Pitadolia

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Jesus in a Pita

It’s the first pareidolia of 2009, and we’re only a day or two in! It looks like it’ll be a bang-up year for people who think they see things that aren’t there.

In this case, we have Jesus in a pita. Well, that’s supposed to be Jesus, but I’m assuming He’s been rendered in 8-bit graphics by an old Commodore 64. I don’t remember Him having a pierced cheek, either. Well, Goth works in mysterious ways.

And, of course, it’s up for auction. It’s cheap for the moment, but it may go up in price. But don’t worry: if you don’t have enough money to bid, you can always rob pita to Paypal.

January 2nd, 2009 9:45 AM by Phil Plait in Humor, Pareidolia | 81 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

81 Responses to “Pitadolia”

  1. 1.   buffalodavid Says:

    “you can always rob pita to Paypal.”

    God ! I wish I’d said that first

  2. 2.   almost witty Says:

    That pun was so bad it deserves a high-five and an award.

    And I’m still smiling. Damn it.

  3. 3.   Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum Says:

    Rob Pita! Good one! :lol:

  4. 4.   MJBUtah Says:

    Well duh, Phil, that is obviously a mole. Jesus-pita should totally have that looked at, could be cancerous.

    *snort* rob pita to pay paypal.

  5. 5.   Sandra Says:

    worship the pita! *gives a sacrifice of whole grain wheat*
    Sigh….you know these sightings will just get weirder, right?

  6. 6.   Pete Says:

    Bad punster! No Biscuit! :->

  7. 7.   MJBUtah Says:

    soo, it was funny until I screwed it up. Also, I love “Goth works in mysterious ways”.

  8. 8.   Michael L Says:

    I just bought some Pita Bread a few days ago. I’ll have to check to see if Jesus has paid me a visit.

  9. 9.   Scott M Says:

    Oh Phil, you pun like the best of them.

  10. 10.   bigmikeh1965 Says:

    Looks more like Jerry Garcia! of course i was just watching some dead footage so what else would i see!

  11. 11.   hale-bopp Says:

    I think it looks like the Old Obi Wan Kenobi from Lego Star Wars. I see his robe’s hood instead of hair.

  12. 12.   Levi in NY Says:

    Here’s the thing I don’t get about these pareidolias (or one of the many things rather): how is it that these people say they can recognize Jesus, when none of them have ever seen Jesus, any pictures of Jesus, or any detailed descriptions from the time of what he looked like? It’s not like the original gospels came with illustrations or anything. The Bible doesn’t even say if he had a beard, if he had long hair, or anything like that. Yes, there is a traditionally established image of Jesus in artwork, but nobody has any reason to believe that if Jesus existed, that’s what he looked like.

    If you look closely, it even looks like “Jesus” here is raising a skeptical eyebrow.

  13. 13.   Naked Bunny with a Whip Says:

    I could never do a better job of belittling a religious figure than the people who buy into this sort of thing.

  14. 14.   scotth Says:

    pita…. paypal…. GROAN.

  15. 15.   Nancy A. Says:

    You are just a fountain of punology, BA

  16. 16.   rayceeya Says:

    Looks more like a ferret or a weasel looking to the left.

  17. 17.   Nick Says:

    You see the pun coming and you just keep reading…
    It’s like watching a car accident, you just can’t look away.

  18. 18.   Dean Says:

    The pun is here to slay…

  19. 19.   Sandra Says:

    heh. if you guys think BA is bad with the puns, you need to meet my mother. She can put him to SHAME.

  20. 20.   Michelle Says:

    AWWW! Jesus is SO CUTE!
    He’s all SD and stuff. ^_^ You wanna hug him.

  21. 21.   reevesAstronomy Says:

    It kinda looks like one of those fake puke thingies.

    Highest bet on it so far is $64! Not a bad earnings for a pita that costs only a few cents.

  22. 22.   Saganist Says:

    That pun was so. so. hawesome. Nicely done.

  23. 23.   kuhnigget Says:

    @ Levi:

    C’mon! There are lots of pictures of Jesus! You know: flowing, blow-dried hair, classic northern European features, Cecil B. DeMille robe…oh, and dinosaurs. Cuz, you know, he rode around on the back of a dinosaur.

  24. 24.   theinquisitor Says:

    I see the face of Randi

  25. 25.   Damon B. Says:

    Every time someone speaks aloud a bad pun, it makes a small rip in space/time.

