Starling murmurations, where hundreds to thousands of birds perform synchronized acrobatic feats, are a rare sight to behold, and even more rare when such feats occur in downtown San Francisco. Barbary Coast Consulting captured this beautiful video of the birds shimmying around Mason Street.

See also:

San Francisco Featured in World's Most Beautiful TV Ad

San Francisco Time Lapse in 30,000 Photos (Video)

Matt Saincome

Malcolm J. Brenner, with his book, Wet Goddess

Malcolm J. Brenner, the controversial author of Wet Goddess, the autobiographical novel of a young man's love affair with a dolphin, relaxes on a computer chair inside a San Francisco apartment, gently stroking one of the two cats occupying the room with us. His red sweater is wiry and frayed, like the hairs on his balding head. He's 40 years older than he was when he drove to a near-abandoned Florida amusement park with the intent to "make love" with a dolphin he had been photographing for nine months.

See also: You can have sex with a horse in more states than you can get gay married
The Sweet Spot: The Truth Behind Puppy Play

Many of us make New Year's resolutions each January. We decide we're going to finally learn ukelele, or replace beer with quinoa, or quit being a disappointment to our parents. And yet, despite our clean slate, idealistic hopefulness, only 8 percent actually succeed in keeping their resolutions. This year, however, we have a new motivating factor: Cats.

See also:

Instagram Parody of Nickelback's "Photograph" Is Hilarious and True (Video)

Jennifer Jamieson

The holidays are upon us (We're basing this on Safeway breaking out the Christmas decorations five minutes after Halloween), which means we can finally listen to Mariah Carey's holiday album un-ironically and that we once more have an excuse to pour eggnog on everything -- Hello, huevos nog-cheros! Adding to our festive spirits this Friday is the SPCA's Pet Adoption Holiday Windows Unveiling at Macy's, featuring adorable and adoptable puppies and kitties to melt our hearts this winter.

See also:

The Olympic Sport We'd Like to See in 2016: Kitten Wrestling

Cute Dogs in Costume: The Whole Enchihuahua

Mustache cat approves this message.

Remember when being a crazy cat lady was an outsider thing reserved for shut-ins who wore turtlenecks and ankle-length skirts? Now, thanks to YouTube's viral cat charms and the ability to post and share videos of kitties running around in circles with cones on their head and sabotaging their owners, we can all be unabashed feline fans.

Though I'm highly allergic, I am getting used to this idea of loving cats, thanks to my exposure to Acrocats and the incessant adorable videos online. So in the spirit of loving krazy kitties, I stand in solidarity with all felines today -- National Feral Cat Day -- a day dedicated to increasing awareness about feral cats and the importance of the trap-neuter-return philosophy.

See also:

The Amazing Acrocats

Acrocats in GIFS!

Chip Scheuer

"Land Sharks," the creation of artist and maker Todd Williams

The Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" is the Carnival of nature programming. There's just something about the big fish: It's like a festive, temporary reprieve from those societal rules developed over centuries of Catholic influence. Only it's documentaries of sharks. (Maybe the reprieve is in being able to cheer for the Jerk of the Seas for a week.) In any event, the shark has become acquainted in our culture with some kind of festivity, which is harnessed in Sharktoberfest.

See also:

Street Fashion of the Academy of Sciences' "Nightlife"

Shamu Is Out to Get You: Death at SeaWorld Author on Why Killer Whales Kill

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 is a video game that uses an innovative controller, the Top Shot Fearmaster, to measure players' heartbeats and breathing patterns while they hunt their virtual prey. It's shaped like a gun, much like the ones you would see in an arcade, but features two metal plates where you grip the rifle, in order to measure your heart rate and an infrared sensor to measure stability.

Tim Wagner

This Labor Day, we'd like to give you some alternatives to getting drunk in the backyard again (not judging, just sayin').

Dig some tunes

A Labor Day tradition, Doin It In the Park, is a music fest and BBQ thrown by the Triple Threat DJs, Mr. E, and Sake One in Golden Gate Park that must not be missed. You've worked hard all year (if you were lucky enough to find employment) so today is the day to kick back and enjoy some tunes. You've earned it. Choice quote from our 2008 review: "Better Than: Going to Hippie Hill and listening to the drummer circle again."

Mo Riza/Flickr

Life is hard enough without a screaming, running away, randomly pooping, peeing, puking, money-sucking companion at your side, whether it be your child, multiple children, or Chris Daly. If you've been feeling spread a little thin lately, we're here to help. Below are the top 10 places you can nourish your inner child, or entertain your real one(s).

(Key: Poot! = Take your toddler, Toot! = Take your kids, or Woot! = Take yourself!)

10. Urban Recess (Poot!)

Urban Recess

John Robert Charlton

In elementary school, my favorite yearly assembly was one where they'd bring wild animals, like bobcats, baby snow leopards, and porcupines, to our school's stage. Some nut jobs really dedicated people would raise these "non-releasable wild animals" (animals that would not survive in the wild) in their own homes for the animals' entire lives, and would bring them in with the goal of promoting love, respect, and protection for all of the planet's wilder inhabitants.

The Randall Museum has a similar program on Saturdays called "Meet the Animals," where you can meet more than 100 different creatures that live at the museum. We've just gotten word they have three new additions, so no time like the present to get up close and personal with a hawk that's been everywhere from Canada to Argentina. Wonder what these guys would do if we tried to dress em' up like Lady Gaga.