Buckeye Leaf Resembles Marijuana Leaf - Spells Trouble for Elderly Couple

Sometimes a strong resemblance can get you into trouble, especially if it’s a cop who’s doing the recognizing. A couple of Texans were hassled because their Buckeye decal Resembles a marijuana leaf!
February 4th, Monday, Bonnie Jonas-Boggioni, 65, and her husband were driving home to Plano, Texas from Columbus after attending her mother-in-law’s funeral when a pair of black police SUV’s stopped the couple a few miles outside of Memphis.
“Knowing I wasn’t speeding, I couldn’t imagine why,” Jonas-Boggioni told the Columbus Dispatch. “They were very serious. They had the body armor and the guns.”
On the back of Jonas-Boggioni’s car was a Buckeye leaf decal, similar to the one players’ have on their helmets, and cops mistakenly thought it was a marijuana leaf.
“What are you doing with a marijuana sticker on your bumper?” one of the cops asked Jonas-Boggioni.
That led Jonas-Boggioni and her husband to explain the meaning of the Ohio State sticker, which is given as a reward to OSU football players, Boggioni stepped out of the car to show his 2002 national-championship sweatshirt, one “complete with a Buckeye leaf,” Blundo wrote.
Disappointed, the officers excused the unwarranted stop by explaining that an officer in another jurisdiction had called in a report of the Boggionis’ sticker — believing the older couple to be at the forefront of some sort of massive marijuana ring, it seems.
“Police hunting drugs should know that a Buckeye leaf — which has five leaflets — doesn’t look much like a marijuana leaf, which typically has seven leaflets and a narrower shape,” Jones-Boggioni told Blundo.
 Before letting the pair off, officers told the couple that they should remove the Ohio State sticker from their car. “I said, ‘You mean in Tennessee?' ” Jones-Boggioni said. “No, permanently,” the officers replied.
“I didn’t take it off,” Jones-Boggioni told Blundo. “This little old lady is no drug dealer.”
Src : Joe Blundo of The Columbus Dispatch “Buckeye leaf mistaken by Tennessee police” Feb 14, 2013

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.

Ohio Buckeye and a Buck's Eye

The tree species Aesculus glabra is commonly known as Ohio buckeye, American buckeye, or fetid buckeye. How much do you want to bet that Native Americans got the name from the Resemblance the tree's fruit bears to the buck's eyeball? We'll let you judge for yourselves.
The Ohio buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and its name is an original term of endearment for the pioneers on the Ohio frontier, with specific association with William Henry Harrison. Capt. Daniel Davis of the Ohio Company of Associates, under Gen. Rufus Putnam, traversed the wilderness in the spring of 1788, and began the settlement of Ohio. Davis was said to be the second man ashore at Point Harmar, 7 April 1788, and he declared later that he cut the first tree felled by a settler west of the Ohio River, a "buckeye" tree. Additionally, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, another founder of that same pioneer city of Marietta, had a tall and commanding presence; he greatly impressed the local Indians, who in admiration dubbed him “Hetuck”, meaning eye of the buck deer, or Big Buckeye. Subsequently, the word is used as the nickname and colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University's sports teams. The Ohio State University adopted "Buckeyes" officially by the school as its nickname in 1950, and came to be applied to any student or graduate of the university.

It is native primarily to the Midwestern and lower Great Plains regions of the United States, extending southeast into the Nashville Basin. It is also found locally in the extreme southwest of Ontario, on Walpole Island in Lake St. Clair, and in isolated populations in the South. It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 50–82 feet tall.
The leaves are palmately compound with five (rarely seven) leaflets, 3-6 inches long and broad. The flowers are produced in panicles in spring, yellow to yellow-green, each flower 3/4 - 1⅛ inches long with the stamens longer than the petals (unlike the related Yellow Buckeye, where the stamens are shorter than the petals). The fruit is a round or oblong spiny capsule 1½ - 2 inches diameter, containing 1-3 nut-like seeds, 3/4 - 1⅛ inches in diameter, brown with a whitish basal scar.
The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous for cattle, and possibly humans. Native Americans would blanch them, extracting the tannic acid for use in leather. Src : Wikipedia

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

If It Walks & Talks Like a Duck, Then It Is a Potato!

     What a great way to start the year in the world of Resemblances as a Replica raises its head (and it's not a Jesus nor a Mary) in Cardiff, Wales.   This Resemblance was given life by Extractionist Emily Gaffney when she decided not to cook and eat a potato she found to resemble a duck!  It wasn't easy for Gaffney to decide on the exact Resemblance as she fluttered between puffin and duck.  Once she decided it wasn't long before he had a name - Bill.
     Gaffney Recognizes three points of reference on Bill - wings, a breast, and beak and I might add there is an eye, tucked-neck, and tail.  If one argues that his missing webbed feet are tucked into his body, he is a complete Replica!  It will be difficult to top this non man-made Replica this year.
     Pareidolia is a word often used when reporting on such stories.  The word was first used by Goldstein in 1994 despite other vocabulary words existing such as apophenia synchronicity & simulacra and is limited in scope when discussing Resemblances.

 Title: If It Walks Like a Duck and Talks Like a Duck, then it's a Potato!
 Resemblance: Duck
 Extractionist: Emily Gaffney
 Matrix: Potato (Type I - not man-made)
 Location: Cathays Cardiff, Wales
 Date: 5 Jan 2012
 Links: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082745/Student-finds-duck-shaped-potato-local-shop-names-Bill.html

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2012/01/06/student-finds-vegetable-shaped-like-a-duck-91466-30068315/