Without hesitation I’ll confess that I enjoy an ice cold beer on a hot afternoon. While at Santana Row in San Jose this week, my husband and I stopped for lunch at Left Bank Brasserie where Palo Santo Marron, a limited release of Dogfish Head Alehouse, was the day’s featured beverage. We decided to give it a swig and weren’t disappointed. Actually, that’s a rather reserved way to say that it qualifies as one of the best brews we’ve ever tasted.

An unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented brown ale aged in handmade wooden brewing vessels. The caramel and vanilla complexity unique to this beer comes from the exotic Paraguayan Palo Santo wood from which these tanks were crafted.

Incidentally, a dogfish is a shark, hence the logo.

A compelling message by Sam Keen on what it means to be religious. The essence of the primal religious experience, which begins with wonder, is connectedness with all living things.

Filmed in late November at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge by filmmakers Fred and Roberta McPherson, this western meadowlark is “talking” to another meadowlark (hear the distant bird call?). After listening to this, you’ll better understand the saying, Happy as a lark!

Watch and hear the meadowlark.

For nearly two decades, the Mann Family (Mann Cellars) of Santa Clara County, California, has lovingly produced fine Syrah, Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Riesling wines. My husband and I first discovered Mann Cellars ruby port on a recent trip to Carmel. Intense berry and currant flavors accompany the port’s sumptuous texture. We enjoyed it after dinner as a finale to a sunset walk along the shore. Definitely a great thing to share!

When Surya the orangutan meets a hound dog by the river, the two carry on like long lost friends. View this moving video.

… at the expense of a gallery? It’s possible at the Museum of Bad Art!

“As the only museum dedicated to bringing the worst of art to the widest of audiences,” the Museum of Bad Art feels “morally compelled to explore new, more creative ways of bringing this priceless collection of quality bad art to a global audience.”

This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.

These images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device-NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, delivered: The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination, at Harvard University’s 2008 commencement ceremony. Watch the video.

Featured in National Geographic online. Some elephant paintings are being sold to support elephant sanctuaries.