If you’ve ever zoomed way in on a pic, you realize it’s just a collection of pixels. But these pixels tell a story. Sometimes, it’s self-evident. Sometimes, though, a little context goes a long way.
Who makes a chain out of wood?
This heavy-duty chain may look like wood, but it isn’t wood, because that wouldn’t make sense. It’s actually rusted in a really weird way that gives it the appearance of knotted wood.
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Perfect camouflage.
I’ve never given much thought to where bananas come from, but they have to start somewhere. Apparently the leaves of banana trees can go to absurdly gigantic proportions.
What is this, an apartment building for ants?
Utility boxes are all over the place. Around here, they’re dark green to blend in with the surrounding grass. Wherever this is, they’ve livened things up by making them look like highrises for some reason.
If this key could talk.
A Redditor had a unique-looking key that needed repairs. A family member stepped in and made everything right by attaching it to an old Soviet coin, of all things.
One pedal gets all the attention.
You can tell the right-hand pedal gets the most action because of the indentation it’s left in the carpet. More impressively, it’s been thoroughly buffed by socks over the past decade or so.
Cryptocurrency has gotten out of hand.
I like salmon as much as the next guy, but I’ve never thought that salmon vending machines (ahem, salmon ATMs) were something we really needed. But in Singapore, things are different.
Queen Dany is here, and she’s not happy.
This incredible photo appears to show the impossible: a dragon descending on Catania, Italy. It’s actually just a dramatic coincidence, as lava floes from Mount Etna have taken on a dragon-ish shape.
Some pay cuts are worth it.
The pilot on the right flew for four decades, but quit his job for a lower-paying position. The reason? He wanted to fly alongside his two daughters, who both took after him and became pilots themselves.
Circle of life.
Look, I’m not saying that it isn’t cool to see a tomato plant growing out of the walls at a sewage treatment plant. I’m just saying that I would never, ever eat one of those tomatoes.
When AirPods get hairy.
If you ever want to quickly assess how much iron is lurking in the sand at your local beach, just drop you AirPods charging case on the ground and see how much iron it attracts.
Marbles deserve a gritty reboot.
What looks like the fiery end of a planet is actually a cleverly-shot photo of a couple of marbles. If anything is going to bring marbles back, it’s epic shots like this.
This is America.
This massive protest isn’t taking place in Hong Kong. It’s on U.S. soil, Puerto Rico to be exact. Locals are fed up with years of corruption in their local officials, and they’ve hit the streets to demonstrate.
This is how you soda.
Glass bottles can be reused almost endlessly assuming no one breaks them. In India, they recycle the bottles, refilling them again and again. A bottle you buy at the local store might have had its start 40 years ago.
That smirk…
You probably recognize the guy on the left as Jon Stewart, and you might even recognize the guy on the right as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Stewart had sparred with McConnell over a 9/11 victims fund, and this is the day the fund was finally approved.
What wizardry is this?
This is a Canadian $2 coin (a toonie, don’cha know) that glows in the dark. Pulling one of these out of a handful of change must feel like getting one of those holographic Pokémon cards from back in the day.
Fist bumps.
This pic is so cool. Carson Pickett, a soccer defender with the Orlando Pride of the NWSL, saw a fan who, like her, was born without an arm.
Erosion truly rocks.
Seeing volcanic rock, full of air bubbles, is pretty routine. So is seeing rocks that have been smoothed by the forces of water. Seeing both in the same rock, though, is pretty cool.
It’s come to this.
Before compact disks, 3.5″ floppy disks were everywhere. These disks still exist in massive quantities. But in 2019, they’re really only useful as novelty coasters in pubs with a retro aesthetic.
This is the Bad Place.
At first, you may not notice anything weird about the condiments in this pic, but then you realize that it’s Heinz mayo and Hellman’s ketchup.
Real life optical illusion.
It really, really looks like that guy is levitating, doesn’t it? But it’s just the slope of the sidewalk plus a shadow from the building that creates the illusion.
Clever advertising.
This ad for the movie Your Name is printed on both sides. When you hold it up to the light, the full image is revealed. It’s a cool effect and perfect for the movie — for spoiler-y reasons.
Genetics are really cool.
The portrait is of her great great grandfather, but not only do they look remarkably similar, they have the same bald gap in their right eyebrow.
Glitch in the Matrix.
It really does look like this box is stuck into the floor, but the travesty here is that the person who shared the pic didn’t tell us what’s in the box!
And this is why Woody was wrong about the attic.
Sure, the toys might have fun hanging out with the Christmas ornaments while Andy is away at college, but they could also be left up there until the house is abandoned and they begin to grow mold. Ew.
Ooh, sparkly aliens!
This is actually a shot of the Luxor Sky Beam in Las Vegas, and those aren’t sparkles — they’re millions of grasshoppers.
That’ll lead to some questions.
The person who posted this swears that their paring knife absorbed the juices of a strawberry to get all bloody looking like this. I guess I’ll believe them, this time.
Perfect specimen.
Was this wood duck the actual model for the photo on the sign? Because it’s pretty much identical!
Creepy shadows.
There is some debate over what these water bottle shadows look like. Skeletons? Babies? Fat bald guys?
Whatever you see, I think we all agree that they’re creepy af.
I wish I was this motivated.
The hivemind of ants works brilliantly to get big projects done. In this case, ants have used various debris to construct a pretty big bridge over a glue trap placed on the ground.
