Saturday, February 16, 2013

Mansface Hill



To compliment the Dame of yesterday we look to a man - his face that is. Mansface Hill is a mountain located in Green River, Wyoming. The mountain is named for its rock outcroppings, which form the shape of a face looking up into the sky.

Friday, February 15, 2013

La Dame de Mali or Lady of Mali

La Dame de Mali, or Lady of Mali, is a feature of Mount Loura, near the town of Mali, in northern Guinea, near the border with Senegal that resembles the profile of a woman. And not just the head, but also chest, waist and belly!
Mount Loura, altitude 1515 m (Fello Loura in the Pular language) is the northernmost point and highest peak in the Fouta Djallon in northern Guinea. It is 7 km from the prefecture of Mali (also Mali-ville or Mali-Centre). It is part of a complex of mountains called the Massif de Tamgue, which rises to steep cliffs on three sides, and provides views into Senegal and Mali. Its most interesting feature, the rocky profile of an old woman (referred to as the "Dame de Mali" or "Lady of Mali"), can be seen from the nearby village of Dongol Loura. Src: Wikipedia


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Warm the cockles of someone's heart...it's Valentine's Day

Warm the cockles of someone's heart...it's Valentine's Day! Wait a second - 'cockles'? Indeed! Could it be because of the Resemblance a cockle shell has to a heart?!
Also possibly derived from the similarity in appearance of the heart valves to the cockle, a bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae.
The phrase may be more explained by the nature of the mollusk itself. Its natural environs are usually cold water shoreline areas. The mollusks have to open their shell to ambulate and feed yet, if disturbed or threatened in any way, the shell slams shut to protect its delicate organs.
If the "cockles" are exposed to warmth, especially a cooking temperature, the usually difficult to penetrate shell exposes its entrails and remains open.
The meaning can be interpreted as the "cockles of the heart" are warmed by an emotional experience that exposes the tender and warm side of the human experience, thus opening of the "heart". Src:Wikipedia


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Wave - Rock Formation Resembles Water Waves


     Jealous of Australia's Wave Rock? Shouldn't be...we've got The Wave in Arizona! Which gets its name from the amazing resemblance the alternating bands of stone have to water waves. It is a sandstone rock formation located near the Arizona and Utah border on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau. It is famous among hikers and photographers for its colorful, undulating forms, and the rugged, trackless hike required to reach it. 

     “The Wave” consists of intersecting U-shaped troughs that have been eroded into Navajo Sandstone of Jurassic age. The two major troughs, which comprise this rock formation. Initially, infrequent runoff eroded these troughs along joints within the Navajo Sandstone. After their formation, the drainage basin, which fed rainwater to these troughs, shrank to the point that the runoff became insufficient to contribute to the cutting of these troughs. As a result, the troughs are now almost exclusively eroded by wind as indicated by the orientation of erosional steps and risers cut into the sandstone along their steep walls.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

UT Tower / Frost Bank Tower / Owl


Let's go local and talk about Austin's very own Resemblance - the University of Texas' Tower and its resemblance to an owl. If one orients themselves just right to the Main Building of UT - the faces of the clocks become eyes while the corner of the observation deck suggests a beak. The resemblance is so strong that students to this day orally pass on a fictitious story of how the architect of the Main Building and Tower was a graduate of Rice University and designed it to resemble their mascot the owl, as a rival's way of poking fun. Then, in 2004, the Frost Bank Tower came along, also resembling an owl but this time the eyes are made out of the Frost logos.   Here again, the resemblance so strong, only now it no longer mattered that the building wasn't on the UT campus (a key element in the drama of the tale), the story jumped over and became a legend for Frost's design but with some modifications: when he designed the building Rice and UT had a huge rivalry and he designed it this way to "humiliate" Austin and UT. I've also heard the architect was rejected from UT but accepted to Rice University, so when he was asked to design this building, he designed it to resemble an owl looking down over the UT campus.  The 307-foot UT tower was designed by Paul Philippe Cret and the Frost Bank Tower was designed by Duda/Paine Architects, LLP and HKS, Inc., none of which had Rice propaganda agendas.
About the author: the power of Resemblances inspired artist Ismael Cavazos to create the Old Man in the Peanut after recognizing the heart of a peanut resembles an old man's hooded head complete with beard.  He now brings you Remarkable Resemblances from around the World with the Replica Report.