Freemasonry, iPhone Tricks, etc.

iPhone optical illusion planeThis photo you see on your right, was taken with iPhone. Reportedly, the propeller was spinning at somewhere around 2000 rpm. I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me that the effect is rather weird, since the image came out so seamless. I need your help determining whether this is a natural phenomenon, or simply a result of the low-cost camera hardware and/or software? There must be some dashingly clever individuals out there, who will comment and tell us exactly why this occurs!

On the personal level, I always believed in God. In my opinion, there must be some incredible force that made all the chaos make sense. It’s just that I don’t care whether it’s name is Jesus, Buddha… or Mother Nature. I believe God is too abstract and complex for our primitive minds to understand. This is why I always thought it’s meaningless to debate over it in depth. Raised in Christian surrounding, still I never felt connected to church as an establishment. In my belief church is too narrow-minded, thus reduces the meaning of God and putts it closer to the ground just by preaching about it. I won’t go into debate what I think of a church as an establishment, but why I’m telling you all this is because I learned that there is a society of men that share the exact same views I have. By now you probably guessed I’m talking about Freemasonry.

So I studied a little, read different books with different approaches to Free Masons – both pro and con. I even read some fiction novels referring to them (Lost Symbol by Dan Brown). Finally, I came to a conclusion it’s a positive organization, if you don’t count individuals involved just with careerism in mind. If I understood their ways correctly, statistically speaking – it would be much easier to meet higher percentage of profound and educated gentleman in such surrounding than elsewhere. If some of you have deeper knowledge about the organization, feel free to send me an email. I’d love to debate some questions regarding all this, talk about science, religion, philosophy…

94 Replies to “Freemasonry, iPhone Tricks, etc.”

  1. I am around 95% sure that image is Photoshopped (or other related program of course). There is the possibility of otherwise but the photo grain on and around the plane compared to the lack of photo grain on the “propeller” is a big clue. It indicates that it was added in afterwards. However, none the less a pretty cool looking pic!

  2. well vordlak
    i found this site just two days back n it’s amazing !!
    keep on this good work.
    n this pic is rlly confusing n it was hard for me to understand many others too
    sooo do write about it.. !!

  3. Also, something I over looked, the tips of the “propeller” do not follow any sort of circular curve. They are arched but at a low angle and not at the same degree that an actual propeller would be. Yes I am aware speed and lighting can create some awesome effects but this one seems a bit to far fetched after further viewing. As aforementioned however, it looks awesome.

  4. The effect comes about because of the nature of the “electronic shutter” used in the iPhone image sensor.

    High end digital cameras will expose all pixels at the same time, storing the results for a very brief period on the sensor and then reading out the pixels. This means that all of the pixels have been exposed at the same time. What one would see in this case is a “frozen” propeller, with possibly some amount of motion smear, depending on the exposure time.

    Low end cameras such as are in cell phones use what is called a rolling shutter. The first line in the image is exposed, followed by the second line in the image, followed by the third, etc. Some exposure time later, the first line is read out, followed by the second line, and so forth. The image above is a drastic example of the artifact that this creates because the image sensor is not uniformly looking at the same image at the same time. Instead, it appears that the image is being created from the top to the bottom, and as the image is captured in this way, the propeller continues to rotate. Since the relative motion of the propeller is small over the period of time in between the lines of the picture, the result is the apparent “bending” of the propeller (top center) or even the disembodied propeller bits on the right and left. The right and left are disembodied because by the time the shutter got to the center of the picture, the propeller had rotated away from the line being exposed and read out.

  5. I don’t believe for a second that this picture is real. You’d need a camera with a very high shutter speed, like 3/100 of a second to get a clear picture of a propeller blade spinning at 2000 rpm. An iPhone would not be able to do that. It’s a cool picture, but it’s fake.

    I share the same basic viewpoint on God as you do. I consider myself an Agnostic Theist (I believe in God, but not religion). I’d be careful if I were you, and remember the old rule about politics, religion and polite conversation.

  6. Im sorry to tell you that you need help. Freemasonary is not a positive group, i know this as a fact. and may i please ask you, is the book written by a Freemason? go search up freemasonary on youtube, and u will realise what i mean. i dont want to get too personal, so ill just leave it to u to decide. there have been many anti-mason groups, but now the numbers are plummeting. u know why, well this resulted in the vanishing of people, once again dont take it from me, go search it up on wikipedia. thank you.

  7. I’m afraid you misunderstand one important aspect of Freemasonry, right off the bat. Regarding you comment about Masons ‘sharing the exact same views’ you have, this is just not so. This is one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented aspects of Masonry.

    Freemasonry requires a member to believe in God. That is all. Masons may be devout Presbyterians, or even Muslims, even Buddhists. There is no requirement that a member subscribe to a particular creed, however , that is a far different thing than saying Masonry believes in no churchy stuff.

    If anything, Masons tend to quite active in their own churches, and many Protestant and Jewish clergy are dedicated Masons.

