Context is everything, they say. Sometimes a situation comes with built-in context and everything makes sense. Other times, you have to tease the context out in order to gain a better understanding .
Yes, context is everything, and that’s never been more true than it is in these pics.
RELATED STORIES
“My tests fade as I get better.”
Many of us are all too familiar with these rapid tests by this point. It had never occurred to me, though, that they show more nuance than positive or negative. They can also show the positive test fading over time.
“Garlic…but each one is a single clove.”
How come I can never find one of these convenient single-clove garlic situations? Every time I deal with garlic, I find myself peeling about a million billion little individual cloves. It’s time consuming!
“My hotel jacuzzi tub fills up from the ceiling.”
At first it looks like a standard issue hotel bathroom, but think again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bathtub in any context that has its faucet way up in the ceiling.
“The sinks inside the Le Creuset headquarters are Dutch ovens.”
Lots of folks have one of these Dutch ovens. There’s an identical orange one in my kitchen right now. Similarly, most folks have bathroom sinks. It’s just that you don’t usually see the two things combined.
“These statues in front of a Finnish train station are vaccinated.”
I’m a sucker for statues getting dressed up like this — whether it’s putting a hockey jersey on a statue of the city founder or big, statue-sized bandages on these guys here.
“This floor tile at LaGuardia Airport has a house key embedded in it.”
This key opens, or opened, something at some point. But now it’s part of history, or at least part of the floor at LaGuardia, and we’ll never know its full story.
“New notebook next to one used the last year.”
When you use a notebook or read a book, it expands by a lot. You never really notice it when it’s happening, so a comparison shot like this is needed to really demonstrate the effect.
“My wife cut open some squid while making dinner to find the squid’s dinner.”
Everything needs to eat, and that includes some of the stuff that we put on our dinner table. I kind of feel bad for this squid. It barely even got to enjoy its dinner.
“The buttons that contain the numbers for this door code are significantly faded.”
It might be time to change the passcode for this door, because it’s become super obvious that whatever the code is, it definitely contains a 1, a 3 and a 4.
“The other side of a fast food soda fountain.”
Soda fountains are all neat and tidy from the front, but anyone who’s worked in food service will tell you that the back end is often a chaotic, syrup-soaked mess. At least this one is fairly organized.
“This Twinkie has been in my classroom for 10 years.”
Twinkies are a normal sight in any convenience store’s snack food aisle, but 10-year-old Twinkies are a different story. It’s unique and special, even if the Twinkie looks no different from the day it was bought.
“A supermarket’s attempt to disguise supply issues.”
No one likes seeing empty shelves, so this supermarket has found a new way to disguise the issue. I like it. Maybe it’ll calm people down so they don’t feel the need to panic buy toilet paper.
“I traced around my vitiligo spots.”
When life gives you lemons, you’re supposed to make lemonade. I suppose if life gives you vitiligo, it makes sense to trace around it, so the back of your hand looks like some kind of ancient map.
“This burger puzzle has a piece shaped like the whole puzzle.”
Most puzzles are just big pictures that pieces are stamped out of. It’s basically a copy and paste operation. This puzzle, though, goes the extra mile by having pieces that are very on-brand.
“I work in the building with the longest hallway in America.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen longer hallways than this one in various different parts of America, but the difference is that this one is willing to take the crown.
“Family heirloom watch that was passed down to me. Traces of the family photo carried on the back are still visible.”
Heirlooms are one of those things that’s unique to humans. Many of us have these things that have been passed down, and they acquire a kind of pricelessness over the years.
“What 9 years of wear does to Puma suedes vs new.”
I love seeing comparison shots between something that’s been used hard versus something that’s brand new. Mostly, I’m just impressed that this person managed to get nine years of wear out of a pair of shoes.
“If you ever meet Steve Martin by chance, he gives you a card as proof you met him.”
Business cards are usually a dime a dozen, but a business card from Steve Martin is a little more interesting than what we normally see.
“Exploring wildfire damage and found springs sticking out of the ground everywhere. They’re sprinklers.”
Wildfires burn up everything in their path, including the stuff that’s designed to stop them. I feel badly for this sprinkler system. It never stood a chance.
“I have enhanced for you a beautiful autochrome taken 112 years ago by Thomas Sheilds Clark. A nun tends flowers at the photographer’s summer house in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1910. It is an original colour photograph, not colourised.”
Colorized photos, when done skillfully, have a way of bringing things to life, even when the photo was taken ages ago. But the fact that this isn’t colorized, and was taken in full color over a century ago, is just mind-boggling. Look how good it looks!
