Trump's Toupee Found in a Forest?

Flannel Moth

Megalopyge opercularis would have been covered by the Replica Report, even without its recent meme status, considering some of its common names such as southern flannel moth, pussy moth, puss caterpillar, and tree asp.  It is in its larval form that the Resemblance to a pussy cat becomes apparent whereas the flannel reference (flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness) points to its adult stage (even the wings are furry).  But this week, the insect is getting news coverage because of social media hype where many Extractionists have Recognized its Resemblance to Donald Trump's hair!

The creature was spotted in the Amazon by friends Jeff Cremer, 34 and Phil Torres, 27, who run photography tours from Posada Amazonas, a 30 bed rainforest lodge in Peru.

Mr. Cremer said, "It's actually a flannel moth caterpillar, they're really rare, I've seen this type of caterpillar before but never one of this colour."
"We put the picture on our Twitter and Facebook page and immediately people started comparing it to Donald Trump."
Cremer continues, "We didn't see the resemblance when we first saw the caterpillar but looking at the photo it's certainly similar to his hair."
"It was pretty funny, people went mad for the photo comparing it to his toupee."

The caterpillar’s “hair” actually consists of setae, which are long, fine silky appendages that, in this case, can cause serious skin irritations. If one attempts to pet this insect, they will get a handful of venom, released when the setae poke into skin. Just as a bee sting, the injuries can be painful but, for most, not life threatening.

Sources : http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/rare-caterpillar-resembles-donald-trumps-hair-130502.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2317145/Caterpillar-looks-just-like-property-mogul-Donald-Trump.html

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/2013/05/04/10/03/caterpillar-resembles-donald-trumps-hair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalopyge_opercularis & http://bugsinthenews.info/?p=476

Puss Caterpillar

Donald Trump's Hair

Concorde Takes Flight Again

On this day that we look to the skies for a solar eclipse, The Replica Report looks up - at the clouds!  Extractionist Roy Peckham of Pontypridd, South Wales is the reason why this time as he has photographed a wonderful Replica.

 The Concorde was the first turbojet-powered airliner and was considered a marvel of engineering before it was retired in 2003, so, how could it be taking flight again in 2013?  Well it wasn't, it was the ghost of Concorde - a cloud that formed over the countryside in the shape of the grounded passenger jet.

Mr. Peckham, 66, spotted the plane-shaped cloud as it moved through the evening sky and said the cloud was coming from the direction of the Brecon Beacons.

He said: 'I saw the cloud and as it approached it became more and more defined.
'It looked like Concorde was flying across the countryside and about to land in Pontypridd.'

This story was first published by Sara Smyth on 5 May 2013.

Sources: http://www.meteoweb.eu/2013/05/pareidolia-in-galles-una-nube-che-ricorda-il-concorde-le-immagini/201608/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319797/Ghost-Concorde-Cloud-forms-countryside-shape-grounded-passenger-jet.html

http://swns.com/

Juggling Jesus

The latest Extractionist art to be covered internationally is coming out of Europe.  UK resident Martin Andrews said an accidental spill of fabric softener on a T-shirt resulted in the now-viral photograph Metro reported last Wednesday.

“I showed my mates at work the picture, and one of them said, ‘I’ve heard you can find comfort in Jesus, but you’ve found Jesus in Comfort,” Andrews said, Comfort being the name-brand of fabric softener.

Andrews, the "creator" of the fabric softener Jesus stain, tweeted a photo of the T-shirt. He told Metro that finding the fabric softener Jesus is really a matter of perspective.


"When the T-shirt's the right way up it doesn't really look like anything... but when you look at it the other way up it's really Him," he said.


Here at the Replica Report we Recognize the Resemblance the stain has to a juggler!

Source : http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/4986/20130422/fabric-softener-jesus-martin-andrew-sees-christ.htm

http://www.ibtimes.com/jesus-fabric-softener-jesus-appears-t-shirt-martin-andrew-florida-couples-finds-jesus-sonogram#

http://keyw.com/here-we-go-again-a-man-spotted-jesus-in-his-fabric-softner-stain/

http://cdn.inman.com/files/imagefield/juggler_shutterstock_91813157.jpg

Penis Fish

 Urechis unicinctus - The Penis Fish 

      The Echiura, or spoon worms, are a small group of marine animals.  Urechis unicinctus is a species of marine spoon worm widely referred to as the "Penis Fish" (very easy to see the Resemblance reference here).  While the Urechis caupo is often called the "Fat Innkeeper" worm (not so easy to figure out the Resemblance reference here).

