The Moral Dimensions of Ditching a Mortgage: University of Arizona law professor Brent T. White has written a provocative new paper (pdf) that urges homeowners with "underwater" mortgages" to walk away by strategically defaulting on their mortgage debts. [more inside]
posted by jonp72 on Nov 30, 2009 - 164 comments

Holdover is a difficult but compelling exploration platform game. Marie must escape from an abandoned scientific research installation, with no assistance other than recordings left by her father decades ago. Makes extensive and very good use of the "hold your breath" mechanics found in many such games. Available both in Japanese and bad English. A more reasonable English translation can be downloaded from the IndieGames weblog and dropped into the game's folder. [more inside]
posted by CrunchyFrog on Jul 12, 2009 - 10 comments

Stunning Underwater Photography A website filled with incredible underwater photography. Particularly impressive shots of a sardine bait ball being attacked by dolphins, sharks, whales and birds.
posted by srboisvert on Mar 29, 2009 - 19 comments

Cool video of an undersea volcano erupting off Tonga. Spectacular clouds began spewing out of the sea on Monday about 10km from the southwest coast off the main island of Tongatapu, where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered. More on these volcanism blogs.
posted by CunningLinguist on Mar 19, 2009 - 39 comments

Things look good underwater.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Oct 20, 2008 - 29 comments

An Artist's view from her tent. Listen to the view. Yes, listen. Katie Paterson via mobile phone and underwater mike at a glacier lake in Iceland, captures underwater sounds of melting and cracking Jökulsárlón Glacier. Hear it piddling away. Call to listen what the seals are talking about, if they're nearby. [more inside]
posted by alicesshoe on Apr 2, 2008 - 9 comments

British artist Jason de Caires Taylor creates an underwater sculpture park in the West Indies, not only to "explore the boundaries between art and the environment" but also to portray a beautiful process that happens to be doing nice things for the ecosystem. You can see a video of the sculptures on YouTube.
posted by dhammond on Dec 20, 2007 - 6 comments

And here I am kicking my own legs like a sucker. From DEKA Research the folks that made the Segway and DARPA the little defense department that could (bomb you) comes Power Swim which uses an oscillating foil to develop vortices that...uh, it makes you go faster in the water. Some pictures, here. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman on Dec 19, 2007 - 27 comments

Underwater Tigers. Best one.
posted by milestogo on May 14, 2007 - 73 comments

Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow has been linked to twice before on Metafilter. However, you can now view 10 minutes of his film as part of his Ted Talk--it's the most stunning nature footage I've ever seen. In the talk he also mentions a new concept he's developing called Animal Copyright, which I think is long overdue.
posted by dobbs on Jan 2, 2007 - 29 comments

Triton Sawfish - underwater forest logging with robots.
posted by stbalbach on Dec 3, 2006 - 41 comments

Sous La Mer . Underwater nudes by Alberich Mathews. Webs of light. [via]
posted by nickyskye on May 28, 2006 - 18 comments

Air and water. Photographer and professional diver Emmanuel Donfut takes not-completely-underwater pictures. His latest series involves both fish and fishermen caught in the act, but he's been interested in other aquatic creatures, and alcoholic ones as well. More pics here, and more on the technique used here.
posted by elgilito on Apr 28, 2006 - 10 comments

"Ashes and Snow" is the name, but it's mostly very pretty pictures of brown people with acquatic mammals such as elephants. (Alas, the portfolio requires Shockwave.) The book is itself a work of art.
"The permanent home of Ashes and Snow, the Nomadic Museum, debuted in New York in 2004 and is charted to travel the globe with no final destination." In New York it filled Pier 54 for three months (not usually such a neat art venue).
posted by Aknaton on Dec 26, 2005 - 19 comments

The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary region is under the ocean, off the coast of Massachusetts. For 11 years geologist Paul Valentine has been mapping this area. Sea floor maps are available. Also, there are many images of features such as glacial valleys and moraines. Other photographs show underwater life.
posted by pyramid termite on Jul 23, 2005 - 1 comment

The National Enquirer (Oceanic Edition): Redefining seafood for the masses, Underwatertimes.com catches the news at its raunchiest and most macho, with lots of nice pictures to soften the blow. [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Mar 12, 2004 - 5 comments

Search for the Loch Ness Monster, one of the dozens of classic articles written by Scuba pioneer and legend Walt Deas.
posted by Ufez Jones on Oct 17, 2003 - 3 comments

The treasures of the sea. A fascinating look at underwater archeological sites in France. The Cosquer Cave is particularly enthralling due to the art and the difficulty in getting to it. (warning - annoying frames and popup info boxes that don't work so well in Mozilla) [More inside...]
posted by Irontom on May 29, 2003 - 2 comments

Looking for an exotic, interesting place for brunch this Mother's Day? This underwater restaurant sounds like just the place for any manner of memorable meal.
posted by darsh on Apr 29, 2003 - 6 comments

The Men Underwater Reference Guide. If you've ever needed THE definitive list of scenes of men underwater, well, thank god for the internet.
posted by Stan Chin on Dec 8, 2002 - 5 comments

Where did you sleep last night? Was it in a cave? A lighthouse, or a treehouse? Maybe it was in a teepee, a castle, or a vintage trailer. Perhaps you even slept underwater. What's the most interesting place you've ever paid to lay your head?
posted by gottabefunky on Sep 16, 2002 - 28 comments

Underwater Warpdrives Some naval experts believe that supercavitating systems could alter the nature of undersea warfare, changing stealthy cat-and-mouse stalking contests between large submarines into something resembling aerial combat, featuring noisy high-speed dogfights among small, short-range "subfighters" shooting underwater bullets at one another after having been launched from giant "subcarriers."
posted by hmgovt on Apr 26, 2001 - 22 comments