Ghost Illusion

If you haven't read the explanation of this scary illusion click here now and read it before further viewing.

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Confessions of a Blog Explosion Junkie

One short break from illusions.



The internet is a large ever expanding place. In this vast ocean how can you find interesting Reads. One way is to join . They advertise it as a way to get traffic to your Blog, but in truth it is an addictive trap.



You get traffic to your blog by reading other blogs (the trap). They have set up an interface that encourages drive-by blog reading (addictive). You read a blog for at least 30 seconds then click the button and you are sent to another blog at random. Each blog you read earns you credit toward having others read your blog.



Hi, My name is Walt and I'm a Blog Explosion addict.



Most of the time I find myself viewing a blog for much longer then 30 seconds or I blogroll it and move on and read it the next time it shows on my blogroll as being updated. Reading other blogs at random has given me a wider outlook on what makes a good blog and creative things that can be done. Try surfing the Blog Explosion today.



Sure it might get you some more traffic to your blog, but it also makes you feel part of a larger community.



Cao of Cao's Blog has this to say about Blog Explosion.

Blog Explosion has afforded me to experience the blogs of hundreds of people, each for only 30 seconds. It’s a FAST way to get hooked up to blogs you’d like to read. You’ve got 30 seconds to get my attention, if you don’t, then I’m gone. But the more I see, the more I realize that…something catches my eye, I’m gonna stay a while. And I’m gonna bookmark you to look some more later. And I’ll send you a comment. And I’ll rate your blog. And I’ll start to post comments, and eventually, I’ll add you to my blogroll.

What you’ve got isn’t going to appeal to everyone. But don’t be discouraged. People will surf by you or over you and you might wonder what you’re doing wrong. It takes time for people to find you, even through Blog Explosion. But they will find you. Once you have regular readers, it’s up to you to keep them.

Tips To Using Blog Explosion

• If you’re going to use Blog Explosion, don’t forget to use your referral link. You’re missing out if you’re not using that; because you earn hits on your blog from the traffic people under you earn. You get 10% of their hits. So if 10 people are earning 100 credits each, you’re missing out on 100 credits just by not using your referral link.

When I’m gone all day and come home from work, I notice that my site counter has been whizzing upward. I earn credits without even surfing blogs on Blog Explosion. That’s the beauty of it. I earn them through my referrals and their referrals. People have signed up under me and that’s why I will continue to get hits from Blog Explosion, regardless of my own surfage (is that a word?).

• If there are other blogs that you like, don’t hesitate to invite them to join your Blog Explosion. Especially if you like those blogs, why not ask them to join Blog Explosion and see them in the rotation when you surf? Why not get credits on the blogs you already enjoy reading?

• Next, Surf Blog Explosion. This is the easiest way to find blogs that you may like. So what if you spend thirty seconds looking at a blog you don’t like. If you don’t like it, do both the blogger and yourself a favor, click the “Do Not View” button. You won’t see that blog anymore and the blogger won’t waste a credit on you. It makes Blog Explosion surfer friendly for you and helps that blogger use his credits on other potential readers.

If you have any other ideas for utilizing Blog Explosion, then go ahead and post a comment!

Buzz of Buzzstuff comments on Blog Explosion.

First and foremost, I think that BE is generally very good. It is not perfect but, then again, what is, right? BE is a tremendous vehicle for "speed surfing" with a quick 30 second pop and then BAM! you're on your way to the next site or maybe even to some of those elusive Mystery Credits.



I honestly think that BE needs to do away with the ratings system. They are really unnecessary and have caused quite a bit of grief to a lot of people. These ratings have really brought out the petty and mean spirited side of way too many bloggers. There's a reason that a lot of bloggers don't go to one of the many blog reviewing sites. They simply don't wish to be rated and yet BE forces these bloggers to allow it. I would much rather see a "recently updated" list on their sidebar but maybe that's just me.



Now, as for the BE bloggers themselves.... I would really like to see them (maybe you?) stop complaining that none of the 30 second visitors are commenting. It's ok. Don't beg for comments. If someone is interested in your site they will stay and read. Even if they stay and read, they only MIGHT comment. Most people don't comment most of the time and that's actually a good thing. Can you imagine if everyone commented on every post on every site they visited? No one would have any time to eat or sleep! They'd all be too busy reading and writing comments! And if the reader is not interested in your latest post, they'll move on. There's nothing wrong with that. You are getting exposure and, really, you should be happy with that. Maybe your next post will tickle their fancy.



