Jesus Christ!

July 16, 2005 8:33 AM

AAAARGH
posted by Pretty_Generic (85 comments total)

Should we pray that the religious loonies don't jump on this?

no wait...
posted by slater at 8:35 AM on July 16, 2005

Quick! Sell it on eBay!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:38 AM on July 16, 2005

In map form
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:46 AM on July 16, 2005

Still shroomin' P_G?
posted by terrapin at 8:49 AM on July 16, 2005

If you zoom in real closely to the lower right, you can even make out the signature: Slartibartfast
posted by sour cream at 8:50 AM on July 16, 2005

So do people think it's a genuine land formation, or a DigitalGlobe/Google joke?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:54 AM on July 16, 2005

It's very beautiful. You can easily imagine it in a Leonardo sketchbook.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:56 AM on July 16, 2005

Human sees anthropomorphic mass in landform. Crickets ensue.

I don't even see the jumping off point to make someone claim it's religious. Now the images of satan in smoke, that's something else altogether. Or not.
posted by Busithoth at 8:56 AM on July 16, 2005

Not so far away, the Nazca Lines. Coincidence? Ho, I think not.
posted by gubo at 9:02 AM on July 16, 2005

jesus!
posted by maggiemaggie at 9:03 AM on July 16, 2005

*looks at it*

*blinks*

*reads the thread again*

*looks at Peru again*

*looks at the map of Peru*

"Okay I-- No wait."

*looks at it again*

*blinks*

*zooms out*

*zooms back in*

*zooms in too far*

*pulls back*

*blinks*

*reads thread again*

*looks at it yet again*

*blinks*

"I really don't see what you're all going on about."
posted by ZachsMind at 9:05 AM on July 16, 2005

It's Daevid Allen from Gong/Soft Machine.
posted by dhoyt at 9:08 AM on July 16, 2005

*blinks*
posted by ZachsMind at 9:09 AM on July 16, 2005

*leans back on rocking chair*

Back in those days, boys an' girls, we hadn't called it the Golden Palace Pass yet, but it was due to change in no time at all...
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:09 AM on July 16, 2005

Zoom in close, and the face turns into a mass of grey with some tiny letters about "not having the imagery." Hmph. I smell a conspiracy!
posted by crunchland at 9:15 AM on July 16, 2005

*zooms in again*

*frowns*
posted by ZachsMind at 9:18 AM on July 16, 2005

And when The Old Man opens his eyes, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse mount their Fiery Steeds...

At least that's how I remember the story the Peruvian shaman told me back in '32...
posted by kozad at 9:22 AM on July 16, 2005

zachsmind, this isn't a stereoscopic thing or anything.
posted by Busithoth at 9:23 AM on July 16, 2005

IT LOOKS LIKE A FACE!! What are you, autistic? Cause, you know, if you are, you know, that's cool. Everyone's unique, like a snowflake.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:24 AM on July 16, 2005

Smart Dalek wins long time btw
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:24 AM on July 16, 2005

Silly me, here I thought you were all lamenting about the fact that this is clearly tropical rainforest that's been clearcut.

No, no, it's a FACE. Much more important.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:31 AM on July 16, 2005

Well that was creepy.
posted by vagus at 9:32 AM on July 16, 2005

Isn't more likely to just be, you know, desert?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:34 AM on July 16, 2005

ikkyu2: “... this is clearly tropical rainforest that’s been clearcut.
”

Um, tropical rainforest in southern, coastal Peru?
posted by signal at 9:35 AM on July 16, 2005

I think Zachsmind is full of shit, in a condescending sort of way PG.
posted by substrate at 9:39 AM on July 16, 2005

FWIW, my experience was EXACTLY the same as Zachsmind’s. To the letter.
I might have zoomed out once more than him, that’s all.
Re: seeing what isn’t there: Martian Canals.
posted by signal at 9:45 AM on July 16, 2005

anybody have a link to a plain old picture for those of us with unsupported browsers?
posted by pointilist at 9:50 AM on July 16, 2005

dhoyt - no, it's roy harper
posted by pyramid termite at 9:51 AM on July 16, 2005

Ah, pareidolia, my old nemesis.
posted by solid-one-love at 10:05 AM on July 16, 2005

Obviously it's Gandalf.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:05 AM on July 16, 2005

Actually, XQUZYPHYR, it is:

MetaFilter: *zooms back in**zooms in too far**pulls back**blinks**reads thread again**looks at it yet again**blinks*“I really don’t see what you’re all going on about.”
posted by signal at 10:17 AM on July 16, 2005

Did you discover this yourself PG? Or is it via somewhere else.

I have no idea what that is. But if you put a gun to my head and made me guess I'd say it was fake data added by someone in the imagery chain, much as mapmakers sometimes add fake streets to catch those who are copying their maps wholesale.