      Urechis caupo lives in burrows in sand and mud. It gets the name "fat innkeeper worm" because the tunnels it creates often contain other animals.  In fact, at least four other animals are known to live with the Fat Innkeeper Worm in its tunnel home (get the Resemblance to an Inn Keeper?).  Frequent guests of the Worm include a fish called a goby, a small pea crab, a clam and a scale worm. They feed on food that the Innkeeper Worm leaves behind.

      The Fat Innkeeper Worms are common in the sandy mud of the Elkhorn Slough. They live in a U-shaped tunnel or burrow and have a unique method of eating. It secretes a slime net, which serves to trap small food particles. The worm circulates water through the tunnel, trapping food in the slime net. When the mucus net becomes loaded with food, it is loosened from its attachments and the entire net with its burden of food is swallowed by the worm.

      Fat Innkeeper Worms are eaten by bat rays, leopard sharks and otters, who suck or dig them out of their burrows.

     The Penis Fish in the other hand is commonly eaten raw with salt and sesame oil in Korea and in parts of Japan.  In Chinese cuisine the worm is stir-fried with vegetables, or dried and powdered to be used as an umami enhancer. In particular, the worm is considered an important ingredient in Shandong cuisine and is used in numerous recipes.  It is also used for fishing bait.

     The Penis Fish is so popular it even has it's own Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Urechis-unicinctus/133153840057293?sk=wall

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urechis_unicinctus

http://www.elkhornslough.org/sloughlife/inverts/fatinnkeeperworm.htm

http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Echiura/Urechis_caupo.html

 Urechis caupo - The Fat Innkeeper 

Penis Fish at market

Cross & Crown Cracker

     National news agencies are featuring the art of Extractionist Patti Burke.  She Recognized the Resemblances of Cross and Crown on a Goldfish cracker during Holy Week recently and Extracted the Resemblances by pointing them out and titling them - thus giving them meaning.

    “When I picked this one up, I knew he was special,” the Melbourne, FL woman said of her Holy Week discovery. “He had a cross on him, and he had a crown circle up by his head. Something I’ve never seen before out of all the Goldfish I’ve eaten.”

     Burke's art was even featured on Easter Sunday, when her pastor, D. Scott Worth, began talking about fish as a symbol of Christianity in front of the congregation of Presbyterian Church of the Good Shepherd in Melbourne.  “I think it’s a sign. I think it points to, I would hesitate to call it a miracle, but I think it points to THE miracle, which is Jesus Christ defeated death. And that’s what Easter is all about.”

     Burke hasn’t yet decided what to do with the cracker, so she carries it in an earring box padded by gauze. She tried to find out how the cracker — which is normally only printed with a smile — ended up with the cross and two circles. At first, she thought she’d won a special promotion.

     “I called Pepperidge Farm and said, ‘Hey, do you have some special promotion going on, I think I’ve got the lucky fish,’” she said. “They called me back and said there’s no way this could have been printed like that in the factory. ... They said it sounds like something miraculous happened and we don’t know how it happened.”

Watch the video here: http://bcove.me/edamgavh

     The Replica Report would like to add that there appears to be a third Resemblance - somewhat of a gonopodium!! (a modified anal fin (it looks rather like a thin rod) that allows male fish of the families Anablepidae and Poeciliidae to briefly hook into the vent of a female fish to deposit sperm.
This fin is normally held back and the male fish turns it down and forward just before mating)

Sources : http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130404/NEWS01/304040060/-Miracle-snack-no-fish-tale-Melbourne-woman?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

http://gawker.com/5993845/florida-woman-finds-goldfish-cracker-with-a-cross-and-crown-claims-its-a-sign-from-god

I Lost My Train of Thought

     A train is a connected series of rail vehicles propelled along a track to transport cargo or passengers. It is the "connected series" of the train that resembles the "connected series" of thoughts and as a result has given rise to the phrase "Train of Thought".

