Cuiler (opens in new tab)

The reason hamburger shows a raccoon is that it is a reference to an in-joke among Redditors. The whole joke is explained if you search for "cuil".

Cuil looks pretty bad UI-wise. UI elements are presented in the same style as content text, which makes quick skimming difficult. A one-column layout turns into a two-column layout without any visible logical separation and no warning.

The no-warning column change also confuses the user the third column - which is consistent. I look at that page and my brain hurts.

Compare with Duck Duck Go, where UI elements are immediately obvious, and the text doesn't switch layout/flow on you half way down the page.

Also, DDG doesn't steal a bunch of pixels from your browser window permanently - not sure why this still exists in 2010.

I think more of these types of Internet me-me pictures should appear at the top of the search results(maybe not so huge, but very prevalent). It gives personality to the business that is search. Why use Google when there is a search engine that provides the results you seek but does so with humor.

If you search for "reddit", you get a reddit icon in the yellow box.

If you search for "hacker news", you get ... a reddit icon in the yellow box.

(And no, it is clearly not an accident.)

Looking at it, seems to me you're conflating two things, with the confusion evident in the first two sentences:

Duck Duck Go auto-searches other sites when you do !keyword search. For example, !google duck duck go will Google us :)

1 - Restricting your (?) search to a site or group of sites

2 - Using another search engine

I'd suggest something along the lines of "You can focus your search with !word" (bold, not key)

I'd also suggest trying to make the listing more readable (or scannable - it's long ...). Perhaps an HTML Definition List ?

It's funny, because it's really designed for normals, and the early adopter types complain a lot (rightly so from their perspective) about things for them--bigger text, less density, lighter feel, etc. I do make features for early adopter/advanced users though. It's really a hybrid approach in attempt to "cross the chasm" and get these folks to help introduce it to normals, e.g. their parents and siblings.