Few phenomena have the power to confound as many different types of people as
pareidolia. It doesn't discriminate by culture or religion. It causes Christians to see
Jesus and Mary, Muslims to see
the names of Allah and the Prophet, Jews to see
the Star of David, Hindus to see
the monkey-god Hanuman, and Buddhists to see — you guessed it —
the Buddha. Even atheists who haven't devoted themselves to skepticism have puzzled long and hard over the famous
face, and more recently,
Bigfoot, on Mars. Now video has surfaced on YouTube of pseudoscientist and perennial attention-seeker Richard Heene (yes,
Balloon Boy's dad)
seeing things on the red planet too. If you'd prefer the filler edited out, the
remix is highly entertaining.
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posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis
on Aug 11, 2010 -
20 comments
Contrary to what you probably think you know about hypnosis, it can be done very quickly and can be used to convince someone to do something they normally wouldn't--like, say,
giving away their wallet, phone, and keys to a stranger (English mentalist
Derren Brown). What's happening here is known as a
handshake induction, a technique pioneered by American psychiatrist
Milton Erickson. There are
other methods of rapid induction hypnosis. These methods, along with techniques of verbal suggestion, are used by practitioners of
Neuro-linguistic programming, a field which some have associated with Mr. Brown's performances, though
he denies it. I wonder, though, how he manages to get a cashier at a dog track
to pay out on a losing ticket?
[more inside]
posted by flotson
on May 11, 2008 -
79 comments
Everybody loves Zombies. Everybody loves killing Zombies. Nobody wants to suddenly wake up surrounded by Zombies. Not when you thought you were just playing a
video game.
posted by Elmore
on Feb 18, 2007 -
40 comments
