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Bad Astronomy
« I have a spot named after me!
Some NASA updates »

Pope Tart

‘

Skeptic Karen Stollznow writes for the Australian Skeptic magazine, and she just posted a very funny article about seeing faces in pastries. She uses my Lenin shower curtain as an example, mentions the Virgin Mary Underpass which I saw first-hand, and makes a sideways mention of the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich, so I gotta love that.’

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March 17th, 2006 3:17 PM by Phil Plait in Antiscience, Cool stuff, Humor, Science, Skepticism | 21 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

21 Responses to “Pope Tart”

  1. 1.   Jesse Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 3:19 pm

    That is an uncany resemblence on that sandwhich.

    Wow.

  2. 2.   Christian Burnham Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 3:52 pm

    Yeah, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if you look really really close at that piece of toast, you can just make out what looks like two eyes, and maybe a mouth.

  3. 3.   Linda K Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 5:42 pm

    Even weirder… if you step back from your monitor… the eyes follow you around the room.

  4. 4.   Delance Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 7:54 pm

    People should have better things to do than try to look at signs where there are none. But I think that’s an universal human trait that won’t go away. In the end, everyone is a slightly more sane version of John Nash on that movie.

  5. 5.   Richard Saunders Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 10:20 pm

    Karen is one of the better writers for ‘the Skeptic’. You can download most of the issues, going back 25 years, at:

    http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/journal.htm

  6. 6.   hale_bopp Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 10:55 pm

    I lived just south of Clearwater when the Virgin Mary was on that former bank building. They had chairs and a stage set up there and were holding services.

    Rob

  7. 7.   SFwriter Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 1:30 am

    I think that sandwich bears an remarkably uncanny resemblance to… a sandwich…

  8. 8.   Troy Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 2:35 am

    It is fascinating how well evolved facial recognition is in humans that we can see virgins in waterstains, faces on the moon, and Lenins in mildew stains. As a highly visual animal and a social species it is a highly selected trait. Sometimes it is the viewer not that which is viewed that creates an image.

  9. 9.   Blake Stacey Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 3:32 am

    Apollonius Christ! If I had claimed to see a few faces in Pop-Tarts instead of just eating them, I could have paid for college and been healthier, too.

    And I still say that these colliding galaxies in Stephan’s Quintet are smiling.

  10. 10.   Melusine Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 7:35 am

    Blake Stacey wrote:
    And I still say that these colliding galaxies in Stephan’s Quintet are smiling.

    Lol! The ubiquitous 60s Happy Face is all over space – on Mars, in galaxies…Given its origin, is the universe saying, “Don’t worry be happy?”

    [cue in theremin music]

  11. 11.   Aerik Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 9:09 am

    The link to the article doesn’t load! I want to download the .pdf but nothing happens.

  12. 12.   Elwood Herring Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 10:14 am

    When I was a teenager my face looked exactly like a pop tart…

  13. 13.   The Bad Astronomer Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 10:27 am

    Troy, I don’t have mildew stains in my shower, thankyouverymuch. It was a water spot.

  14. 14.   Tonkyboy Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 1:06 pm

    I’ve got a picture of Mother Theresa that looks just like a pop tart……

  15. 15.   Tiki Fire Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 9:02 pm

    Hey Hale bopp, I lived in Tampa when that stain was a big deal, some church bought the bank building and then a kid took a slingshot and shot out the top window…the stain was caused by the sun going around a palm tree that sat in front of the window for years, coupled with the florida humidity. Funny thing was that no one noticed the stain until the tree was removed. Go figure.

  16. 16.   The Bad Astronomer Says:
    March 18th, 2006 at 10:00 pm

    In Clearwater, the stain was from a sprinkler system. Randi has the story on his site, if you search there.

  17. 17.   Jeff Says:
    March 19th, 2006 at 8:10 am

    I just had a BM That looked like W!

  18. 18.   Ray Gray Says:
    March 19th, 2006 at 5:53 pm

    @^#&$^&*&*&^
    &**&*((*#*(*&$
    &*&*&@))))!&*}$())()()$)%
    %%%#^%^%@

    If you drink a bottle of wine— fast— you might see a s— face above!

  19. 19.   The Bad Astronomer Says:
    March 19th, 2006 at 9:16 pm

    Folks, I would appreciate it if we could keep the discourse to a slightly higher level. Kids read this, and it goes into schools.

  20. 20.   Troy Says:
    March 20th, 2006 at 12:16 am

    Sorry about the misunderstanding about the Lenin spot being mildew, I guess I was just thinking you’re such a fun-guy.

  21. 21.   Kim Says:
    March 20th, 2006 at 3:35 pm

    Saints on pastries, meh. Give me the anatomically correct carrot any day.

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