11 Responses to “Facing the NYT”

1. 1.   Kaptain K Says:
   February 13th, 2007 at 6:04 pm

   Dang! Until recently, I was employed at a NYT regional print site. One of my favorite “perks” was being able to read the “Science Times” section every Monday night. I guess I’ll have to get off my duff and register.

2. 2.   frogmarch Says:
   February 13th, 2007 at 6:12 pm

   Pareidolia(from wiki):The word comes from the Greek para- – amiss, faulty, wrong – and eidolon – image, the diminutive of eidos – appearance, form. Pareidolia is a type of apophenia.

   does the word ‘pareidolia’ imply that the reason for the image is random? If so I can see why the word might not be used by some people.

   I personally believe that some images in objects have non-random origins having seen a few myself, and images that are more than just a few blotches for eyes and nose etc.

3. 3.   Gilles Says:
   February 13th, 2007 at 8:13 pm

   A nice pareidolia there :

   http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/8681/pareidoliatd7.jpg

   50° 0’38.20″ N by 110° 6’48.32″ W
    

4. 4.   Richard Says:
   February 13th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

   Link that doesn’t require registration: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/health/psychology/13face.html?ex=1329022800&en=910b8693ffe2d707&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

   Courtesy http://nytimes.blogspace.com/genlink

5. 5.   DennyMo Says:
   February 14th, 2007 at 4:34 am

   Here’s another link to an article that doesn’t require registration:
   http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/13/news/faces.php

6. 6.   JScarry Says:
   February 14th, 2007 at 8:01 am

   Here’s a nice one in yesterday’s APOD
   http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070213.html

7. 7.   The Ridger Says:
   February 14th, 2007 at 10:17 am

   I found that article interesting for another reason altogether. The reporter asks two questions, and the article only answers one – yet the second question is completely ignored. I have to wonder if she *thought* it was answered, somehow, or if she chickened out at the last minute.

   1 – Why do we see faces everywhere we look: in the Moon, in Rorschach inkblots, in the interference patterns on the surface of oil spills? Why are some Lay’s chips the spitting image of Fidel Castro …?

   That’s one question. The other, which she seems to treat as the same one (even by making it part of the same sentence as above), is

   2 – …and why was a cinnamon bun with a striking likeness to Mother Teresa kept for years under glass in a coffee shop in Nashville, where it was nicknamed the Nun Bun?

8. 8.   Irishman Says:
   February 14th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

   I don’t think she was attempting to address the question of religious significance or meaning in images. I think she intended that second question to be a different way to restate the first – we see patterns that look like faces in objects that don’t have faces. That was just a well-known example. Poorly worded, stressing the details that redirected from her intent.

   I’ve tried to find the origin of the term pareidolia. Skeptic sites mention it and claim it comes from psychology, but I’ve never seen a reference to the original source, and I’ve only heard skeptics use the word. So I’m a bit skeptical about the word origin. But it is still useful to put a name to a concept.

   frogmarch said:
   > does the word ‘pareidolia’ imply that the reason for the image is random? If so I can see why the word might not be used by some people.

   > I personally believe that some images in objects have non-random origins having seen a few myself, and images that are more than just a few blotches for eyes and nose etc.

   Not sure what you mean. There may be underlying causes to the shapes that appear, causes that have nothing to do with intentionally causing a recongnized pattern to appear but constrain the pattern in some manner. Example: the famous image of Mary on a Florida office building window, a water stain that “mysteriously appeared”. Investigation determined that the image did not appear overnight or instantaneously, but was caused by mineral water from the sprinklers bouncing off a palm tree that was located in that place and staining the window. The tree died and was removed, and the pattern behind it was already there. One day someone noticed the resemblance to a certain painting of Mary in robes, and thus the legend was born. The shape was controlled by water and the tree.

9. 9.   rosk Says:
   February 14th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

   Hoagland just don’t know how to use Myheritage.com…

   http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/1016/marsua2.jpg

10. 10.   Drbuzz0 Says:
    February 15th, 2007 at 4:53 am

    I think your views will change entirely when you see my TERRIFYING MUFFIN. I swear it was not intended to look like this… it just came out of the blue…berries

    here it is as I had posted at JREF

    http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_78754574f03b86181.jpg

11. 11.   frogmarch Says:
    February 15th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

    that is not a happy muffin, Drbuzz.

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