[razorboy]

The wave/ particle thing isn’t just a visual trick, it’s a serious reality questioning piece of weirdness if you’re bored and don’t mind getting a headache:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality

Now as for your plane. That kind of stuff happens a lot. Light hits at a weird angle, people watching don’t realize where they are in relation to local flight paths, people don’t realize how bad your depth perception gets at long distance especially without intermediate object. I live in an Air Force town, there’s always something up there, and sometimes it looks a little odd. Usually I’m more concerned when they’re in the wrong place, especially since 9-11 “why is a plane there” has become the biggest concern when looking in the sky.

[Caramelgal]

Now as for your plane. That kind of stuff happens a lot. Light hits at a weird angle, people watching don’t realize where they are in relation to local flight paths, people don’t realize how bad your depth perception gets at long distance especially without intermediate object.

Exactly. Knowing that I was driving under a flight path, I knew full well that it was an airplane as I’d seen hundreds coming in for a landing over the very same stretch of highway over the years.

What I found interesting was, even with this knowledge, how light and angle and perception could be deceiving.

For a very brief moment I could understand why some otherwise rational people might think they’ve seen a UFO. On the other hand most rational people understand the rational explanations. Some folks however, because they’ve pre-programmed themselves to “believe” are unwilling to accept any evidence to the contrary and call the rest of us “naysayers”.

[Caramelgal]

Now as for your plane. That kind of stuff happens a lot. Light hits at a weird angle, people watching don’t realize where they are in relation to local flight paths, people don’t realize how bad your depth perception gets at long distance especially without intermediate object.

Exactly. Knowing that I was driving under a flight path, I knew full well that it was an airplane as I’d seen hundreds coming in for a landing over the very same stretch of highway over the years.

What I found interesting was, even with this knowledge, how light and angle and perception could be deceiving.

For a very brief moment I could understand why some otherwise rational people might think they’ve seen a UFO. On the other hand most rational people understand the rational explanations. Some folks however, because they’ve pre-programmed themselves to “believe” are unwilling to accept any evidence to the contrary and call the rest of us “naysayers”.