess, and an interesting cameo in Hamlet. Other highlights, with more in the archives.
posted to MetaFilter by flatluigi at 12:50 PM on October 20, 2007 (9 comments)

Rush Rush is a Canadian rock band comprising bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Gary Lee Weinrib, guitarist Alexander Zivojinovich, and drummer and lyricist Neil Ellwood Peart. Bewitched by Ayn Rand, obsessed by nuclear war and enraptured by cheap science fiction, Rush were role models to geeks everywhere, yearning to be cool, but failing. Still, they rocked, in their own way.
posted to MetaFilter by psmealey at 9:34 PM on October 15, 2007 (135 comments)