    Here is a no-nonsense link – please don’t rely on Dan Brown to learn about Masonry any more than you would to learn about high-energy physics.

    http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/masonry/

    To go right to the FAQ:
    http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/Masonry/Misc/FAQ.html

    and here is a relevant portion from the FAQ:

    ….
    With the exception of saying that He is a loving Father who desires only good for His children, we make no effort to describe the nature of God. And while we open and close our meetings with prayer, and we teach that no man should ever begin any important undertaking without first seeking the guidance of God, we never tell a man how he should pray or for what he should pray. Instead, we tell him that he must find the answers to these great questions in his own faith, in his church or synagogue or other house of worship. We urge men not to neglect their spiritual development and to be faithful in the practice of their religion.

    ‘Freemasonry and Religion’, ‘
    Freemasonry is far from indifferent to religion. Without interfering in religious practice, it expects each member to follow his own faith, and to place above all other duties his duty to God by whatever name He is known.’ Masonry itself makes only a simple religious demand on a man–he must believe that he has an immortal soul and he must believe in God. No atheist can be a Mason.” (Dr. Jim Tresner, 33rd degree)

    “Freemasonry has no dogma or theology. It teaches that it is important for every man to have a religion of his choice and to be faithful to it. A good Mason is made even more faithful to the tenets of his faith by membership.” (Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, who was also a Mason)

  8. Uh, oh..
    Vurdlak, you just opened the floodgates for a real barrage of posts. I pity your having to read through all the knee-jerk, thoughtless answers that are about to appear here.
    Please do yourself a huge favor before you go into freemasonry too deeply though. Simply Google “Freemason” and “cult”. Read through just a couple of the more sensible sounding hits you get back, and then ask yourself “What does *God* think of the Freemasons?” If you really were raised with a Christian background, you already know the answer is not in a club, or an organization, or even a church. It’s called “CHRISTianity” for a reason.
    Granted, there have been a lot of powerful people who have been masons, but their power was not where they (or we) will spend eternity. Jesus kept no secrets, and no-one has the right to stand between you and Him.
    Just look (and even maybe pray?)before you leap…

  9. This hapopens all the time. I’m going to school to become a pilot and ive taken a few photos, and when ever the prop get in it does this its usually horizontal lines but it can come out like this. This one just looks very extreme

  10. take a picture with the iphone of the inside blade of a blender spinning. If it is blurry then you know its photo shopped.

  11. I don’t think your conclusion about Freemasonry is right. Admittedly, I know very little about it, but the secret element in it -the ‘clan-like’ character – doesn’t appear very positive to me. Although I am an atheist, I admire your view that some divine being does exist but that religion isn’t something to be preached. Yet isn’t this view contradictory to the starting-points of Freemasonry? First, why should anyone who shares your opinion gather in any form of grouping, be it organized religion or Freemasonry. Isn’t it better then to honour (perhaps ‘honour’ is not the right word, but I don’t know how to define it otherwise) this supreme being just for yourself instead of within some sort of grouping. And second, why should these groupings, if they are formed anyway, why should they shroud themselves in mystery, secrets and rituals? One has to be alert when dealing with anything that hides itself from the open world. Hiding is not something individuals should strive for, and if they do, they are either living in an intolerant world, which I think is not the case here, or are involved in dubious things. And why should there be rituals, if the divine being isn’t something to be regarding in a profane way, like you said? If I were you, I really would consider this.

  12. Is this website about illusions or religion?

    Make another website if you want to talk about religion or some type of groups.

    Illusions are the only reason I visit this site, so please just show us Illusions.

    Remember the website is called “mighty OPTICAL ILLUSIONS”

  13. I never realised camera phones processed images this way…thanks for the explanation Ron, so the image was processed right to left, that’s why it bends that way…cool.

    btw, there is no god so stop waisting your time looking for things that don’t exist…There is a book about little red ridding hood…it doesn’t mean there really is a talking wolf, just because a few desert dwelling people wrote down stories that had been passed on through generations doesn’t mean it’s fact…nature is callus so if it was created, they did an appalling job of it…to see how far people go to prove a god exists google “banana man”

  14. I think the purpose of this site should be to enjoy and discuss the illusions. This is not the forum for a religious or political debate.

    Vurdlak – I absolutely love your site and your illusions, but perhaps start up another site if you want to incite a religion or Freemasonry discussion?

    Just my 2 cents.

  15. freemasonry is a closed minded organization based on the fruition of a few men and the preventative tactics used to stop the common individual from furthering their knowledge of the universal or collective concious. Having done the research myself I’ve learned of their willingness to excell the mindstste of a few members while leaving the majority of the group in the dark about their agendas. Tending to put differences aside( when dealing with their own members) they offer little to no positive outward information. Propelling this society further into a secluded mindstate. Individualist they are not. But they are based on containing knowledge rather than spreading it freely. I do however believe they are on the right track. If only they’d break down the levis that retain vital information, they could transform the modern dilemma of confused and ignorant masses into a beautiful organism with self reliance rather than a need for entertainment to block out the madening sense of aloneness that the common individual seems to have.

  16. Fake. The blades do not orient around a central point, as a spinning blade would do regardless of speed or capture. Instead they are all horizontally aligned.
    Cool though!

  17. Ron’s explanation is correct. I remember taking a photo with my phone at the exact time a ‘proper’ camera took a photo with a flash, pointed at the same subject. The picture that came out on my phone had half of it really bright (because of the other camera’s flash) and the second half normal. It’s a really cool effect :)

  18. You know what would make this site perfect? If this guy just didn’t post anything to go with the pictures. What a useless load of text. I really wish this wasn’t a personal blog.

