I’ve been receiving a lot of email about this natural formation in Canada:
There have been lots of articles in the press about it recently, though this one in Australia appears most complete. It’s natural, and just looks like a face (the iPod wire is actually an access road). The reason so many people have been emailing me is because in the past I have debunked claims of artificiality of such formations, having been attacked in the shower by an apparition once.
What’s funny to me about this is that I heard about this months ago. The Skeptic Friends Network was talking about it back in January, and the original find was in October 2005! I wonder why it took this long to get popular? I should have written about it then. Oh well.
And for your Friday amusement, here are some more natural faces, too.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:25 am
I imagine that the appearance of this piece of terrain might be much different at another time of day, where the shadows were cast in other directions. I don’t suppose that such alternate view are handy, though.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:25 am
It doth rock, verily.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:31 am
It looks less like a face to me when I hold my computer monitor upside-down.
October 27th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
I like the eyebrow piercing. That’s a nice touch.
October 27th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
What’s also cool is the cultural association. The formation is in Canada and people tend to see a North American Indian, (though with a Plains Indian or even South American Indian headdress.)
October 27th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
It’s VERY dependent on viewing the shadows from a specific orientation to make it look like a raised area. Rotate the picture 180 degrees (or hold your monitor upside down like Blake) and it’s just a gulley — it’s hard to even see the vaguest outline of a face. Too bad NASA didn’t release the original “face on Mars” picture inverted!
October 27th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Can I get that on a grilled cheese sandwich or a tortilla?
October 27th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Note: I should have said that I’m surfing the Net via my laptop today. Perhaps that makes the rotation-by-180 experiment more practical. :-/
October 27th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
See, now this is great. Richard Hoagland doesn’t have to rely on NASA’s pictures. He can go to this place himself. He can fly over it in a plane. He can ride around it in a car. He can even camp out there for as long as he wants and take all kinds of samples and measurements to see if something so complex and easily identifiable might have been formed by natural processes. If he does go there, I just hope he brings along a geologist.
October 27th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Hi Phil. In Hawaii when I was little we had a “sleeping giant” rock formation and another rock that resembled John F. Kennedy. Our human instinct is to see faces, something that machines still have difficulty doing. How many times have you seen babies smile when they recognise mommy? Hoagland is just trying to save face.
October 27th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
[...] “Pareidolia Rules“, no Bad Astronomy. Terminada a questão da face de Marte, já cá faltava existirem faces na Terra ; [...]
October 27th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Well, obviously, that’s proof on Intelligent Design!
Actually, I think it’s proof of intelligent vision. With out the pattern matching facilities of our brains early computer graphics would have failed miserably and we may never have invested the effort to go beyond text modes. Thoughts to ponder…
As a result we see pictures in things that don’t actually have pictures in them.
jbs
BTW: The link mentions Australia but I end up at the article with the picture from Canada placed in this blog.
October 27th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
Quite frankly, I’m just glad to see something other than Jesus, the Madonna or Satan in a non-edible object. It’s about time an Aztec indian got some attention!
BA said: …having been attacked in the shower by an apparition once.
Attacked? Is this becoming a fish story… (-8~
October 27th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
As a longtime lurker on LiveJournal, I felt compelled to turn this into an icon.
Behold! A plain version here, and a slightly color enhanced version here.
October 27th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Melusine Says:
Quite frankly, I’m just glad to see something other than Jesus, the Madonna or Satan in a non-edible object. It’s about time an Aztec indian got some attention!
BA said: …having been attacked in the shower by an apparition once.
Attacked? Is this becoming a fish story… (-8~
I do believe the story is growing.
October 28th, 2006 at 2:16 am
I have know of the term “Pareidolia” since the “Lenin in the bath curtain” incident. I’ve even learned to spell it,. But, I’ve mever seen a pronunciation guide. Would somebody PLEASE tell me how to pronounce it? I’ve been guessing that it is – pair-ee-ah-doh-lee-ah. Am I even close?
October 28th, 2006 at 2:22 am
So…let me get this straight…if I agree to ignore all common sense and logic, and throw myself into some baptism pool that tells me I’m somehow smarter than people with science degrees…that my PRAYERS will decide the upcoming election?
OK. I just took a shower about an hour ago so can we consider that a baptism? I hereby wish and pray with every Godly atom and quark (and string – I’m covering my bases) – that Bush, Cheney, Rove et al are hereby kicked to the almighty curb a week from Tuesday. Hallelujah and amen and praise whatever.
Am I going to hell now:)? I gotta admit, I find it quite bizarre that those who seem to have an aversion to science hang around this blog – only to go completely bad word deleted when Phil points out the obvious. I’ve always believed that Conservatives are masochists – but damn, you’d think that they’d try to be a bit more subtle about it! It’s as if they are painting a big bullseye on their bad word deleted, with a ‘kick me here’ sign glued on.
