Optical Delusion - #Oktoberfest #24 - Whiskey In The Jar - Thin Lizzy

After "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros in #Oktoberfest that prompted me to remember "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass which in my thoughts is a goddamned awful record though listening back the lyrics and sentiment are cheesily depressing and the melody is half OK but it ain't getting on this blog but you can listen by clicking through on the link.

Today I went out to hunt down some Quorn for a Vegan Cottage Pie and was unsuccessful, ironically the Co-Op had pre packed Quorn Cottage Pies and that was the sum total of their Quorn. Anyway I thought I saw this sizable worm thing wriggling on the pavement but it turned out to an unmoviving piece of stripy cable. I do find it amazing the number of people who swear they have seen something when there is a logical explanation if they actually think about it , but often people like to be happy in their delusions and nothing will move them from their belief in what they have seen

I remember a case of a scientist / ghost hunter who actually saw something but realised it was caused by an instrument running at a frequency that caused his eyes to see something that wasn't actually in front of him. It is always good to check things out.

I do see and hear loads of weird stuff but when I look at the whole picture I see the explanation for what I thought I saw.

So on the #Oktoberfest and we have to have , what in my opinion is the definitive version, of "Whiskey In The Jar" by Thin Lizzy. Just thinking on this , at a push maybe we could have "Randolph's Tango" as well, cos Tango is a drink isn't it? We will also have The Dubliners' take on "Whiskey In The Jar" before the sequence ends.

I wasn't sure that I could actually keep this up but with eleven more days to go I can see me seeing it out.

Hope you are having a fun Sunday.

The Sydney Opera House Illusion

I'm still coming to terms with "The Sydney Opera House Illusion", seeing it out of every window in my office, with the realisation that this is not just what my eye / brain combination is doing, but it can be caprured by camera, so it is real, but I'm still at a loss to understand how it happens. Yes I understand he effect of frams and angles but surely they should dot cause items to appear nearer the further you move from the frame. You don't even have to try, and the thing is, because you see it every day you become immune to it until you actually notice it.

Most people don't notice it, but I am not most people, as you know I often go off on tangents and lots of my thinking is very lateral, so I am the sort of person who will notice things like this. The thing is I am 60 and this is the first time that I have actually noticed this. Sometimes it means you see things that you normally wouldn't see because it magnifies small details (though you don't actually realise this is happening). When you are next in a room with a view you should try it.

I think "Just An Illusion" by Imagination is a pertinent accompaniment for this post.

Flash O' Fire

Last night as I got into bed I thought I saw a flash of fire across the room. I didn't, of course, but thought I did. This happened twice. One of the things is that our our eyes only see bits of what we actually see, and our brains fill in the rest, so it's no wonder that that we get optical illusions and hallucinations.

This is probably the reason why people see ghosts, apparitions and UFOs and aliens, sometimes you see what you want to see rather than what is actually there. I often see things which I know cannot logically exist where I see them. It's always and instantaneous thing, that I see for a split second, though I am not sure what I would do if the apparition became persistent to the point of me believing that it was actually real, but some people are less fussy.

Another optical effect I've come across is that way objects that are further away seem nearer the further away from them you are when you view them though a window. It is a real mind bender when you first notice it and even when it is explained to you, which makes perfect sense, your mind still rails against the actual effect. Here is my Instagram post about it. Here is the Sydney Opera House Illusion explained.

Again this gets me to those 3D Magic Eye drawing images which  were big in th e1980s, though most of the time I really couldn't be bothered to concentrate to see the images. Then we go to th emind bending art of MC Escher which again bend reality for you and did inspire a scene in "Labyrinth" which bring David Bowie into play for this post.

Optical Delusion

This morning I woke up, looked out of the window, across the street and saw Darth Vader looking back in my direction. I blinked, looked again and realised that it was a wheelie bin , not Darth Vader. I quite often look and see things that aren't there, usually caused by failing light, seeing something at an unusual angle , or something looking like something else.

I got thinking, is this how ghosts, miraculous visions, angels and religious icons find there way into real life? I know people who refuse to admit they are wrong even when they have made a huge mistake, and it only takes one of these to convince themselves and the gullible that a ghost or god has manifest themselves. It's just a little thought for a very short post.

I know I said I was going to write about Christmas but we have another few days before that hits us and I must have written a lot of Christmas posts before. I just wanted to say how sometimes we thing we see things that aren't what we think.

So I will include my optical illusion slideshow  with the Temptations "Just My Imagination" for you to enjoy before you go to bed. Sleep well my friends.