  19. A little insight from a Freemason… All we ask of a potential member is that he has a belief in a Supreme Being, We don’t tell him what to believe in. Topic of religion and politics are forbidden in open Lodge. it is true that there are certain “Biblical Characters” associated with the Craft, but they are old testament (Soloman…) but not the religious side, mostly the historical side. Freemasonry does NOT conflict with any mainstream accepted world religion! I’ve sat in Lodge with Christian, Muslims and Jews, even an anglican minister, The only ones who Masonry is not for are athiests and so called devil worshipers. As far as the secrecy of Masonry, look in any phone book, there we are, not good at keeping a secret are we…Historically, we have periodically been sensured and persecuted (the Catholic Church’s inquisition and Germany’s Nazis…) so if you were us, you would want to hide too. As a last point, I haven’t seen the plans to take over the world, and I have attained a fairly advances position with Freemasonry, but if it takes any more effort than that of organizing a barbecue, have no fear, the world is safe. All kiding aside, All Lodge juridictions are independant, there is not central governing body. The botom line of Freemasonry is to bring togther like mindes men and to set a good example in our own communities. thaks for your time.

  20. I just wanted to comment on your religious beliefs. I agree with you. I will have to do some of my own research on the freemasonry. A book that I would suggest reading is “The Shack” by WM. Paul Young. This is one book that will make you question exactly what you believe in. I enjoy discussions about religion and the church. Please feel free to send me comments to Witchy3269@yahoo.com

  21. I don’t know why all the religion comments. This is a site to enjoy the illusions, no matter how they were achieved. Photos…photoshopped…art…etc, it dont matter. The point is…this is an interesting photo. It made me click on it today, lol. So just enjoy it.

    p.s. It looks like a simple hand with five fingers reaching up.

  22. Vurdlak, do whatever you want to do, based on your own informed desions. But don’t look to Dan Brown for information, that guy is an idiot. Really.

  23. I have a deskfan at work. I just took a picture of it. The fan blades are a complete blur. Unless this airplane’s propellers are spinning a heck of a lot slower than my desk fan, than this image is fake or not taken with an iphone.

  24. Freemasons… they’re a bit too exclusive of different genders for me… I prefer Pagan religions.. Which are surprisingly similar to freemason practice, and as a bonus you get to meet intelligent women as well as men!

  25. this is by no chance an origional pic..,
    someone added this stuff to it afterwords..,
    with all the regards to the vurdlak

  26. I have personally met quite a few, as you say, profound and educated gentlemen involved in freemasonry. None of them ever gave me any reason to believe that they were involved in anything untoward either within the secrecy of the lodge or elsewhere.

    I also happen to know that their “secrets” are not in anyway sinister or dubious.

    The Masons have been a secret society for good reason since the middle ages and you can find clear and implicit (non-sceptic) information everywhere. Obviously the negative far outweighs the positive literature party because the masons themselves are sworn to secrecy and there are a lot of people who are afraid of what they don’t understand. THe fact is that it is far more simple than the neurotic sceptics will have you believe.

    Hence “Jim” above who cant grasp that you believe in God but not the Christian God. He sees only what he wants to see.

    I am not a religious person, suffice to say I believe in a higher being. Many things turn me off about modern christianity and religion. One of the biggest things is that two religions with almost parallel views cannot find it in themselves to embrace one another. Im sure Jesus (or whoever) would agree that there is a bigger cause here people. Don’t get stuck on the details…

    If there is something going on behind closed Masonic doors, then what’s so bad about a little bit of secrecy? Whatever it is that goes on clearly stays there and doesn’t come out until the door is bolted next month.

    Go for it Vurdlak, explore your world and everything in it? Better to regret something you did than something you didn’t do.

  27. To all: Rob M’s statement above is entirely accurate. Freemasonry is NOT a religion, nor is it a cult. Discussion of religious dogma and politics are not allowed in a lodge. If you are looking for a religion or the meaning of life or any other deep existential truth, that is not where you will find it. That’s what your house of worship (church, mosque, synagogue…) is for.

    Jim, your Chamber of Commerce is not a religious group either. Nor is the Better Business Beaureau or the Civitan club or any other fraternity such as you might join in college. None of these organizations make any mention of God whatsoever. Are they therefore evil? Does their status as non-religions keep you from joining them? No? Then as a Christian there is scant rationale for demonizing an organization that encourages its members to attend to their own churches and act with piety with regard to their own faiths.

    Ahmed, your facts are in error and are outdated. Would you ask an illiterate to teach you to read? No? Then what possible logic could compel you to give more weight to materials written by people who are admittedly outside the organization? Opponents of any organization often “cherry-pick” information that “proves” their case. I’ll remind you that such tactics have been used to demonize Islam and Judaism and Christianity. For instance, who would believe that Christians are practicing cannibals? Yet those arguments are easily found on the Internet, with documentary “evidence” (even on Wikipedia).

    I’m not posting to change anyone’s mind, but to remind you that you must apply logic and reason when you draw your conclusions. ANYBODY can publish to the Web, so exercise caution before believing everything you read.