    Many spoken bad puns will start to tear apart the fabric of the universe.

    Eventually, bad puns will doom us all.

    Or something like that, it’s been a long time since I took an astronomy class.

  26. 26.   Paplikaplik Says:

    Out here in Vegas, they’re seeing Jesus in floor tiles: Please don’t wipe your feet on the savior’s face.

  27. 27.   ccpetersen Says:

    Oh crap, I forgot to mention that we had Jesus etched in ice on one of our windows a couple of days ago. But, he melted. Lost my chance to make big bucks in the booming pareidolia market.

  28. 28.   Damon B. Says:

    Here’s another one!

    This must be the recon wave of their eventual overwhelming attack force!

  29. 29.   Arik Rice Says:

    Jesus must be an outdoorsman since he’s wearing a coonskin cap.

  30. 30.   Oded Says:

    can someone explain the pun to me? :(

    “rob pita to paypal”?

  31. 31.   Chris Says:

    It looks more like the western coastline of Australia, to me, but then, dog is my co-pilot!

  32. 32.   Oded Says:

    by the way, I was trying to see the “Jesus” in that picture, and I realized suddenly that I can’t even see the “pita”… which side of the pita is that supposed to be??

  33. 33.   ccpetersen Says:

    You know the more I look at that “Jesus in a pita” the more it looks like what Jesus may or may not have looked like as rendered by Salvador Dali or Pablo Picasso.

    Except, as far as I know, neither of them worked in toast as a medium.

  34. 34.   Cheyenne Says:

    I think we should take driver licenses away from anybody that actually believes that Jesus (or whomever) would reveal himself in a pita. I don’t want to be on the road with those people!

    Also take away the licenses from people that buy that garbage on eBay.

  35. 35.   Kurt Says:

    I can’t believe you sprang that on us with no warning. I wasn’t even wearing my punglasses.

  36. 36.   Grey Monk Says:

    I dunno… looks more like either Paul Bunyan or Thor to me.

  37. 37.   Derek Colanduno Says:

    Does this mean that Jesus is somewhat Greek?

  38. 38.   kuhnigget Says:

    @ Derek:

    Check out the Doubleday paperback edition of Homer’s Odyssey (1963), with drawings by Hans Erni. I thought that looked familiar! The book has a sketch of Odysseus that looks mysteriously like Jesus of the Pita. One guess where the seller got his inspiration from.

  39. 39.   JoeSmithCA Says:

    It’s a Pacman Ghost!

  40. 40.   Tom Says:

    @Oded:

    Read it this way: Rob Peter to pay Paul.

    It’s whas you do when you can’t afford to may off all of your creditors.

  41. 41.   CGM3 Says:

    That’s not Jesus! It’s Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Okay, he’s a little moldy, but still… how often d’you think he washes that mask?

  42. 42.   Steve Says:

    Is that a ponytail?

  43. 43.   AaronB Says:

    Thats not Jesus, its ‘Harvey the wonder hamster’

  44. 44.   PG Says:

    The pun burns!

  45. 45.   GumbyTheCat Says:

    Ooooh… it hurts.

    I’m still chuckling.

  46. 46.   Nathan Says:

    Groan….

  47. 47.   John Paradox Says:

    Levi in NY Says:
    Here’s the thing I don’t get about these pareidolias (or one of the many things rather): how is it that these people say they can recognize Jesus, when none of them have ever seen Jesus, any pictures of Jesus, or any detailed descriptions from the time of what he looked like?

    But they HAVE seen Jesus… he’s their ‘personal savior’ ( is that like Personal Trainer?)

    ;)

    The puns are making me wonder if I’ve crossed over into Xanth.

    J/P=?

  48. 48.   Bob Portnell Says:

    OW.

    Congratulations on the most painful pun of 2009 so far.

  49. 49.   Chris Hughes Says:

    It doesn’t even look like any pita I ever saw, never mind Yeshua…

  50. 50.   Betsy Says:

    Truly, the only thing I could make myself see in it was a LOL Cat.

  51. 51.   Jack Hagerty Says:

    I’d say it’s a dead ringer for the Cydonia face, right down to the Isaac Asimov sideburns.

    And for “Levi in NY”, the standard depiction of Jesus that most Christian religions use was invented during the Renaissance. After artists had developed the technique of rendering faces realistically, they took medievel artwork depictions and updated them to the (then) current versions of what nobility and purity looked like. Since all of their models were local central Europeans, that’s what they painted.

