re you regularly bemused by some new sign, light, tree trunk, tortilla splotch, bit of graffiti, or other random Rorschach image that people choose to see a religious meaning in? And that Catholics by the thousands flock to stare at, which then attracts media coverage, which then brings parasites like myself along to post photos of it on the Internet, and accompany them with snarky comments?

More recent items are added on top.

February 14, 2003

It's actually improved by shrinking the image.  The one you see right here is 100 pixels wide, half the size of the version in the news article, where it looks like nothing but a big blotch.  It's a miracle!

February 7, 2003

So you're wondering, "Why in the hell is this woman praying to a fence post?"  Good question.  The lower picture gives you some idea of the optical illusion, though not of the mindset that would let something like this matter in a person's life.

A woman reaches to touch a fence post as near Coogee beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs February 6, 2003. For more than a week devoted Catholics have been flocking to a vantage point about 1000 feet from the fence which devotees say looks like the Virgin Mary when viewed at certain times each afternoon through squinted eyes. Photo by Tim Wimborne/Reuters

Combination picture shows a woman reaching to touch a fence post (image on right) that some Catholics believe appears as a likeness of the Virgin Mary at a lookout near Coogee beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs February 6, 2003. For more than a week devoted Sydney Catholics have been flocking to a vantage point about 300 metres (1,000 feet) from the small wooden fence which, when viewed at certain times each afternoon through squinted eyes (image on left), is believed to be a likeness of the Virgin Mary. Photo at left was deliberately shot out of focus to give an impression as if a person were squinting. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

Okay, besides showing why low rider jeans just never look good on the ass (makes it look square and pushes any hip fat up to bubble over the top) this is ridiculous.  So there's a fence post that if you get at just the right angle, and squint, it looks like the iconographic image of a hooded woman with her head slightly bent.  Which Catholics have adopted as a religious symbol. And?  This is a real religion, with churches and tax exemptions and all of that.  Why the hell are people in it so drawn to any random object that looks anything like the modern conception of the face of Jesus, or the Virgin Mary (always in profile)?  Lights, shadows on a screen door, a tree limb, etc.  It's worse than some primitive praying to a rock or a voodoo priest, FFS.  Some bushman in Africa you can excuse for his silly fetishism, since he doesn't know any better.  What excuse is there for an educated human being in the modern world?

But more to the point, this is the worst one of these "it looks vaguely like something religious!" examples I've ever seen.  Other stuff, while incredibly stupid, at least looks like what it is supposed to look like.  I mean Jesus on a tortilla looks like Jesus on a tortilla.  You don't have to look at it from a weird angle and with your eyes crossed while hopping on one foot with your hand on your head. This is quite obviously a fence, that from a certain angle, slightly downhill, looks vaguely like a robed figure.  I would think that there must be thousands of sections of similar fence on the earth.  You just basically need it to make a 45° turn and look at it slightly down hill.

Build one on your land and make some calls to TV stations, and next thing you know you'll have a steady stream of gullible people showing up.  Charge them $5 a pop, and it's your own Fence of Dreams.

February 10, 2003

Follow up to the Australian Catholic Fence post.

Vandals have torn down a fence post in Australia's largest city, Sydney, which devoted Catholics had begun to flock to because they believed it projected an image of the Virgin Mary.

Infidel defilers!

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