Bunch of rocks (and one numbskull) in the news

Foolmewunz · 4th December 2008, 10:53 PM

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-...15171902?f=rss

Yep, I can see a big white unicorn eating a corn dog!

Any UKians heard of this before? Apparently this is Face on Mars comes home. Looking at the pictures and realizing that they're satellite imagery, you could probably find anything you want in fly-over pics of the Andes.
(But taking a cue from the Face on Mars dude, he's not telling anyone the coordinates... likely because he knows Phil Plait will get another satellite to fly by in different lighting conditions and come up with totally different images.)

ETA: Oh, really funny... The headline is that he's prepared to prove it. That would seem rather simple. Get down there and find evidence of man-made chisel marks and such. But no... he's got permission from the Peruvian government to do a closer fly-by and of course isn't telling us where. Do I hear "Geraldo - Giant Rocks" TV special in our future. He's looking for suckers to invest, I'm betting.

lionking · 4th December 2008, 11:52 PM

Google Earth has a lot to answer for.

The Atheist · 5th December 2008, 12:04 AM

I saw a cloud that looked like an elephant once.

People live in the clouds and make pretty shapes for us to look at.

Foolmewunz · 5th December 2008, 01:55 AM

What gets me, although it shouldn't knowing what the fabled MSM puts on the air, is that in this week's or month's news, they cover some idiotic claim like this as news.

Mumbai, Thailand, BoE reducing prime rate to lowest in 50+ years, the economy, twenty-five major retailers probably going out of business in Q1, some black fellow elected president,.... and they report on some feeb who sees barely discernible shapes in pictures of the Andes!

I saw this over lunch on television here. It shouldn't get me as angry as it does, but there were a couple of twits oohing and aahing over the pics. All I could say was, "It's a rock, stupid!" I nearly got into a fight, but I brandished my forkful of fish and chips and drove them off.

Cuddles · 5th December 2008, 04:12 AM

Do "Deformed Rabbit", it's my favourite.

Soapy Sam · 5th December 2008, 04:37 AM

Hogwash recipe.
Take 2 tectonic plates. Push one under the other.
Add rivers and stir.
Smoke Marijuana while observing results.

Spektator · 5th December 2008, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by Cuddles

Do "Deformed Rabbit", it's my favourite.

You made my day. Pterry deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature for that line alone.

Foolmewunz · 5th December 2008, 07:11 AM

Originally Posted by Soapy Sam

Hogwash recipe.
Take 2 tectonic plates. Push one under the other.
Add rivers and stir.
Smoke Marijuana while observing results.

Which reminds me..... While trying to find this story on the web to post it here I ran across another, actually interesting one. Did anyone see the bit about the 2600 year old stash they found in the Gobi? Seems that they'd segregated the male/female plants so they only left the potent stuff and buried the guy with his weed for the afterlife.

I knew there was a reason I was in China.

Big Les · 5th December 2008, 01:40 PM

This would be Mr William J. Veall, currently going by "Bill". This is his "project";

http://www.imagecare.co.uk/nascodex/

Big Les · 5th December 2008, 05:19 PM

More here;

http://cibercentre.cat/SacredLamb/Home.html

Lamb my arse.

Foolmewunz · 5th December 2008, 05:27 PM

Wow!

Thanks (I think.... I'm now dizzy....), Big Les. Wonderful pseudo-scientific garbage. I gather from all of that that he's been at this a while. So I reckon he's going to get his 15 minutes.

Steelmage · 5th December 2008, 06:36 PM

Okay, I do not see anything that they say is there on the mountain that they say is there.

jhunter1163 · 5th December 2008, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by Foolmewunz

Which reminds me..... While trying to find this story on the web to post it here I ran across another, actually interesting one. Did anyone see the bit about the 2600 year old stash they found in the Gobi? Seems that they'd segregated the male/female plants so they only left the potent stuff and buried the guy with his weed for the afterlife.

I knew there was a reason I was in China.

This was many centuries before the invention of Doritos. What did they do when they got the munchies?

screensnot · 5th December 2008, 06:49 PM

Wow that is amazing. But, I wonder why he didn't mention the formations 12km NE of the two faces. The ones that looked like Donald Trump, G. W. Bush, and Simon Cowell having a circle jerk.

Foolmewunz · 6th December 2008, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by jhunter1163

This was many centuries before the invention of Doritos. What did they do when they got the munchies?