    - Jack

  52. 52.   Scott Smith Says:

    It looks more like an old hippie with a ponytail to me.

    as for robbing Pita to Paypal, let me (mis)quote Mr. T: “I pita the fool that made that bun.”

  53. 53.   Blondin Says:

    Holy moley!

  54. 54.   baryogenesis Says:

    It looks to me more like god, the old man, with maybe a little bit of the son. Wait, now I’m seeing a wing draped over the side of the head, a tiny bird’s head poking out at the top….holy crap! We’ve got a manifestation of the whole frackin’ trinity here. Surely the bidding is too low.

  55. 55.   arensb Says:

    I see a polar bear. Which is way cooler than Jesus, anyway.

  56. 56.   Nick Says:

    @Scott Smith:

    Don’t encourage him!!!

  57. 57.   Scott Smith Says:

    Aw nick. What pun is it if no one encourages it?

  58. 58.   Joe Anderson Says:

    Phil,

    You have some of the best one-liner’s ever. I have personally witnessed at least a dozen classics. While I am surely impressed by the sheer volume of material you produce (hot air is a gas, you know), sometimes LESS is MORE.

    -JP

  59. 59.   Daniel Says:

    Sorry, wrong and big FAIL…Its Mr T with a Mullet!

  60. 60.   Scott Smith Says:

    Still a little wrong. Maybe Mr. T with a samurai top knot.

  61. 61.   Scott Smith Says:

    okay, I guess I Knead to get this half baked pun out of the oven. Wouldn’t a better title have been “Pitadoughia”?

  62. 62.   Chris J Says:

    it’s not a piercing it’s a dimple. we all know christ was a stoner.

  63. 63.   Drhoz Says:

    that pun earned a hiss of breath through teeth – which if you follow the Callalhan ratings, is only just shy of ‘running from the room screaming’

  64. 64.   Scott Smith Says:

    Damn. What would have gotten it to such a high level as running from the room screaming? I wouldn’t wanna drop a half-baked pun on the floor. Especially a pita with a Savor in it.

    ~looking North, South, Yeast, and West for another pun~ sorry… it’s the Smart@$$ gene in me. Got a double dose of it from both of my parents. I think my dad coulda made some good bread outta this whole pita-full deal.

  65. 65.   Cmajor7 Says:

    The Geneva Convention banned puns like this.

  66. 66.   Scott Smith Says:

    no no… it only suggested that they shouldn’t really maybe oughta be used… in certain conditions. I don’t think it covers a bread-full-of-face situation like this, but I’ll look deeper into it since it is a sorta grainy situation.

  67. 67.   Eric Herboso Says:

    I only just got the pun, even though I saw the post when it first came up. But I don’t feel bad, because it just highlights the fact that I wasn’t brought up with inane aphorisms.

  68. 68.   Tressa Says:

    I see young Simba from the cartoon The Lion King. Wrong son.

  69. 69.   reevesAstronomy Says:

    It’s up to $215 now. That’ll make it the world’s most expensive religious pita.

  70. 70.   StevoR Says:

    Talkingabout Jesus’es likely real versus imagined appearance, here’s food for thought :

    In real historical life Jesus most probably looked like one of those Palestineans being butchered in Gaza by the Israelis. If you want to know what Jesus looked like look at them.

    Imagine Jesus in the face of the Hamas leader murdered with his wife and family. See Jesus in the face of the kid throwing stones at the Jewish tanks and fighter jets come to kill his family or perhaps alreday having murdered them alongwithotherinocent civilians.

    I’m no Christian but think about his words on “love thine enemy” and “treat your neighbour as yourself” and “live by the sword, die by the sword.” There’s some good advice there – Israel is living & thus will perish by the sword. z

    For all its firepower and brutality, Israel is and can only make things ever worse for itself. Reality is that Israel simply cannot wipe out Hamas without wiping out the 1.5 million Palestineans in Gaza which almost all support it – and democratically elected it.

    Even Israel, surely would not be able to get away with the genocide of 1.5 million Gazan’s and the three million plus other Palestineans that Israel, Hitler’s poisoned legacy to the Jews and world, has both denied exist and tried and indeed is still trying to exterminate. :-(

    Eventually the world *will* wake up and tell Israel :

    “ENOUGH!!! Stop your murders & get the blazes out of Palestine -it never was your land!”

