It’s no secret that we live in a time when headlines and images all do their best to grab our attention. It’s all about getting us to stop scrolling our news feeds, right? But those images and headlines often only give us the barest slivers of information. They can only do so much, right?
Getting the whole story can often be difficult on the internets, but it can be done, and it tends to be worth it. Context is king!
RELATED STORIES
The odd thing here is that sprinklers don’t usually spray onto a road.
They’re more for lawns and gardens, right? But this irrigation system is at a ski resort in Japan, and it sprays out salt water to help keep the roads from icing up.
How are these trees growing in perfect circles?
Well, we’re back in Japan again, and the circular patterns in this cedar forest came from an experiment to see how planting trees in a variety of different densities would affect their growth.
The result wasn’t quite what was intended, as plans to harvest the trees 50 years after their planting have been shelved now that they’ve matured and attracted the public’s interest.
These plants, on the other hand, weren’t planted in a grid.
Rather, Euphorbia Milii, aka Crown of Thorns, just happen to grow this way.
Anybody having Super Mario flashbacks?
Not sure if these inspired the classic pipe-living plumber-munching plants, but Cardiocrinum Giganteum seed pods don’t stay as scary as they look.
They eventually grow into much more attractive Himalayan lilies .
Just a dog standing by a baby? Not quite.
As the uploader captioned it, “My dog is 18, has trouble standing. Since Clare was born, he stands for hours watching. Good boy.”
The instinct to love is powerful indeed.
Creative young minds come up with the most interesting things sometimes.
Like this conceptual map of the Americas, drawn in intricate detail, shared on Twitter.
The map’s creator devised such wonderful oddities as “Long Chile,” running all the way up the West Coast, “Ohio 2” at the current site of the Four Corners, and the lengthening of both the Idaho and Texas panhandles to cut straight through Canada. It sure is something to examine!
A little slice of history is poking through here.
The red paint showing through from underneath the green paint on this Irish mailbox dates back to when Ireland was a part of the U.K., almost a century ago.
Speaking of history, this is more than the simple lane way it appears to be.
Italians might recognize this stretch of road, because it’s one of the world’s marvels, the 2,000-year-old Appian Way constructed by the ancient Romans.
These guys have their own special place to unwind.
They’re Turkish garbage collectors, and they’ve put together their own library from books people have thrown away.
This aerial view of London, England has had a pretty insightful alteration.
Those lines marked out below show where all the Tube lines run. It kind of makes clear why the Tube is necessary, doesn’t it?
Some people use pallets for home projects.
In Alesund, Norway, every year pallets get used to try to set a record for the world’s largest bonfire.
Just looking at the people stacking them up makes me think that even if it’s not a new record, it’ll still be one heck of a show.
Yes, this rotary dial cell phone really works.
Built by space engineer Justine Haupt, the phone looks like it belongs in another era, but it was done with a purpose.
“Because in a finicky, annoying, touchscreen world of hyperconnected people using phones they have no control over or understanding of, I wanted something that would be entirely mine, personal, and absolutely tactile, while also giving me an excuse for not texting,” Haupt explained on her blog .
Where else would this be but Australia?
These two pics were taken in the same spot, just a month apart. Australia has been put through the wringer, with devastating bush fires burning for months only to be replaced with serious flooding.
Believe it or not, these guys didn’t do this on a dare.
Once upon a time, this was how tree pruners did their work. Makes you pretty thankful for modern technology, doesn’t it?
Little is known about the ancient Tibetan practice of carving skulls.
It’s believed , however, that carving a person’s skull was done to remove a curse from their family or help guide them in the afterlife.
These little dioramas aren’t where you’d expect them to be.
Visitors to Hong Kong might want to look down as they stroll the streets if they don’t want to miss these mini rooms encased in the walkways.
Despite the regularity of the structure on these little discs, they’re not man made.
Those are butterfly eggs speckling the back of a leaf, which, of course, will have to be caterpillars before they can become butterflies themselves.
This might be a bit concerning.
This spot was created over the years by hair product rubbing against the finish. Makes you think twice about what you put in your hair, doesn’t it?
This colorful display is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
You’re looking at the coronavirus strain that’s taking a massive toll on millions of lives right now. The yellow part is the virus itself, breaking through the blue-pink surface of a cell.
It’s not exactly a snake, but this tiny horse sure turned some heads on a plane.
Fred the Mini Service Horse goes everywhere with his handler, Ronice Froese, and he’s fully trained, including being housebroken. He reportedly handled his first flight very well. “Everyone was sweet as pie, TSA was amazing. The experience was way better than I actually anticipated,” Froese said .
This image of deep space contains even more stars than you think.
Each of those little specks isn’t a star — it’s a galaxy. There are thousands of them in this image, taken by the ESA’s Herschel infrared space observatory, and each galaxy contains billions of stars.
For once, students aren’t filling a hallway for a tornado or active shooter drill.
These kids at Kennedy Catholic High in Washington State got wind that two of their teachers had been forced to resign because they’re engaged to same-sex partners, and so they rallied and staged a sit-in in protest.
We’re used to seeing astronauts on spacewalks, but this one was a bit different.
Because this was the first spacewalk, back in 1965. During the Gemini 4 mission, Ed White became the first American to exit a spacecraft in orbit. In his right hand is an oxygen-propelled maneuvering gun that ran out of oxygen three minutes into his 23-minute excursion. At the end of the spacewalk, White remarked, “I’m coming back in…and it’s the saddest moment of my life.”
Sometimes, sparkler candles look like regular candles.
Until they’re lit, of course. This one looks like it could double as a road flare. But the baby seems remarkably okay with the situation.
This isn’t anything so simple as a fleck of glass.
About 15 million years ago, a meteorite struck the Czech/Southern German countryside, and the intense heat created a green, glassy substance known as Moldavite. This is a sample.
This is not for breakfast.
I mean, sure you could make a sizeable omelet from such an egg, but you wouldn’t want to. It’s a California condor egg, and since there are all of about 160 of them left in the world, it would be for the best to just let it be.
Mugshots haven’t always been a person’s worst picture.
In Australia, as late as the 1930s, some people were allowed to pose for a more candid shot as well as the typical front and side view, and allowed to choose their own poses.
The good news is, that’s not an invoice.
The bad news is that this stack of papers represents the medical chart for one patient’s 33-day stay in hospital. Over that time, the hospital’s staff collected 1,009 pages of data.
Don’t worry, there’s nothing technically wrong here.
I know, you want to think the worst about some horrible murder case, but this is just an X-ray of a gymnast doing a pose. I think the context makes this image slightly less unsettling.
Ah, the look of delightful mischief caught out.
According to the uploader , Dorothy here leaving anonymous treats is the worst kept secret in her apartment building, but still, seeing the moment she got caught with a plate full of sweets is the real treat. What a neighbor. Everyone needs a Dorothy in their lives!
