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Subtle messages

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Published: February 8, 1996

I have a sister-in-law who takes delight in challenging me with difficult puzzles. Last year it was the “world’s most difficult jigsaw puzzle,” and this year it was a calendar that has hidden 3-D images.

The jigsaw took some time to solve but the 3-D calendar appears likely to take longer. The images are there. My son-in-law found them and identified them, but so far all I’ve been able to see is a design that resembles a dog’s breakfast.

Some months ago people of a religious persuasion claimed subliminal messages were the cause of our society heading down the rocky road to perdition. The messages were not graphic but, these people claimed, were in the background of modern rock music.They detected invitations to all kinds of sin and corruption and demanded these be banned.

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Some years ago an acquaintance of mine, who worked for the sports department of the Toronto Star, labored long at his report of a sporting event. He was not happy with working conditions and so he wrote a story in which the first letter of each sentence spelled out an obscene message for those he considered responsible.

No one noticed.

Dismayed that his clever ploy had been wasted, he pointed out the story in print to a couple of colleagues. When the word got back to management, our hero was given one of those “Good morning John,” “Goodbye John,” interviews. Obviously he should have left subliminal messages to advertisers, politicians, sinners and those producing kooky calendars.

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