The whole story is seldom written on the surface of image. Yes, some will tell you everything you need to know, but usually you need another look, and some background info, for a pic to deliver its full promise.
When you do get to know what’s going on in full, however, the effect can be pretty cool.
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There is a cat in this picture.
We promise it’s there. It’s just that its colors give it some ridiculous camouflage against this tiled floor.
If you can’t find it, look closer at the lower right quarter of the picture. You should be able to make out its ears, at least.
Not just another sapling.
This one happens to be located at Detroit’s Holocaust Memorial Center — the sapling came from Anne Frank’s own tree that she was fond of looking at while writing her diary.
It’s not just that these containers are massive, but it’s what’s inside them that counts.
They’re housing submarine reactors. Hey, when nuclear submarines get decommissioned, their reactors have to go somewhere.
If you ever need a knee replacement, this is what the surgeon will stick in your leg.
But not this one in particular. The surgeon dropped this one before surgery, so it’s just an exorbitantly expensive piece of desk decor now.
Fashion on parade.
It’s funny how the trends can sneak into our subconscious and we end up all wearing the same stuff, but seldom do you see it so clearly and randomly.
Special spectators.
This is the vantage point Neil Armstrong’s family had for his historic Apollo 11 mission to walk on the Moon.
That has to be a singular experience, and it’s a feeling nobody else has known since 1972, after the last manned moon landing with Apollo 17.
Paying attention to the details.
A shop in Japan has a model of the shop in its window. The model of the shop also has a model of the shop in its window. And so on. Pretty cool!
If you use this to pay for a banana, you’re way, way overpaying.
That little stack of coins there represents about $17,000 worth of gold. Despite the coins being Canadian, that’s $17,000 USD.
The things you don’t get to see at ground level.
Like how the town below just suddenly stops in remarkably straight lines, basically ending at a corner.
You might think this was war damage, but you’d be wrong.
It is on the island of Iwo Jima, so WWII wreckage would be a good guess.
However, after the war, the authorities tried to use some old ships to create a breakwater. It didn’t work out so well, and so things like this ship’s engine just kind of sit on shore there, rusting.
Okay, now that’s cool.
This is the view you get right at dusk, when you make a 10-minute long exposure and capture all the fireflies coming out.
Not exactly a reservation.
In Italy, restaurants are closing every other table to try to prevent close contact between patrons during the coronavirus outbreak.
It’s both ice cream and art.
Yeah, this squid is an ice cream cone . You have to go all the way to New Zealand to try it, however.
This pencil suddenly became “unleaded”.
Not sure that pun was worth continuing the misuse of the word “lead” in regards to pencils. It’s a graphite core, but whatever.
I’ve noticed a general drop in the quality of the classic Ticonderoga pencil, but them completely forgetting to glue in the core is a new one.
Decisions are hard to make sometimes.
For example, this stretch of road where apparently nobody can decide on one material in particular to make it from, resulting in four different surfaces. At least, the four that we can see here. Could be more further along.
This arrow on a hotel ceiling isn’t just a carpenter pointing out his awesome crown molding work.
It’s actually pointing out the direction of Mecca, allowing Muslim guests to easily know which way to face during their prayers.
The tactile patches at road crossings are there to help visually impaired pedestrians.
But these ones have an added feature where they change color to indicate when it’s safe to cross.
That may not help a person who is completely blind, but it can aid those that may struggle to see the small light on the far side and alert people staring down at their phones.
How can you be cautious if you don’t know what a ‘snood’ is?
This warning is on the side of an old camera projector and apparently a ‘snood’ was the aperture from which the light shines out of. Old incandescent bulbs would get really hot at the brightness required to project film.
That was…expected, but also unexpected.
When you open a porta-potty door, you do expect to be able to go to the bathroom there — but you don’t expect to find a full, real bathroom behind it.
A pie perfect for the math nerds among us.
Why? Because the price is $3.14, or pi.
