Ever see photographs of potential holiday destinations and think “that looks too good to be true”? Of course it is. The beach is not deserted, and the women do not all look like professional models. There’s also this newfangled “photoshop” thing you might have heard about.

Hotel booking website Oyster goes and takes their own photographs of the hotels you can book from their site. And then they compare them side-by-side with the hotel’s own promotional materials in their blog. Fantastic, insightful and (often) funny.

(via My Modern Metropolis.)

Religious? Like going out and saving souls? Be warned — it could be bad for your back.

Finally, old people like it when young people are dumb. But that’s all the time, right? Kids these days …

It’s a new year, and we all know what that means — Ireland has decided to outlaw blasphemy, becoming the first democratic country in recent memory to restrict free speech in the name of religion. Ireland’s Atheist Association is already doing their best to break the law, in order to fight the new law in court.

(by Leo Burnett)

On New Year’s day, we presented links to the best of 2009, and the decade. It would appear that the Big Bad Blog has missed one such link: the top scientific discoveries of 2009.

Also, famed fan of zombie literature Jane Austin would definitely be on Twitter. If she had had the opportunity.