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Everyone seems to have stories about ball lightning. Where is a video? PS: The video in the article is unconvincing and probably a firefly.

by bvinc 10y ago

cantrevealname 10y ago
> Where is a video? Whatever the plausibility of ball lightning, it is not reasonable to demand video of a rare and unexpected event. I read somewhere that no major airline crash was captured on film until about 30-40 years ago (NB: exhibition flights and the Hindenburg are not airlines), but we can agree that planes did crash. Think about 9/11: The World Trade Center must be one of the most photographed and videoed sights in the entire world, yet there are only 2 videos of the first attack on a sunny morning when it was witnessed by thousands of people walking around. There is just one extremely poor video of the Pentagon attack, and this is a building that I assume is brimming with surveillance cameras. There are no videos of the Shanksville crash. An airplane in trouble is big and noisy and there might be a minute between the time it's noticed until it crashes. Ball lightning, if such a thing exists, is small, initially quiet, unexpected, and last just seconds.
- panic 10y ago
  There are a lot more video cameras now than there were 15 years ago.
xeromal 10y ago
I feel like hackernews/reddit has a unusually high number of stories like this. I don't buy it. Another one everyone claims to have is sleep paralysis.
- larsiusprime 10y ago
  Sleep paralysis is a well documented medical disorder. As a diagnosed narcoleptic, I can assure you it is very real.
  - grkvlt 10y ago
    It's my understanding that occasional sleep paralysis is actually pretty common. Chronic occurrences are more rare, and would be characterised as a disorder, like the parent comment suggests.
- Gigablah 10y ago
  Sleep paralysis is why I go to sleep on my side rather than my back every night. I no longer fear it since I can consistently awaken myself now, but I'd rather not deal with the annoyance.
  - xlxlxlx 10y ago
    I almost exclusively get sleep paralysis laying on my back too. It's hard for me to fall asleep on my back fortunately, but when I do it's a nearly sure-fire way to end up in sleep paralysis. Is there any explanation for why this is the case? To GP, it's definitely real. I didn't have it until I was around 25. My first time was shocking -- I'd never experienced anything similar. I rarely have any visual hallucinations, sometimes auditory hallucinations, but the main component of sleep paralysis is the breathless, weighed down sensation of desperately wanting to move but being totally unable to do so. My experiences are always accompanied by the extreme urge to get up and protect myself. I even sometimes have my eyes open during sleep paralysis, and I've confirmed with my wife that I can see my surroundings by, after I come to, accurately reporting her movements around the room during an episode.
    - flukus 10y ago
      For me it's only ever happened on my side.
      - ptrincr 10y ago
        I used to find it happened only when I was lay on my front. But just the other day I had it when I was on my back. I've had it more when I've been extremely tired and finding it hard to sleep. It's only happened a handful of times in my life that I can recall, but it's really unpleasant. It feels like you are trapped, can't move and have to will yourself free.
- InclinedPlane 10y ago
  I remember back when HN wasn't full of anti-intellectual jerks. Those were good times.
- grkvlt 10y ago
  No, it's not that everyone on the sites have stories about ball lightning, or sleep paralysis, rather that everyone who comments with a story is reporting an experience with the subject of the article, ball lightning here, sleep paralysis apparently in another case. Those who don't have stories to tell about the phenomenon, or who have not experienced it, don't comment, there's nothing interesting or useful about saying "Yeah, ball lightning - that reminds me of the time when I didn't see any." Bear in mind there's a huge number of users on HN, and there were only around ten comments relating personal experiences with ball lightning. This is a tiny fraction of a percentage of the community, and similar statistics probably hold true for Reddit.

Everyone seems to have stories about ball lightning. Where is a video? PS: The video in the article is unconvincing and probably a firefly.

by bvinc 10y ago

Everyone seems to have stories about ball lightning. Where is a video? PS: The video in the article is unconvincing and probably a firefly.

cantrevealname 10y ago

> Where is a video? Whatever the plausibility of ball lightning, it is not reasonable to demand video of a rare and unexpected event. I read somewhere that no major airline crash was captured on film until about 30-40 years ago (NB: exhibition flights and the Hindenburg are not airlines), but we can agree that planes did crash. Think about 9/11: The World Trade Center must be one of the most photographed and videoed sights in the entire world, yet there are only 2 videos of the first attack on a sunny morning when it was witnessed by thousands of people walking around. There is just one extremely poor video of the Pentagon attack, and this is a building that I assume is brimming with surveillance cameras. There are no videos of the Shanksville crash. An airplane in trouble is big and noisy and there might be a minute between the time it's noticed until it crashes. Ball lightning, if such a thing exists, is small, initially quiet, unexpected, and last just seconds.

panic 10y ago
There are a lot more video cameras now than there were 15 years ago.

xeromal 10y ago

I feel like hackernews/reddit has a unusually high number of stories like this. I don't buy it. Another one everyone claims to have is sleep paralysis.

larsiusprime 10y ago
Sleep paralysis is a well documented medical disorder. As a diagnosed narcoleptic, I can assure you it is very real.
- grkvlt 10y ago
  It's my understanding that occasional sleep paralysis is actually pretty common. Chronic occurrences are more rare, and would be characterised as a disorder, like the parent comment suggests.
Gigablah 10y ago
Sleep paralysis is why I go to sleep on my side rather than my back every night. I no longer fear it since I can consistently awaken myself now, but I'd rather not deal with the annoyance.
- xlxlxlx 10y ago
  I almost exclusively get sleep paralysis laying on my back too. It's hard for me to fall asleep on my back fortunately, but when I do it's a nearly sure-fire way to end up in sleep paralysis. Is there any explanation for why this is the case? To GP, it's definitely real. I didn't have it until I was around 25. My first time was shocking -- I'd never experienced anything similar. I rarely have any visual hallucinations, sometimes auditory hallucinations, but the main component of sleep paralysis is the breathless, weighed down sensation of desperately wanting to move but being totally unable to do so. My experiences are always accompanied by the extreme urge to get up and protect myself. I even sometimes have my eyes open during sleep paralysis, and I've confirmed with my wife that I can see my surroundings by, after I come to, accurately reporting her movements around the room during an episode.
  - flukus 10y ago
    For me it's only ever happened on my side.
    - ptrincr 10y ago
      I used to find it happened only when I was lay on my front. But just the other day I had it when I was on my back. I've had it more when I've been extremely tired and finding it hard to sleep. It's only happened a handful of times in my life that I can recall, but it's really unpleasant. It feels like you are trapped, can't move and have to will yourself free.
InclinedPlane 10y ago
I remember back when HN wasn't full of anti-intellectual jerks. Those were good times.
grkvlt 10y ago
No, it's not that everyone on the sites have stories about ball lightning, or sleep paralysis, rather that everyone who comments with a story is reporting an experience with the subject of the article, ball lightning here, sleep paralysis apparently in another case. Those who don't have stories to tell about the phenomenon, or who have not experienced it, don't comment, there's nothing interesting or useful about saying "Yeah, ball lightning - that reminds me of the time when I didn't see any." Bear in mind there's a huge number of users on HN, and there were only around ten comments relating personal experiences with ball lightning. This is a tiny fraction of a percentage of the community, and similar statistics probably hold true for Reddit.