Miraculous Tree Mark

"Tree-mendous: Disease Leaves its Mark
Inside Horse Chestnut"

This story about a tree-shaped mark found inside, of all things, a tree trunk reminds me of all the "imaginative" people who say they see holy apparitions in random irregular marks. If you convince enough people to see the face or figure that you see, you can probably make most of them believe its a miracle or sign.

"Woman 'Blessed by the Holy Toast'"

I used to sit on the school bus in the winter and imagine whole scenes in the frost of the window. When I would look out the window at night into the trees behind my parent's house, I would visualize faces & all kinds of forms. I guess it just annoys me that people don't realize that the significance of the form is created in their mind alone & it's not inherent to the perceived form. Basically, people are fooled by the pattern-making nature of their own brain.