Best Of MetaFilter

Medieval illustration of St. Gallus and the bear

So it turns out a surprising number of Mefites have had up close and personal encounters with bears, though, thankfully, very few report being eaten. How To Avoid Being Eaten By A Black Bear.

First Class Bear by Dai Lygad (cc by)

Mr. Searles was the man who arrived to solve the problem of the Bear Who Had Not Bathed Before Hibernating in the Basement. True encounters with the Bear Whisperer.

3-eyed Bear by Brandon James Scott (cc by-nc-nd)

Please Don't Ursinate in Pool! – Atom Eyes

Shibori's first post about a video of a home pool invasion by bears is a fun thread with some great anecdotes from nevercalm and Nerd of the North.:

a bear that is not much larger than a traditional stuffed teddy bear is quite strong enough to do whatever it wants, fuck you very much

After several months of eating nothing but salmon, you'd be pretty desperate for a Breath Saver, too.

"I don't know," I said. "What do you think it is? I have an idea but it's kind of disgusting."

Kozyndan Nakano In Spring detail

Recently on Mefi, people and places around the world, enchanting, mysterious and magnetic:

The Banjo Bands of Malawi is a video clip featuring three different performances of a certain strain of folk music from the small African nation.
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From the 1920s to the 1960s, German people loved to pose with actors dressed as polar bears.
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LA-based art duo kozyndan posted an immersive "VR" experience of their 2009 Miyazaki-esque piece "Nakano In Spring".