There are a lot of theories about what looks very much like the image of a face on an apple in front of Michelle Obama on the latest Newsweek cover. I saw Ann Althouse's discussion, and she thinks it looks like Karl Marx. Here's Newsweek's incriminating apple, followed by Karl Marx:

Whether it's Marx or not, considering the Biblical story of Eve, I think Newsweek would have been well-advised to kill the apple entirely. Which they did (except it's too late) and which Hillbuzz thinks is no coincidence:

Early this morning, 3/16/10, it looks like the White House ordered Newsweek to crop the photo so the apple is no longer visible online. Newsweek has cut the table out completely, now, because whatever's going on in this photo was noticed by the public.

The Anchoress (who seems familiar with the phenomenon of images appearing in food) is skeptical:

But I'm a Catholic; I have learned to be skeptical of images in food.

The face of (Muhammad) (Karl Marx) (Rasputin) (Jesus) that so many around the blogosphere are seeing today is, alas, a mere figleaf of their imaginations. Sorry, kids, it just isn't there.

How do I know? I used an ancient reporting technique. I walked to the corner and looked for myself at the real cover on-sale now for $5.95 [Pass]. Nope. No face. Instead, there's just your average highlight on the apple representing either a reflection of one of the main umbrella lights used for portraiture photography, or something dropped in by the Newsweek photoshop jockey making everything nice on the final image.

Now I had some fun with this in the sidebar yesterday, but like many things on the web, "If it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing." Today, this thing is all over. What people are freaking out about is either a subtle photoshop (which I doubt), or an artifact of pixillation that happens when an image is reduced and optimized for web display. The latter is by far the most likely explanation.

But still, this is so much fun that if I could be permitted another bite at the apple, I'd like to go on record as saying it's the spitting image of Jerry Garcia. This was my initial reaction, and I am not alone.

I just don't think the forehead shape and general hairline match Marx. But I have seen Jerry Garcia many times over the years looking exactly like the image in that apple.

Here are two examples, found by Googling, followed by the apple:

But why on earth would Newsweek deliberately insinuate an image of Jerry Garcia into Michelle Obama's apple? I doubt they would. And I certainly hope they didn't.

Far be it from me to give food to the idea that 1960s acid rock was a form of "Cultural Marxism" or anything....