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Did you ever hear about the "Nun Bun", the cinnamon bun that many people thought had an uncanny likeness of Mother Teresa layered in its nooks and crannies? Well, it was stolen from the coffeehouse where it was on display.
As the article says,
When Bob Bernstein arrived at his coffeehouse to assess the scene of an early Christmas morning break-in, the one thing he noticed missing was the cinnamon bun that bears a striking likeness to Mother Teresa.
The person who stole it didn’t take the money from the donation jar that was right next to the bun on the counter. Obviously, this was no petty theft. Was it heresy?
No, but some would consider it a mortal cinnamon.
I dunno about this. It does look like a face, but Mother Teresa? It looks more like something from a Wallace and Gromit movie. And hey, I’m an expert: I’ve seen better, and that effort was literally cheesy.
And if you get the feeling that I am not taking this seriously, then I have three letters for you:
D.
U.
H.
Lastly, I’ll note that the coffeehouse owner — who kept the a bun because it looks like a catholic Saint-in-training — is named Bernstein. And yes, he is Jewish.
MMMMmmmmm, sacrilicious.’
December 26th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
That “icon image” on the “nun bun” reminds me of the famous face on Mars returned by the Viking Probe in 1976. When pictures of that same area of Mars were taken by other Mars probes the face seemed to lose it’s human facial similarity.
People see what they want to see. The three stars “3 sisters of Orion” at least remain lined up throughout time.
How far are those 3 stars from each other?
December 26th, 2005 at 5:52 pm
Ray, check out the “U” in the “DUH” link above.
December 26th, 2005 at 8:01 pm
I… Have a big imagination… But huh… I can’t see the face at all in this… o_O; My first reaction was “EW! WHAT’S THAT?!” not “Woah! Mother Theresa!”
I have a lot of problems to start up my usually very good “pareidolia power”…Is it failing?? Eek!
December 26th, 2005 at 8:10 pm
All I see is an ear imprint. Does that mean it’s the face of mother Teresa or her ear? Now that’s “ear-say”, or is it “ear-I-see”.
December 26th, 2005 at 8:51 pm
I see a face, but as the BA says, it looks like something from a Wallace and Grommit move more than anything
December 26th, 2005 at 9:05 pm
I see one of the Triplets of Belleville.
Rob
December 27th, 2005 at 12:46 am
Shemp Howard in a bonnet? With a little skill in the kitchen, Mr. Bernstein could easily make another.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:33 am
Well, the only thing I can see is a cinnamon bun … huummm, I love these things. In fact, I’m a big fun of cinnamon rolls. Forget the burgers, forget the steaks, forget the pretzels,… everytime I go to the US I want to have one of those cinnamon rolls.
“They went right for the bun,” – No wonder, I would have done the same
Anyway, it always amazes me the imagination of some people. Pitty that sometimes it is not used for better things. But at least this one made me laugh.
December 27th, 2005 at 7:50 am
I think that clearly what happened is that this is an artifact from Mars, and the people (or whatever) who built the Face there have just come back to claim their rightful heritage.
Clearly.
-Rob
December 27th, 2005 at 8:22 am
With all of the things to comment about on the topic of “Bad Astronomy”
why did you choose this topic?
Better to have skipped this one and been silent that day.
James
December 27th, 2005 at 8:55 am
Was Homer Simpson in the area at the time?
Marge: “Homer, NO, that’s a holy relic”
Homer: “Mmmmm….Cinnamon Bunnnn!”
December 27th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Thanks for the “word” for this phenomenon! pareidolia!
I think that it was Carl Sagan in Cosmos describing the happy face on Mars
(http://www.msss.com/education/happy_face/happy_face.html), saying that from birth, we’re ALL indoctrinated into recognizing faces — we need our parents for our survival, relatives keep making faces at us, etc. — so we learn to especially recognize the sight of a face.
And religion being what it is, the art of the ages is highly biased towards religious images and themes, even though we have NO idea what these people originally looked like (and, in some cases, we don’t even know that they really existed!). So, of course, people will think they see things that are familiar to them.
What’s fascinating about it — and what I always wonder about — is whether people are seeing the things they WANT to see because of some glaring need in their lives. People who see Jesus WANT to see him because they feel that they need his guidance in their lives.
(It came up in Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Tholian Web”, when Kirk is trapped in “interphase” between two Universes, and Uhura has a vision that she’s seen him — McCoy wonders if she wanted to see Kirk because she’s lost confidence in Spock’s leadership. See, for example: http://www.ericweisstein.com/fun/startrek/TheTholianWeb.html
If more people lose confidence in Bush’s leadership, I wonder what they’ll start seeing? Anyway . . .)
Of course, that doesn’t always explain why we see elephants in clouds or evanescent swirls of cream that look like something in morning coffee. We are beings who depend on pattern recognition for our survival: sort of the “Blink” decision-making which could be right OR wrong.
— Steve >>>>
December 27th, 2005 at 11:43 am
James Morgan, this blog is about many topics. It’s mostly astronomy, but it covers a lot of ground. I have a lot of interests, and a lot of things I like to write about. Go though the archives (or the categories) and you’ll see that I discuss antiscience and critical thinking in lots of places.
Not to be rude, but it’s my blog, and I can write about what I want. I follow some self-imposed rules, but I can also choose to stray from them and write off-topic posts if I want. This entry, however, is definitely in the realm of uncritical thinking, so it is just as definitely on-topic for my blog. If you don’t like it, well, I can’t help it if every entry doesn’t please every person.
But just as a hint– if you leave a comment on someone’s blog, it’s a good idea not to be rude. If you want to leave a negative comment, try to do it politely. If you can’t, then maybe I’m not the one who should be silent.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:07 pm
Constellations need imagination. Did you see the Nun Bun for sale on eBay? Over $160.00. Nice piece of artwork. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7377473865&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
December 27th, 2005 at 10:16 pm
well….I covered up the headline and asked my husband what he saw (not telling him that it was a cinnamon bun or anything else). He said that it looks like a hamster coming out of a seashell.
To each his own I suppose
December 27th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
How many miracles are necessary before Mother Teresa can be canonized? Does this count? This, a bridge abutment and a shower curtain and she can be the patron saint of pareidolia!
December 28th, 2005 at 9:46 am
Mother Teresa was a Muppet?
December 28th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
Hmm. Okay, I don’t get it. Perhaps I’m slightly autistic or something. I have now spent a good ten minutes staring at that thing, squinting, turning this way and that, even trying to contort myself into an upside down position.
But alas. I utterly fail to see any face at all, let alone that of Mother Teresa. Unless, perhaps, they mean Mother Teresa AFTER she had spent two millennia in a peat bog, or something?
Most peculiar. This is just like those astronomers who tell us the constellation of Pegasus looks like a flying horse. Well, it does, if a square looks like a horse to you. Which it might if you have smoked the right things. Alas, I am still waiting for my little pot plants to mature…
December 28th, 2005 at 1:46 pm
What's the monetary value of a delusion?
So the bun shaped like Mother Teresa was stolen. I'm wondering how the police report this kind of thing—misdemeanor, felony, major heist? It's an old piece of stale bread that would, in a rational world, be tossed out in the trash. Do t…
December 30th, 2005 at 11:16 am
Brian, I agree – I couldn’t see a face at all. And Cassiopeia does not look like a woman reclining on a chaise longue – it looks like the letter W.
December 30th, 2005 at 8:26 pm
I think it most definitely looks like Richard C. Hoagland.
January 1st, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Speaking of the Triplets of Belleville, anyone care to speculate on the appearance
of the Einstein Field Equation on the stage in the opening scene? Or was that
pareidolia as well?