    ——-

    As to the photo, the artifact is created by the scan rate of the camera chip in the iPhone in conjunction with the high rate of rotation of the propeller. The photographer was lucky… if the propeller was spinning at a different rate of speed the image would have been quite different. In digital TV you sometimes see a similar effect in sports programs, such as the momentary illusion that a baseball pitcher has multiple arms, or that a light post is warped when shot from a passing car.

  28. you can tell its photo-shopped because there is no shadow where there are shadows supposed to be the rest of the propellers on the plane and the plane itself have shadows. so thats proof.

  29. Photo-shopped. End of discussion.

    Don’t agree? Explain how a prop whose center is fixed could appear in its entirety 3 feet to the side of that fixed point!

    Cool picture, but the back-story’s a load of hogwash.

  30. Optical illusions require you to search for meaning when there isn’t any. Quite like religion, really.
    Sit back and enjoy the optical illusion / beauty of nature without having to ascribe more meaning to it than it really has.

  31. This effect comes from the method used to capture a pic with a digital cam. It doesn’t capture the whole image at once, like film does. It puts each pixel into memory, one at a time, starting with one corner, capturing a row of pixels, then going back to the original corner, one row down, and scanning again Think of it like reading a page. It does this at very high speed, but if you get something moving fast enough, like this prop, by the time it scans a line and comes back to the prop on the next scan, the prop has moved a little bit. Try this yourself: Take a pic of something like a fan, or a guard rail while in a fast-moving car. The rail posts might be straight up, but will appear slanted in the pic. (If it doesn’t work, try turning the cam sideways and trying again. It has to do with what direction the cam scans.)

  32. As a Freemason, the first rule to arguing with a non-masonic individual is to NOT ARGUE with them. Akin to shouting at a post, arguing with an IGNORANT person is difficult and fruitless. We are not a SECRET society, we are a society of men with a few SECRETS to keep our fraternity worthwhile and exclusive. If you want to knock Freemasons, go ahead, and be sure to include the Shriners (who are all masons) who by the way, help thousands of sick children get better each year for free. Yep, you hit the nail on the head, all you conspiracy geeks, us masons are some bad dudes – raising money to help kids and all; watch out, here we come….seriously, get a life.

  33. It would have to be a very big coincidence for a two-prop plane to have the image come out the way it is shown.

    At some point or antoher, the propellers would appear just as often in the bottom half of the image. Image blur would also have to occur to support the separation of the propeller from the nacelle.

  34. Great picture and great discussion. I tend to believe that the picture is authentic, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I appreciated the info on the method the iphone uses to “paint” a picture.

    As to the freemasonry discussion – I find it very refreshing to see thoughtful and rational (as far as any discussion about religion and god can be rational) comments. And since we’re all giving personal views, here’s my simple take.

    Somehow or another, we all ended up here on this planet and evolved into beings sitting here typing away on the internet. To me, all religions are an attempt to explain the mysteries surrounding this very existence. Sorry, but I can accept none of these explanations. Freemasons are not attempting to explain, just saying that we should believe somehow. Perhaps that is more open-minded than any organized religion, and I will give them credit for that. But like the anonymous poster says above, why all the mystery? I am not cynical by nature, but certainly will cast a wary eye towards any type of closed society.

    What do the the freemasons gain by all this secrecy? Can anyone explain that?

  35. There is a lot of stuff written and said about Masonry, and I for one believe most of it is probably wrong. I suspect that there is some truth in what some people have written above. I am not a Mason, so I don’t really know.

    I think the best way to find out is to join. Since you think there may be a lot in common, check it out for real rather than rely on what others think or their impressions.

  36. I have similar images done with my HTC touch pro, I took picture out of a Prop plane and the images look like that !

    It is not Photoshopped !

  37. Freemasonry takes a good man, and tries to enable him to make himself better. Freemasonry is the syllabus, not the courses; those you must find for yourself. It is a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbol. All men, professing a belief in a supreme being, are welcome. If you are convinced that YOUR supreme being will not tolerate good men who profess belief in some other supreme being, Freemasoncry is not for you.

  38. I feel pretty strongly that this image is Photoshopped. A camera capable of catching the propeller in motion and “freeze-framing” it so clearly would likely be of higher quality than I imagine the iPhone camera is. But, more than that, such an image would simply show however many propeller blades there are frozen in an instance of time… and at the proper angles from the nose… and connected to it. Also, there is what appears to be an obvious cloning artifact on the center blade, almost directly beneath the nosecone. However, the explnations already posted re how an electronic camera shutter works opens the possibility, at least, that it’s genuine. If so, it’s one of the weirdest effects I’ve ever seen. But I’m not sure I buy into that explanation because of the angles and locations of the propellers that are quite clear, yet appear completely disconnected and too far away from the nose of the plane.

  39. This is my first post on your website. I have been a viewing member for some time now and sincerely enjoy the variety of images.

    Masonry accepts all who believe in a supreme being. Rob M is accurate with his information. Masonry is not in and of itself a religion, nor do they talk about religion or politics at ‘Lodge’.

    In Lodge however there are many important lessons which can be learned. Masons like to think that they make “a good man better”, by assisting in moral and social development.

