Because there are so many birds around the world, and because they often look very similar, you likely need a field guide to help you figure out what bird is in your backyard. Well, just in time for spring, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has redesigned their wonderful All About Birds site and they can help you with building your skills. Don't forget to bring your checklist!
posted by shoesfullofdust on May 2, 2009 - 18 comments

The Georgia Guidestones - Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse.
posted by Artw on Apr 21, 2009 - 44 comments

How to Argue With Zompist: Or Social-Skills 101 A helpful guide for online discussion and debate written by Mark Rosenfelder with some help from notmydesk and others.
posted by The Whelk on Feb 11, 2009 - 31 comments

"Good Guide provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home." Now in iPhone.
posted by one_bean on Nov 10, 2008 - 7 comments

Guide Horse Foundation - Guide Horse NO.
posted by Wolfdog on Oct 4, 2008 - 27 comments

And another thing... Author Eoin Colfer (best known for the Artemis Fowl books) has been commissioned to write a sixth Hitchhiker's Guild to the Galaxy novel. [more inside]
posted by crossoverman on Sep 17, 2008 - 123 comments

Kristin's List. There are plenty of events guides in Los Angeles, but none has as personal a voice, as finely honed an aesthetic (the Neutra font is an inspired touch) or as discerning an eye as Kristin's. Her weekly emails and web listings are one woman's recommended sampling of the most interesting music, film, architecture, food, fashion, literary and unquantifiable events across the megalopolis. And so far, it's completely ad-free.
posted by Scram on Jul 21, 2008 - 30 comments

A runner's primer
posted by nthdegx on May 29, 2008 - 78 comments

Guide 25 Strangest Collections on the Web includes items such as a collection of navel fluff, 700 artistically decorated toilet seats, a scratchcard collection, 2,500 unique aol disks and cds, and much more. [more inside]
posted by msaleem on May 19, 2008 - 8 comments

Evil Monkey’s Guide to Kosher Imaginary Animals (via)
posted by blue_beetle on Apr 20, 2008 - 21 comments

Quamut — learn how to write cover letters, crochet baby booties, make a home, how to self-medicate, and do other stuff.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Mar 24, 2008 - 12 comments

45 things you can learn online for free. To sample: Play craps. Chant. Dance Merengue. [more inside]
posted by drea on Jan 1, 2008 - 11 comments

Maritime New York
posted by Miko on Dec 6, 2007 - 5 comments

So you're at your favorite night spot , and your looking to impress the ladies (or the men for that matter) why not have a few Zippo tricks up your sleeve? What better way to enjoy a coffin nail than with a flourish? More inside? Yes. [more inside]
posted by nola on Oct 18, 2007 - 18 comments

Coping: A Survival Guide for People with Asperger Syndrome. A short, to-the-point guide to the unwritten rules of life.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water on Jun 23, 2007 - 47 comments

Free Photoshop Plug-ins : Virtual Photographer for "professional" results. Filters and plugins from ad and design agency, Richard Rosenman. AutoFX Mosaic, for making your photos look as if they were created out of a mosaic tile. HDR Soft, (trial s/w) for increading dynamic range of photographs, and creating and HDR look. Power Touche for creating divinely-inspired photographs. And many more.
posted by psmealey on May 17, 2007 - 20 comments

The Best Places to Get Free Books.
posted by Tommy Gnosis on May 15, 2007 - 24 comments

How to make a Ninja mask with a shirt.
posted by psmealey on May 6, 2007 - 22 comments

How to conduct a job interview. 5 steps to conducting good job interviews and finding the right candidates. Contains answers to the infamous why is a manhole cover round question. Also, 10 common mistakes managers should avoid when conducting same. On the flispide, here are some tips for interview preparation, the 25 most difficult questions an interviewee can prepare for and some things to avoid saying in interviews.
posted by psmealey on Apr 30, 2007 - 56 comments

