By the vocal demand of loyal readers, we will explore ball lightning in more detail. The original article was quite general.
Ball lightning is usually reported to occur during thunderstorms, most often associated with a real lightning discharge. However, many of the reports have it appearing during fine weather with no storms around. This raises many possibilities, such as: there is more than one kind, or they are different phenomena, or people are mistaken or lying. Continue reading
In a paper published by Dr. Sukhbinder Kumar of Newcastle University on October 10, 2012, there is a list of the ten most unpleasant sounds, as chosen by the 13 volunteers in the study. Of the 74 sounds they were subjected to, these were the most unpleasant:
Knife on a bottle
Fork on a glass
Chalk on a blackboard
Ruler on a bottle
Nails on a blackboard
Female scream
Anglegrinder
Brakes on a cycle squealing
Baby crying
Electric drill
These four were deemed the least unpleasant:
Applause
Baby laughing
Thunder
Water flowing
If you go to the Newcastle press release, you will find recordings of the top five unpleasant sounds. Personally, I’d have put the fingernails on a blackboard at number one.
rjb
Ball lightning is still a mystery. One thing it certainly is not is evidence of paranormal activity. But what it is is not as certain.
Ball lightning is a rarely observed event. Fewer than five percent of people will see it even once in their lifetime. Those who do see it are among the privileged few, unless it kills them, which happens even more rarely. Photographs are nearly non-existent, given the low likelihood of an observer having a camera at the time and the briefness of the encounter. Continue reading
ISBN 978-0-9919532-0-2