    In Masonry, there are no expectations of its members that would be any different than what the laws of your country expect from you, or would there be any morals that you would be compromising. This I can assure you. You are required to be an upstanding citizen before joining, and by joining you will be expected to act no less humane. In fact, charity to others is very important.

    Unfortunately there are a lot of misleading websites on the wonderful world of the internet. All I can say is that you take it in with a grain of salt. The best way to learn is to ask. The best way to join is the same. To be a mason, all you need to do is ask one.
    Oh, and if you want some very good historical readings, please check out two authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas. They have done so extensive research in to the history of Masonry. Maybe by reading some of their material (such as The Hiram Key, Turning the Hiram Key, and many others) you might get a better sense of direction for yourself. I hope this was useful.

    http://www.robertlomas.com/Books/index.html

  40. I consider myself as a partial adherent to strong agnosticism (it’s not possible to know whether a god exists or not), but I’m closer to Agnostic atheism, meaning I don’t know if there exists a god, but personally, I don’t blieve in it.
    As to the picture, I think it’s possible for an effect like that to appear, but it’s so unlikelyto be so extreme, that the taking of the picture was probably rigged or the picture itself manipulated.

  41. I can understand the attraction of Freemasonry: belief in a God. No attachment to any one particular faith. In my case, based on 4 separate ancient written accounts, I believe that the life, death, resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ were/are historical events. I don’t mean to denigrate the Buddha or mother nature, but if a resurrected Jesus Christ is as real as the sun or the moon, then it affects my view of the fullness of truth or lack thereof in other faiths. I may be sympathetic to them and their practitioners, but I can’t believe in them equally any more than I can believe that the sun revolves around the earth while simultaneously believing that the earth revolves around the sun.

  42. Eric, the reason this photo is not blurry is that the sun is clearly very strong on that runway (you can tell by the harsh, high-contrast shadows). I don’t know the specific numbers, but the iPhone’s camera changes the shutter speed to match the lighting conditions (as do all digital cameras in Automatic mode). If you have an iPhone in camera mode indoors and you step outside on a bright day or point it into a light, you’ll notice the image will have less motion blur.

    You can even see the effect of the rolling shutter by going out on a bright day and wiggling the iPhone side-to-side while you’re taking a photo. Straight lines will appear wavy. Here are some great examples of this effect: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_biggs/sets/72157605677015911/

    I also poked around a bit and discovered an awesome video that illustrates this effect on a propeller, and predicts exactly the pattern we see above.

    Oh, and here’s a whole Wired article, with video, on using the iPhone to take bendy photos: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Take_Distorted_and_Psychedelic_iPhone_Photos

  43. first allow me to apologize for the fake email. I just don’t need a cluster of email like I have had before in a similar situation (fool me once…..) And yes I realize the hypocrisy.
    Masons believe lucifer is god.
    I don’t know at what degree, (they have ten degrees), Masons require you to swear in saying that you agree to have your throat cut and your tongue pulled out the hole if you reveal their secrets. Jesus had no secrets and never killed anyone. He preached truth and life.
    I only suggest that you study this further before getting into something that you may not be able to get out of safely.
    For what it is worth, Joseph Smith, who started mormonism, was a mason and the two “religions” have much in common. This is not as true today as it was in the beginning of Mormonism as their doctrine changes frequently to suit the day. For example: They couldn’t drink coca cola until they owned the company.

    Secret societies frequently entice people with promises of knowledge and power, Jesus knows everything and is all powerful. Ask yourself; Who am I serving, myself or the Lord? Your answer will direct your decisions and reveal where your heart truly lies.

  44. You invite us to email you, but I didn’t see an email address.

    Let’s say that there is a God, which is your starting point. The next question is, does it matter? Put another way, does this God expect us to behave in a certain way?

    Many people today believe that there is a God, but they feel that it does not make any difference in their lives. It’s like believing that there is another planet like ours on the other side of the galaxy. So what? It does not affect our actions in any way, to pray, or to give thanks. There is no spiritualism in this agnostic viewpoint.

    In fact many of the founding fathers of the US were Deists and Freemasons, which is why US money to this day says, “In God we Trust” and has masonic symbols. As Deists, they believed in a creator God, but not in God’s continuing involvement.

    In much of the world, Freemasonry is nothing more than an old-boys network that has little to do with spirituality. Members use it cynically in the same way that some use churches and synagogues: to advance their own non-spiritual interests.

    On the other hand, if you feel that the existence of God should affect your behavior, then the question would be, “What does that God expect from us?”. Some would say that God only reveals this to us in our hearts. If that is the case, then apparently some people aren’t listening very well! This leads to spiritual relatavism, since the correct answers cannot be known. Moralistically, it leads to the same agnosticism.

    Others would say that God has revealed his expectations to us through one or more means or messengers. Only then are you in the realm of religion, where you can consider what God has revealed and how.

  45. Vurdlak,

    I’ve been a fan of your site for some time although maybe a little silent with regard to feedback.

    I AM A FREEMASON and some of the things that have been said I have to say are complete rubbish. I’m a Freemason in England and there are some very different practices around the world.

