In defiance of their mandate “to reconstitute reality.”
February 27, 2020 8:46 AM Subscribe
The reclining woman just kinda seems like an example of humans finding patterns instead of an intentionally inserted illustration... that or someone really doesn't know what the human body looks like!
posted by Grither at 9:26 AM on February 27, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by Grither at 9:26 AM on February 27, 2020 [7 favorites]
Yeah, the reclining woman seems dubious. Although, to my eye, she is lacking a head so maybe that bolsters the claim. It wouldn't surprise me that someone would draw a headless nude woman for lulz.
posted by amanda at 9:29 AM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by amanda at 9:29 AM on February 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
I both like and dislike this.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:13 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:13 AM on February 27, 2020
Guildenstern: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?
posted by octothorpe at 10:15 AM on February 27, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 10:15 AM on February 27, 2020 [7 favorites]
Cmon... The reclining woman is... not a reclining woman. And the spider is really questionable, too. The others are really cool.
posted by SoberHighland at 10:33 AM on February 27, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 10:33 AM on February 27, 2020 [6 favorites]
I mean, one could presumably check against what's, y'know, actually there to see if these really are mistakes/creative inclusions.
posted by parm at 10:36 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by parm at 10:36 AM on February 27, 2020
I'm glad y'all are telling me the reclining woman is basically nonsense. I could not see anything there and couldn't figure out why.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 10:44 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 10:44 AM on February 27, 2020
Yeah, the hiker and marmot are definitely creative inclusions, the fish probably is, the face could be creativity or could be just how those lines come together, and the spider and woman are pure pareidolia.
posted by jackbishop at 10:53 AM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by jackbishop at 10:53 AM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
There are accurate representations of geographical features that look more like a reclining woman than that picture. The other ones are cool, though.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:46 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:46 AM on February 27, 2020
The spider placed near the Eiger must refer to “The White Spider”, a snowfield on the north face and the title of the book accounting the first ascent of the Nordwand.
posted by TDIpod at 12:37 PM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by TDIpod at 12:37 PM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
Project 'dickfinder' was one of the funnest programming contracts I had. This was a part of a EU mapping project for granting farmer's subsidies. We had to send out a letter with a map of every parcel.
Most of the draughtsman were university students, who had no particular interest in tracing aerial photographs - they worked for beer money.
When testing the letter generator, we were very surprised to find all kinds of strange drawing errors, among them the male parts. On the map they were micrometer-scale, but our generator had them blown up to epic proportions. Printed within the drawing was the subsidy: €0.01.
It's easy to hide tiny things in maps. In fact, I'm pretty sure you'd find names and doodles in a good number of maps. Hiding in plain sight is much harder - great work!
posted by Psychnic at 12:49 PM on February 27, 2020 [11 favorites]
Most of the draughtsman were university students, who had no particular interest in tracing aerial photographs - they worked for beer money.
When testing the letter generator, we were very surprised to find all kinds of strange drawing errors, among them the male parts. On the map they were micrometer-scale, but our generator had them blown up to epic proportions. Printed within the drawing was the subsidy: €0.01.
It's easy to hide tiny things in maps. In fact, I'm pretty sure you'd find names and doodles in a good number of maps. Hiding in plain sight is much harder - great work!
posted by Psychnic at 12:49 PM on February 27, 2020 [11 favorites]
Project 'dickfinder' was one of the funnest programming contracts I had.
There's always someone here with a personal and illuminating first-hand perspective on the topic at hand. But this is among the best I've seen.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:14 PM on February 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
There's always someone here with a personal and illuminating first-hand perspective on the topic at hand. But this is among the best I've seen.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:14 PM on February 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
It looks like the 'reclining woman' is an actual feature of the landscape, see here in satellite view.
posted by Behemoth, in no. 302-bis, with the Browning at 2:16 PM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Behemoth, in no. 302-bis, with the Browning at 2:16 PM on February 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
Marmot on the mountainside? I beg to differ -- that is clearly a baby bear brought on by too many Toblerones on the cartographer's part.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:02 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:02 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
It looks like the 'reclining woman' is an actual feature of the landscape, see here in satellite view.
Aha, so Google Maps is in cahoots with the Swiss!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:17 PM on February 27, 2020
Aha, so Google Maps is in cahoots with the Swiss!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:17 PM on February 27, 2020
It looks like the 'reclining woman' is an actual feature of the landscape, see here in satellite view.
Hmm...I see a vase.
posted by amanda at 4:40 PM on February 27, 2020
Hmm...I see a vase.
posted by amanda at 4:40 PM on February 27, 2020
My sister used to work for the local map making entity here in NZ . She says that there is (or was) a map of a relatively deserted place near here where a bored summer intern back in the 60s dress smiley faces onto lots of the rocks
posted by mbo at 7:41 PM on February 27, 2020
posted by mbo at 7:41 PM on February 27, 2020
The spider one just made me think of Vonnegut.
posted by ckape at 7:49 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ckape at 7:49 PM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Just saying that it's possible to get your initials into geological maps too...according to a friend.
posted by sedimentary_deer at 11:37 PM on February 27, 2020
posted by sedimentary_deer at 11:37 PM on February 27, 2020
A similar thing happened with one of the official Ordnance Survey maps in Britain, where someone has hidden a number of people’s names in amongst the random craggy lines which make up the cliffs along the southern coast of the Isle of Wight.
posted by verstegan at 12:18 AM on February 28, 2020
posted by verstegan at 12:18 AM on February 28, 2020
I'M obsessed with sex? YOU'RE the one drawing all the dirty pictures, Slartibartfast.
posted by condour75 at 3:56 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by condour75 at 3:56 AM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
It looks like the 'reclining woman' is an actual feature of the landscape, see here in satellite view.
the trees are there, but looking in streetview there isn't any evidence of a stream.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:41 AM on February 28, 2020
the trees are there, but looking in streetview there isn't any evidence of a stream.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:41 AM on February 28, 2020
The stand of trees that makes up the "woman" is evidence of a stream.
It isn't much of a stream, though. Probably just enough to make trying to plow it over not worthwhile.
posted by 2N2222 at 4:02 PM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
It isn't much of a stream, though. Probably just enough to make trying to plow it over not worthwhile.
posted by 2N2222 at 4:02 PM on February 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by daisyk at 9:24 AM on February 27, 2020 [1 favorite]