#special relativity

[395nm]

So, Lorentz contraction. Objects moving at close to the speed of light get shorter in the direction of motion.

I did some math. At the equator, Earth’s surface is rotating at .0015c. With a circumference of 24901 mi, the equator should experience a Lorentz contraction of about 160 feet. What consequences does that have for Earth’s geometry and structure? What about objects spinning much more rapidly, such as pulsars?

[noosphe-re]

Gravitation by Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler

[therationaldispatch]

Albert Einstein was one of many Jewish Zionists who uplifted all of humanity with their revolutionary insights which illuminated the laws of the nature. The equivalence of matter & energy can be described by a simple mathematical equation.

Antisemitism is anti-science.

[oberorka]

[not-a-fucking-mermaid]

Hello! I have a physics related question, specifically about special relativity and the relativity of simultaneity. And I haven't been able to find the answer anywhere so i'm hoping the science side of tumblr will help me out here. (and forgive me if i'm using incorrect phrasing here, english is not my first language and i'm just now *actually* learning about relativity, but i hope you're able to understand my question anyways)

Yk the train-and- platform paradox?

What I don't understand is why person A (on the train) sees the lightning strikes at different times just because in person B (on the platform) predicts they will (because B is perceiving the event from their own reference frame). This whole thing seems based on the assumption that person A and person B agrees that one of them sees the lightning at the same time and the other at different times, but I don’t understand why that is a correct assumption to make. If person B sees the lightnings at the same time, then they conclude they happened at the same time. And if they did happen at the same time, person A would in their own frame of reference also see the lightnings at the same time. So why does person A see the lightnings at different times just because that’s what would have happened in person B’s reference frame?

[tilbageidanmark]

Albert by the water

[housewolfmaximus]

Are We Alone?

𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨 & 𝙏𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙨

If you grew up in the 1960s and 1970s you certainly remember Erich von Däniken and his book "Chariots of The Gods?" and the ancient astronauts craze that followed. While von Däniken provided ample fodder for T.V. shows like Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of", he was not exactly a paragon of scientific discipline and wrote one of his books while in the joint for fraud.

Now, just in time for the holidays, Intelligent Extraterrestrials are making a comeback. On November 21 a movie, described as a documentary, "The Age of Disclosure" is set to be released which allegedly will "break the dam" on eighty years of a vast Government cover up of evidence of and technology from aliens.

Great scientists, such as Enrico Fermi, have pondered the subject of this post: "Are we alone?" and much ink from reputable minds has been spilled on why we likely are or are not.

As a lay numbnut it seems to me that one consideration has not been adequately addressed, namely "We are Tantalus." More on that below.

The Fermi Paradox and The Great Silence asks "Where is everybody?" Later fleshed out in the Drake equation and the Kardashev scale, Fermi beat the rational skeptics to the question of if there's intelligent life out there, why haven't they contacted us and why don't we have any demonstrably verifiable evidence?

Maybe interstellar travel isn't possible, or maybe it is but advanced civilizations concluded it wasn't worth the hassle, or maybe advanced civilizations didn't/don't last long enough to actually implement and complete the journey over such vast distances as detailed in The Great Filter theory.

The Drake equation and such is for the Mathletes but the Tantalus proposal is much simpler. We don't know what we don't know.

We are Tantalus. As Quantum Mechanics and Astrophysics advance, as each theory such as Einstein's General and Special Relativity is borne out by subsequent technology as fact, for each new tidbit of fact we forge, a bunch of new questions arise or facts we thought we had nailed down are called into question.

As we peer down into the micro, reality recedes away from us. As Tantalus stoops down to drink, the water flows away from him. As we gaze up at the macro, reality recedes away from us. As Tantalus reaches up for the fruit, the fruit draws away from him.

Maybe the problem is not in our particular science per se, and in our equations, but in us. Our science and equations are the products not of ultimate reality but of human beings and thus are shackled by the limitations inherent in our being and our limited ability to perceive the nature of the Cosmos. The String Theory folks go into math-overdrive working through competing models of how many dimensions there are. Edward Witten, who first broached M-theory, joked that it picked up the moniker "M" because it stood for "Murky".🤭

For those who want to wage pitched battles over whether we are or are not alone I say "More power to you." But to me it seems as if we are amoeba arguing about what's outside our drop of water.

As an open minded skeptic I find it all fascinating but, in the end, all the competing arguments are like overlapping sine waves that are out of phase resulting in destructive interference. They cancel each other out and produce a flat line revealing nothing.

But there is always hope. Maybe "Mars Attacks" was a glimpse of the future and when our Alien Overlords arrive they will wipe out Congress. Ack Ack.

[Post Updated June 24, 2026]

America is right to investigate UAP claims, but that’s only the beginning

From classified briefings to a Navy mortician's unverified claim, why better questions matter more than speculation

By Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (ret)

A few days ago, while staying in Teton Village, Wyoming, a gentleman approached me because he had heard about my book, "Out of This World." Over coffee, he described years spent investigating more than 100 reports of unidentified aerial phenomena tied to rocket launches along Florida's Space Coast. Most proved explainable. A few did not.