Boys – if you haven’t noticed before – our webmaster and Astronomer in charge does not have the patience to deal with your abstract fantasies and bad word deleted – nor should he have to. This is HIS website, and he can say whatever he wants to – if you don’t like it, run along to freerepublic.com.
One of these days – whether it’s next week or a couple of generations from now, you’ll realize that what he is saying is RIGHT. What side of history do you want to be on anyway?
October 28th, 2006 at 3:53 am
I was astonished by this picture. This is by far the most incredible case of pareidolia I have ever seen! I followed that last link (with the natural faces) and I couldn’t identify but a couple of them – with conscious effort, too! But this… this one jumps right out at me! I need to put effort into *NOT* seeing the face! Such detail! I’m actually having a hard time convincing myself it’s natural… I know it logically must be, but my brain just can’t seem to grasp it o.O
Just… wow.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:42 am
Apple should so be using this for an ad.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:43 am
the iPod wire is actually an access road
Apple should so be using this for an ad.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:44 am
Sorry for the double-post. I was getting a half-screen of PHP errors and didn’t notice that it had actually posted my comment.
Someone should fix that…
October 28th, 2006 at 7:32 am
Actually, there are two faces. At least to my eyes, there’s a face to the right, yawning. It’s apparently pretty boring out there. Maybe that’s why the other face got an iPod…
October 28th, 2006 at 8:22 am
Lazze Says:
Actually, there are two faces. At least to my eyes, there’s a face to the right, yawning. It’s apparently pretty boring out there. Maybe that’s why the other face got an iPod…
Good eyes! I didn’t see that before, though I’d say the right face is yelling in the IPOD-listening face’s ear. It would be a good ad for Apple…IPOD lets you be oblivious to someone’s ranting. Turn on, tune out.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Me, I see a man with a beard (the second face).
October 28th, 2006 at 11:11 am
And what is he listening to? St. Louis hootin & hollerin about the cardinals big win last night! Go Cards!!
October 28th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
My son(the software engineer) and I were discussing this pattern recognition proclivity of our brains just a decade or so ago., while watching clouds form neat things in the sky, like Jerry Garcias face. I contend Martians must jump for joy every time their telescopes spot the appropriate cloud shape in earths atmosphere as “proof” of I.D., while there are other Martians arguing against any intelligence at all on earth. Frankly, I lean toward the latter view,,,Present company excepted,,,
GAry 7
October 28th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
We should never have gotten down from the trees. That was our greatest mistake.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
What’s the deal with the guy on the right? He’s wearing some sort of cloth mask that drapes over his nose and his cheeks and has slits for the eyes and long floppy strips that hang in front of his ears. His mouth is hanging open like he’s trying to drink rain. And he’s wearing a Devo hat. And a scarf. Dude, WTF?
And what’s with all the hands reaching toward them both from the left? Are they at a Rave or something?
October 28th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Looks like a middle-aged Nefertiti.
October 29th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
i remember when this was first discussed on the googleearth discussion board, someone from that part of the continent reported that the ‘earphone’ part of the picture is a circular watering trough or cattle feeder, with the associated access road being the ‘wire’. having never visited this exact location in canada, i can’t promise that’s correct, but seems reasonable.
October 29th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
oops! i just read the attached article. i reckon it’s a natural gas well-head. my mistake!
October 30th, 2006 at 12:12 am
Harold said: “What’s the deal with the guy on the right? He’s wearing some sort of cloth mask that drapes over his nose and his cheeks and has slits for the eyes and long floppy strips that hang in front of his ears. His mouth is hanging open like he’s trying to drink rain. And he’s wearing a Devo hat. And a scarf. Dude, WTF?
And what’s with all the hands reaching toward them both from the left? Are they at a Rave or something?”
I’ve been laughing so hard for the past five or so minutes that I have tears streaming down my face. Maybe I’m just overly tired, but that post really struck a nerve (in my funny bone). Just the way the things kept adding up (Devo hat, ha!) had me in clutching my sides. Thanks, Harold, for bringing such levity.
On a serious note, this illustrates how easy it is to read significance into non-significant things, doesn’t it?
October 30th, 2006 at 5:08 am
Glad to be of service, CR! You should’ve seen what I did with a photo of a potato chip from someone else’s site last year! I had it exactly keyed to a lengthy passage from the Bible, with about twelve points of reference. After a while I was scaring myself. I’ll try to find that image.
October 30th, 2006 at 9:43 am
By the way, for a visual representation of my comment, see here:
http://anothermonkey.blogspot.com/2006/10/rock-on.html
October 30th, 2006 at 10:33 am
LOL!!
February 5th, 2009 at 10:48 am
[...] More information about the rock formation pattern in the upper right of this post can be found here. [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
[...] it was a fossil human foot. The point is, lots of rocks look like things, but aren’t. Like this satellite image of the Canadian badlands. It’s called pareidolia, and it is a well documented [...]