I would also like to see BE surfers quit complaining about the sites that they are hitting. So you don't like knitting blogs. Or mommy blogs. Or maybe you can't stand political blogs. Well, just suck it up, man! These folks are just out there doing their thing just like you're out there doing yours. If you hate the site so much that you feel the need to post about how much you hate it maybe you should just click to the next one and give up that 1/2 a hit.



So I guess that about sums up my feelings. Overall, very good. One of the biggest things to happen to blogging since Blogrolling.com, I'm guessing. And with just a few tweaks it could be even better. If you're a BE surfer and you've read to this point, nice job. I believe that your timer has ticked down to 'GO' and you are free to head on over to your next site. I hope you like it! There are some real gems out there.

READ MORE - Confessions of a Blog Explosion Junkie

Welcome to Illusions Etc...

I started blogging late 2004 and decided that I wanted to explore the area of optical illusions. I have always found illusions to be fascinating and plan to explore in this blog the various illusions out there.

I am glad that you decided to drop in and I hope that you enjoy the selection presented so far. If you have a particular favorite please email it to me and I will give it a place in this gallery of optical illusions.

One Last item at the top of this page there is a warning. I have repeated it below. If you are aware that you may be prone to the below dangers please proceed with caution and understand the warning is not a joke. Read and be prepared.

Caution! Some of the pictures on this website can cause dizziness or possibly epileptic seizures. The latter happens when the brain can't handle the conflicting information from your two eyes. If you start feeling unwell when using this website, immediately cover one eye with your hand and then leave the page. Do not close your eyes because that can make the attack worse.

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Saturday Night Live: Land Shark

Back to Land Shark Optical Illusion

Via Saturday Night Live Transcripts


75d: Candice Bergen / Esther Phillips

Jaws II

Woman #1.....Gilda Radner
Land Shark.....Chevy Chase
Matt Hooper.....John Belushi
Sheriff.....Dan Aykroyd
Woman #2.....Laraine Newman
Woman #3.....Jane Curtin
Woman #4.....Candice Bergen
Jehovah's Witness.....Garrett Morris

[ Music: "Jaws Theme" ]

[ open on interior, apartment ]

[ doorbell sounds ]

Woman #1: [ moves to chain-locked door ] Who is it?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Mrs. Ramilarghh??

Woman #1: Who is it?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Plumber..

Woman #1: Plumber? I didn't ask for a plumber. Who is it?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Telegram.

Woman #1: Oh. Telegram. Just a moment.

[ unlocks door, and opens it. The head of the shark appears, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the hallway as she screams. ]

[ SUPER: "Jaws II" ]

[ dissolve to Sheriff's Office, Sheriff and Matt Hooper looking over a three-foot long metal tub covered with a white cloth ]

Matt Hooper: [ looks under cloth and winces ] Oh, my God!

Sheriff: What was it?

Matt Hooper: Land shark. The cleverest species of them all.

Sheriff:

[ dissolve to Woman #2 in her apartment ]

[ Music: "Jaws Theme ]

[ a knock at the door ]

Woman #2: [ appoaches the door ] Yes?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Mrs. Arlsbergerhh??

Woman #2: Who?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Mrs. Johnannesburrrr??

Woman #2: Who is it?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Flowers.

Woman #2: Flowers? From whom?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Plumber, ma'am..

Woman #2: I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Candygram.

Woman #2: Candygram, my foot! Get out of here before I call the proper authorities. You're the shark, and you know it.

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] I'm only a dolphin, ma'am..

Woman #2: A dolphin? Well.. okay..

[ she opens the door, as the shark pulls her screaming into the hallway ]

[ dissolve to Sheriff's Office, Matt Hooper lifts up cloth napkin covering plate, then winces and looks away ]

Sheriff: What is it?

Matt Hooper: Egg salad again. [ removes sandwich from under napkin, and takes a bite ]

[ dissolve to Woman #3 in her apartment, Woman #2 putting on make-up to go out ]

[ door buzzes ]

Woman #3: Who is it?

Land Shark: [ muffled voice ] Land Shark.

Woman #3: [ laughing ] Oh, Walter!

[ she opens door laughing, but is attacked and dragged into the hall by the Land Shark ]

[ dissolve to Sheriff's Office, Sheriff on phone looking horrified into another rtub covered with cloth ]

Sheriff: [ on phone ] Hello, Walter. I have some good news, and I have some bad news. First, the good news. There's a party tonight at my house. Now, the bad news: you'll be coming stag. Goodbye, Walter..

