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Pseudofossils, Pareidolia, And Other Rorschachery


Pilobolus

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I've seen pumpkins at Halloween that have looked less scary than that one. That pseudo-turtle was not having a good day when it fossilized. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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  • 2 months later...

extremely rare Louisiana duck-billed birdstone

D0691FD0-67EC-46C5-8135-654BF3B95515.jpeg

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"Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he.

Watson and Holmes in "The Crooked Man" ~ Conan Doyle

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15 minutes ago, MyGodMagma said:

extremely rare Louisiana duck-billed birdstone

 

Now that really quacks me up! :P

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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1 hour ago, digit said:

Now that really quacks me up! :P

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

:eyeroll:

Goodness.! 

That pun is so bad I feel slightly ill. 

Yup, definitely going down with some sort of mallardy. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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7 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

:eyeroll:

Goodness.! 

That pun is so bad I feel slightly ill. 

Yup, definitely going down with some sort of mallardy. 

I learned a new word today : a mallard is a duck (but not Daffy's kind) pun.

For example :

7 hours ago, digit said:

duck-tor..... :blink:

Or... mallard-malady equals mallardy.

Oh my goodness ! I'm qu(r)acking !

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"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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10 hours ago, digit said:

Then you better call a duck-tor

But not a quack! 

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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, also are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. - Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was given a suggestion to post this picture in this thread, for what it looks like......though the rock is 100% legit.

Call it Wildfire Opal, though could also be called Bacon or Bubble Opal depending on who is selling it.

Either way I think it's beautiful rock.

 

Hindsight I think I should find another method for a background when taking pictures of items so it's a more clear picture of the item, less distraction from the item.

 

IMG_5309.jpeg

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On 3/9/2020 at 12:39 PM, Abyss said:

I was given a suggestion to post this picture in this thread, for what it looks like......though the rock is 100% legit.

Call it Wildfire Opal, though could also be called Bacon or Bubble Opal depending on who is selling it.

Either way I think it's beautiful rock.

 

Hindsight I think I should find another method for a background when taking pictures of items so it's a more clear picture of the item, less distraction from the item.

 

IMG_5309.jpeg

That looks so hot!

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  • 5 weeks later...
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33 minutes ago, Brett Breakin' Rocks said:

It's a fossilized skull from our favorite auction site ... 

 

Worth a fortune, too.  I found a fossil duck once that must be worth a few bills. I posted it here on the forum some time ago. 

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Start the day with a smile and get it over with.

 

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2 minutes ago, Pagurus said:

Worth a fortune, too. 

Indeed .... oh man, I am digging your duck-in-a-rock.

 

B

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The essexella asherae in this concretion tried sending the bat signal. It's a pseudofossil on a real fossil.

bat.png

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On 9/19/2014 at 2:26 PM, Pilobolus said:

Post 'em if you got 'em...

An armored jaw-less fish...obviously.

post-12980-0-84990500-1411151187_thumb.jpg  post-0-0-38041300-1411151196_thumb.jpg  post-0-0-68003000-1411151201_thumb.jpg  post-0-0-57922000-1411151210_thumb.jpg

Probably just horn coral too. If you look down the 'snout' is there three twisting lines the spiral a bit going down the body of it, sorta like looking headon at the old spiral Nerf footballs, best way to describe

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19 hours ago, Pagurus said:

I found a fossil duck once that must be worth a few bills.

:default_rofl:

 

 

I've been linking to this page and the Wikipedia page on pareidolia way too much lately. It's good to see some pseudo-fossils and appreciate them for their mimicry without having to explain why we naturally see faces (and Bat Signals) where they aren't. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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15 minutes ago, digit said:

:default_rofl:

 

 

I've been linking to this page and the Wikipedia page on pareidolia way too much lately. It's good to see some pseudo-fossils and appreciate them for their mimicry without having to explain why we naturally see faces (and Bat Signals) where they aren't. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Our job description as paleontology educators is to cheerfully help all posters with fossilized embryos, dinosaur heads, mushrooms etc. even when it seems like a Sisyphean task. 
 

