Tipping the scales

From the documentary bureau at Jimmy Kimmel Live comes this high-larious installment of "Plizzanet Earth" narrated by Snoop Dogg telling nature like it is.

And this must be the world's comfiest lamb, a winner photo from The Fluff Society (@FluffSociety on Twitter), a wellspring of cute animal pics.

That looks so comfy pic.twitter.com/xY4P1eowUb

— Fluff Society (@FluffSociety) June 5, 2017

Finally, Neil Mendoza's bizarre contraption lets a goldfish wield a carpentry hammer and smash things as it sees fit (sort of), and maybe dreaming of escaping its watery prison for the open seas.

"Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests." -- Thornton Wilder

Flight of fancy

Bit of a nail-biter as this man jumps from a high-rise balcony with a parachute he bought online as his probably-soon-to-be-ex-wife and kid cry.

And watch some white-knuckle speed flying through narrow canyons and gorges in Romania.

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Keep calm and carry on

Watch this chap walking down the street in Reading, England get hit by runaway bus, fly 30 feet in the air, and then just pick himself up and go into the pub. My hero.

And how many places in the world are named Reading? There are 15 New Yorks, 29 Londons, 53 Parises, 248 San Franciscos and 320 San Antonios. But only one Truth or Consequences. Check out an oddly interesting single-serve site... How many places are named _____ ?

"Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there." -- Josh Billings

Break-in bad

This would-be robber had a bit of trouble breaking into a garage. Luckily it was much easier to get back out.

And some imaginary tweets of what would happen if dogs could call 911, from Reverend Scott.

DOG 911: what's ur emergency

DOG: MY BALL IS UNDER THE COUCH

DOG 911: u try barking at it?

DOG: IT DIDN'T WORK

DOG 911: OMG

DOG: OMG

— Reverend Scott (@Reverend_Scott) June 12, 2016

"Crime is simply a convenient monosyllable which we apply to what happens when the brain and the heart come into conflict and the brain is defeated." -- Arnold Bennett

Untold tales

Get an up close and detailed look at everything in the Silicon Valley credits sequence, a remarkable little world unto itself that's packed with tech industry history and stories galore.


And the best of the worst... the best of crappy design from Reddit.

"Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards." -- Aldous Huxley

Like no one is watching

He's a maniac, maniac on the floor, and he's dancing like he's never danced before. Gorilla at the Dallas Zoo likes to get his flashdance on. And who's going to tell him not to...?


And an apparently lost bear breaks into someone's home and accidentally plays the piano.

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." -- Japanese Proverb

Dot race

This dramatic road-rage-induced traffic accident on an LA freeway probably could have been quite a bit worse.

Nifty simulation shows when Americans in various occupations go to work.

And one of the more interesting movie reviews out there is this one of the new "Transformers" installment that comes out today.

"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger." -- Buddha

Upper crust

The pizza parlors of my youth don't quite measure up to the dough-slinging spectacle of today's pizza acrobatics, which given the way things go these days is probably heading toward becoming an Olympic sport. Not sure how the Greeks would feel about that.




And a humorous and possibly informative gallery of states that can be described by a single photo, like California for instance.

"I don't know. I never smoked AstroTurf." -- Tug McGraw, when asked if he preferred grass or AstroTurf, April 1974

Cruel and unusual

If cats ruled the world, it might look something like this.




Seek and ye shall find... check out these incredible examples of animal camouflage.

"I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It's not. Mine had me trained in two days." -- Bill Dana

Bearly made it

Meanwhile in Yosemite National Park, a young bear unexpectedly stuck in a strong current gets pulled into a waterfall and shot downriver into some strong rapids. (Though it wasn't caught on the video, the bear made it out of the river OK.)




And some guinea pigs with some amazing hair.

"Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald." -- Proverb

Cut above

Can you imagine the mental fortitude required to slowly slice away a log, sliver by sliver, photographing as you go to create a one-frame-at-a-time stop-motion video of whatever surreal organic world of imagery lives within? Well Brett Foxwell can (and did).

And these incredible 3-D optical illusion tattoos from Jesse Rix will make you look like you're wearing a portal to another world.

"The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is now." -- Chinese proverb

No quarter

What in Sam Hill...!?! Granddad nearly loses it when an unforgiving tollbooth machine refuses to accept payment, and his increasing agitation results in much hilarity for his grandkids.




And The New Yorker put together a split-screen tour of the same streets in New York City, from the 1930s and today.

"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead." -- Mac McCleary

Ride-along

This guy shooting a video of himself riding a hoverboard around the edge of a high-rise will make your throat dry and your palms sweaty.




Also, be careful trying to ride enormous swine. They may not be in service.

No you can't

"The unknown is not a smothering blanket but an open field of wildflowers and rattlesnakes." -- Terri Guillemets

Digital revolutions

Watch this mesmerizing kaleidoscopic finger dance routine from the talented trio of Japanese performers from Xtrap Dance Crew.

Balloon artist Masayoshi Matsumoto creates animals, plants, and insects using only balloons -- no adhesive, sealant, etc.




And it's amazing what-all a Japanese puffer fish will do in its quest to impress a female.

"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note." -- Doug Floyd

Don't blink

This skull-boggling display of amazing close-up magic will awe and amaze you.

