Still tiny after all these years

Porkchop has reported before on BBC's fixation on the world's smallest man. But whereas the last photo was creepy, this one is... well, it's still pretty much creepy. If they'd caught the little guy sneaking a peek, then we'd have something.

Awkward seal tableau

British understatement

Assume la posición

I still can't figure out the expression on her face. Is she wondering how much the gallery off-camera right paid for their seats, or just telepathically willing her teammates to maintain their distance from each other? Or maybe she's trying to throw a cool, come-hither smirk in the direction of the photographer: "Look at me. I am a sexy trapezoid, no?"

In any case, I hereby proclaim it almost as awesome as the Great Ukrainian Speedo Explosion of Feb. 22.

Sarcastic cutline machine overload

Oh my goodness. Can someone please say something really sad so I can stop laughing long enough to caption this? Apparently it's Ukrainian divers performing at the World Cup in China - and not, you know, the result of an explosion at the Speedo quality assurance center.

Happy VD!

Because we love you that much, here's a cornucopia of BBC Pics of the Day, with twice the normal cutlines. Call us later, k?

Rinspeed added, "Ha ha, every adult male in the entire world. We just got your life savings."

Or, "A Beijing man looked up today just in time to foresee his death by falling mannequin."

In neighboring Micronesia, where heart surgery is illegal, locals turned out in droves for the annual Triple Whopper With Cheese Festival.

Cryptic headline Wednesday

Today BBC News confounded me with this headline:

Facebook asked to pull Scrabulous

Basic pop-culture etymology could have deciphered it for me, and would have explained why Hasbro and Mattel are upset (I mean, be cool Facebook - if you're gonna rip off a game, don't rip off its name as well). Sadly that instinct failed me, and my mind instead raced with possible definitions for the word "scrabulous." It sounded like an adjective and thus raised the question: "to pull a scrabulous what?"

I finally decided it should modify a body part you're describing to your doctor, e.g. "I don't know how my thigh got so scrabulous, doc. I was only in Thailand for a two-hour layover."

Anyway, confusionary crisis averted, the Beeb elsewhere yielded this adorable photo:

"Who's the sweetest li'l babies in the whole wide world?" everyone asked the tamarins. "You are," they then instantly reassured the small creatures.

Movie idea

Stephen Colbert is Jake Gyllenhaal in "Bubble Boy 2"!


From the Beeb.

Hence the phrase "stranger than fiction"

Look closely at this photo from BBC's pictures of the day and tell me what's happening:

OK, time's up. What did you come up with? Is he pleading with the bus not to hit him? Perhaps he belongs to some strange bus-worshiping cult? By all means, leave your best guesses in the comments, then come back and read this actual cutline:

All right, one more question: what exercises do you have to do in order to gain this capability?

USA! USA!

I frequently repost images from BBC News' Day in Pictures, which I look at just to get a brief glimpse of what's going on in the 95 percent of the world that isn't America. It's often novel, exotic, sometimes confusing stuff, and seldom does a day go by on which I'm not overwhelmed by the sense of how much there is that I have yet to experience, that I'll have to race to get to by the end of my pathetically short existence.

So imagine my swell of patriotism when the DIP turns its attention, as it does occasionally, to my very own homeland:


Did you hear my proud silent tear just now? Of course not; it was silent. Still, it's there. Congratulations, you guys.

Update: Religion still weird

Cf. here. By the way, shame on all you guys for not catching it when I called Easter a "birth anniversary."

Religion is weird

I was going to call this post "Hinduism is weird," but then I considered that there might be a perfectly valid explanation. For instance, consider this hypothetical cutline:

"In Dover, Delaware, Christian devotees hide eggs fashioned out of plastic underneath bushes as they celebrate Easter, the birth anniversary of the deity Jesus."

Of course I'm aware that "Religion is weird" is not an original observation, but golly is religion ever weird, n'est pas?

Creep-you-out Friday

An enormous spider web has been found at Lake Tawakoni State Park, Texas, US.

That's the actual lede from this actual story. Not included: the sound of Ron Weasley whimpering like an ickle ginger baby. [/geek]

Rugs not bombs

Pick a punchline:
(a) In the first three hours after unveiling, 38 American tourists asked if it matched the world's biggest drapes.
(b) Now if only we can get North Korea working on the world's largest kimchi plate.

Bite force

Does anyone do a better job compiling awesome wire photos than the BBC? I would submit that the answer to that question is "no."

Creep-you-out Friday redux

How often can you tell in advance exactly what will be in your nightmares tonight?

Several of the other BBC pictures du jour are at least vaguely unsettling too - though it's totally worth it to see Darth Vader sneaking a smoke.