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See the original image at well.blogs.nytimes.com

Cracked: The truth about the spinning dancer

well.blogs.nytimes.com — The popular circulating email with the spinning dancer, asking readers to tell if she's spinning clock-wise or anti-clock-wise and hence determining the more dominant side of your brain. The mystery behind it has been cracked.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 30, 2008

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105 Comments

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  • DickyT83, on 04/30/2008, -1/+41I'd hit it.
  • CarStan, on 04/30/2008, -0/+28You spin me right round, baby, left round, like a... WTF?
  • Incosian, on 04/30/2008, -1/+27When I read the title I thought this was an article from Cracked.com about the spinning dancer and was expecting hilarity.
    Needless to say, I'm disappointed.
  • TEHxINTERWEBS, on 04/30/2008, -0/+23She waved at me... What does that mean?
  • edborden, on 04/30/2008, -0/+16Wild. I saw it flip several times, and after a while it just kept happening. At first, nothing, though.
  • kungfumaniac, on 04/30/2008, -1/+15I'm more concerned with the silhouette nipples
  • sn0w, on 04/30/2008, -0/+10Here's an article by clinical neurologist Stephen Novella about the spinning dancer, and why it doesn't say anything about your so-called dominant side: http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php?p ...
  • goerg, on 04/30/2008, -0/+10my brain...explodes...
  • pinkSocks, on 04/30/2008, -0/+9This isn't "cracking" it. Cracking it would be figuring out which way it was rendered. Clockwise or counterclockwise? I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT!!
  • Callidus, on 04/30/2008, -0/+9Mind bottling, you know when your mind gets trapped like in a bottle.
  • containimated, on 04/30/2008, -0/+8She was in a closet making babies and one of the babies looked at me.
  • MikeXpop, on 04/30/2008, -0/+8I just can't get over the fact that she's jumping (watch the shadow).
  • yellowfish04, on 04/30/2008, -2/+10I can't see her go counter-clockwise!! All I can see is clockwise!! gah, halp!!
  • diggstown, on 04/30/2008, -0/+7You dumb bastards. It's not spinning clockwise or counterclockwise.

    It's a Sailboat!
  • JMSantos, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6I knew it took a while for images and the like to circulate on the "forwarders" email lists, but I never knew it took nearly this long...
  • ryancalderoni, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6I think I see the crack!
  • Meep3D, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6Just so it doesn't get lost (I don't normally spam replies on the first post) but if you hold your finger up in front of the screen and spin it in the direction you want the dancer to spin, glance at your finger then back at the dancer it'll change direction to match your finger.

    Don't do it at work though otherwise people will think you have 'issues' :D
  • aladrin, on 04/30/2008, -0/+6And here I thought it was 'counter clockwise' or 'widdershins'.
  • jakobmakob, on 04/30/2008, -1/+7Gah, the promise of a Cracked.com article in the title, and it's the NY Times. Thanks a lot.
  • inactive, on 04/30/2008, -0/+5The ***** whore made me dizzy looking at her spinning.
  • wastedlife, on 04/30/2008, -0/+5You're not very good at CRACKing jokes.
  • xtrench, on 04/30/2008, -0/+5Are you really that surprised?
  • Murdats, on 04/30/2008, -0/+5so am I, apparently people have watched Blades of Glory.
  • plundstedt, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4She's even got nipples!
  • tetsuwan, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4Ha, it's pretty funny to figure out how to flip the rotation direction intentionally. I do it by looking at the foot and it's reflection and "forcing" it into the new direction.
  • groone, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4Dugg for the use of "anti-clock-wise" and those against the clockwise movement.
  • mowe, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4Uhh ...... never mind.
  • mindsnare, on 04/30/2008, -1/+5bottling?
  • inactive, on 04/30/2008, -1/+4mind blotting?
  • happytedium, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3At first I see clockwise, but as soon as I start reading the text below it in my head she starts moving counter-clockwise. :O
  • poopdigger, on 04/30/2008, -1/+4If you look at the shadow of her raised foot, it actually makes more sense for her to be spinning clockwise. If she is upright, you should only see that shadow pass across the screen when her raised foot is closest to you- which indicates clockwise spin. If you see a counterclockwise spin and take the shadow into account, you will notice something is not quite straight. Nevertheless, the first time I look at it I always automatically see her going counterclockwise, and can only change her direction by forcing myself.
    My conclusion is that the so-called "right-brained" people generally have more artistic training, and thus are better at taking things like shadows into account automatically. And to be honest, this article cracked *****, although it was interesting.
  • yahoofrom, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3Exploding Head Syndrome?
  • inactive, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3You learn something every day then, don't you?
  • passedoutghost, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3*asplodes
  • yahoofrom, on 04/30/2008, -1/+4it's both.
  • passedoutghost, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3*whoosh* watch Blades of Glory
  • MrFurious2k, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3All I see are nipples and perky boobs.
  • okgaz, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3Same here! If I look at the text above her she spins one way and below her the other! Ha, we're the ones who cracked it ;D
  • dslartoo, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2I hate this damned image. I can only see her spin clockwise unless I use the "cheat" images provided.....whereupon my brain locks into THAT perception and I can't see her spinning anything but counterclockwise. I give up.

    Great article, though. At least now I can finally see it going the other way round. I was convinced everyone else was out of their heads.
  • robotto, on 04/30/2008, -3/+5"well it's an optical illusion, not a brain test"

    more optical illusions here: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
  • inactive, on 04/30/2008, -1/+3i watched it frame by frame and i say clock wise.
  • tylerni7, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2The mystery behind it is cracked? Since when was this ever a mystery?
  • aladrin, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2I'm amazed... Apparently nobody else watched Blades of Glory.
  • JARSInc, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2If you want to see it the other way, these help a lot:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Right_spinning_ ...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Left_spinning_d ...
    After looking at the one you couldn't get, switch to the original image.
  • CarStan, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2I read your comment several times to think about what you said and
    WOAH, BOOBIES!! OGC
  • PixelD, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2Yep. Looks like a sailboat to me.
  • wastedlife, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2Another case of RTFA
  • jeffmon, on 04/30/2008, -4/+6That's ***** mind bottling.
  • Macuyiko, on 04/30/2008, -1/+3Are you a jedi?
  • bemenaker, on 04/30/2008, -0/+2and if you look inside yourself, you will see, it is not the dancer that is spinning, everyone knows that's impossible, but it is yourself that is spinning.
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