Just took a smoke break from programming...

[cryopyre]

And while enjoying my cigarette I saw a bright light at about 60 degrees up from the horizon. It lingered for less than a second before accelerating and disappearing at an inhuman speed.

Guys...

What did I just see?

Even though this is the internet, I swear I'm not bullshitting you guys. I'm a skeptic, so I think... ball lightning? But damn, I'm wracking my brain on this one.

[Buster's Uncle]

Metor changing  direction as it hit different air currents?

[cryopyre]

Metor changing  direction as it hit different air currents?

The reason I don't think this is the case is because if it was a meteor, it was luminous enough to be a fireball. The air currents would have to exert a lot of force on something that has that much momentum.

[Unorthodox]

Sure it was a cigarette? 

Realistically, human eyes SUCK at judging size and speed at a distance. 

I've been present at a couple widely reported UFO sightings, and they were all planes "doing inhuman things" thanks to optical illusions. 

But, as to your particular instance...my guess would be a balloon hoax.  What you do is get a tea light tied to a mylar balloon.  It's light reflects off the mylar to make a big light.  So, you loft it up, and as the candle burns through the string connecting, the balloon rockets off, as it does, it loses the candle reflection.  It's a very effective UFO. 

Not that I would have ever pulled that on anyone at an airforce base or anything and had cops called or anything. 


edit:  I think LED's are the "in" way to pull this off these days. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Not that you got away, or didn't get in trouble?

[Unorthodox]

I should have kept that newspaper.

[cryopyre]

Sure it was a cigarette? 

Realistically, human eyes SUCK at judging size and speed at a distance. 

I've been present at a couple widely reported UFO sightings, and they were all planes "doing inhuman things" thanks to optical illusions. 

But, as to your particular instance...my guess would be a balloon hoax.  What you do is get a tea light tied to a mylar balloon.  It's light reflects off the mylar to make a big light.  So, you loft it up, and as the candle burns through the string connecting, the balloon rockets off, as it does, it loses the candle reflection.  It's a very effective UFO. 

Not that I would have ever pulled that on anyone at an airforce base or anything and had cops called or anything. 


edit:  I think LED's are the "in" way to pull this off these days.

I'm still sticking with the ball lightning theory because it's the only way I could imagine something appearing to move as fast as it did. Of course, in the sky it's difficult to really tell the distance of something, but it appeared to accelerate at an insane speed which makes me think it was a lightning ball with a disippating tail.

On the other hand, screenshots from SMAC roguelike character generation are up. I will add a skill set tonight as well as appropriate description strings for each race.

[Buster's Uncle]

Anyway, air changes density and air currents change direction and velocity pretty wildly with changes in altitude, so I don't have trouble imaging a small flat rock a second from burning away doing almost any maneuver.  Dissipating as you watched could have made it look like it was moving away at great speed when it was actually turned toward you..

[Rymdolov]

...or maybe it was the Progenitors popping in to see how the U.S. election was going. "If they elect someone who doesn't spend billions and billions on war they might actually get off their planet and then we're screwed."