Something familiar about cover of Rick Smolan's book

Gee. If only I could figure out what seems so familiar about the cover art (larger size jpeg) on Rick Smolan's new book, Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World. All hijinx aside, it looks like a very interesting read, and I'm ordering a copy.

• [Tomas]

  I’ll bet Xeni would have a difficult time eating Cheerios without snickering… :o)

  Tom

• [darsal]

  Yeah, I see what y’all are saying – but my first guess was the Ubuntu logo.

• [Kaiser]

  I bet I know what Xeni wants for Christmas! I can see little Goatse-themed gifts under a wreath which has red ribbons pulling outward.

• [blazenhoff]

  LOL…thanks for the laugh…I actually worked on this book this summer. Don’t be thinking the goatse escaped me.

• [isopraxis]

  Yipes.
  Pentagoatse!

• [AceJohnny]

  your net-geekiness is ruining your view of the world. And mine :)

• [Peterus]

  Lower (preferably to 0) developed countries spending on “protection” of thier markets.
  Poor need chances to make money. They need to provide us with services we will genuinely value – and for this get ours.
  Handouts lead nowhere.
  Best side of market economy is how it motivets people to do … “good”. Violence is outlawed – only way to satisfy one’s greed is to produce, or provide wanted services. (In socialism – greed leads to making country rob ppl for your group of interest, in current middle Africa it leads to gunning down neighbours and taking thier stuff)
  When violence is curbed and people start looking for oportunities in production and service to others – there’ll be water for everyone. When one _earns_ current medium EU wage – there’ll be always someone ready to drill his well, or dig his canalisation. Beggers will be beggers.

  BTW I did check some Polish publishers, this book didn’t make it here yet. I’m somewhat around last Live8, Al Gore private Jet and Global (benefactory, while utterly Sun-dependant) Warming in “saving Earth topic”. So… I might miss the point in this post, judging it by the cover %).

• [doktor tchock]

  Das Ãœber-Goatse.

• [Landowner]

  Xeni I think you have an unhealthy obsession with goatse. In a couple of months you will be posting pictures of random objects and asking us what it reminds us of. It’s going to be hilarious.

• [SlimSpady]

  Xeni Jardin is a goddess…
  Any woman who finds humor in goatse should be president.

  Jardin/Me 2009

• [el_beardo]

  Bad enough is Goatse but, the real kicker, everyone’s hands are all greasy!!

• [eli]

  Many thanks, NE2D.

  Interesting this aloha-monkey goatse-tatoo you pointed at. Do you or any BoinBoing reader know where I could find more info about it? (there’s no wikipedia article yet).

  Thanks anybody

• [Halloween Jack]

  Xeni never said anything about goatse, Landowner. Maybe you’re the one with an obsession with goatse. Have you ever thought about that?

  [/nathanthurm]

• [IWood]

  Sometimes a fist is just a fist.

  And, hey: somebody make the tangential point that potable water is far more important than a free laptop to a child who doesn’t have access to it.

  Never mind, I’ll do it.

• [Xeni Jardin]

  I have no idea what you people are talking about.

  This does not remind me of goats or any other mammalian member of the Bovidae family.

  I was thinking that this reminded me of a big donut that several friends were sharing. Maybe glazed. Something yummy.

  I can’t believe you would bring up goats, they eat trash and they are disgusting creatures.

• [Stefan Jones]

  Now I need a unicornse chaser.

• [eli]

  Stop making fun about goatse. Some people think that it is a serious matter of academic study, as this XV Century example shows:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjygbT1tx1I

• [NE2d]

  ELI,

  That looks more like a proto-aloha monkey to me (LGT pic of slightly naughty tattoo, for those at work)

• [schwantz]

  Looks suspiciously similar to the cover of my friend Kimberly’s book

• [Mark Gordon]

  Savvy PR people know that the sure way to get posted on Boing Boing is to invoke goatse (subtly, subtly) on their product.

• [help i cant comfirm my username themelonbread]

  Love how the hands slightly shine in their wetness in handling the moist ring of water…

• [Joe]

  Xeni, I’m worried about you. You were clearly scarred for life when you saw the famous picture. Now nothing with a ring together with hands will escape your notice, ever again.

  Sometimes hands holding a ring are just hands holding a ring.

• [craftyshrew]

  I’m just about to use this image on a website I’m creating. This is all the more incentive to do so.

  Goatse FTW!

• [ejf3000]

  http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/12/robert-redfords.html

• [Antinous]

  Maybe the original goatse guy should hire Best Buy’s lawyers and start sending takedown notices. Or he could sell ad space. Your message appears in his…

• [Jamie]

  Where are my unicorns???

• [granite monkey]

  It’s an istockphoto image. Quite possible it could be familiar from a number of uses:

  http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/people_specific_attributes/number_of_people/5_or_more_people/3055228_water_ring.php?id=3055228

• [jphilby]

  That a meme mota skoota.