The rules are simple: you must lie face down, palms flat against your sides, with your feet together and pointing at the floor. Points are awarded for an original location and for the number of spectators and participants involved. You must, of course, have somebody take a photo. Without a photo, you're just a person lying down. This is planking, described variously as a global participatory art project, the lazy man's free-running, a "pointless internet craze", the new flash-mobbing and, in the words of one incensed online commenter, "a sick, pagan pastime".

It has been a busy week for the plankers, in which they have suffered their first casualty, gained 100,000 converts and prompted a statement from the Australian prime minister. In the early hours of Sunday morning, 20-year-old Australian Acton Beale fell seven storeys to his death from the balcony of an apartment block in Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. He and a friend had been performing planks on their journey home from a night on the town.

The planking craze had only truly exploded in Australia two days earlier, when police arrested another young man for planking on the hood of an unoccupied police car. Nate Shaw, a 20-year-old, pointed out that he had done no damage and hurt no one, but was nonetheless charged with being found – quite literally – on police property without excuse. The arrest made headlines, and the Planking Australia Facebook page grew almost overnight from 8,000 fans to well over 100,000.

petrol station plank

pranking in politics section, i guess thats wat all these lazy mem of assembly, are doing all the while.
not a new thing, its been with us tey tey.

Very funny!




Moved from politics section!