[ dissolve to Woman #4 in apartment, listening to the radio ]

Radio: ...considered the cleverest of all sharks. Unlike the great white, which tends to inhabit the waters of harbors and recreational beach areas, the Land Shark may strike at any place, any time. It is capable of disguising its voice, and generally preys on young, single women. Experts at the University of Miami's Oceanographic Institute suggest that the best way to scare off the shark in the event of an attack is to hit or punch the predator in the Nose. Now for the weather..

Woman #4: [ turns off radio, as the doorbell rings ] Who is it?

Muffled Voice: Sorry to disturb you, ma'am. I'm from the Jehovah's Witnesses, and thought you might be interested in a copy of our journal, "The Watchtower".

Woman #4: [ grabs a mallet and inches towards the door ] Why, I'd be very interested..

Muffled Voice: Would you mind opening the door, ma'am?

Woman #4: Certainly.

[ she unlocks the door a crack, and reaches out with the mallet to strike the Land Shark's head. Instead of the shark, a Jehovah's Witness stumbles into the apartment and drops onto the floor in front of her. ]

[ SUPER: "The End?" ]

[ fade ]

READ MORE - Saturday Night Live: Land Shark

Pennywise Illusion Explanation

Here is an illusion of a different type.

I was talking to a friend of mine that has taken up coin collecting rather late in life. He figures it will be cheaper then getting married again. Anyways he went into a coin dealer he knows to talk shop and came across an interesting tidbit.

According to his coin dealer 1972 pennies are significantly more valuable than 1932 pennies.

Now I know that I am a layman and know absolutely nothing about this hobby but this doesn't seem right to me. Can any of you explain to me why this might be?

via Dick Larkin's Motivational & Marketing Moment



Well, it's because

1,972 pennies is worth $19.72

But

1,932 pennies are only worth $19.32

This is another example how we bring our own preconceptions into everything we do. Here many of us saw the image of the penny and the date on the penny and automatically assumed that we were talking about the years 1972 and 1932.

READ MORE - Pennywise Illusion Explanation

M.C. Escher Bio

Maurits Cornelis Escher (Leeuwarden, June 17, 1898 – March 27, 1972 in Laren) was a Dutch artist most known for his woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints, which tend to feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, and tessellations.

Youth

Maurits Cornelis, or Mauk as he was to be nicknamed, was born in Leeuwarden (Friesland), the Netherlands. He was the youngest son of civil engineer George Arnold Escher and his second wife, Sarah Gleichman. In 1903, the family moved to Arnhem where he took carpentry and piano lessons until the age of thirteen.

From 1912 until 1918, he attended secondary school; though he excelled at drawing, his grades were generally poor, and he had to repeat the second form. Later, from 1919, Escher attended the Haarlem School of Architecture and Decorative Arts; he briefly studied architecture, but then made a switch to decorative arts, studying under Samuel Jesserun de Mesquita, an artist whom he would remain in contact with until de Mesquita, his wife and son were murdered by the Nazis in early 1944. In 1922, Escher, having gained experience in drawing and particularly woodcutting, left the school.

Marriage and later life

Escher travelled to Italy regularly in the following years. It was in Italy, too, that he first met Jetta Umiker, the same woman who he married and made his vows to in 1924. The young couple settled down in Rome after they had been married and stayed there for just over ten years until 1935; when the political climate under Mussolini became unbearable, the family moved to Château-d'Oex, Switzerland. They stayed here for two years.

Escher, however, who had been very fond of and inspired by the landscape in Italy, was decidedly unhappy in Switzerland, so two years later, in 1937, the family moved again, this time to Ukkel, a small town near Brussels, Belgium. World War II forced them to move for the last time in January 1941, this time to Baarn, the Netherlands, where Escher lived until 1970.

Most of Escher's better-known pictures date from this period; the (sometimes) cloudy, cold, wet weather of the Netherlands allowed him to focus entirely on his works, and only in 1962, when he had to undergo surgery, was there a time when no new images were created.

Escher moved to the Rosa-Spier house in Laren in the northern Netherlands in 1970, a retirement home for artists where he could have a studio of his own. He died at the home on the 27th of March 1972, he was 73 years of age. Escher and Umiker had three sons.

Works

Well known examples of his work include Drawing Hands, a work in which two hands are shown drawing each other, Sky and Water, in which plays on light and shadow convert fish in water into birds in the sky, and Ascending and Descending, in which lines of people ascend and descend stairs in an infinite loop, on a construction which is impossible to build and possible to draw only by taking advantage of quirks of perception and perspective.

