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Counter Intelligence: Rubber Ducks, Soccer Moms and Lots of Ice

Read this and you'll look smart and have something to talk about...

Friday, Nov 14, 2008 | Updated 6:42 AM CST

Counter Intelligence: Rubber Ducks, Soccer Moms and Lots of Ice

AFP / Getty Images

The Great British Duck Race in West London sees 250,000 blue rubber ducks released into the river Thames on August 31, 2008. The ducks will float 2km down the river to a finish line. Shaun Curry, AFP / Getty Images

Read this and you'll look smart. You don't have to be intelligent to impress people -- you just have to fake it. Here's a daily list of fascinating articles that will wow your friends, surprise your co-workers and make you seem sharp at a cocktail party or over the lunch counter....

One researcher is trying solve planetary mysteries using rubber ducks. He released 90 yellow rubber ducks -- each with an email address listed in three languages and offering a reward -- into melted water in Greenland's largest glacier. He's hoping they will emerge 30 miles away -- and provide valuable clues into how warming temperatures speed glacier's slide into the sea.
The sleepy resort town of Sochi, Russia, is slate to host the 2014 Winter Games -- but the Kremlin may face the olympic task of forking over funds now that the economic crisis has left one of the Games' largest private investors to reconsider.
He is considered the most selfless man in the UK. A handyman has saved one of Britain's greatest 16th-century palaces by maintaining the estate for 20 years -- without earning a penny.
The best way to sell minivans is to make fun of soccer moms. At least VW hopes so. The car company, which considers Major League Soccer its largest sports sponsorship in the nation, will launch the first of a series of webisodes featuring the theme today.
A marine geophysicist is leading an expedition to Antarctica to explore a mountain range beneath an ice sheet.
A British town held a contest to see who could build the best "scare car" -- that is, lifelike dummies that line the streets and are meant to frighten drivers so they slow down.