    I, like any Mason will not give away any of our “secrets” – although most of which can be found on the internet these days, however TWO very improtant things that are big “NO-NO’s” are religion and politics – we simply dont discuss them, Dont care and it doesnt matter.

    With regard to beliefs, that is very different. We dont believe in “GOD” as a previous poster mentioned. We all believe different things. A prerequisit for joining is that a person believes in a “Supreme Being”, a higher power if you like, now that may be the first ameaba or your god, budda, prophet, yourself, anything really…

    The rest of the time, well most of the time, we help each other,raise money for huge charities, look after our old (which there seem to be a lot of) and get our priorities right – Family, Work, Masonary… in that order.

    Of course I speak of English Masonry, from the Grand Lodge of England.

    I’m proud to say I’ve been in the “gang” for many years and in the organisation i’m an 18th degree mason….. which may mean something to some of you.

    Basically freemasonary is a “club” a “gang”, a cricle of like minded people that want a better place and to help one another. We hold values of truth, brotherley love and relief… anyone who see’s it as sinister is wrong, they’re just not informed about what its all about. What people dont understand frightens them and makes them think the worst. We dont hide anything but because we have “secrets” (again you can find these on the internet – hardly secrets) people assume we have something to hide.

    And finally, anyone posting anonymously on a website like this….. you have a secret?

    Regards and feel free to email me Vurdlak, I’d be interested in talking to you.

    Kind regards

    Guy

  46. Having utilized the limitations of the iPhone to make some interesting photos myself, I’d say that it’s entirely possible that this photo is real. The fact that it’s so clear gives me pause, but I can see how the right RPMs on the propellers could create the illusion of stability and clarity. It’s the same thing that can cause a video to show a tire on a moving car to appear still, or even be moving the wrong way.

  47. This image looks to me as though it is edited but the explanation provided by Ron Smith sounds very plausable. Without seeing the full sized image I can not tell for sure if it is edited or not.

    As for the rest of the discussion about religion and the Freemasons, this is not the right forum for such a discussion. I think the posting of the image was a feeble excuse to bring a discussion of religion into this forum which is a possible indicator that the image is faked.
    I am a religious person but also believe in the right place and the right time for such discussions. This is most certainly not the right place.

  48. Obvious fake post to get attention to the posters religious views. An obvious meme, I do feel sorry for vurdlak as he/she, much like the photoshopped picture, has a distorted view of reality.

  49. Not a fake.
    A careful look at the photograph and some quick measures even show that :
    1) The shutter travelled from the left side to the right side.
    2) The propeller has 3 blades
    3) If the propeller was spinning at somewhere around 2000 rpm, then the shutter travelled during approximately 0.042 seconds and the propeller made 1.4 turns.
    Not convinced ? Check out this other iphone photograph : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdub/3732616314/

  50. I’m not sure if this photo was taken with an iPhone or not, but it is a classic example of a rolling-shutter effect when the image is captured through a fast-moving slit (on film) or progressive scanlines (digitally). Spinning objects like propellers tend to show the most distortion (here is another example http://www.flickr.com/photos/sorenragsdale/3904937619/ ) but distortion can also occur if the camera itself is moving (example http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IxGaUGlTIWU/SQ4uhvXPCrI/AAAAAAAADk8/SgujYF95sXI

  51. I am a Mason and I think you will find lots of misinformation on the web, most of it wrong and most of it agianst the Masons becasue we don’t fight back. Two suggestions for you. Read Free Masonry for Dummies – good book, lots of the history of the Masons there and about the good works they do (such as Shriners Hospitals. . . all Masons folks). Also check out http://www.askafreemason.org/.

    Masonry is not a religion, but you must believe in God to be one. We do charitable works and try to become better people. A good way to meet many smart caring folks and make good friends.

    You may also want to google your states Grand Lodge to find out where a local lodge is then contact them so you can meet them and ask quesitons. They will be happy to expalain things to you.

    The only secrets of Masonry are the words, signs, and ways we use to recognize other Masons, the rest is open info. Heck, you can even find that on the net if you look. We are no differnt than any other fraturnaty as far as that goes.

    Good luck, contact me if you wish and I will try to answer anyting I can.

  52. I don’t know about Freemasons but what little I’ve heard wasn’t positive. I’m just glad to see someone else believes as I do; “God” is an ultimate being and names and stories are just the human way of making sense. I took a world religion class in college and was amazed to find many religions’ stories of creation are basically the same. My favorite is the Native American Indians’ beliefs of simply respecting nature and the earth.

    I was told years ago that church is just a way to congregate and celebrate with others that belive as you do. I have yet to find that church and get more out of opening myself to appreciate the sights and sounds of nature than attending any church. Sitting on a mountain, walking in woods, or just listening to birds is much more spiritual to me than listening to someone preach at me.

  53. I’ve now read posts about Freemasons calling them just Masons. If this is the same as what I’ve known as Masons (and Rainbow Girls) then it is a good group. I never joined but knew members and attended a function or two. Yes, they have their secret rituals but I saw no real difference in being a member than being a Boy Scout.

  54. @jh says:
    December 3, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    Yes, you can see a distortion in the link you provided. But its still connected to the center of rotation. Its not displaced in space from that point.

    Fake.