Escher's work has a strong mathematical component, and many of the worlds which he drew are built around impossible objects such as the Necker cube and the Penrose triangle. Many of Escher's works employed repeated tilings called Tessellations. Escher's artwork is well-liked by scientists, especially mathematicians who enjoy his use of polyhedra and geometric distortions. For example, in Gravity, multi-colored turtles poke their heads out of a stellated dodecahedron.

One of his most notable works is the piece Metamorphosis III, which is wide enough to cover all the walls in a room, and then loop back onto itself. That was, of course, the intention.

Selected list of works

• Trees, ink, (1920)
• St. Bavo's, Haarlem, ink, (1920)
• Flor de Pascua (The Easter Flower), woodcut/book illustrations, (1921)
• Eight Heads, woodcut, (1922)
• Dolphins (Dolphins in Phosphorescent Sea), woodcut, (1923)
• Tower of Babel, woodcut, (1928)
• Landscape at Abruzzi, scratch drawing, ink and chalk, (1929)
• Street in Scanno, Abruzzi, lithograph, (1930)
• Castrovalva, lithograph, (1930)
• The Bridge, lithograph, (1930)
• Palizzi, Calabria, woodcut, (1930)
• Pentedattilo, Calabria, lithograph, (1930)
• Atrani, Coast of Amalfi, lithograph, (1931)
• Ravello and the Coast of Amalfi, lithograph, (1931)
• Covered Alley in Atrani, Coast of Amalfi, wood engraving, (1931)
• Still Life with Spherical Mirror, lithograph, (1934)
• Hand with Reflecting Sphere (Self-Portrait in Spherical Mirror), lithograph, (1935)
• Inside St. Peter's, wood engraving, (1935)
• Portrait of G.A. Escher, lithograph, (1935)
• 'Hell' , lithograph, (1935) (copied from a painting by Hieronymus Bosch)
• Regular Division of the Plane, series of drawings, (1936-196?)
• Still Life and Street, woodcut, (1937)
• Metamorphosis I, woodcut, (1937)
• Day and Night, woodcut, (1938)
• Cycle, lithograph, (1938)
• Sky and Water I, woodcut, (1938)
• Metamorphosis II, woodcut, (1939-1940)
• Verbum (Earth, Sky and Water), lithograph, (1942)
• Reptiles, lithograph, (1943)
• Ant, lithograph, (1943)
• Encounter, lithograph, (1944)
• Doric Columns, wood engraving, (1945)
• Three Spheres I, wood engraving, (1945)
• Magic Mirror, lithograph, (1946)
• Three Spheres II, lithograph, (1946)
• Another World Mezzotint (Other World Gallery), mezzotint, (1946)
• Another World (Other World), wood engraving and woodcut, (1947)
• Crystal, mezzotint, (1947)
• Up and Down, lithograph, (1947)
• Drawing Hands, lithograph, (1948)
• Dewdrop, mezzotint, (1948)
• Stars, wood engraving, (1948)
• Double Planetoid, wood engraving, (1949)
• Order and Chaos (Contrast), lithograph, (1950)
• Rippled Surface, woodcut and linoleum cut, (1950)
• Curl-up, lithograph, (1951)
• House of Stairs, lithograph, (1951)
• House of Stairs II, lithograph, (1951)
• Puddle, woodcut, (1952)
• Gravitation, lithograph and watercolor, (1952)
• Cubic Space Division, lithograph, (1952)
• Relativity, lithograph, (1953)
• Tetrahedral Planetoid, woodcut, (1954)
• Compass Rose (Order and Chaos II), lithograph, (1955)
• Convex and Concave, lithograph, (1955)
• Three Worlds, lithograph, (1955)
• Print Gallery, lithograph, (1956)
• Belvedere, lithograph, (1958)
• Sphere Spirals, woodcut, (1958)
• Ascending and Descending, lithograph, (1960)
• Waterfall, lithograph, (1961)
• Möbius Strip II (Red Ants) woodcut, (1963)
• Knot, pencil and crayon, (1966)
• Metamorphosis III, woodcut, (1967-1968)
• Snakes, woodcut, (1969)

References in popular culture

• Matt Groening of The Simpsons made a reference to Escher in his Life in Hell comic. In Groening's parody of Escher's Relativity, cartoon rabbits fall down stairs at impossible angles. Groening would later reuse this joke in an episode of Futurama and as a couch gag on The Simpsons.
• Similarly, a character on Drawn Together, an animated series on Comedy Central, was pushed down (and up, around, and back down) a flight of stairs modeled on Relativity.
• In the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth Relativity is referenced again. The audience is again treated to an answer to the great question: what if somebody walks off the edge? The Escher estate was given acknowledgement in the credits for the film.
• The bonus stages of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, feature an animated background of birds turning into fish, a reference to Sky and Water.
• In Larry Niven's novel Protector, the protagonist builds a working model of Relativity using gravitational engineering.
• The Psygnosis computer game Lemmings features a level called Tribute to M.C.Escher, although it doesn't sport Escheresque graphics. The Crystal Shard computer game SubTerra features a similarly named level, which does consist entirely of a repetitive pattern.
• The early nineties rock group Chagall Guevara wrote a song called "Escher's World" which made many references to the impossible structures that can be found in Escher's work.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "M.C. Escher".

READ MORE - M.C. Escher Bio

What are Optical illusions?

An optical illusion is any illusion that deceives the human visual system into perceiving

something that is not present or incorrectly perceiving what is present. There are physiological illusions and cognitive illusions.

Optical illusions can naturally happen by specific optical tricks that show particular assumptions in the human perceptual system.

An optical illusion. Square A is exactly the same shade of grey as square B.

A mirage is a natural illusion that is an optical phenomenon.

The variation in the apparent size of the Moon (smaller when overhead, larger when near the horizon) is another natural illusion; it is not an optical phenomenon, but rather a cognitive or perceptual illusion.

Developed illusions include phenomena such as the Necker cube and the Scintillating/Hermann grid. They could also be called discovered illusions. Understanding these phenomena is useful in order to understand the limitations of the human visual system.

Physiological illusions, such as the afterimages following bright lights or adapting stimuli of excessively longer alternating patterns (contingent perceptual aftereffect, CAE), are the effects on the eyes or brain of excessive stimulation of a specific type - brightness, tilt, colour, movement, and so on. The theory is that stimuli have individual dedicated neural paths in the visual outer wall of an organism for the early stages of visual processing; repetitive stimulation of only a few channels misleads the visual system.

Cognitive illusions are more interesting and well-known. Instead of demonstrating a physiological base they interact with different levels of perceptual processing, in-built assumptions or 'knowledge' are misdirected. Cognitive illusions are commonly divided into ambiguous illusions, distorting illusions, paradox illusions, or fiction illusions. They often exploit the predictive hypotheses of early visual processing. Stereograms are based on a cognitive visual illusion.

The Scintillating grid illusion. Black spots seem to appear and disappear very fast at the intersections.

Ambiguous illusions are pictures or objects that offer significant changes in appearance. Perception will 'switch' between the alternates as they are considered in turn as available data does not confirm a single view. The Necker cube is a well known example, the motion parallax due to movement is being misinterpreted, even in the face of other sensory data.

Distorting illusions are the most common, these illusions offer distortions of size, length, or curvature. They were simple to discover and are easily repeatable. Many are physiological illusions, such as the Cafe wall illusion which exploits the early visual system encoding for edges. Other distortions, such as converging line illusions, are more difficult to place as physiological or cognitive as the depth-cue challenges they offer are not easily placed. All pictures that have perspective cues are in effect illusions. Visual judgements as to size are controlled by perspective or other depth-cues and can easily be wrongly set.

Paradox illusions offer objects that are paradoxical or impossible, such as the Penrose triangle or impossible staircases seen, for example, in the work of M. C. Escher. The triangle is an illusion dependent on a cognitive misunderstanding that adjacent edges must join. They occur as a byproduct of perceptual learning.

Simultaneous Contrast Illusion. The grey bar is the same shade throughout.

Fiction illusions are the perception of objects that are genuinely not there to all but a single observer, such as those induced by schizophrenia or hallucinogenic drugs.

Known illusions include:

• Ames room illusion
• Ames trapezoidal window illusion
• Benham's top
• Cafe wall illusion
• Converging line distortion illusion
• Craik-O'Brien-Cornsweet illusion
• Fraser spiral illusion
• Hering figure
• Hermann grid illusion
• Impossible trident illusion
• Mach band
• Missing square puzzle
• Moon illusion
• Ponzo illusion
• Muller-Lyer distortion illusion
• Necker cube illusion
• Phi phenomenon
• Penrose triangle aka Impossible triangle illusion
• Poggendorf Illusion
• Scintillating illusion
• Pulfrich effect or Pulfrich pendulum illusion
• Size-weight illusion
• Illusory figure, Kanizsa's pattern
• Stroop effect

Many artists have worked with optical illusions, some extensively, including M.C. Escher, Salvador Dalí, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Marcel Duchamp, Oscar Reutersvärd and anyone who has ever worked with perspective.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Optical illusion".

READ MORE - What are Optical illusions?