David L Babcock wrote:
> It was twilight, among towering clouds, high over some mid state when I > saw a bright signal flare sweep up to about the plane's altitude from > clouds below, and fall back. Then a second, from a different location. > No lightning. Paths and velocities very projectile-ish, not rockets. But > considering the altitude, definitely not signal flares. > > Unless they were "tracer" artillery shells. Wildly unlikely, but so > -they say!- is ball lightning. My posting was prompted by a discussion I had with someone (who I don't think ever heard about BL) who saw a similar event, below cloud level, several days ago. He sounded quite sincere, as well as puzzled. > > As for those links, #3 conveniently ignores all the recorded cases of BL > going through walls and windows. #2 has NOTHING to do with the subject, > and #1 obviously is a hyper-skeptic jumping through haystacks to find an > excuse not to address the facts. Marsh gas, anyone? I agree with the comment on #1. As far as #2 - it sure looks like a BL-plasmoid with a net charge opposite to the missle. Notice how it tracks and arcs toward the missle. My apologies if it really is a UFO. Mirages and illusions are improbable explanations also. Yes - BL does seem to go through some non-conductive surfaces. I'm not sure the authors of #3 would dispute that. > > Say, doesn't our host Bill keep an extensive collection of BL sightings? > I hope so. Too bad difficult to explain phenomena are quickly dismissed. > Ol' Bab > > > On 8/27/2013 2:25 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> It's interesting to note that the still unexplained and controversial >> phenomenon of ball lightning is derided as mass delusion, e.g., -- >> >> Is Ball Lightning Just a Shared Hallucination? >> http://www.universetoday.com/64560/is-ball-lightning-just-a-shared-hallucination/ >> >> - despite that probable ball lightning has also deluded video cams, >> e.g., >> >> "UFO" Shoots Missile with beams - Vandenberg Air Force Base >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO4FhJ3mjrE >> >> Challenging established orthodoxy endangers reputation, career, income, >> ... >> >> This recent (open source) paper -- >> >> Interrelation between ball lightning and optically induced forces >> http://iopscience.iop.org/1402-4896/88/3/035402 >> >> -- begins with the observation - >> >> "The phenomenon of ball lightning (BL) remains unresolved >> up to the present moment. No satisfactory explanation of >> enigmatic natural phenomena (observed and examined by >> scientists for many centuries) has been found up to now. >> More than 200 different BL theories are known, and their >> systematization and classification have been carried out. >> However, neither of them can even approximately explain the >> enigmatic and intriguing behavior of BLs, which to a certain >> degree reminds one of the behavior of some highly organized >> matter. Physicists cannot imagine an object, submitting to >> conventional physical laws, whose properties coincide with >> BL properties. This is something perfectly new." >> >> It seems that the same laws of social psychology are operating >> to discourage investigations of BL and LENR. >> >> BTW, the following paper -- >> >> Tracks of Ball Lightning in Apparatus? >> J. Condensed Matter Nucl. Sci. 2 (2009) 1332 >> http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/LewisEtracksofba.pdf >> >> - speculates that micro-BL might explain the topography of >> pock-marked, streaked, ..., metal surfaces seen in LENR. >> >> Any opinions on the reality of ball lightning? >> >> -- Lou Pagnucco >> >> >> > > >