Fried won tons, grasshopper. You have many miles to go before your journey is complete, apparently.

shadron · 6th December 2008, 04:10 AM

OK, just for grins I did a little analysis on the pics on Bro. Veall's images on his web page. On the first page he shows "altar" with the supposed writing on it; for those who are blind to his imagination, he shows another image on a "more..." page. The two are obviously extracted from the same image (first of all, no maps service is going to update some forgotten crag in the Andes very often, and for he second, all the snow patterns are identical). Now, Veall states at the bottom of the page that the images have been "lightly retouched to enhance definition for transmission over the Internet". Indeed. Unfortunately, the point of this all is in that "definition".

After rotating one image and then resizing it downward to match the other in resolution, here are the two images side by side:

Image3.jpg

The one on the left is the enhanced image on the second page. The enhancements include:
- touch up on the "letters" on the stone (apparently done in snow on the altar), particularly the first and third characters, but including all.
- all the surroundings except the altar are grayed out.
- the color on the altar is played up, particularly the green, which is only hinted at in the right image.
- the pic is stretched in the vertical direction about 12%, giving more room for the letters to be better depicted.

Now, NASA photo users enhance some of NASA's astronomical photographs (over and above the fact that many are false color images anyway) for more spectacular results in public consumption, but that's not really an attempt to deceive. This does appear to be. Why am I not surprised?

Shame on him for trying to con a poor country like Peru, anxious to get some tourist attention. Shame on them for believing him, if they bite.

shadron · 6th December 2008, 04:19 AM

Originally Posted by Foolmewunz

Originally Posted by jhunter1163

This was many centuries before the invention of Doritos. What did they do when they got the munchies?

Fried won tons, grasshopper. You have many miles to go before your journey is complete, apparently.

More likely fried grasshoppers, Won Ton, at least at a lower altitude. Though, you can't discount the Japanese connections there.

Wowbagger · 6th December 2008, 06:09 AM

It's just like the song says...

"Paredolia stikes deep..."

Big Les · 6th December 2008, 06:55 AM

Shadron - you mind if I incorporate your analysis into my blog post? It's rather splendid.

shadron · 6th December 2008, 07:35 AM

Have at it. PM or post the URL to your blog please. If you need an original of the image, just PM me.

Confuseling · 6th December 2008, 08:15 AM

When even Sky News doesn't take you very seriously it's time to nestle back into the warm embrace of obscurity.

biomorph · 6th December 2008, 09:04 AM

Of course there's always that hidden mystic message,

Answers on a postcard please......

Big Les · 6th December 2008, 11:38 AM

I love that! And thanks Shadron.

The Atheist · 6th December 2008, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by biomorph

Of course there's always that hidden mystic message,

How did you manage to circle the hand but miss the bleeding foot on the other side????!!11OmfG!1l;M!l

You've found Jesus' tomb.

biomorph · 6th December 2008, 05:46 PM

Missed that! LOL

Damn bigfoot gets everywhere

Foolmewunz · 8th December 2008, 02:26 AM

Originally Posted by shadron

More likely fried grasshoppers, Won Ton, at least at a lower altitude. Though, you can't discount the Japanese connections there.

Ha! I thought of appending that to my post. Funny thing is, fried grasshoppers (more accurately crickets) are a snack at Chez Foolmewunz... my significant other eats them all the time when having beer. She refers to them (now, after I coined the expression) as "gecko food".

sophia8 · 8th December 2008, 05:59 AM

Looking at that 'sacred lamb' picture, all I see is a polar bear screwing a dolphin. (Honest)

(I am NOT drunk)

CORed · 21st December 2008, 02:35 PM

A lamb, and an oryx. I'm pretty sure neither of those animals were anywhere near the Andes in 4000 BC. Of course, I'm sure that just proves that it was global civilization (probably from Atlantis) that carved the "sculptures". At least the face on Mars actually looked like a face with the right lighting conditions.

Wow! That looks like a lamb if you squint and cross your eyes. It's a sculpture!

Autolite · 22nd December 2008, 10:46 AM

Well, if you tilt your head to the right and squint your eyes a bit, it kinda looks like Annette Funicello on a bad hair day...

JoeTheJuggler · 22nd December 2008, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Foolmewunz

Which reminds me..... While trying to find this story on the web to post it here I ran across another, actually interesting one. Did anyone see the bit about the 2600 year old stash they found in the Gobi? Seems that they'd segregated the male/female plants so they only left the potent stuff and buried the guy with his weed for the afterlife.