     The train of thought, stream of thought', chain of thought or trail of thought (Sarah Rickards) refers to the interconnection in the sequence of ideas expressed during a connected discourse or thought, as well as the sequence itself, especially in discussion how this sequence leads from one idea to another.

     When a reader or listener "loses the train of thought" (i.e., loses the relation between consecutive sentences or phrases, or the relation between non-verbal concepts in an argument or presentation), comprehension is lost of the expressed or unexpressed thought.

     The term "train of thoughts" was introduced and elaborated as early as in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan.

     For your entertainment, I have included this link to a fun word game called Train of Thought:  http://www.wordgames.com/train-of-thought.html

Sources :
Wikipedia
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/56835/train-of-thought

Happy Easter! Speaking of Hares...

     Happy Easter! Speaking of hares.... Replica Report looks at the word Harelip: (Medicine / Pathology) a congenital cleft or fissure in the midline of the upper lip, resembling the cleft upper lip of a hare, often occurring with cleft palate.
      Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) and cleft palate (palatoschisis), which can also occur together as cleft lip and palate, are variations of a type of clefting congenital deformity caused by abnormal facial development during gestation. A cleft is a fissure or opening—a gap. It is the non-fusion of the body's natural structures that form before birth. Approximately 1 in 700 children born have a cleft lip or a cleft palate or both. In decades past, the condition was sometimes referred to as harelip, based on the similarity to the cleft in the lip of a hare, but that term is now generally considered to be offensive.
Source : Wikipedia

Do you have Hot Lips?

     The 'Hot Lips' plant or 'Sore-mouth' bush are two names given Psychotria poeppigiana because of the obvious Resemblance!
     P. poeppigiana is a large shrub - a plant species in the family Rubiaceae. The inflorescences are carried upright or semi-erect and are surrounded by large bracts, colored a conspicuous red, that attract pollinators. The flowers themselves are inconspicuous, with the small yellow petals and sepals forming a narrow corollar tube. Pollinators are mainly hummingbirds, namely small hermit (Phaethornithinae) species like the Black-throated Hermit (Phaethornis atrimentalis), Straight-billed Hermit (P. bourcieri) and Reddish Hermit (P. ruber). They do not insert their bills deeply into the small flowers, and thus the pollinators of the Sore-mouth Bush include curved- and straight-billed species alike.
      In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often (but not always) different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals and/or sepals. Some bracts are brightly colored and serve the function of attracting pollinators, either together with the perianth or instead of it.
      Hot Lips ranges widely in the tropical Americas, from Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz in Mexico to the very north of Argentina. It does not occur on the Pacific side of the American cordillera however, and is thus absent from El Salvador and Chile. It is probably also absent from Uruguay and Paraguay.

Sources : http://www.treknature.com/gallery/South_America/Colombia/South/Putumayo/photo188350.htm
&
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotria_poeppigiana