    Despite the Isreali “big lies” to the contrary, the truth is that Israel NOT Hamas broke the ceasefire and Israel NOT Hamas caused the whole problem by occupying Palestine in the first place and, interesting bit of trivia here folks, Israel actually *founded* Hamas back in the 1980’s as a counter to the Palestine Liberatiopn Organisation (PLO) which then backfired onthem. A bit like the CIA training and using Saddam Hussein and osama binLaden as “Our sonnob-es!”

    Getting a bit of pita-bread Jesus’es & all but thais is what people really need to know and understand because Isreal isexploiting theWestand intheprocess is leading us and itself toan apocalpyptic calamity -aswellas furtherguilt, shame and bloodshed.

    The Palestinean -Israeli conflict needs to end in Israel accepting reality and getting the hell off other people’s land. israel should be evacuated from the South-West Asian region and resettled in Europe or the US. The longer Isrealis and their backers refuse to do that – the more suffering and death will be caused – for them as well as others. :-(

    All religions are wrong but the Jews “Yahwah Delusion” that god is a racist who chose only their tribe or twelve and gave them special rights to some “promised land” that was already owned by others – and that thisracist god then ordered the genocide of these other groups – Canaanites, Amalekites, Jebusites , Philistines, Moabites etc .. is surely about as ugly
    and evil as a religion can get.

    —-

    PS. Look up the story of Saul and the Amalekite king in the Bible if you don’t believe me – among many others, look at god (aka Yahwah-Jehovah-El-Shekinah etc ..) The “prophet” Samuel personally murdered the King of the Amalekite tribe-people who Saul had spared and thenruled thatSaulfor showing such mercy had lost Yahwah’s favour and was to lose the kingship .. Look at the story of Israel’s conquest of Canaan and how “god” supposedly ordered the jews to committ an extermination far worse than the Shoah! (nazi holocaust)

    .. & to think the Jews accuse others of racism and “anti-Semitism”! Remember here too that the Palestineans (like their ancestors the Philistines and like the Amalekites, Cananites and others) are also *Semitic* peoples making Israel ultimately, ironically the world’s only anti-Semitic nation! :-(

    Maybe if folks want to think Jesus-wise, they might consider telling & pressuring Israel to stop killing innocent children, men and women and learn to love their neighbours rather than threatening, bombing, invading, and occupying them.

  71. 71.   StevoR Says:

    Click on my name for a Wikipedia entry on the Amalekites, incl. the following Old Testament / Torah / Talmud quotes – scroll down to “war of extermination” :

    ***

    “14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is my banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17)

    This enmity is repeated in Numbers 24, in Balaam’s fourth and final oracle:

    “20 Then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said, Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction.

    And again in the law, in Deuteronomy 25:

    “… in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.”

    The fighting is mentioned again in Judges 3:13, in the Judgeship of Ehud, and again under Gideon, as the Amalekites teamed up with the Midianites
    (Judges 6:3, 6:33, 7:12).

    This enmity is also the background of the command of the Lord to Saul:

    “2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Sam. 15:2-3).

    Saul’s failure to obey this command cost him his kingship. Note the commentary on this total destruction later by Samuel, when Saul summons him from the dead through prophetic vision literary tool:

    “16 And Samuel said, ‘Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.” (1 Sam 28)”

    Note many Jews still today call for genocide against those they see as the surviving “Amalekites” notably the Palestineans - who, like the Amalekites from the indigenous SEMITIC population of a land the jews wish toconquer and possess.

    These Jews are, ironically, thus being genocidal anti-Semitic racists themselves! :-(

    If you go back far enough it seems to me that the root cause of all the violence in what is now Palestine / Israel, are these vile, racist tribalist, notions stemming back from a group of bronze age tribesmen that “god” was a racist who chose only them sabove the rest of Humanity and incited them to genocide to take over their self-”promised” land. :-(

    This racist and ugly premise remains the core of the jewish religion. It seems inextricably bound within jewish thinking and an unending problem for Jewish relation with the rest of Humankind. I know Jews will dispute this and point to other more palatable, more ethical, more refined parts of their faith but really .. The undeniable reality is that *that* line :

    Jews believe “god” is racist who prefers their tribes (12 to begin with 2 surviving) over all other Humans and gave them the “divine” right tosomebody elses “promised land.”

    is in essence what Judaism is. :-(

    Oh & yes, Jesus began life as Jew but he (like Spinoza, Einstein and Noam Chomsky among others) rejected his religion and came up with a better way of thinking ..