And make the journey... infinite chocolate chip cookie.

https://konczakowski.tumblr.com/post/142547371067

"We are never prepared for what we expect." -- James A. Michener, Caravans

Making the cut

If you've ever thought you could grab an epee and hang with an Olympic fencer, think again and watch what happens when regular folks do.




And an Instagram exhibition of beautiful Thai fruit and vegetable carving art.

A post shared by 岳 (@gakugakugakugakugaku1) on Mar 31, 2017 at 10:00am PDT

"There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing anyway." -- Mark Burnett

In the moment

This is possibly the worst high-5 of all time.

Worst high 5 of all time...? pic.twitter.com/XyIE5oYt7H

— Dan Hewitt (@danhewittsky) June 9, 2017

Shock and confuse the pool guy (and everyone else) with this rather interesting swimsuit.




And the keyboard player for The Incredible Bongo Band just might be the happiest person on the planet, likely because of his awesome mustache.

"Don't put the key to happiness in someone else's pocket." -- Author Unknown

The tooth hurts

While in pursuit of frisbee, dog runs face-first into a stationary truck.




And diving into 1,000 mousetraps set up on a trampoline (captured in slow-mo) looks to have painful potential.

"When you walk in purpose, you collide with destiny." -- Ralph Buchanan

Pick your spot

This driver's six-minute attempt to parallel park in this more-than-sufficient space has to be a setup, no?




But this mess-hap looks like a legit candidate for "worst ever" .




Possible solution: drop a giant knife on the car.

"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." -- African Proverb

Comfort and conformity

Best I can tell, the stop-mo short "WHITE" by Elodie Ponçon is a mostly melancholy tale about being different and finding your path, or something like that.




And some say that the Can Choir is the best metal band they're seen in a while.




Finally, 20 babies who look an awful lot like their dolls.

"Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're not really interested in order to get where you're going." -- Christopher Morley

Branch banking

Watch this tree transform into a giant middle finger for its fitting final act of defiance against the tractor operator trying to take it down.




And 10 easy toothpick magic tricks to impress your family, friends, and self.

"Trees are your best antiques." -- Alexander Smith

Of course

Well this super-steep 45-degree angle downhill mountain parkour course isn't really parkour in the usual sense -- closer to annoying and painful knee torture with some vertigo thrown in.




Unrelated, really, this Rube Goldberg machine not only does its normal Goldbergian thing but plays out a heartwarming tale of two colored balls who have to rescue their trapped brother. Potential fodder for a Hollywood blockbuster. (ballbuster?)




And this "robotic loop" toy train track is sort of the opposite.

Robotic Loop

"When you're going around in circles, it is not progress to report a sharp increase in circles completed." -- Robert Brault

In stiches

Way back in 1986, a student at CalArts and future director of "The Simpsons" episodes named Jim Reardon created this fantastic fake trailer for "Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown", a Peanuts gang spoof of Sam Peckinpah's "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia".

And an interesting video from Australian indie-folk band Husky looks like you're cruising through grandma's needlepoint, but it's just dreamy Day of the Dead Mexican textile animation.

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." -- e.e. cummings

Asymptomatic

If this unorthodox story of alien abduction from Chris & Jack proves nothing else, it's that Mom was right when she told you to always wear clean underwear.

And 19 (supposedly) true tales of customer service horror.

Lastly, watch as lightning strikes a structure in scientific super-slow-motion. Fairly dramatic.

"I recently became a Christian Scientist. It was the only health plan I could afford." -- Betsy Salkind

Trip to the maul

Tense and scary footage of a hunter getting attacked by a black bear in Ontario Canada. Not sure what he thought that bow and arrow would do.


And an efficient and economical fisherman catches bass with his bare hands (and a little bait).

"Support your right to arm bears." -- Cleveland Amory

Piecing it together

At 33,000+ pieces, "Wildlife" is one of the largest jigsaw puzzles manufactured. This guy added a degree of difficulty by turning it into a stop-motion video with classic arcade games while he assembled it. Sort of tough to explain, but worth a look at this really creative effort.

And a web app called Autodraw guesses what you are sketching and offers clip-art style images to help autocomplete the drawing.

Finally, some interesting developments as contractors paint this water tower in Sussex, Wisconsin.

"Video games ruined my life. (Good thing I have two more.)" -- Unknown

Sole to sole

Something probably not seen everyday is a nun and a police officer showing off their soccer skills with a game of keepie uppie in Ireland.

And portending a radical future shift for the Church, BlessU-2 is a robot priest from Germany that delivers blessings in five languages,

Finally, this timelapse video of the Grand Canyon is a near-religious experience on Earth.

"A religion without the element of mystery would not be a religion at all." -- Edwin Lewis

Unmasked

Could removing the comedy and superhero action from "Deadpool" make it a drama deserving of a Best Picture Oscar nomination?

And these scary and surreal handmade leather masks are almost like a sculpted and stitched second skin.

"Less is more unless it's love." -- Ben Mittleman

When the levee breaks

Watch this huge water main explodes in the middle of a street.


And seniors at Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona, dump more paper than you can imagine down the stairwell to celebrate the end of school and the beginning of college debt.




Plus video of a seriously super-duty snow-clearing machine doing its job to reopen a mountain road in Norway.

"Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats