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Flushed with pareidolia

Discover the psychology term for pareidolia and why seeing faces in random patterns fascinates us beyond religion.

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
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Pareidolia is the psychology term for seeing faces in random patterns. This usually gets air time due to some vaguely Christlike shape in a stain or something, but not every instance has to be religiously motivated. I don't want to ignore those secular ones, because, after all, I hate to let anything go to waste. Behold!

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This picture, taken by Mitchell Whitney, was snapped right after an, um, incident that required some vigorous plunging. The only conclusion is that the toilet itself was relieved when it was all over as well. I have a series of puns all trying to push their way out of my brain, but I'll let them go because it's been an exhausting week. I'm pooped. Tip o' the plumber's helper to Dan Durda.

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