Friday, August 5, 2011

Random wierdness

From Wikipedia:

Pareidolia ( /pærɨˈdliə/ parr-i-doh-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- – "beside", "with", or "alongside"—meaning, in this context, something faulty or wrong (as in paraphasia, disordered speech) and eidōlon – "image"; the diminutive of eidos – "image", "form", "shape".

 Here's an example - the "man in the moon" referenced above:




And it also encompasses things like the next picture; a religious image in something trivial, like toast.




Or the Virgin Mary - very popular among some ethnic groups:




Some claim there's a cat's face in this piece of toast. You be the judge.

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