Rational Alchemy



Current News

Twitter to RA.

I'll be checking twitter throughout the hour during every show. You can send in comments and questions by direct messaging @rationalalchemy


Your Pod-Casts

Would you like to pod-cast on Rational Alchemy?   Tell me the rules and how do I do it?  Follow this link.

Pareidolia of the Weak

Pareidolia

Grab Feed

The term pareidolia describes 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. 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 eidolon—"image" (the diminutive of eidos—"image", "form", "shape"). Pareidolia is a type of apophenia.

 

Examples - Religious

There have been many instances of perceptions of religious imagery and themes, especially the faces of religious figures, in ordinary phenomena. Many involve images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or the word Allah.

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.

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.

 

Explanations - Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan hypothesized that as a survival technique, human beings are "hard-wired" from birth to identify the human face. This allows people to use only minimal details to recognize faces from a distance and in poor visibility but can also lead them to interpret random images or patterns of light and shade as being faces.

 

From reference.com


 




The Today Show Tackles Pareidolia! Pareidolia Of The Week! Print E-mail
Other Main Page - Pareidolia of the Weak
Written by Brian Walsh   
Tuesday, 02 March 2010 19:10

The above headline is a bit misleading. The Today show didn't tackle pareidolia at all, or even use the word. Instead, they provided no counter opinions at all. Good job, Today. Click the picture below to see the entire article.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here's A Twist. Pareidolia Of The Week! Print E-mail
Other Main Page - Pareidolia of the Weak
Written by Brian Walsh   
Tuesday, 23 February 2010 18:36

Here's an interesting twist on the theme, toast spotted on Jesus! Thanks to benjaminste.in!

 

 

 

 
Valentine Pareidolia! Pareidolia Of The Week! Print E-mail
Other Main Page - Pareidolia of the Weak
Written by Brian Walsh   
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 20:46

I wasn't going to do anything at all for Valentine's Day, but then I found this on Nightsky.ie.

 

 

 

 
Bogosity! Pareidolia Of The Week! Print E-mail
Other Main Page - Pareidolia of the Weak
Written by Brian Walsh   
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 18:45

This week I present the first part of a video series on pareidolia, Bogosity Ep. 7 Pareidolia (Part One). Check out all of the Bogosity series, it's pretty cool.

 

 
Jesus In A Tree! Pareidolia Of The Week! Print E-mail
Other Main Page - Pareidolia of the Weak
Written by Brian Walsh   
Tuesday, 02 February 2010 18:44

This comes from Paliban Daily. It is one of several very cool images, some of which you have seen here before. This one is Jesus in a tree. He looks very old....

 

 

From the site, "Jan. 26: Jesus heads to a tree in Millington, Mich., just outside of Flint, in Ron and Marilyn Bielak’s backyard. The retired pair are facing foreclosure and believed the sighting would mean help was on the way. A call to their home several months later would indicate the line had been disconnected."

 
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 13

No Libel Laws in Science

 

The use of the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence discourages debate, denies the public access to the full picture and encourages use of the courts to silence critics. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel. The scientific community would have preferred that it had defended its position about chiropractic through an open discussion in the medical literature or mainstream media.

Your Monitor Size

Monitor Size
 

Who's On-Line

We have 26 guests online

Site Info

Content View Hits : 48643

Grab Local Feed

feed-image Feed Entries

Visitors Location

US ZIP Codes

Rational Alchemy Template by Ahadesign - Graphic and CSS changes to template Nigel Aves - Powered by Joomla!

About This Site

The Rational Alchemy web site was designed using the Joomla CMS package by Nigel Aves.

If you would like Nigel to design a web site for you that is easy to maintain please contact him here. Contact Nigel

The Rational Alchemy team is Brian Walsh, Jamie Folsom and Nigel Aves.