Then he recounted a remarkable story involving a retired U.S. Navy officer who had served as a military mortician and claimed he had examined what he believed were the bodies of non-human beings. Rather than accepting or dismissing the account, I asked the questions any experienced analyst should ask: Where are the photographs? The laboratory reports? Who maintained the chain of custody? Can any of it be independently corroborated?

I asked him to reconnect with the retired officer and obtain answers. Until then, the account remains exactly what it is: an intriguing but unverified claim.

That conversation reminded me of something I learned over 24 years as an Army officer and another 22 years as a Pentagon strategist. The greatest danger in today's UAP debate is not government secrecy. It is public certainty.

Some have already decided unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) prove extraterrestrial visitation. Others insist every report is nonsense or simple misidentification. Neither position reflects disciplined analysis. Good intelligence work begins neither with belief nor disbelief. It begins with evidence.

Classification is not proof

During my years in the Pentagon, I sat through countless briefings involving classified capabilities and intelligence assessments. Governments classify information to protect sources, preserve technological advantages and safeguard operations. Classification is not proof. Neither is testimony, however sincere. Evidence, not confidence, must remain our standard. Good analysts distinguish between what remains secret and what remains unexplained.

That distinction matters because Washington has changed how it approaches this subject. The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has released three batches of declassified case files this year, on May 8, May 22, and June 12. One report, dated June 5 and signed by AARO Director Jon Kosloski, documents an October 2023 incident in which law enforcement observed an orange "mother orb" releasing smaller red orbs. The Pentagon's own case analysisstates the case remains unresolved, with unrecognized technology among the possible explanations.

The documentary "The Age of Disclosure," featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and several sitting members of Congress, became Amazon Prime's best-selling documentary within 48 hours of its November release. Yet even Rubio, who appears in the film, has since said publicly he doesn’t "have any independent way to verify the things they said," precisely the caution this debate requires.

Washington is no longer treating UAPs as an occasional curiosity. It is treating them as a continuing intelligence challenge. Military professionals should investigate unexplained events. Scientists should test competing hypotheses. Congress should insist on transparency whenever national security permits.

Investigation is not interpretation

But there is a distinction America seems to be missing. Investigation is not interpretation. Governments can collect radar tracks, infrared imagery, pilot testimony and sensor data. None of those, by themselves, explain what these phenomena actually are.

That is why America is asking the wrong question. Most public discussion revolves around what the government may be hiding. Those are legitimate questions in a constitutional republic. Yet even if every classified document were released tomorrow, one far more important question would remain unanswered: What are these phenomena?

That question led me to spend more than a year researching government archives, military testimony, scientific literature, ancient history, comparative religion and biblical theology for "Out of This World." My objective wasn't to prove extraterrestrial life, nor to dismiss the phenomenon altogether, but to ask what intelligence analysts ask every day: Which explanation best fits the available evidence?

Human beings have wrestled with reports of unexplained aerial phenomena for centuries, and modern military pilots continue reporting encountersthat challenge conventional explanation. Many incidents prove ordinary. A persistent minority do not. That continuity should produce humility, not certainty. Modern secular society increasingly assumes such events point toward extraterrestrial civilizations or undiscovered technology. That conclusion is not self-authenticating. It begins with an assumption, like any other.

A question bigger than science

That is why today's debate is not fundamentally about unidentified flying objects. It is about how we determine what is true. Science explains observable phenomena remarkably well, but it cannot answer questions of ultimate meaning. Those questions lead us into philosophy, and ultimately, theology.

As an evangelical Christian, I believe Scripture offers an interpretive framework too often ignored in today's discussion. Christians should be the last people to mock mysteries they cannot explain, because the Bible plainly teaches that reality extends beyond the material world. Scripture affirms the existence of angels, demons and spiritual deception.

Yet Christians should also be the last people to embrace extraordinary claims without compelling evidence. The Apostle Paul warned believers to "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV). That principle applies as much to extraordinary claims about UAPs as it does to any other claim about truth.

The government's growing commitment to investigating UAPs deserves support. Serious questions deserve serious investigation. But investigation is not interpretation.

As I wait to learn whether the retired Navy mortician can answer the questions I posed, I am reminded that disciplined inquiry is always more valuable than confident speculation. Either way, my responsibility remains the same: ask better questions, demand better evidence and interpret both with humility. If the answers exist, evidence will eventually reveal them. If they do not, speculation never will.

That discipline served me throughout a lifetime in national security. It may be America's best hope for separating fact from fiction as we confront one of the most intriguing mysteries of our time.

[quanta-44]

So I was reading about special relativity. It's fucking fascinating. And I just had a quick thought a la the twin paradox: if a human was living in our regular world, their twin living in a spaceship travelling at 99.5% of the speed of light would appear to be aging 10x slower but really they would be experiencing the same amount of life as each other as the twin in the spaceship's thoughts and actions would be slowed down 10x too. Quick thought would be like having the world travel in the spaceship (it gets the slow mo) but allowing your mind to be on earth stationary relative to the spaceship (without the 10x slower mo)

Special relativity is epic and Athena's powers make my nerdy physics self happy beyond infinity