A few posts ago I showed you this great afterimage illusion created by Brian King, and asked if you could recognise the face. If you didn’t try it before, take a look now and see if you can identify the person. Just fixate on the centre of the image below for about 30 seconds (try not to move your head or eyes) and then blink at a white wall.
Any ideas? Answer after the break.
It was…..the world famous magician and escapologist…..HARRY HOUDINI
Here is a more normal picture of him:
My favourite Houdini story is where Houdini was shut in a prison cell and really struggled to pick the lock on the door. The hours ticked by, and still he couldn’t escape. Eventually, tired and exhausted, he leant against the cell door. As the door swung open, Houdini realised that he had been trapped by his own assumptions – the jail warders had left the door unlocked and he had wasted hours attempting to perform the impossible by picking a lock that was already open. There is a lesson there for all of our lives. I am just not sure what it is.
Anyway, did you identify the mystery person? If not, who did you think it was?
Tags: illusion
February 8, 2009 at 9:27 am |
At first I thought it was George Orwell, but then I decided it was Béla Bartók.
Wrong!
February 8, 2009 at 9:34 am |
i thought it was Einstein. Great story about Houdini, i never knew that.
February 8, 2009 at 10:20 am |
Ah, that explains why I didn’t get it, I don’t know his face. I thought it was Charlie Chaplin, I could have sworn I saw a moustache.
February 8, 2009 at 10:47 am |
My guess was also Einstein.
February 8, 2009 at 11:18 am |
I know what the lesson is: “Never assume, it makes an ASS of U and ME”
Same as Lux, I did not know Houdini’s face, so I could not name anyone.
February 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm |
“Trapped by one’s own assumptions”… that accounts for a huge percent of all our lives, I bet! Lesson: always question, always try, don’t discount the obvious, don’t assume the solution is going to be complex. Hm!
February 8, 2009 at 12:58 pm |
The tag ‘Houdini’ gave it away a bit
February 8, 2009 at 2:21 pm |
Good point – tag now changed!
February 8, 2009 at 2:28 pm |
I had seen him as Einstein, as he was in this photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Albert_Einstein_WZO_photo_1921.jpg
February 8, 2009 at 3:07 pm |
I enjoyed the cryptic clues people posted in the comments.
February 8, 2009 at 4:48 pm |
I saw einstein but then decided it was simply “not einstein” didn’t know who though.
February 9, 2009 at 1:30 am |
Hmm, I saw Edger Allan Poe.
February 9, 2009 at 1:53 am |
I saw Richard Dawkins… It does look like Dawkins.
February 9, 2009 at 1:59 am |
I saw a question mark then possibly hitler. I didn’t think of chaplain until after someone mentioned him.
February 9, 2009 at 4:49 am |
I saw a combination between Charlile Chaplan and Hitler for some reason
February 10, 2009 at 1:02 am |
I find the ‘leaning against the door from exhaustion’ story implausible. It seems unlikely he would have attempted picking the lock without putting any weight on the door at all, over the course of several hours.
If it was a prison cell there would have been a least a crude bed which he would have sat on if he were that tired.
Plus, if he was facing the door to pick the lock without putting any weight on it, for several hours, how was he in the physical position to lean against it?
I think it’s a neat anecdote but an impractical one as told. More like he was fooled by the guards and after a while either simply tried pushing on the door, or pushed it during the course of his lock-picking endeavour. The exhaustion part seems like embellishment, particularly as he was surely a very physically fit individual.
Just sayin’
February 10, 2009 at 7:10 am |
I second Tracy King’s comments; it seems highly unlikely that he was that familiar with locks yet not notice one that was open, not to mention the “leaning on the door” part , thats total BS. Can you cite any credible reference for this? Otherwise it’s BS
February 10, 2009 at 5:14 pm |
Mike, it’s probably not as black and white as ‘cite a credible reference or it’s BS’, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
However, so many of Houdini’s stories were exaggerated (early form of marketing, huzzah), it’s entirely probable this is one of them. He certainly did undertake prison breaks and it’s not unlikely that someone, at some point, would hit on the idea of simply leaving the lock open, although that’s a risky strategy unless it’s a unique lock.
Perhaps the lesson inherent in the story is “don’t assume anything, particularly about the truthfulness of a Houdini anecdote”.
February 11, 2009 at 12:54 pm |
I got Edgar Allan Poe too. It looks an awful lot like that one famous photo of him…
February 12, 2009 at 1:02 pm |
I got Houdini pretty much straight away. Though I have no idea what Edgar Alan Poe looks like.
As for the story, I’m with Tracy – he was a master of PR as well as locks.
February 12, 2009 at 3:51 pm |
I was sure I saw hitler!
February 12, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
I saw Hitler.
February 14, 2009 at 12:02 am |
March 4, 2009 at 7:22 am |
I hate when people are intelligent enough to understand practical reasoning and trivalent logic, but are still too stupid to know when, where, and how to use it.
Exceptionally depressing.
I liked the Houdini story about the prison. It’s just a story, who cares about it’s accuracy? It could just be me, but i thought that the purpose of a story was nothing more than to entertain, and it did just that.
To expect something else out of a story would be like expecting to get a ham sandwich at an ice cream parlor. Now how rational is that, really?
June 27, 2009 at 4:39 pm |
I think it is Mr. Whitewall. It looks just like him. (except for the black spot in the middle) hehe
June 28, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
Yeah, I saw Hitler too. Not sure that I would have recognised Houdini either.
July 2, 2009 at 1:04 pm |
Hmmm, that was interesting. Looks like somethings will always remain mystery.
I myself has been trying to solve the mystery of the legend that forces you to have “earn it before
having it”, for a wile now. Could not understand much though.
Let me know in case you get to understand the mystery of the Old Hound and the Legend
By the way, good writing style. I’d love to read more on similar topics
July 7, 2009 at 6:00 am |
Man, I followed that dark truth link, and was completely in the story. Damn exciting. The latest post talks about a friend of him who’s gone missing . Somewhere on his way to Leh, India. And the guy is asking for help find it. Soundss like an online game . This looks interesting. M already hooked on.
Hey, btw, nice post you have there – keep rocking –