Watch The Donut, Not The Hole

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Curling Is Cool Day
Iwo Jima Day
Open That Bottle Night
Army and Navy Day (Russia)

 
If you’re like me and are sick of all the tired old optical illusions people keep trying to blow your mind with,* you’ll appreciate an actually new one for a change:

Contrast Illusion.

I honestly can’t see the unison until you take the surrounding discs away. It’s a very convincing illusion, and for me it’s almost as frustrating as trying to reverse the spinning dancer’s direction.


*Like last night when a few of us were channel surfing and found a show, which may have been Numbers, wherein a man had drawn the infamous Rubin Face Vase and was saying dramatically, “But wait! When you darken the middle of the vase you can contrast the inside and the outside, and what do you see?” To which our pal Josh added in his even more dramatic Mighty Voice, “The answer may SHOCK YOU.”

This prompted a wave of shocking revelations from the rest of us: “The cavemen are the SAME SIZE!” “The two tiles are the SAME COLOR!” “The lines are all PARALLEL!” Amazing! 

Comments

[ellixis.livejournal.com]

"That's an ... idiomatic translation?"

"We're a little short of poets too, I'm afraid, dear."

[10cents.livejournal.com]

I was actually able to see it by focusing solely on the black ring for a few minutes, and waiting for my peripheral vision to catch the changes to white in the other one. After a while, they did synchronize, and then after repeating that several times (with small breaks to look at it in general, and to look away, and then to look back) I was able to see them flashing in unison much faster than the first time.

That was awesome.

The dancer, however, has always driven me crazy--I can ONLY see it one way at first, then it reverses somewhat randomly, and then for the life of me, I CANNOT get myself to see it the way that I did a minute ago. I love and hate that stupid dancer.

[mathsnerd]

Yay, another person like me! I, too, could see the circles flashing in unison after unfocusing my eyes for a bit.

That dancer however, still drives me crazy. I can't make her turn counterclockwise. Sometimes she switches but I can never hold it or recreate it.

Hint?

[(Anonymous)]

Focus on the foot hitting the ground on whether or not its the left or right foot. When it switches for me, it's really weird. It's like she just crosses the screen and back.

Hope that helps ;)

-Lychee

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

Amazing.
I've noticed something like it when waiting in a turn lane and watching someone else's turning lights flash in front of me, with the reflection of my own flashing on the bumper.

[alexvdl.livejournal.com]

HOw do you get sick and tired of that sorta thing?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

It'd be like people constantly trying to AMAZE you with the revelation that DARTH VADER IS LUKE'S FATHER or DR. JEKYLL IS MR. HYDE. Is anyone surprised by that anymore?

[alexvdl.livejournal.com]

Soylent green is PEOPLE! SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!

[ellixis.livejournal.com]

I can't reverse the dancer, no matter how hard I try. It kind of frustrates me. I saw it reverse out of the corner of my eye just once, but have been absolutely unable to repeat the experience.

[chairman-wow.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's funky.

I don't think I'd ever seen that dance before either... managed to reverse it after a bit of concentration (and having the shadow and the body turning in opposite directions for a while. That was weird. XD

[piper-lee.livejournal.com]

It made me go DUHHHHHHH.

And then I reversed the dancer multiple times by accident and that made me go DUHHHHHHH.

I love these things

[(Anonymous)]

Check this one out! It's really, really cool!

http://www.isnichwahr.de/redirect_ext11541-.html

Re: I love these things

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

whoa-- that's awesome!!

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

The spinning dancer one drives me nuts.

And darnit, now I have this vague memory of a song stuck in my head, to which the chorus is "as you go through life, make this your goal/ watch the donut, not the hole!" Huh?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll be damned--someone else has heard Burl Ives' Donut Song!

"When you walk the streets
you will have no cares
When you walk the lines
And not the squares
As you go through life, make this your goal:
Watch the donut, not the hole!"

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's it! I had it on a record as a kid. I can never remember-- is he the same guy who sings that song about all the mixed-up advertisements?