Or you know, maybe the natural landscape just looks that way.
posted by grouse at 10:25 AM on July 16, 2005

Oh, good Lord!
posted by caddis at 10:34 AM on July 16, 2005

I don't think this is fake, just a test of the human brain.
and, as SOL and I linked to, pareidolia
posted by Busithoth at 10:34 AM on July 16, 2005

I saw it at a closer zoom the other day, and the face leapt right out at me. This was after watching the "banned" Penn & Teller show, so I was primed for seeing things. PG's link was at a zoom level in which I saw nothing whatsoever. And when I do go back to the correctly-zoomed size, I see it less clearly than the other day. Go figure: it's all about state of mind.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:35 AM on July 16, 2005

I got it via a friend.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:35 AM on July 16, 2005

No, c'mon, it's Roy Wood from Wizzard, isn't it? Beloved of Christmas album compilers everywhere.

I always fall in love with the big G's low-orbit shots, so even if it turns out not to be a graven image of a '70s prog rocker, I'm grateful to be shown some other beutiful corner of this fragile Earth of ours...

...*wipes tear*

...*howls*

via TheRegister?
posted by NinjaPirate at 10:37 AM on July 16, 2005

On posting: bah, P_G always trumps me with his "I've got friends" excuse.
posted by NinjaPirate at 10:38 AM on July 16, 2005

and, as SOL and I linked to

D'oh. Serves me right for not paying attention. FFF: I watch P&T:B! thanks to BitTorrent. Any idea why they never showed the "Jesus is in my bathroom door" episode?
posted by solid-one-love at 10:50 AM on July 16, 2005

It makes me a believer.
posted by OmieWise at 10:51 AM on July 16, 2005

Saw this the other day on Google Sightseeing, where you can also see such things as the Oprah Winfrey Corn (?) Maze.
posted by jtron at 11:00 AM on July 16, 2005

Given that the nearest town is "Santa Isabel," I'd say it's reasonably clear who we might name the features after. Until Goldane Palace buys, it, of course, as others note.
posted by mwhybark at 11:02 AM on July 16, 2005

Joke. And/or watermark.
posted by carter at 11:14 AM on July 16, 2005

ZachsMind isn't so much autistic as he is face blind.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:36 AM on July 16, 2005

here is a screenshot of the face. I noticed something about the face, too, so I did some enhancements to bring out the features. I have to say, the eyeglasses were the most unexpected development!




posted by mwhybark at 11:39 AM on July 16, 2005

Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy) once had Lenin visit his shower curtains.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 11:43 AM on July 16, 2005

mwhybark, that looks just like Ed Helms!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:59 AM on July 16, 2005

Look again! Although the resemblance is there, certainly.
posted by mwhybark at 12:06 PM on July 16, 2005

I'm a hardcore naturalist by persuasion, but that article on pareidolia is just plain dumb, as many of his articles are.

"I don't see any reason to think there is an evolutionary advantage [in pareidolia]"

ok...because you're incredibly stupid. That's tantamount to saying you don't see any evolutionary advantage in teeth, they must just be an accident that hasn't ever evolved away.
posted by lastobelus at 12:14 PM on July 16, 2005

The insistence of people that it MUST be a joke/fraud is interesting. Perhaps it is, but if it so I think it's done by quite a skilled artist, because many of the details are neither anatomically correct nor really the typical visual clichés used to indicate faces: it's only a face in gestalt.
posted by lastobelus at 12:22 PM on July 16, 2005

So you're the omnipotent creator of the Universe, right? And you've got some very important messages to pass on to those apes you molded in your own image on that one redneck planet of yours somewhere in the western arm of the Milky Way. You have every single conceivable (and some equally inconceivable, I suppose) method at your disposal for communicating your Grand Plan to the Citizens of Earth. After innumerable eons of contemplation, you finally hit on the ideal solution, one that will mirror the awesome grandeur of your Being and that of your Creation. A means of communication truly worthy of the name Almighty.

The next morning, a maid in New Mexico discovers your son's likeness in a tortilla.


You smile to yourself and say, "It is good."
posted by joe lisboa at 12:40 PM on July 16, 2005

signal, is it coincidence your link to martian canals contains a reference to arequipa, peru? i think not.
posted by 3.2.3 at 1:31 PM on July 16, 2005

it looks like my last girlfriend
posted by commonmedia at 1:52 PM on July 16, 2005

...

*blinks*

...

I still don't see jack shit. You guys are pullin' my leg!
posted by ZachsMind at 2:05 PM on July 16, 2005

Eyeglasses! Oh, that explains it! It must be a reflection off of the glass window by the photographer in the satellite. Right? I knew there was a logical explanation.
posted by crunchland at 2:16 PM on July 16, 2005

If you zoom out to the maximum level, it's clearly not Earth, since there are too many continents...