  55. Hello, first off I’d like to say that is a cool picture, from what Ron Smith explained it sounds like the pic is legit.

    Secondly, as a born again Christian for most of my life, I have experienced too much to believe that God dose not exist. I have seen with my own eyes the effects of the Holy Spirit; for example speaking in tongues. My personal relationship with God is very real to me.

    Lastly, it seems to me that any one who is a mason will tell you that the Freemasons are good and that they are just another fraternity. On the other hand, any one I’ve heard talk about the masons that are not a Freemason, have said that they are satanic at the highest levels. And, that one at the lower levels will not know about what goes on at the highest levels until you are at the highest levels. Personally I’d stay away from them.

    1. Teddy Roosevelt,FDR,Winston Churchill,J.edgar Hoover,Mark Twain were all Masons..A lot of famous people are masons..People who condemn masonry are just jealous because they don’t have the qualities to be accepted as a Mason,namely,brotherly love..

  56. I am an Atheist in the truest sense of the word. I don’t believe in God, that’s a theist, I don’t disbelieve in God, that’s an anti-theist. What I do believe is that if there is some force that is at the centre of everything, it must by definition be beyond the comprehension of us who are such a small part of everything could not hope to comprehend it.

    I trust no organization which believes that it has all of the answers. I trust no man who says he can tell me the truth, be he priest philosopher or scientist.

    The wisest man is not the one who gives the best answers, but the one who asks the most profound questions.

    I admire a Beethoven symphony though I could not tell you why it stirs me.
    I admire the smell of a rose though I do not know what makes it smell so sweet.
    I admire Chocolate, though I do not know why its tastes like it does.
    I admire the universe though I do not know how it came to be and why I can think about my place in it.

  57. i really don’t know how to explain this picture. The effect is not what most people wold imagine and I think that either it’s photoshoped or the software was not efficient.

  58. Jdalco says:
    December 3, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    I am a Mason and I think you will find lots of misinformation on the web, most of it wrong and most of it agianst the Masons…
    ==========
    So this means that some the misinformation is right? :)

  59. Ignorance breeds fear. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I would really like to point that out.

    Christianity was considered a cult at one point, I’m sure, when it was the minority of people who followed it.

    I find it hard to believe that anyone deeply involved in giving to charity, striving for better personal relationships, and working toward a better society in general, while still having the morale compass that a supreme being of ANY sort still provides, can be evil. I really dont care what your belief, or religion, or anything is, as long as you are a good person, thats pretty much good enough.

    My High School Principal once said, “Be Good, Do Good, For the Good of others” and if i listened to NOTHING he said, that was ONE thing that stuck with me.

  60. Enjoy Nature Said: “I’ve now read posts about Freemasons calling them just Masons. If this is the same as what I’ve known as Masons (and Rainbow Girls) then it is a good group. I never joined but knew members and attended a function or two. Yes, they have their secret rituals but I saw no real difference in being a member than being a Boy Scout.”

    I’ve been in the Scouts for many years when I was a kid and laughed to myself when I read this post…. As I metnioed before, I’m an English 18th Degree Mason and the scouts, cubs, rainbows – yes its all similar, its a big club there’s nothing sinister and its all good fun.

    I normally liken it to the local amature dramatic society meets the scouts and the dining club….

  61. …Comment for MyKul

    You mentioned that Mason’s are evil. its simply not true. Within the organisation you have different levels and offshoots, that part is true. You can also have Speculative masonary and operative masonary, operatives that actually are real masons…work with stone etc…. All is covered by a generic term “freemasonary”

    Basically this goes back to when people were not free.. i.e. endentured or slaves. To join the organisation or “guild”…whatever you want to call it members were asked if they were “free men over the age of 21” and that is still asked today. A freemason is therefor one who can undertake work without having to work for anyone specific…they just belong to the club / guild / cult or whatever you want to call it. I prefer to call it the gang as we all get together and have a little fun raising money, doing good deeds and ensuring people are looked after.

    Hardly satanic… I have seen many “ceremonies” that are undertaken at a high level with many other off shoots of masonary…. never have I seen anything other than good things being portrayed and there is nothing in the drama/ritual/play/wording/ceremony that could or would be considered Satanic or against any religion anywhere.

    The organsisation does not discriminate against colour/race/creed/religion and contrary to many thoughts we have Committed cristians, reverends, muslims, jews, sihks, shintoists, catholics… and others that I cant think of.

    kind regards everyone and enjoy the festivities

    Guy

  62. I love the “Illusion of the Day”. I think that speaks very well of what I would be expecting
    It becomes very annoying when you go to your home page and see the (by now very annoying) day after day. I don’t know from what time zone this is posted..changed..refreshed..whatever, but where I live a day is still 24hrs.
    Love the widget, hate the “turnover” time.

  63. I don’t mind the sharing of personal opinions about the illusions, & I am a believer of god almighty, but I think Since the site was created to share illusions, we should keep the chatter to a minimum about our beleifs/religion stuff and stick to peoples opions and thoughts about the illusions being displyed. It’s much nicer when can’t figure out the illusion to be able to scroll down and right away see people sharing what they saw or thought they saw. Perhaps you Could develop another website that can be a devoted location for people whom would like to share about their beliefs and religion to go to and have discussions. And please don’t take an offense, anyone to my feedback given thats just my feeling on visting this site. Just think if sites going to be about something in particular it should focus solely on that particular subject.