I knew there was a reason I was in China.

Yes, I believe that find dated to the Chong Dynasty.

When they got to the tomb door, they heard a voice inside saying, "Dave's not here, man!"

Rrose Selavy · 22nd December 2008, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Cuddles

Do "Deformed Rabbit", it's my favourite.

I see giant pink rabbit on Earth...
http://googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=...002233,0.00655

JcR · 22nd December 2008, 12:27 PM

Should I be paying more attention to my pet rock
after seeing this ?

Yes I have a pet rock... Keeps me lonely to.

4th December 2008, 10:53 PM	#1
Foolmewunz Grammar Resistance Leader TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pattaya, Thailand Posts: 41,468	Bunch of rocks (and one numbskull) in the news http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-...15171902?f=rss Yep, I can see a big white unicorn eating a corn dog! Any UKians heard of this before? Apparently this is Face on Mars comes home. Looking at the pictures and realizing that they're satellite imagery, you could probably find anything you want in fly-over pics of the Andes. (But taking a cue from the Face on Mars dude, he's not telling anyone the coordinates... likely because he knows Phil Plait will get another satellite to fly by in different lighting conditions and come up with totally different images.) ETA: Oh, really funny... The headline is that he's prepared to prove it. That would seem rather simple. Get down there and find evidence of man-made chisel marks and such. But no... he's got permission from the Peruvian government to do a closer fly-by and of course isn't telling us where. Do I hear "Geraldo - Giant Rocks" TV special in our future. He's looking for suckers to invest, I'm betting.
	__________________ Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable. Last edited by Foolmewunz; 4th December 2008 at 10:55 PM.

4th December 2008, 11:52 PM	#2
lionking In the Peanut Gallery Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 49,311	Google Earth has a lot to answer for.
	__________________ A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Sir Winston Churchill

5th December 2008, 12:04 AM	#3
The Atheist The Grammar Tyrant Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 31,717	I saw a cloud that looked like an elephant once. People live in the clouds and make pretty shapes for us to look at.
	__________________ The point of equilibrium has passed; satire and current events are now indistinguishable.

5th December 2008, 01:55 AM	#4
Foolmewunz Grammar Resistance Leader TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pattaya, Thailand Posts: 41,468	What gets me, although it shouldn't knowing what the fabled MSM puts on the air, is that in this week's or month's news, they cover some idiotic claim like this as news. Mumbai, Thailand, BoE reducing prime rate to lowest in 50+ years, the economy, twenty-five major retailers probably going out of business in Q1, some black fellow elected president,.... and they report on some feeb who sees barely discernible shapes in pictures of the Andes! I saw this over lunch on television here. It shouldn't get me as angry as it does, but there were a couple of twits oohing and aahing over the pics. All I could say was, "It's a rock, stupid!" I nearly got into a fight, but I brandished my forkful of fish and chips and drove them off.
	__________________ Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

5th December 2008, 07:11 AM	#8
Foolmewunz Grammar Resistance Leader TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pattaya, Thailand Posts: 41,468	Originally Posted by Soapy Sam Hogwash recipe. Take 2 tectonic plates. Push one under the other. Add rivers and stir. Smoke Marijuana while observing results. Which reminds me..... While trying to find this story on the web to post it here I ran across another, actually interesting one. Did anyone see the bit about the 2600 year old stash they found in the Gobi? Seems that they'd segregated the male/female plants so they only left the potent stuff and buried the guy with his weed for the afterlife. I knew there was a reason I was in China.
	__________________ Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

5th December 2008, 04:12 AM	#5
Cuddles Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 18,636	Do "Deformed Rabbit", it's my favourite.

5th December 2008, 04:37 AM	#6
Soapy Sam Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 28,750	Hogwash recipe. Take 2 tectonic plates. Push one under the other. Add rivers and stir. Smoke Marijuana while observing results.

5th December 2008, 06:59 AM	#7
Spektator Watching . . . always watching. Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Southeastern USA Posts: 2,040	Originally Posted by Cuddles Do "Deformed Rabbit", it's my favourite. You made my day. Pterry deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature for that line alone.

5th December 2008, 01:40 PM	#9
Big Les Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: UK Posts: 5,048	This would be Mr William J. Veall, currently going by "Bill". This is his "project"; http://www.imagecare.co.uk/nascodex/

5th December 2008, 05:19 PM	#10
Big Les Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: UK Posts: 5,048	More here; http://cibercentre.cat/SacredLamb/Home.html Lamb my arse.
	Last edited by Big Les; 5th December 2008 at 05:26 PM.