Sugarloaf Mountain is not Sugar Loaf Sweet

 Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

     Sugarloaf Mountain is not Sugar Loaf sweet - its Resemblance ends at the visual level. That Resemblance was first Recognized by the early Portuguese explorers who discovered Rio de Janeiro in 1502 and named Sugarloaf Mountain, nowadays one of the city's major tourist attractions.
     The mountain is only one of several monolithic morros (hills) of granite and quartz that rise straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro. A glass-walled cable car, capable of holding 65 passengers, runs along a 1400-metre route between the peaks of Pão de Açúcar and Morro da Urca every 20 minutes. The original cable car line was built in 1912 and rebuilt around 1972/1973 and in 2008. The cable car leaves a ground station located at the base of the Babilônia hill, to the Urca hill and then to the Pão de Açúcar.
     The name "Sugarloaf" was coined in the 16th century by the Portuguese during the heyday of sugar cane trade in Brazil. According to historian Vieira Fazenda, blocks of sugar were placed in conical molds made of clay to be transported on ships. The shape given by these molds was similar to the peak, hence the name.
     The raw sugar was refined by a series of boiling and filtering processes. When, at the final boiling, it was considered ready for granulation it was poured into a large number of inverted conical moulds. These were usually made of either brown earthenware or sheet iron with an internal treatment of slip or paint respectively, and each stood in its own collecting pot. Over the next few days most of the dark syrup and uncrystalline matter drained through a small hole in the bottom of the mould into the collecting pot. To improve the whiteness of the sugar repeated applications of either a solution of white clay or of loaf sugar dissolved in warm water was applied to the broad end of the loaf. This slowly drained through the loaf readily uniting with any remaining molasses or other colouring matter and removing it to the collecting pot. The loaves were then tapped out of the moulds, dried in a stove room that would have contained hundreds of loaves, trimmed to their final shape and wrapped, usually, in blue paper to enhance their whiteness.
     The moulds, and so the sugarloaves, varied in size considerably ... the larger the loaf the lower the grade of sugar. The grade determined the price, though loaves were sold by weight and the sugar refiner was taxed on the weight of sugar sold. When a new batch of raw sugar was refined the best sugar came from the first boiling. After that, the waste and trimmings from the first boiling were returned to the beginning of the process and mixed with further raw sugar for the second boiling, and, as this was repeated to the end of the batch, subsequent boilings reduced slightly in quality. The finest of the loaves, maybe 5 inches dia and 5 inches high, were extremely expensive owing to the prolonged repeating of the whitening process, as were the somewhat larger double refined loaves from the first few boilings. Lower grades of sugar were more difficult to crystallise and so larger moulds were used, usually 10–14 inches dia and up to about 30 inches  high, with loaves weighing up to 35 pounds. The lowest standard refined grades were called bastards, though an even lower grade was often produced from the filtration scums, usually by a scumboiler at his own separate premises.
Households bought their white sugar in tall, conical loaves, from which pieces were broken off with special iron sugar-cutters (sugar nips). Shaped something like very large heavy pliers with sharp blades attached to the cutting sides, these cutters had to be strong and tough, because the loaves were large, about 14 inches  in diameter at the base, and 3 feet [15th century]...In those days, sugar was used with great care, and one loaf lasted a long time. The weight would probably have been about 30 pounds. Later, the weight of a loaf varied from 5 to 35 pounds, according to the moulds used by any one refinery. A common size was 14 pounds, but the finest sugar from Madeira came in small loaves of only 3 to 4 pounds in weight...Up till late Victorian times household sugar remained very little changed and sugar loaves were still common and continued so until well into the twentieth century...
—Elizabeth David, English Bread and Yeast Cookery
Source : Wikipedia

 Pão de Açúcar in Lights 

Sugar loaves of various sizes, on display in Berlin's Sugar Museum

The Stone Mushrooms of Bulgaria

     We travel to Bulgaria today where the Replica Report looks at some interesting rock formations. The Stone Mushrooms is a rock phenomenon near Beli Plast village in Bulgaria, on the road between Haskovo and Kardzhali. They are about 2.5 metres tall. The 3 hectares area is declared as natural resource on May 13, 1974 according to №РД-552 bill of the Ministry of Environment and Water.
      The rock formations have the shape of natural mushrooms – their stalks are pink, and the caps are green. The height of the mushroom stalks and the width of the caps are up to 2.5 meters. They are made of rhyolite volcanic tuffs, which are the result of intensive underwater volcanic activity, dating back to the Paleocene. After the sea withdrawal and the consistent seabed rising, the influence of the erosion became visible. The lower, pink layer proved to be softer and more amenable to the effects of sun, wind and rain. The upper, green layer contains solid minerals, mainly volcanic glass.
      As with many large Resemblances a legend has arisen that says, the charcoal burner Raduil lived in the Perperikon fortress with his four beautiful daughters. One sunny morning they went outside the town walls to bring water. Suddenly, they saw a great horde of invaders at the hill near the river. They ran back to the fortress. A fervent, uneven battle started; many men were killed, most of the women were captured. The daughters of Raduil were among them.
      They were waged to the leader of the horde, astride a racial horse at the nearby river – to take a look at them and choose the most beautiful ones for him and to sell the others as slaves. Fury gripped the hearts of the girls as they approached him. They grabbed what they could – sticks, stones, and began throwing them at the rider. The horse got scared and stood on its hind legs. The unsuspecting rider fell on the ground, the four girls ran towards him and tore him apart and ran into the forest.
      The closest friend of the leader ran to pursue the girls and caught them at the end of the day, lashed out with his yataghan and cut off the first one’s head. As it fell on the ground, it turned into a stone mushroom. The same happened with the other sisters. Before the man cut the head of the last girl, she petrified. The terrified man tried to escape with his horse, but turned into a black rock at the first step. Nowadays people call the lonely rock near the mushrooms Karatepe.
Src : http://bulgariatravel.org/en/object/401/Kamenni_gybi

