Say What You See…
The Virgin Mary toast that sold for 28000 USD on eBay
… Or rather what you don’t.
It’s no surprise, given that the brain is designed to seek out familiar things. However, sometimes the ability to see something that isn’t really there is quite intriguing and just a little bit daft.
In the same way as every newly alighted train passenger is the friend you are waiting for, it stands to reason that other things that are important to us will influence our visual perception; like perceiving faces in the clouds for example, only that’s still not weird enough.
The BBC News site has offered a number of articles describing the mysterious appearance of deities in foodstuffs, most recently the Arabic name for God and the name of Mohammed on a piece of beef in Nigeria.
There’s plenty more where that came from, including Jesus on a chapati and the Mother Teresa cinnamon bun that was stolen.
It’s pretty obvious there are psychological reasons behind these apparently mystical events, not that any are mentioned in the articles themselves (links below). This is rather useful if you’re looking for a decent assignment source, as it’s not just Virgin Mary Toast stories which lend themselves to a good psychological bashing.
The key is to have a good read around the various news and newspaper sites and if you find yourself thinking ‘I know exactly why that happened’ then you may well have struck assignment gold.
Don’t forget articles need to be less than two years old - some of those listed below are not.
BBC ‘Holy Food’ Articles:
‘Allah meat’ astounds Nigerians
India marvels at ‘miracle chapati’
Christmas thief steals ‘Nun Bun’
Woman ‘blessed by the holy toast’
Message from Allah ‘in tomato’
Caravan park ‘Christ’ draws the faithful
Tropical fish ‘has Allah marking’
Tags: A2, article ideas, assignment, holy food, module 2543, Practical Research Project