A communication primer. A pretty basic, but well-written primer on effective communication, and proper understanding of the communication process, barriers, listening, feedback and non-verbal hints. Don Clark's site contains a lot of well-formed ideas on leadership and human performance without resorting to mumbo-jumbo and buzzwords. Not your typical MBA / self-help bs.
posted by psmealey on Apr 26, 2007 - 9 comments

Can Wiki Travel? Ever try using Wiki Travel as your sole source of travel information? One man gives up his Lonely Planet and Fodor's and goes pure Wiki for a trip to Thailand -- and says it was a disaster. Anybody else have Wiki Travel horror stories?
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese on Apr 9, 2007 - 41 comments

The Indie Band Survival Guide: A fantastic, free, 101 pages collection of useful information for musicians - covers topics such as recording, copyright, major label contracts, commercial radio, promoting your music, band websites, distribution, filesharing and live shows.
posted by Ira.metafilter on Feb 25, 2007 - 9 comments

Hisakyu's Railway Guide
posted by hama7 on Dec 7, 2006 - 21 comments

Journal of Visualized Experiments is an online research journal for publishing visualized (video-based) biological experiments
posted by Gyan on Nov 29, 2006 - 2 comments

A manual for electoral apocalypse in America. Quite a bit's been written both on MeFi and other places about how bad Diebold machines are. Rolling Stone wrote an article about election fraud in 2004 that was discussed here on MeFi. Tonight, Ars posted a very thorough, very clear article about how we are completely screwed if we do not enact expensive, fundamental changes in how we handle elections in America. It's too late to do anything about the elections in a couple weeks, but perhaps steps can be taken to fix things before 2008...
posted by sparkletone on Oct 25, 2006 - 45 comments

dg28.com: photographer eduction - 'Technique - Photography is all about light, and digital is no different. I try to light as much of my work as I can, and this was true before "Dig' day"'. Some great photography tips and techniques here, apparently from portrait photographer Neil Turner. Via Civil_Disobedient at Ask MetaFilter.
posted by nthdegx on Sep 3, 2006 - 8 comments

"If that's what's on, then that's what they watch. It's either that, or a cricket match between Scotland and Bermuda. Now, I am an educated man, Charlie, but when someone tries to explain cricket to me, all I want to do is hit him in the head with a teapot." Cricket Explained (An American Viewpoint) for those, following a recent cricket thread, that want to get it, but don't quite yet.
posted by nthdegx on Aug 3, 2006 - 41 comments

Schmap is an online/desktop travel guidebook. They are taking Creative Commons licensed photos from Flickr and using them in their city guides. It is kind of like Google Maps + Flickr + Lonely Planet. [Contains some flash, and to try out the guide you have to install the Schmap Player.]
posted by pithy comment on Apr 1, 2006 - 10 comments

Rule 1b: Do not write some stupid slogan on your flag. If you've ever wanted to know how all the world's flags rank in terms of aesthetic appeal, here's a handy guide with an accompanying methodology.
posted by jonson on Dec 27, 2005 - 65 comments

Luca Turin on perfume and other things. The Emperor of Scent and CTO of Flexitral reviews perfumes and waxes philosophical in his blog. Also available online: Parfums: le guide (PDF, French).
posted by greatgefilte on Nov 5, 2005 - 6 comments

Reporters Without Borders releases a free handbook for would-be bloggers and cyber-dissidents in censor-happy lands. It features tips on blogging anonymously, ways to get around censorship and to ensure your e-mail privacy, and hosts an Internet-censor World Championship list (which lists China, Vietnam, and Tunisia, among others) as well. Download the guide here. (PDF)
posted by riffraff on Sep 22, 2005 - 8 comments

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." George Washington's Rules of Civility.
posted by nthdegx on Sep 12, 2005 - 21 comments

Temperance. Silence. Order. Resolution. Frugality. Industry. Sincerity. Justice. Moderation. Cleanliness. Chastity. Tranquility. Humility. Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues. "He committed to giving strict attention to one virtue each week so after 13 weeks he moved through all 13. After 13 weeks he would start the process over again so in one year he would complete the course a total of 4 times."
posted by nthdegx on Sep 10, 2005 - 32 comments

