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Could it be rocket/satellite debris re-entering the atmosphere? As someone pointed out already, 3 minutes seems too long for a meteor to be visible, but maybe rocket debris would be moving more slowly than a meteor. Just a suggestion.

As a general principle, private (i.e. non-government) institutions should be free to control whatever is done in their name, or by the use of their facilities. Control of 'speech' is just one application of this principle. No-one (I presume) would argue that mosques should be required to allow...

At #72 above I posted a link to a photo taken from a hillside above the Bonneville Salt Flats, showing clear curvature along a very long straight road. Now a YouTuber going by the name Don't Stop Motion has gone one better by taking a video from much the same viewpoint. The resulting video is...

Reading comments on Twitter or YouTube about the dangers (or otherwise) of Covid-19, I frequently see people, especially anti-maskers and antivaxers, claiming that the death rate is extremely low, for example 0.004% - that is, 4 per 100,000, or 40 per million. When I ask where they get such...

Someone on Twitter, going by @MiddleOfMayhem, has posted an image comparing the published photo of the mystery object with a large object (a boat) photographed from approximately 1000 feet, like the supposed distance of the object from the plane when the published photo was taken. I...

Lt Tim McMillan's Twitter page on 5 December states that: That seems to resolve one doubt, but leaves the question how anyone could mistake the object for a cube. 'Weird medieval shield looking thing' is not a bad description.

The Mail Online today has a report on the 'Debrief' article, including the subsequent cockpit photo of an unidentified object as shown in this thread. The article is here: Leaked photo from Pentagon UFO task force shows silver cube hovering over the Atlantic | Daily Mail Online...

On the question of 'judging size and distance' - is it small and close or large and far away? - there is an amusing example in this interview with astronaut Tim Peake on The Graham Norton Show : Tim Peake Thought He Saw UFO's On The ISS | The Graham Norton Show - YouTube (hope this is visible...

In the UK, there is no compulsory ID card, and proposals to introduce one have always been controversial. In 2006 an Identity Cards Act was introduced by the then Labour Government and enacted by Parliament after acrimonious debates. The Act provided for a 'voluntary' ID card, but also...

If your argument were valid, a tall object falling over would always stay in one piece until it hits the ground. This is observably false. For example, when tall factory chimneys are demolished, they often break into several pieces. There is an interesting compilation of chimney demolitions...

I found this article on Snopes.com which examines the claim about Bill Gates and a patent 060606: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/microsoft-own-patent-666/ As often happens, there is a grain of truth in the claim, but it has been wildly misinterpreted. I can't comment on the other points...

I think what's happening is that the musician is pulling your leg. There is no such note as B major. There is a note called B flat, but on most instruments (piano, guitar, etc) it is exactly the same as A sharp. (Pedantic note: in tuning systems other than equal temperament there might...

This point may already have been mentioned, but it is a principle of classical mechanics that if a force is applied at right angles to one end of a rigid rod, that end of the rod will move in the direction of the force, but the other end will move in the opposite direction, unless constrained or...

Among the many puzzles presented by the international statistics for Covid-19 is the large difference in death rates between The Netherlands and Belgium, neighbouring countries which seem to have much in common. The Worldometers table currently shows a death rate per million population of 375...

That nails the source of the 'star' footage in the other Pathe clip, but I hope the London Planetarium didn't show that 'starscape' to actual customers. A transparent moon, non-existent and nonsensical constellations, and the sun apparently out in the night sky! I can only speculate that the...

No, it must be genuine, because we can see a star shining through the transparent body of the moon, just like we flat earthers always said! sarc\

I recently read a book written by an experienced forensic pathologist in the UK (Dr Richard Shepherd, Unnatural Causes). He mentioned that several times in his career he had dealt with cases where a black (African or Afro-Caribbean) person had died while being restrained by police or prison...

Me no chemist, but can the same substance have a 'profound water repellant nature' and be 'highly water soluble'? (both terms used in the press report).

In the UK, good news about Coronavirus tends to be ignored or buried by the media, largely for political reasons. So I draw attention to the latest weekly data from the Office of National Statistics on overall death rates, based on collated death registrations. The latest bulletin, for deaths...

I recently saw a PBS documentary (I live in the UK but PBS is available here now) on the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic. A lot of photos and film from the USA in the period showed everyone wearing face masks. I don't know if it was legally compulsory, but it was certainly widespread. Unfortunately...