5th December 2008, 05:27 PM	#11
Foolmewunz Grammar Resistance Leader TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pattaya, Thailand Posts: 41,468	Wow! Thanks (I think.... I'm now dizzy....), Big Les. Wonderful pseudo-scientific garbage. I gather from all of that that he's been at this a while. So I reckon he's going to get his 15 minutes.
	__________________ Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

5th December 2008, 06:36 PM	#12
Steelmage Muse Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 656	Okay, I do not see anything that they say is there on the mountain that they say is there.
Steelmage Muse Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 656

5th December 2008, 06:42 PM	#13
jhunter1163 beer-swilling semiliterate Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Connecticut, or King Arthur's Court. Hard to tell sometimes. Posts: 25,455	Originally Posted by Foolmewunz Which reminds me..... While trying to find this story on the web to post it here I ran across another, actually interesting one. Did anyone see the bit about the 2600 year old stash they found in the Gobi? Seems that they'd segregated the male/female plants so they only left the potent stuff and buried the guy with his weed for the afterlife. I knew there was a reason I was in China. This was many centuries before the invention of Doritos. What did they do when they got the munchies?
	__________________ A møøse ønce bit my sister

5th December 2008, 06:49 PM	#14
screensnot Scholar Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 118	Wow that is amazing. But, I wonder why he didn't mention the formations 12km NE of the two faces. The ones that looked like Donald Trump, G. W. Bush, and Simon Cowell having a circle jerk.
screensnot Scholar Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 118

6th December 2008, 01:49 AM	#15
Foolmewunz Grammar Resistance Leader TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pattaya, Thailand Posts: 41,468	Originally Posted by jhunter1163 This was many centuries before the invention of Doritos. What did they do when they got the munchies? Fried won tons, grasshopper. You have many miles to go before your journey is complete, apparently.
	__________________ Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

6th December 2008, 04:10 AM	#16
shadron Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 5,918	OK, just for grins I did a little analysis on the pics on Bro. Veall's images on his web page. On the first page he shows "altar" with the supposed writing on it; for those who are blind to his imagination, he shows another image on a "more..." page. The two are obviously extracted from the same image (first of all, no maps service is going to update some forgotten crag in the Andes very often, and for he second, all the snow patterns are identical). Now, Veall states at the bottom of the page that the images have been "lightly retouched to enhance definition for transmission over the Internet". Indeed. Unfortunately, the point of this all is in that "definition". After rotating one image and then resizing it downward to match the other in resolution, here are the two images side by side: Image3.jpg The one on the left is the enhanced image on the second page. The enhancements include: - touch up on the "letters" on the stone (apparently done in snow on the altar), particularly the first and third characters, but including all. - all the surroundings except the altar are grayed out. - the color on the altar is played up, particularly the green, which is only hinted at in the right image. - the pic is stretched in the vertical direction about 12%, giving more room for the letters to be better depicted. Now, NASA photo users enhance some of NASA's astronomical photographs (over and above the fact that many are false color images anyway) for more spectacular results in public consumption, but that's not really an attempt to deceive. This does appear to be. Why am I not surprised? Shame on him for trying to con a poor country like Peru, anxious to get some tourist attention. Shame on them for believing him, if they bite.
shadron Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 5,918	Last edited by shadron; 6th December 2008 at 04:22 AM.

6th December 2008, 04:19 AM	#17
shadron Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 5,918	Originally Posted by Foolmewunz Originally Posted by jhunter1163 This was many centuries before the invention of Doritos. What did they do when they got the munchies? Fried won tons, grasshopper. You have many miles to go before your journey is complete, apparently. More likely fried grasshoppers, Won Ton, at least at a lower altitude. Though, you can't discount the Japanese connections there.
shadron Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 5,918	Last edited by shadron; 6th December 2008 at 04:25 AM.

6th December 2008, 06:09 AM	#18
Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Westchester County, NY (when not in space) Posts: 15,541	It's just like the song says... "Paredolia stikes deep..."
	__________________ WARNING: Phrases in this post may sound meaner than they were intended to be. SkeptiCamp NYC: http://www.skepticampnyc.org/ An open conference on science and skepticism, where *you* could be a presenter! By the way, my first name is NOT Bowerick!!!!

6th December 2008, 06:55 AM	#19
Big Les Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: UK Posts: 5,048	Shadron - you mind if I incorporate your analysis into my blog post? It's rather splendid.

