What can I say?
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My pans obviously enjoy getting washed.
I’ve said before that the faces we see in random patterns are determined by our upbringing. Religiously devout people see Mary and Jesus and Mohammed. What do I see?
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Who ya gonna call?
About Bad Astronomy
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
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January 20th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
You might want to throw that pan in the LHC so Zuul doesn’t invade your kitchen.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
It would be great if the sun had black spots like that to make it look like a smiling face. Would be funny.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hi Phil and everyone. I write from Spain, and I just want to thank your words. Because thanks to them, I’ve joined the fight against de “religious zealots” (as you sometimes call them) and people like them. I started my blog in december, after reading a post of creationists pressing on Europe.
And you know what? I’ve discovered more spanish and South American people fighting with reason, words, trying to make people awake and begin to use their brains for themselves. Here in Spain the “atheist bus” has begun its race in Barcelona http://www.busateo.org/ and will keep going to Madrid, Zaragoza, Valencia and other major cities.
We have our own fights here: there are still religious symbols on our public schools (Spain has no official religion, but cristianism is still powerful here), we want that State stop giving our money to the Church, and things like that.
By the way, The Mentalist series is now on air on a national channel. It has a nice main character (I can’t believe he tells a religious policewoman that she is a liar or a foolish girl if she believes in mediums, life after death and things like that).
Well, that’s what I wanted to tell you. Thanks for your words, and keep writing… I’m here reading you…
Congratulations.
Luis
January 20th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Gozer the Gozarian?
January 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
You’re kidding, right? Greatest day in at least eight years and you’re peddling this lame woo? Toilet seats? Really?
January 20th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Ah Phil, live doesn’t get any better eh? One of your favourite subjects and a pun in one
January 20th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
*YAWN*
January 20th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
That’s not Gozer; it’s PZ Myers without his beard!
January 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
This is a little known fact, but that pan puddle smirks to the left in the Southern hemisphere.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Flood: Um, what the heck are you talking about? Toilet seats?
And did you miss my previous two posts?
January 20th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
“My pans obviously enjoy getting washed.”
Kinky.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
It’s the Awesome Face!
My teenage daughter shared this with me after she gave me the goofy smile (and I almost caught it with the camera!):
http://failurecasca.de/wp-content/uploads/awesome_med.png
January 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I call miracle.
January 20th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
The great god Pan smiles upon you.
January 20th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I actually see Sponge-Bob Squarepants. Wouldn’t this be his nemesis, Anti-Sponge-Bob Roundpan?
January 20th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Thanks for making me laugh out loud. That’s hilarious! I wish I my kitchenware liked me as much as yours appears to like you.
January 20th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Venkman: Whoa! Ho! Ho! Whoa-ho!
Gozer: The Traveler has come.
Venkman: Nobody choosed anything! Did you choose anything?
Spengler: No.
Venkman: Did you?
Zeddeman: My mind is totally blank.
Venkman: I didn’t choose anything…
What did you do, Phil?
January 20th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
The Science Pundit made me laugh. Good job:).
January 20th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I don’t care if this is the second coming of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man! I’m still not gonna roll up my sleeves
January 20th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Hello I have one question and would appreciate it if someone could help me. Well, I became aware through a History Channel about the 2012 theory. I have also seen the preview for the 2012 film. I found in Reuters an article in where it mentions how the sea levels are rising because of the melting glaciers. IS THERE REALLY A CHANCE THAT IN 2012 THERE WILL BE A POLAR FLIP??? or that it’s actually the end of the world??? Please help!
January 20th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I thought it was a good case panspermia you know life from a pan.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I knew Phil had a panchant for this sort of thing, but this is getting ridiculous.
I’m sorry, I’m so sorry….
January 20th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
These are the panniest jokes online.
And, toilet seats? Are you potty?
January 20th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Really? Thats JESUS Dont you see it?
January 20th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
There’s a whole pantheon of gods in that pan.
January 20th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
>Hello I have one question and would appreciate it if someone could help me. Well, I became >aware through a History Channel about the 2012 theory.
BZZZT! WRONG – CHANGE THE CHANNEL!
January 20th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Casper and Charlie Brown were the first things that came to mind but they were panned by the Puft Daddy.
January 20th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Unfortunately, the only way you’re gonna be able to clean that pan…is if you cross the streams. O_O
January 20th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Scared,
Just search the blog for 2012.
Or check the forum.
http://www.bautforum.com
January 20th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
That is the most adorable pan EVAR!
Darn, Corey beat me to the joke I was gunna make
Scared in NJ…. first of all, you’ve survived living in Jersey this long, you’ll be fine. Also, in addition to the previously mentioned resources, I really enjoyed the 2012 articles over at Universe Today, like http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/03/2012-no-geomagnetic-reversal/
January 20th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
@Scared NJ:
Short answer: No, long answer: No!
January 20th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
The Staypuft Marshmallow Man was also the first thing I thought of when I saw it!