  72. 72.   StevoR-Correcting Says:

    D’oh! %$#@#@!!@ italics & lack of editing capability!
    ***
    StevoR Says:
    January 3rd, 2009 at 6:20 am

    Click on my name for a Wikipedia entry on the Amalekites, incl. the following Old Testament / Torah / Talmud quotes – scroll down to “war of extermination” :

    ***

    “14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is my banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17)

    This enmity is repeated in Numbers 24, in Balaam’s fourth and final oracle:

    “20 Then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said, Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction.

    And again in the law, in Deuteronomy 25:

    “… in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.”

    The fighting is mentioned again in Judges 3:13, in the Judgeship of Ehud, and again under Gideon, as the Amalekites teamed up with the Midianites
    (Judges 6:3, 6:33, 7:12).

    This enmity is also the background of the command of the Lord to Saul:

    “2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Sam. 15:2-3).

    Saul’s failure to obey this command cost him his kingship. Note the commentary on this total destruction later by Samuel, when Saul summons him from the dead through prophetic vision literary tool:

    “16 And Samuel said, ‘Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.” (1 Sam 28)”

    ***

    Note many Jews still today call for genocide against those they see as the surviving “Amalekites” notably the Palestineans – who, like the Amalekites from the indigenous SEMITIC population of a land the jews wish toconquer and possess.

    These Jews are, ironically, thus genocidal anti-Semitic racists themselves!

    If you go back far enough it seems to me that the root cause of all the violence in what is now Palestine / Israel, are these vile, racist tribalist, notions stemming back from a group of bronze age tribesmen that “god” was a racist who chose only them sabove the rest of Humanity and incited them to genocide to take over their self-”promised” land.

    This racist and ugly premise remains the core of the jewish religion. It seems inextricably bound within jewish thinking and an unending problem for Jewish relation with the rest of Humankind. I know Jews will dispute this and point to other more palatable, more ethical, more refined parts of their faith but really .. The undeniable reality is that *this* one line :

    Jews believe “god” is racist who prefers their tribes (12 to begin with 2 surviving) over all other Humans and gave them the “divine” right tosomebody elses “promised land.”

    is in essence what best sums up Judaism. It’s not pretty but its true.

    Oh & yes, Jesus began life as Jew but he (like Spinoza, Einstein and Noam Chomsky among others) rejected his religion and came up with a better way of thinking ..

  73. 73.   MaDeR Says:

    What Jesus in pita have to Israel and Hamas? StevoR, you have equally “interesting” mental patterning as people that sees Jesus in pita.

  74. 74.   BAMom Says:

    Phil, you have always been a top notch punster, but I think you just went over the top. I have been laughing for the last half hour. Thanx for starting my day off in such a great way.

    Mom

  75. 75.   Brian G Says:

    If you tilt your head to the right a bit you can see a baseball player wearing his helmet.

  76. 76.   Raphael Says:

    I have to say the questions and answers on the auction are hilarious. I particularly love the honesty in one of the seller’s answers, whrein he says: “if you want to see it you will” :-D

  77. 77.   Assi Says:

    “I was tempted to eat it but for some reason I didn’t.” Could it be the money you could get selling it ?! 215$ !!

  78. 78.   Jesus is really getting around. Now he’s going to nuzzle your falafel. Says:

    [...] He already vacated the floor tile to take up residence in a sandwich.   Unfortunately, He never made it into a sandwich, but is on for auction instead. (via Bad Astronomy). [...]

  79. 79.   Rachel Schneiderman Says:

    That is a HOOT!! The appropriate ethnic food context, in particular. We need humor in these dark times, and it’s a measure of just how much when even a whole wheat pita with a strange facial booboo might seriously symbolize the savior to whomever wants to see it. I also heartily agree with Brian G, it looks like a helmeted baseball player. Holiness is indeed in the eye of the believer…

  80. 80.   beagledad Says:

    Looks more like Jerry Garcia to me. Only in relative terms, though, but as I think about it, I haven’t seen a photograph of Jesus recently, so maybe it looks more like Jesus. Just to be safe I’ll go to church but hum “Uncle John’s Band” during the hymns.

  81. 81.   Anthrobabe Says:

    Help– I’ve snorted coffee out my nose.
    Thank you I needed that laugh.

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