Five of the web’s weirdest communities

DO you have a fascination for airport carpets or birds with human arms? The good news is there’s a place for you to go on the weird wide web.

Photoshopping arms onto birds is just one of the weird communities lurking in the shadows

THERE’S a reason the world web is called wide. There’s not much you can’t find out there. Right down in the murky corners there are some very bizarre things people gather to enjoy.

Ever since the social website Reddit launched it has brought together like-minded lovers of the weird.

The BBC decided to dig around to find some of the most peculiar communities hanging out online.

Carpets for Airports

Intrepid travellers normally look up, this bunch of explorers have a wanderlust for the weaves found on the floors that welcome us at airports.

Using an interactive globe you can click a hotspot on destinations around the world and see a snapshot of flooring complete with a quirky blurb that are just as amazing as the carpets themselves.

The carpet at Hong Kong International Airport exudes a holy light according to one reviewer.

Here’s one carpeteer critiquing Hong Kong airport’s floor work: “expressive, almost calligraphic lifework turns HKG into a quasi-religious experience”.

“No reproduction can truly capture the subtlety of touch and alertness to the act of carpeting seen here.”

Counting

On Reddit, users queue up to post a number in succession. This has been going on for well over a year and at the time of writing is over 152,045. The target is in finite and likely to go as long as the internet is in existence. Go figure.

Thomas the Dank Engine

Not for kids. Thomas takes a different direction.

Here the theme tune to the popular children’s show is mixed with every bad boy rapper and metal band you can think of.

For some reason this tune seems to go with a lot of things. Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Eminem — they’ve all been mashed up with the Thomas track.

Ice chewing

While the thought of someone chewing ice makes our nerves spasm, there’s a whole world of die hard cube crunchers out there.

This bulletin board is a place to share stories, recipes and ask questions to other ice chewers.

Posts such as what kind of ice do you like the most, what service station to find the ultimate ice and why people actually are addicted to doing this are all on here.

Birds with arms

The internet has a place for people to photoshop arms on birds. Handy. Source: Tumblr

This Tumblr blog is why we have to give a hat tip to the internet. The fact that there’s a place for people who share a desire to photoshop human arms onto birds can congregate can only be a good thing.

Where else could a person with a penchant for putting Schwarzenegger’s arms onto a sparrow go? It’s utterly bizarre, a complete waste of time but then again so is line dancing. This is even funnier.