  64. sorry to burst your bubble but it is most likely just the camera not being able to pick where the propeller is and instead of taking the picture as a blur it has done it like that.

  65. Please do not think Buddha is a god.
    He was once asked if he was a god. He replied “NO”
    Asked if was a saint, he replied,”No”
    Asked what he was then, he replied,”Awake”
    The essence of Buddhism is to be be peacefully alert, fully human. People have mistakenly made it into a religion.
    It is all about being alert to the workings of your mind and to seeing reality as it is.

  66. Buddhism and illusions are allied.
    If you see food, you may desire it, it becomes an illusion.
    The trick is to see it as it really is, a collection of colours, nutrients etc.
    Then if it is appropriate to enjoy it, enjoy it fully.
    If it is not a good idea for you to eat it, just let it pass.

  67. Freemasonry is indeed for men, but there and Women groups that are connected to it and do their own thing…yet still retain the basic ideals of the original club. I don’t think it’s a bad thing the men have their own place to be and talk, let them be amongst their own sex while we do our own thing from time to time, it’s all a matter of perspective.
    A previous commenter said that Mormons change things to suit them from time to time as do the Masons and I find both things rather wrong. Both change things to suit the Times of now…such as the fact colour now has no meaning within the Mormon church and Freemasons can feel freer with the information disclosed about them due to not having to fear a church authority coming to wipe them out.

    Times change and all must change with them. We could start pointing fingers at the Catholic church for allowing the Bible to be translated to English (this is me being picky and making a certain point) and similar issues. But in the end, I am going to do extensive research and listen to those who are Freemasons and from other religions before I think to say anything about them simply coz a few people ‘told me so’. Being ignorant is not a fault, but can be cured with a studious mind before something comes blurting out of mouths that have yet to realize they no nothing as of yet.

    (btw. Latter Day Saints still don’t drink cola as far as I know, but had a hand in de-caffeinated versions of it so they COULD drink it in moderation if they so wished. Caffeine is a drug and can damage the body, as can most things in today’s world, so it is generally discouraged. I would request all people do a little research into anything they want to comment about before doing so as it makes for an all round more intelligent conversation and discussion.)

  68. I’m a Master Mason, and all the silly fear-mongering is bunk. I was made a Mason eight years ago in the US, and have never known a better or more honest group of men then those in the various Masonic lodges. They have been universally helpful and accommodating to not only brother Masons, but to the community at large. The “secrets” are along the lines of the Pythagorean Brotherhood- I found nothing religious in them, personally. It was more morality and science than anything.

    As far as scary oaths and penalties go, what about them? I haven’t been active in a lodge for a few years because I need to devote time to raising my children and building my career- the must “cultish” thing I ever saw out of my home lodge was an invitation a few times a year to an awards ceremony, charity event, or pancake breakfast. Every so often, one of the other members drops a friendly phone call to make sure that everything is going ok- and they *don’t* tell me that I need to come into lodge meetings or volunteer.

    They also allowed me to swear my oaths on a book other than the Bible- though most just use that as default. It shows a remarkable level of open-mindedness to allow a man of a different religion to use his own holy book to make the experience meaningful. I am a Gnostic, and I used our holy book laid over a copy of Euclid’s Elements and the US Constitution. Nobody raised an eyebrow.

    There is NOT ONE SINGLE THING that is frightening or immoral about Freemasonry- it is a universally good organization, and well worth joining if you have the time and interest.

    1. You sir Prometheus are a lier , just as u are taught by ur demonic freemason buddies , the goal of every freemason is to instill a demonic influence into every persons life to lead every human being to hell .. u can all go fuck yourselves and stop tricking people into ur demonic garbage … when im in heaven ill be sure to send a nice dirty spit ur way

    2. Prometheus, I agree with you that people don’t know anything until they study it indepth. I myself, am a Wiccan and People think that we are devil worshippers. WE ARE NOT, OR AT LEAST, I AM NOT!!! I believe in mother nature and such, and also worship Bastet the Egyptian Goddess. This doesn’t mean I am EVIL, JUST different!!

    3. No offense to anyone, but I tend to disbelieve anyone who posts their personal business on an open forum on the globally accessed internet. Unless, of course, they are complete and utter morons. But, I am a pessimist and have little, if any, faith in humanity. In summation, if either of you are actually Free-Mason or Wiccan, cool, but why are you trying to prove yourselves on something as superficial, artificial, and otherwise insignificant as the internet? And George, you’re either a troll or should just stop reading anything other than the Bible, because you can find something offensive in anything if you look hard enough.

  69. It’s because the camera’s shutter isn’t fast enough to catch the propeller normally, causing this.

  70. My iPhone 4S also does this. I’m a pilot and have quite a few pictures like this one along with some videos where the prop does the same thing. This is a great picture though. I have not tried taking one from the front. My pics and videos are all from the air.

  71. God made this happen? as Chris Hitchens said “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” Personally… I think it’s just an optical illusion produced by a limitation of the technology. No need of ‘supernatural’ in the least!

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