This is a post by guest blogger Ellen Bulger
Photograph: Quasi Cryptic © Ellen Bulger, all rights reserved
People see all kinds of things in the random patterns of clouds, wood grain, inkblots and even in the carbonization of food. The browning of buttery bread, tortillas or cheese releases delicious flavors, not messages from on high. It is one thing to see a bunny in a fluffy cloud. When you are seeing a deity in a mold stain on drywall, you really need to ask yourself some hard questions. Why would a deity want to be represented in mildew or even Velveeta? And should you cut back on your drinking?
While people often see things that do not exist, the flip side is we often don’t recognize things that are in full view. So I offer this photograph. Can you see what is really here? And if so, how long did it take you?
23 comments
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thisisaturingtest
August 16, 2012 at 12:24 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Obviously, this is a picture of the “subatomic particles embedded with hopeful intentions” that I read about here, in Ed’s article.
Am I close? It’s either that, or “I give up.”
richardelguru
August 16, 2012 at 12:56 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Mmmmmm it’s lime jello…
Maybe I should try again after lunch?
Stevarious
August 16, 2012 at 14:31 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Is it a bug that can walk on water and some pond scum?
Emu Sam
August 16, 2012 at 16:51 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Some sort of cord, perhaps rubber or plastic – I see a bit of a rose stamped on the upper rectangle – suspended in a liquid or gel with green on top, including bubbles and flecks of dead animal or plant parts. The somewhat streaky nature of the bubbles hints that it’s solid, not liquid, and I feel like the bubbles are also placing some limits on scale.
I think there might be a bee near the rose. That or knitting needles or TV antenna.
Zooming in a bit, what I thought was mucky water seems more solid, almost fruit-like. Perhaps jello separated by a rubber divider with algae on top? sprouts? and someone changed a light with a shade full of insects right over it.
The picture was well-lit, and there’s a circular shadow. I’m guessing outside, rim of a bowl.
I keep coming back to thinking kiwi fruit, because of the seeds, but I think the scale and pattern are far off for that.
thisisaturingtest
August 16, 2012 at 19:02 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You know how sometimes you want to use a word, but that word dances just out of reach of your tongue (there’s a word for this, but I can’t think what it is)? Yeah…(sigh) I’m not even that close to knowing what this is. Best I can tell, it’s an end-on, cross-sectional view of something sliced where there appears to be a circular shadow. I give. What is it?
F
August 16, 2012 at 19:41 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Dunno. What is that goop on the strangely pattern moulded styrofoam?
Ciaphas
August 16, 2012 at 23:01 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Looks like a couple plastic watering cans in water with a bunch of algae.
lrah
August 20, 2012 at 05:33 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yeah, I agree. Presumably in a rain barrel, considering the shape of the shadow.
judykomorita
August 17, 2012 at 08:32 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Isn’t that the insignia of the Invisible Pink Unicorn?
Die Anyway
August 17, 2012 at 12:43 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Nope. Looked for 5 minutes and could not determine either a real value (garbage floating in a pond?) nor a pareidolian value… (not Jesus or the devil or two dogs humping, or any such thing). Maybe I’m too literal?
sumdum
August 17, 2012 at 17:03 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Is that perhaps duckweed ?
Trebuchet
August 18, 2012 at 10:36 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Too cryptic for me, by far! I give. What is it?
I’m getting no pareidolia out of it whatsoever.
What I do see: A white thing and a pink thing (perhaps two ends of the same thing?) floating amidst pond scum. Possibly duckweed, but I think perhaps not. My estimate of scale: White/Pink things perhaps 1.5cm wide, 3 or 4 cm long before they narrow down into a sort of cord or hose.
Beth
August 18, 2012 at 17:24 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
The bottom of a pair of shoes?
Stevarious
August 18, 2012 at 17:36 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It’s obviously some things in some green stuff. I don’t understand why everyone is having so much trouble with it.
lochaber
August 18, 2012 at 23:26 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
inside of a slurpy/juice machine/dispenser type thing?
It looks like the protruding plastic are some sort of mixing type things, circular in shape, with a few protrusions.
The patterns in the bubbles seem to look like it was recently mixed/churned/whatever.
and the circular light area- makes it look like peering down into a vat from a circular opening.
not sure what images I’m supposed to imagine is there though
MarkNS
August 19, 2012 at 07:31 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
My guess is a mixer of some type mixing some sort of food that I would not eat.
MarkNS
August 19, 2012 at 11:25 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
When do we hear the answer?
Brianne Bilyeu
August 19, 2012 at 11:42 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
The answer will be revealed next Tuesday when Ellen puts up her next post!
Sheila Crosby
August 19, 2012 at 13:44 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
My first thought was “stuff floating in a stagnant pond”. But the white and pinkish curves are remarkably regular. Is this something or other in a food mixer?
trazan
August 19, 2012 at 15:37 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
There is a partially hidden snail relief on the pink part. It is facing left in the picture.
Yellow Thursday
August 19, 2012 at 21:10 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I agree with Ciaphas. It appears to be two watering cans submerged in water with algae or duckweed floating on top. Took me 10 minutes or more to see it, though.
lochaber
August 19, 2012 at 21:17 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Gah, I don’t know how I missed Ciaphas’ post…
yeah, now that I read that, I completely see it, I had been wondering about that dark spot in the lower left, which now I believe is the opening to one of the watering cans.
Good call Ciaphas.
(and I also realize that I have previously revealed to the world that despite ingesting a fair amount of them, I have no clue what an edible slurpy is supposed to look like…)
D-Dave
August 20, 2012 at 08:42 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Is it a close-up of a cat’s eye marble, maybe? That’s my best guess.