I’m more of a humanities nerd than a STEM one, but I still think this is cute.
When you first scroll to see the top of this picture, it looks like a lot of dirty shoes walked on this surface.
But when you keep scrolling, you realize that the surface is actually ceiling beams in a parking garage and suddenly have a whole lot more questions.
This is how your candy bar starts.
Yep, these strange yellow pods full of pale, almost slimy looking seeds is cocoa in its raw form. Looks like it goes a long way to get from gross to delicious.
I totally thought this was a fancy candy at first look.
But it’s actually a geode cut in half to reveal a pattern that either looks like a dragon or an attacking shark, depending on who you ask.
It’s been clear for a while that store mannequins in extra small sizes aren’t that helpful for the average shopper.
Which is why this mannequin spotted in Saudi Arabia is so neat. It’s plus-sized, including a gut and the beginnings of man boobs.
This WW2 museum is dedicated to making it feel accurate.
That’s why the garden stones are actually made to look like stacks of sandbags.
This seems like a very odd flat lay of items, until you learn that it’s the contents of a three-year-old’s “purse”.
Then it becomes absolutely adorable!
Mad props for the three-year-old’s “purse” being a vintage McDonald’s fanny pack.
This decorative fence is around a kindergarten.
The choice for something nicer than basic chain link is great, but then you notice the barbed wire along the top and start asking far too many questions.
“Your brain is trying to identify an object but it can’t.”
This one appears to be created by an algorithm to create maximum discomfort.
When we take in a group of objects, we look for familiar shapes and patterns. When we can’t see any, we short circuit.
Just a team of tech nerds, right?
Nope, that’s the very first team at Google when they opened up shop in 1999.
I’ve seen regular lobsters and even some of the rare blue lobsters, but a perfect split is a new one.
Apparently, the chances are estimated to be about 1 in 50 million.
But once cooked, it will be 100% red.
Some of the best art is collaborative.
If artist Roman Ondák had simply covered the wall with this random sketchy stripe, it would be cool, but far less interesting.
This room was actually blank when the exhibition opened, with pencils provided and the instruction that each visitor should mark their height somewhere on the wall.
“Skyscraper” used to be an aspirational nickname for buildings higher than a few storeys
But these one’s in Dubai should probably have a whole new designation as “cloud piercers”.
The practicalities of modern burial are fascinating, morbid, and not great for the environment.
A wooden casket is a classic , eco-friendly option, but it actually requires a polythene sheet put in the bottom.
Why? So that bodily … fluids (yuck) don’t seep through during a long service.
At first glance, I thought this guy was pretty over-dressed for brushing a zebra.
After reading the caption though: d’awww!
It may seem odd for this church in Ethiopia to have been built in a big hole.
Until you learn that the church wasn’t “built” at all. It was carved from the very rock that surrounds it.
This beautiful stone at all.
It’s a piece of an ancient, fossilized tree that has had opals form in its rings over the eons.
This seemingly random guy holding a Lynyrd Skynyrd album is named Leonard Skinner.
He’s the school gym teacher the band got their name from after he constantly berated them for their long hair.
Brought to you by the same generation that carpeted over beautiful old hardwood.
All jokes aside, brick is kind of awful to drive on, but it looks so much nicer.
Maybe one day a transparent asphalt alternative will be found that can be laid atop the old brick for the best of both worlds.
“Juvenile snow owls often sleep face down as their heads are too heavy to sleep perched.”
Not only is this definitely not how I thought owls would sleep, but I can’t blame them at all. I feel that in my soul.
Black sand magic.
The thin layer of water left behind by a wave allows you to see your reflection, and it’s much more noticeable against black volcanic sand, making it even more other-worldly.
“My hands after two hours of working as a cashier.”
I mean, we all know that handling money is dirty business, but wow. What a great argument in favor of hand washing.
You might not know it from his painting, but this artist is colorblind.
He says he just uses whatever looks good to him, and clearly, it’s a technique the works out well!