I am surprised by how few fossil enthusiasts and professional paleontologists know what pareidolia is; they know the concept, just not the term.

Edited by DPS Ammonite
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My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

See my Arizona Paleontology Guide    link  The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere.       

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What is sad is that people react negatively when they are told that it is their pareidolia that is making them see things that are not really there. They assume any obscure term with a Greek origin is some mental infirmity like schizophrenia. Nobody would react so negatively to something like 'déjà vu' but that concept is more widely known and understood. Our membership does a really excellent job at providing information, facts, and logic to counter all of the T-rex eggs, "petrified" mushrooms, and various heads, hearts, and other soft tissue organs that people bring to us. We do so cheerfully in hopes of spreading information and possibly gaining a new member who has an interest in old dead things and appreciates our forum for what it is--welcoming. There is a fine line between stubborn behavior and trollishness and staff usually quickly steps in to bring discussions to an end before they run off the rails when our patience is strained. Our goal on this forum (stated or otherwise) is to spread fossil information and foster community. That sets us up as an easy mark to trolls with too much time on their hands. Our task as staff is to see that things run smoothly on the forum with the minimal of disruption and often that means shutting down obvious trolls or limiting responses from new members who bring in rude and abusive replies that may fly on other social media sites but are unwelcome here. Many a new member has commented on the welcoming vibe and that is to the credit of all the members who patiently try to drag new naive members slowly up the learning curve. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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Thankfully it is just fossils and geology here....I won't torture you with the "amoeba skulls" and other freshwater homunculi I get to deal with almost daily from undergrads. This is reason #23,421 why I don't teach. I am running out of drywall to put my head through...

 

:heartylaugh:

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On 12/1/2020 at 2:57 AM, GreatWhiteAmmonite said:

Probably just horn coral too. If you look down the 'snout' is there three twisting lines the spiral a bit going down the body of it, sorta like looking headon at the old spiral Nerf footballs, best way to describe

It's not a horn coral. 

 

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On 11/30/2020 at 1:53 PM, Pagurus said:

 

Worth a fortune, too.  I found a fossil duck once that must be worth a few bills. I posted it here on the forum some time ago. 

I just took a real quick look. I got news, it's a baby goose.

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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On 01/12/2020 at 4:43 PM, digit said:

What is sad is that people react negatively when they are told that it is their pareidolia that is making them see things that are not really there. They assume any obscure term with a Greek origin is some mental infirmity like schizophrenia. Nobody would react so negatively to something like 'déjà vu' but that concept is more widely known and understood. Our membership does a really excellent job at providing information, facts, and logic to counter all of the T-rex eggs, "petrified" mushrooms, and various heads, hearts, and other soft tissue organs that people bring to us. We do so cheerfully in hopes of spreading information and possibly gaining a new member who has an interest in old dead things and appreciates our forum for what it is--welcoming. There is a fine line between stubborn behavior and trollishness and staff usually quickly steps in to bring discussions to an end before they run off the rails when our patience is strained. Our goal on this forum (stated or otherwise) is to spread fossil information and foster community. That sets us up as an easy mark to trolls with too much time on their hands. Our task as staff is to see that things run smoothly on the forum with the minimal of disruption and often that means shutting down obvious trolls or limiting responses from new members who bring in rude and abusive replies that may fly on other social media sites but are unwelcome here. Many a new member has commented on the welcoming vibe and that is to the credit of all the members who patiently try to drag new naive members slowly up the learning curve. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

That's what i like here, i'm alsot on a french forum where there is much more laxism, except by one of the moderators.

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theme-celtique.png.bbc4d5765974b5daba0607d157eecfed.png.7c09081f292875c94595c562a862958c.png

"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

photo-thumb-12286.jpg.878620deab804c0e4e53f3eab4625b4c.jpg

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