Inspired by Michael Shermer’s How We Believe:

You have a house with a garage around back. The garage door is painted white.

For one reason or another, the paint on the door starts to flake off. Eventually, it flakes off in such a way that if you look carefully, you can see a shape that could be interpreted to look like the Virgin Mary or, possibly, a penguin.

Your neighbor, who is a devout catholic, sees this and declares it a miracle. He calls up the Catholic Miracle Hot Line, and the next day there are 5,000 people clamoring to see your garage door, many with severe ailments hoping to be healed. The major networks all have news vans set up on your lawn, and 15,000 – 20,000 people are expected to arrive over the next week.

Do you:

A) Shoo everyone away and finally get around to painting the garage door like you’ve meant to for some time.

B) Sit back and wait for the furor to die down, then paint the door.

C) Put up a sign that says “See the Virgin Mary, $15”

D) Put up a sign that says “See the Virgin Mary or, possibly, a penguin, $15”

E) Put up a sign that says “See my garage door, $15”

F) Something else.