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby So you’ve got to know that synergy doesn’t actually mean synergy in this book. I can’t do normal synergy. No, in this book, synergy means cartoon foxes. What I’m saying is: this book will be starting off with an exorbitant amount of cartoon foxes. And I will be counting on you to turn them into synergy. Possibly the funniest computer programming book ever written.
posted by carmen on Jun 3, 2005 - 17 comments

Cooking for Engineers - "Have an analytical mind? Like to cook? This is the site to read!"
posted by Gyan on Apr 11, 2005 - 22 comments

Science of Cooking guide resource
posted by Gyan on Feb 27, 2005 - 8 comments

Art Studio Chalkboard
posted by Gyan on Feb 25, 2005 - 0 comments

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy movie trailer
Hollywood? Don't talk to me about Hollywood. They've got a budget the size of a planet and they give Zaphod three arms instead of two heads? Hollywood, don't talk to me about Hollywood. [via]
posted by johnj on Feb 16, 2005 - 115 comments

Resources for lighting designers and enthusiasts: The Lighting Wiki; [extensive] Glossary of Lighting Terminology (and another); Lighting Design Resources (inc. "Fun with Light"; and Professional Lighting Resources.
posted by nthdegx on Feb 16, 2005 - 4 comments

Nature Photographers - an online resource dedicated to the art and technique of nature, wildlife and landscape photography.
posted by Gyan on Feb 3, 2005 - 4 comments

Surgical Eyes - source of info about complications and their treatment from Lasik and other vision correction surgeries.
posted by Gyan on Jan 31, 2005 - 35 comments

Mexico publishes Migrant/Illegal Immigrant Guide A new comic-book-style guide for migrants produced by the Mexican government is designed to help immigrants cross the border illegally into the United States. (NPR) This is proving a little controversial. Deaths are common on the crossing.
posted by fluffycreature on Jan 7, 2005 - 38 comments

The Art Of Controversy : Or Better Referred To As The Politician's Bible by Arthur Schopenhauer.
posted by Gyan on Dec 29, 2004 - 20 comments

I never realized how great Wikipedia was for quick-and-dirty guides to languages. For example, did you know that Esperanto uses affixes to cut the number of adjectives one must learn in half? Or that Finnish has fifteen noun cases, including six locative declensions? Or that Vedic Sanskrit was tonal? How about that Cherokee verbs each have 21,262 inflected forms? I could play with this forever.
posted by borkingchikapa on Dec 1, 2004 - 36 comments

The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide.
posted by nthdegx on Nov 29, 2004 - 17 comments

Do's and Don'ts of Photography. According to Viceland your photos are cliche. Some NSFW language and images.
posted by trbrts on Aug 23, 2004 - 22 comments

Godchecker.com -Your guide to the gods
posted by Grod on Aug 23, 2004 - 14 comments

Road Trip USA. This simply titled site is one of the better travel sites I have seen for back-road ramblings around the USA. Not only are the routes described some of the best, the writing is extensive (at least book length), of high quality and obviously by someone who has traveled every single mile personally. I only wish I had it on my last trip. Recommended for the arm-chair or car-seat traveler alike.
posted by stbalbach on Jul 30, 2004 - 4 comments

A guide for librarians wishing to integrate comic books into their regular holdings for young adults, and the case for it. Via Linkfilter.
posted by Hildago on May 26, 2004 - 13 comments

Pssst! Wanna Buy A Reliable, Second-Hand Car? You could do worse than start with Honest John, a plain-speaking, fiercely independent Cockney motor car wonk who'll see you right, no problem. If you're obsessive about reliability, i.e. don't have the time or inclination to look after your wheels and just want the damn thing to get you from A to B and back again, check out the often surprising Reliability Index for the most and least trustworthy automobiles. [Eurocentric warning! Btw, what are the most reliable independent car guides - preferably free and online - in the U.S, Canada, etc?]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Nov 20, 2003 - 32 comments