I tried to link to the map zoomed out all the way, but couldn't figure out how
posted by birdsquared at 3:02 PM on July 16, 2005

Further filtered, this might help, ZM:

posted by NorthernSky at 3:11 PM on July 16, 2005

To see real clearcutting... I'd take a scroll over to Brazil and see the Amazon...
posted by santiagogo at 3:17 PM on July 16, 2005

I tried to link to the map zoomed out all the way, but couldn't figure out how.

The "Link to this page" link didn't help you?
posted by grouse at 3:19 PM on July 16, 2005

thanks, grouse. I got dibs on the 3rd antartica!
posted by Busithoth at 3:36 PM on July 16, 2005

jtron, thanks for the googlesightseeing link.

You gave it unto me only seconds after I thought that just such site would be great.
posted by Laotic at 4:44 PM on July 16, 2005

ZM, you really don't lend yourself any gravitas with your awesome pronunciations in bold!
posted by blacklite at 4:52 PM on July 16, 2005

Even weirder -- San Diego's swastika building. Strange but true... but did no one notice the odd shape of the complex back when they were building it?
posted by clevershark at 5:12 PM on July 16, 2005

In mwhybark's enhancement, which brings out the eyeglasses. it is clear that the image is of Malcolm X. Do you see it?
posted by wsg at 5:13 PM on July 16, 2005

Speaking on behalf of the "Under 1K MeFites Succumbing to Galloping Senility" (U1MSGS, I'm the founder), I hope you will cut ZachsMind some slack. His membership package is enroute.
posted by wendell at 5:21 PM on July 16, 2005

The image is 25km directly NW of a city named "Cruce."

I.e., "Cross" in English.
posted by Dunvegan at 5:23 PM on July 16, 2005

no, I'm leaning in the Ed Helms direction, the more I think about it.

see?
posted by mwhybark at 5:37 PM on July 16, 2005

I think it just may be the Diety popping in to saying,

"Hey! Don't y'all be all cross-cutting my paradisical forestes, fools."

...or something.
posted by Dunvegan at 5:52 PM on July 16, 2005

Then again He might also be there to say:

"Don't y'all be talking and posting and then not previewing for nutty spelling errors, slackers!"

(Should have been:
...in to say... ...forests...
Ack.)

posted by Dunvegan at 5:56 PM on July 16, 2005

It's just alright with me. Oh yeah.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:07 PM on July 16, 2005

ZachsMind (and any others): I did a quick image enhancement that might help you see the face.

Click to view.
posted by chrismear at 6:12 PM on July 16, 2005

This one's got legs.
posted by Jimbob at 6:22 PM on July 16, 2005

Whybark, you left off the bicycle helmet.
posted by jimfl at 6:35 PM on July 16, 2005

Here it is with GoogleEarth.
posted by geekyguy at 6:43 PM on July 16, 2005

Chrismear...I liked that because I sure loves me some StrongBad.

Hmmm...maybe it's an image of the "Burninator"....
posted by Dunvegan at 6:44 PM on July 16, 2005

chrismear *wins*.
posted by eriko at 6:58 PM on July 16, 2005

*still looks at it*

*blinks*

*takes off glasses*

*rubs his eyes*

*cleans glasses*

*puts glasses back on*

...

*looks at it again*

*blinks*

You're all crazy.

*returns to Zombo*
posted by ZachsMind at 7:08 PM on July 16, 2005

I think this thread is just an excuse for ZM to make 600-line comments.
posted by blacklite at 7:44 PM on July 16, 2005

*reads previous comment*

*looks at the one above it*

*blinks*

*cleans someone's glasses*

*eats some chips*

600-line comments.
posted by blacklite at 7:44 PM on July 16, 2005

Ah, Jim, I see! A tiny bit of fiddling with the image modulation unit, a bit of kernel enhancement, some reconvolution of the knollistics, and the helmet practically popped off the desert floor!


posted by mwhybark at 12:12 AM on July 17, 2005

mwhybark wins.
posted by grouse at 4:12 AM on July 17, 2005

jimbob, I think your link's more impressive.
unfortunately, I'm much more skeptical of that one.
posted by Busithoth at 5:56 AM on July 17, 2005

Karl Marx?

SoL: turns out someone didn't sign a release waiver, so the show couldn't be shown as scheduled. It'll run in August instead. My bet is that the sick sad case of 'Little Audrey' is the one that wasn't cleared.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:40 AM on July 17, 2005

That's not Jesus Christ, that's Me. Sleeping.

Feh.
posted by erratic frog at 7:44 AM on July 18, 2005

Did anyone else get scared incase there was a very small chance that google had made one of those scary flash sites that suddenly changes into a monstrous face and a loud scream comes out of your speakers and makes you mess you pants?

Just me then.
posted by aqueousdan at 10:19 AM on July 18, 2005