Actually a few years back I cut open a tomato and found the face of Fat Freddy from the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers staring back at me! Surely a sign of the second coming of Fat Freddy’s Cat.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
[...] The Many Faces of Jesus Man insists he has a magical wax figure of the Virgin Mary and baby in his lava lamp – Now this isn’t even a good example of pareidolia as I know what I’m supposed to see and I still don’t really see it. It’s not nearly as good as the Jesus on a potato chip or on a pierogi or the flamin’ pope or the famous Jesus toast. And here’s an intentionally funny one. [...]
January 21st, 2009 at 12:27 am
Clearly Jesus’ random-object self-portrait skills are deteriorating by the day.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:28 am
…Little Astronomer adds to her burgeoning file of psychoanalysis fodder. And sighs…
January 21st, 2009 at 1:04 am
Ok… all this needs is a CAPSHUN and it’s ready for I CAN HAZ CHEESBURGER
January 21st, 2009 at 1:19 am
@Phil .. you said … “Religiously devout people see Mary and Jesus and Mohammed. What do I see?”
I think it’s only a few mate. You forgot to put.. ‘Some’.. at the beginning of the sentence. It is a minority. As an analogy : some mental patients see lots of weird stuff too, but it would be wrong to say, “Mental patients see weird things.”… as some mental patients do not see weird things at all. They can be mental patients for a completely different reason. However .. “Some mental patients see weird things.” … is a accurate statement. Big difference.
Being religiously devout does not mean one sees the faces of a deity in random images. That sort of thing is solely for a minority.
You can’t just group everyone together like that. It is incorrect.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:47 am
Does this count
http://stickings90.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album27&id=Breakfast_face
Mind you it was deliberate.
I have this great idea for a product, you have some kind of say metal sleeve that you put a slice of bread into, and then you put it in a toaster. or perhaps this could be a toaster attachment so you make portraits of religious figures appear on your toast – then you can sell to the gullible on E-Bay
January 21st, 2009 at 2:49 am
Note to moderator
Am testing if something works, if this is just a bunch of control codes. just delete this paticular message
Here goes
January 21st, 2009 at 3:31 am
If there’s something strange
(dun DUN dun)
In your frying pan
(dun DUN dun)
Who ya gonna call?
BAD SKEPTIC!
January 21st, 2009 at 4:37 am
Phil, you should sell it on eBay
January 21st, 2009 at 5:29 am
Try this next time you are plastering, or are near a freshly plastered wall.
Seems to work best with the pinkish plaster in my experience.
When the plaster is drying out, it tends to dry out unevenly. This leaves dark areas of water, and lighter areas of pink. The most fantastic images appear (at least to me). Old women, lions, bent old men etc.
Maybe the variety of images seen = imagination x medium used.
I also tend to agree with quasidogs points. I’m sure most of us could see stay puft man in the picture (the clue helped to steer us into the conclusion). Looked more like a yahoo smiley to me.
We see the image not because we are devout followers of stay puft. Rather we have a cultural reference point image, which random forms in nature may be analogous to. I dont believe in Jesus, but if i saw an image in a shower curtain which roughly matched the form and proportion of Jesus, I’m sure i would say “Oh that looks like Jesus”. The conclusion of that event, needed no belief or devout following.
I would say that the “significance” of the event would be determined by the beliefs held, but not the seeing in the first place.
Just my two pence worth.
Cheers.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:29 am
Well, depending on what you use the pan for…
Toastbusters,
Roastbusters,
BA-blog-postbusters
etc.
Sorry.
January 21st, 2009 at 6:15 am
I see Obama.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:16 am
@Scared NJ: I can’t tell if you’re joking, a troll, or genuinely believe that garbage.
To put your mind at ease, I suggest you go to this Universe Today page and read their many 2012 doomsday debunking articles.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:36 am
from “Red Dwarf” comes this exchange:
Kryten: “Surely you believe that God is in all things. Aren’t you a Pantheist?”
Lister: “Well, yeah, but I just don’t think it applies to kitchen utensils. I’m not a Frying Pantheist!”
Cheers
January 21st, 2009 at 7:40 am
The BA made Baby Jesus smile! Yayz!
January 21st, 2009 at 8:01 am
my mother once saw abraham lincoln in a dried spill on the kitchen counter. now THERE’s some symbolosity goodness for you.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Just turn your cover of Death From the Skies upside down…I think you will see the pattern!
January 21st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I saw two paintings from Dale Frank’s Stephen Hawking series in the art gallery last week — they are just black canvases with random pools of lacquer on them, but I swear I saw Stephen Hawking’s head in one of them…
January 21st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
If the critics see this blog post they are gonna pan it for sure.
and to whomever mentioned crossing the stream: “I thought you said crossing the streams was bad?!?”
January 21st, 2009 at 11:43 pm
@ Sticks…. (re Photo – yeah, it did work.)
But before it disappears, (just in case), what the dickens is that big black thing purporting to be a nose? Is (was) it badly burnt? Maybe a rissole, or a flapjack?
Phil, what else have you in your pantry? And does Mrs BA know you are messing with her utensils?
Ivan.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
It’s all a matter of perspective, if look at this thing and stand on your head, it looks like a Volkswagen that lost its wheels.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:05 pm
[...] For those who think they see Jesus or Mary in everything from a grilled cheese sandwhich to a Lava Lamp, I direct you to this article. [...]