Wednesday, March 30, 2011

We See What We Want To See

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One of the things I saw while walking and learning about my new territory was what seems to be church of some sort. I'll have to do some research and find out exactly what it is.


I walked one mile South from the apartment in which I now live to a large SafeWay Supermarket plaza, where--parked in front of what appeared to be a bar or tavern or perhaps a club (blackened windows, neon beer signs, etc.)--I encountered a tiny automobile I had never seen before, nor had I even heard mention of it. I have forgotten what I saw as the make of the car but the model was a...

Smart


Ugly little thing
(in my opinion)

Wikipedia has a descriptive article about it, but I'm not (and never have been) really into cars...

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The Chronicle Of

BIRTH OF A REFRESHING IDEA

The product that has given the world its best-known taste was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced "excellent" and placed on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. Carbonated water was teamed with the new syrup to produce a drink that was "Delicious and Refreshing," a theme that continues to echo today wherever Coca-Cola is enjoyed.


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My Word For The Day
pareidolia
noun

Pareidolia (pare-uh-doll-yuh / parr-uh-DOH-lee-uh) 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 and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.

According to Wikipedia, there have been a great many instances of perceptions of religious imagery and themes, especially the faces of religious figures, in ordinary phenomena. Many involve images of the Virgin Mary or Jesus.


The recent publicity surrounding sightings of religious figures and other surprising images in ordinary objects, combined with the growing popularity of online auctions, has spawned a market for such items on eBay. One famous instance was a grilled cheese sandwich with the Virgin Mary's face.

In 1978, a New Mexican woman found that the burn marks on a tortilla she had made appeared similar to the traditional western depiction of Jesus Christ's face. Thousands of people came to see the framed tortilla.

Michael Quinion's World Wide Words probably provides the best description of pareidolia.

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