6th December 2008, 07:35 AM	#20
shadron Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 5,918	Have at it. PM or post the URL to your blog please. If you need an original of the image, just PM me.
shadron Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 5,918

6th December 2008, 08:15 AM	#21
Confuseling Irreligious fanatic Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 1,243	When even Sky News doesn't take you very seriously it's time to nestle back into the warm embrace of obscurity.
	__________________ Drs_Res: "P.S. You have a right to free speech, but you don't have a right to be listened to." link Join my petition. Fight the vile slurp spider scourge. Harass Darat. Can you afford not to?

6th December 2008, 09:04 AM	#22
biomorph Muse Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 852	Of course there's always that hidden mystic message, Answers on a postcard please......
biomorph Muse Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 852

6th December 2008, 11:38 AM	#23
Big Les Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: UK Posts: 5,048	I love that! And thanks Shadron.

6th December 2008, 12:04 PM	#24
The Atheist The Grammar Tyrant Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 31,717	Originally Posted by biomorph Of course there's always that hidden mystic message, How did you manage to circle the hand but miss the bleeding foot on the other side????!!11OmfG!1l;M!l You've found Jesus' tomb.
	__________________ The point of equilibrium has passed; satire and current events are now indistinguishable.

6th December 2008, 05:46 PM	#25
biomorph Muse Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 852	Missed that! LOL Damn bigfoot gets everywhere
biomorph Muse Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 852

8th December 2008, 02:26 AM	#26
Foolmewunz Grammar Resistance Leader TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pattaya, Thailand Posts: 41,468	Originally Posted by shadron More likely fried grasshoppers, Won Ton, at least at a lower altitude. Though, you can't discount the Japanese connections there. Ha! I thought of appending that to my post. Funny thing is, fried grasshoppers (more accurately crickets) are a snack at Chez Foolmewunz... my significant other eats them all the time when having beer. She refers to them (now, after I coined the expression) as "gecko food".
	__________________ Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable.

8th December 2008, 05:59 AM	#27
sophia8 Master Poster Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2,457	Looking at that 'sacred lamb' picture, all I see is a polar bear screwing a dolphin. (Honest) (I am NOT drunk)
sophia8 Master Poster Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2,457	__________________ "Nature is floods and famines and earthquakes and viruses and little blue-footed booby babies getting their brains pecked out by their stronger siblings! ....Nature doesn't care about me, or about anybody in particular - nature can be terrifying! Why do they even put words like 'natural' on products like shampoo, like it's automatically a good thing? I mean, sulfuric acid is natural!" -Julia Sweeney

21st December 2008, 02:35 PM	#28
CORed Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central City, Colorado, USA Posts: 10,479	A lamb, and an oryx. I'm pretty sure neither of those animals were anywhere near the Andes in 4000 BC. Of course, I'm sure that just proves that it was global civilization (probably from Atlantis) that carved the "sculptures". At least the face on Mars actually looked like a face with the right lighting conditions. Wow! That looks like a lamb if you squint and cross your eyes. It's a sculpture!
	Last edited by CORed; 21st December 2008 at 02:40 PM.

22nd December 2008, 10:46 AM	#29
Autolite Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,812	Well, if you tilt your head to the right and squint your eyes a bit, it kinda looks like Annette Funicello on a bad hair day...
	__________________ "When they come around sweet talkin', don't listen" - Willie Stark

22nd December 2008, 10:55 AM	#30
JoeTheJuggler Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 27,766	Originally Posted by Foolmewunz Which reminds me..... While trying to find this story on the web to post it here I ran across another, actually interesting one. Did anyone see the bit about the 2600 year old stash they found in the Gobi? Seems that they'd segregated the male/female plants so they only left the potent stuff and buried the guy with his weed for the afterlife. I knew there was a reason I was in China. Yes, I believe that find dated to the Chong Dynasty. When they got to the tomb door, they heard a voice inside saying, "Dave's not here, man!"
	__________________ "That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way." —Ponder Stibbons

22nd December 2008, 11:41 AM	#31
Rrose Selavy Stranded in Sub-Atomica Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 3,395	Originally Posted by Cuddles Do "Deformed Rabbit", it's my favourite. I see giant pink rabbit on Earth... http://googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=...002233,0.00655

22nd December 2008, 12:27 PM	#32
JcR Banned Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,206	Should I be paying more attention to my pet rock after seeing this ? Yes I have a pet rock... Keeps me lonely to.
JcR Banned Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,206