Is Your Bonnet Blue?

     On our third day of Spring, the Replica Report takes a look at the Bluebonnet! Named for its color and, it is said, the Resemblance of its petal to a woman's sunbonnet, the bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas. It blooms in the early spring and can be readily found in fields and along the roadsides throughout central and south Texas.
     Scientifically named Lupinus texensis, the bluebonnet is also called buffalo clover, wolf flower, and ,by the Mexicans, el conejo (the rabbit). It was adopted as the official state flower by the Texas Legislature in 1901.
Src : Wikipedia

Camel Toe

We reserved this post for the late hours of the day. Camel Toe is a reference to the visual similarity in appearance to the two toes of a camel's hoof.
Cameltoe is slang for a fashion faux pas caused by women wearing snug pants; the term suggests a visual analogy.
Src : Wiktionary

The Phantom Foetus

     Unlike any other art form, Extractionism is the only one to be covered regularly by the news today. Metro, of the UK, features Extractionist Heather Large and her Recognition of the Emperor Palpatine.
     It all began about a year ago when an ultrasound scan of an unborn baby revealed an eerie resemblance to the evil emperor from Star Wars, and is now, with the help of the Internet, gaining widespread attention.
     Heather Large, 39, immediately spotted the seemingly cloaked figure glaring back at her from a scan in the 20th week of her pregnancy - can you see the claw-like left hand?
     Husband Toby, 33, from Illinois, said: ‘During the ultrasound, Heather noticed that one of the images appeared to look like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.
     ‘At this point, everyone in the room had a laugh, including our eight-year-old daughter Hannah and the ultrasound technician.
     ‘At the end of the ultrasound, the tech asked us if we would like to include that image on our take-home CD, since we were so amused.’
     Toby's son Bowie, now eight months old, captivated the imagination of Star Wars fans when he uploaded it to his Devian art webpage last week, causing a stir.

Src : http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/11/may-the-face-be-with-you-star-wars-villain-emperor-palpatine-appears-in-ultrasound-scan-3535977/
and
http://hearte42.deviantart.com/art/The-Emperor-357892316

Jesus is Floored

       Today's Extractionist is Jay Wells. He has been Recognizing Resemblances in patterns since he was a child and one of his Extractions has finally made the news, specifically, the Chronicle Hearald.
“Where I go for a massage, I see Santa Claus and Abraham Lincoln in the carpet. Most recently, I was getting my eyes checked and I could see one of my miniature dachshunds in the carpet. It’s just a thing that I’ve done forever.
       “Since I was a kid, I would look at the wall and see monsters in the knots in my grandmother’s cottage.”
       This time, he has found the face of Jesus, in a most appropriate place, because as a carpenter, it’s only natural that Jesus has chosen to return to Earth in a pine floorboard of Jay Wells Salon in Halifax.
The Resemblance was covered by the bed where women lay while getting waxed until Wells went into the room to rearrange the furniture.
       “I had a staff member leave and so I came into this room thinking, hmm, what am I going to do now, and I sat on the end of this bed and I was, ‘Oh my God, it’s Jesus!’” Wells said Friday.
“People say he looks kind of surprised, and I say ‘Well, he has witnessed a lot of Brazilians, he’s not your typical Jesus.’”
       Wells says everyone he shows the floor to immediately agrees it looks like Jesus, the Herald reports.

Src : http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/912143-oh-my-god-its-jesus-on-a-floorboard

Jay Wells