3 ms·

Or ghosts

• dredmorbius 5y ago
  Pretty much anything now seen as paranormal activity. Though I've been trying to come up with counterexamples --- thins previuosly thought fantastical or unlikely now known to be real. I'd illustrated a bloggish version of my comment above with Albrecht Durer's Rinocerous --- he'd drawn that from second-hand reports (and a poor-quality sketch). It's clearly not right, but it's also not entirely wrong, and the mix of "details captured well" with "where did that come from" is fascinating. Lightning sprites are another that comes to mind, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)
  • lovemenot 5y ago
    Albrecht Durer's Rinocerous: nice. I never saw it before. Looks like someone said it was armoured so Durer went to the local armoury for inspiration. Puts me in mind of a Deep Dream image. https://deepdreamgenerator.com/ https://deepdreamgenerator.com/ A good story about the duck-billed platypus, which was believed apocrophal for a long time. https://gizmodo.com/legendary-cryptids-that-turned-out-to-be-absolutely-rea-5814976 https://gizmodo.com/legendary-cryptids-that-turned-out-to-be...
    • dredmorbius 5y ago
      Duck-billed platypus is an excellent example, as well as the class of instances: cryptids. Thanks. And yes, Durer's image is one that just grows on you. I've known of it since I was a child. It just keeps getting better. There is some Deep Dream feeling about it --- being told that there's something there, so you find it regardless of whether or not it actually is. Try staring at a field of raw static for a while. (This used to be easier when television was an analogue broadcast, I'm not sure what the easiest source is now. Inkblots are another possible option.)