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I saw a good example of this the other day, but sadly didn't have a camera on me. It was a cold, sunny, frosty morning and the steam from a boiler vent was catching the sun. Looking through the steam cloud towards the sun, the backlit steam appeared bright white. But looking at it from the other...

On a Facebook post explaining how contrails form. https://www.facebook.com/techinsider/videos/1383501825091823/?permPage=1

That's pretty astonishing. Do any reviewers actually read papers any more? The authors thank Environmental Voices and its donors for generously providing funds for laboratory and publication fees. Environmental who, you say?

Doesn't the text at the top of the table explain this? "Airlines began reporting tarmac times for cancelled and diverted flights in October 2008. Tarmac times for cancelled or diverted flights operated prior to Oct. 1, 2008 are not available." I would have thought AA77 would be classed as a...

Just looking at the globe in Google Earth (or a physical globe) shows you that both the UK and parts of Australia can be sunlit at the same time (and this is a view from closer than the sun, so it won't even be showing as much of the globe as the sun can "see").

Why did you choose the westernmost point of the UK and easternmost point of Australia? The easternmost point of the UK and westernmost point of Australia are closer together. Penzance, 5.5ºW, to Cape Byron, 153.6ºE, = 159.1 degrees. Lowestoft, 1.7ºE, to Steep Point (Shark Bay), 113.1ºE = 111.4...

Yes, that's a good diagram to use to illustrate how objects have a smaller angular size when further away, even though they are the same physical size. Have you tried showing him something like that?

Surely just one look at this diagram is enough to show anyone that it's wrong. Mountains don't literally shrink just because someone is looking at them from a long way away. The peak will be the same distance above sea level no matter who is looking at it. Imagine on this diagram there were two...

Agreed. It is side-to-side curvature, which occurs because the centre towers are closer to the viewer than the towers at the side, so of course they are less far over the curve (which is present in all directions). You can't really separate out the curvature into "front to back" and "left to...

Yes it just seems to be endless back and forth. Plaintiff files suit. Defendant files motion to strike. Plaintiff flies amended suit. Defendant files amended motion to strike... It seems as though the plaintiff knew they were going to miss the November deadline so they have agreed an extension...

On a cylinder, the "circle" under your feet and the "circle" under the towers would be parallel to each other. On a sphere that is not the case. But I don't know if the difference at this scale would be enough to account for the variation.

Further delays:

It's really the same thing as far as I can see. On a sphere, the curve is the same in all directions. A straight line perpendicular to you will be lower at each end of your field of view than in the middle. You can either picture the end towers as being "further over the horizon", or the middle...

Another "corkscrew shaped" contrail. Presumably an illusion due to the pendules being blown one way and then the other, rather than the whole trail actually being twisted. Nine minutes later:

Or, to put it even more simply, the towers at each end are further over the curve of the Earth (i.e. beyond the horizon) than the towers in the middle. It's really just another manifestation of the "front to back curve" over the horizon - the further towers have more "front to back curve". The...

No, if the towers are in a straight line then they cannot all be on the horizon. The horizon is always the same distance from your eye, so it forms a circle, not a straight line. The towers will be closer in the middle and further at the edges of your field of view. They will be going "up and...

It appears that this whole incident was sparked by a small fight on one of the station platforms, which caused localised panic, leading to the platforms being evacuated, which in turn lead to further panic, and so on. Undoubtedly rumours on social media had quite an effect in spreading the...

Also worth noting that the Daily Mail (not known for its accuracy, especially when an opportunity to lead on terror arises) posted and subsequently deleted a false report of a lorry attack. The quote refers to an unrelated incident where a window cleaner fell to the street 10 days ago...

Edit: It appears to have been a false alarm (or at least a rather exaggerated one). No confirmed reports of shots, and only one minor injury caused by the stampede. Oxford Circus back open. Reports of an incident at Oxford Circus station in London, with terror police attending. The usual...

Actually only about 8.6 light years :)