Everyday anomalies

Weird sounds from around the world. This phenomenon has been going on for some time now, but to my knowledge scientists haven't been able to figure out what causes it. Lots of speculation though..

 
There was quite a bit of talk in the news several years ago about a weird hummm in San Francisco. Here's a pretty good article with some speculations about possible causes.

https://www.kalw.org/news/2021-11-01/the-hum-a-worldwide-mystery-sound-explained

In my house down the SF peninsula, the weird sound is deep rumbles late at night. They have been happening here for 50 years at least. I remember people mentioning them many decades ago.

My own speculation is that they are railroad freight cars being moved onto sidings in the nearby industrial areas. Empty freight cars vibrating make a similar sound that can be quite loud. The tracks are more or less monopolized by commuter trains during the day, so freight tends to move at night. But that's just a speculation.

Another speculation I had was that it was jet airplane engine sounds directed downwards by nighttime weather conditions and bouncing off the hills. I live near the landing approach pattern for San Francisco International, so airplanes are always passing my front window in a parade, one after another. That's just a speculation too.

But even now, I still hear the rumbles occasionally, always at night.
 
Yazata said:
There was quite a bit of talk in the news several years ago about a weird hummm in San Francisco. Here's a pretty good article with some speculations about possible causes.

https://www.kalw.org/news/2021-11-01/the-hum-a-worldwide-mystery-sound-explained

In my house down the SF peninsula, the weird sound is deep rumbles late at night. They have been happening here for 50 years at least. I remember people mentioning them many decades ago.

My own speculation is that they are railroad freight cars being moved onto sidings in the nearby industrial areas. Empty freight cars vibrating make a similar sound that can be quite loud. The tracks are more or less monopolized by commuter trains during the day, so freight tends to move at night. But that's just a speculation.

Another speculation I had was that it was jet airplane engine sounds directed downwards by nighttime weather conditions and bouncing off the hills. I live near the landing approach pattern for San Francisco International, so airplanes are always passing my front window in a parade, one after another. That's just a speculation too.

But even now, I still hear the rumbles occasionally, always at night.
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That article was a really good detective story of trying to figure that hum out. Suggested alot of them are caused by the wind blowing on external air vents. Could be. But why do some hear the hum in the same house while others don't? Very mysterious...
 
Magical Realist said:
A floating leaf in a forest. More weird stuff from Russia:

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I see these all the time.

Spiders will attach their silk to various things all the time, including the ground, or detritus on the ground. The silk is a curly elastic protein and it contracts over time.
So I see leaves or other bits of things dangling from trees, seemingly in the middle of the air, frequently. The longer the line, the more the "bauble" bobs around.
 
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There was this one time back in the summer of 1976 I was driving through Shreveport, LA on Highway 171, and this Volkswagon bug pulled up beside me at a traffic light. The VW bug was painted with red and white horizontal stripes and had both driver and passenger side windows rolled down. When I looked over there were no seats in the car and there was no one driving the vehicle. What would normally be the front seat was instead a bunch of mechanical-looking equipment. I was dumbfounded and tried to keep with the vehicle through traffic but I eventually lost sight of it through the traffic. I looked around to see if any other drivers noticed the car without a driver but it appeared no one was looking. To this day I have no idea how a car back in 1976 could be driving by itself on a busy highway. Anyway, I'm sure there had to be some simple explanation and I've pretty much just blown it off to be as such. I certainly don't expect anyone to believe my story but I figured I share it anyway.

Now cue the Herbie jokes, lol.
 
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Zero Point Native said:
There was this one time back in the summer of 1976 I was driving through Shreveport, LA on Highway 171, and this Volkswagon bug pulled up beside me at a traffic light. The VW bug was painted with red and white horizontal stripes and had both driver and passenger side windows rolled down. When I looked over there were no seats in the car and there was no one driving the vehicle. What would normally be the front seat was instead a bunch of mechanical-looking equipment. I was dumbfounded and tried to keep with the vehicle through traffic but I eventually lost sight of it through the traffic. I looked around to see if any other drivers noticed the car without a driver but it appeared no one was looking. To this day I have no idea how a car back in 1976 could be driving by itself on a busy highway. Anyway, I'm sure there had to be some simple explanation and I've pretty much just blown it off to be as such. I certainly don't expect anyone to believe my story but I figured I share it anyway.

Now cue the Herbie jokes, lol.
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Didn't realize experiments with pseudo "self-driving" cars go back to the 1920s. Even in the proto-paternalism era of the 1970s, I suppose it's not unlikely that a permit to test one on actual roadways could be acquired. Or it could just be a rogue endeavor. Back in school days my brother had a petite 12-year-old friend whose mother would let him drive to the store alone (or with other kids like my brother) to pick up items. While the eyes of authority are contended to be watching everywhere for law-breaking, there are still many elephants that routinely elude its scrutiny.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_self-driving_cars

In 1925, Houdina Radio Control demonstrated the radio-controlled "American Wonder" on New York City streets, traveling up Broadway and down Fifth Avenue through the thick of a traffic jam. The American Wonder was a 1926 Chandler that was equipped with a transmitting antenna on the tonneau and was operated by a person in another car that followed it and sent out radio impulses which were caught by the transmitting antenna. The antenna introduced the signals to circuit-breakers which operated small electric motors that directed every movement of the car.​
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C C said:
Didn't realize experiments with pseudo "self-driving" cars go back to the 1920s. Even in the proto-paternalism era of the 1970s, I suppose it's not unlikely that a permit to test one on actual roadways could be acquired. Or it could just be a rogue endeavor. Back in school days my brother had a petite 12-year-old friend whose mother would let him drive to the store alone (or with other kids like my brother) to pick up items. While the eyes of authority are contended to be watching everywhere for law-breaking, there are still many elephants that routinely elude its scrutiny.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_self-driving_cars

In 1925, Houdina Radio Control demonstrated the radio-controlled "American Wonder" on New York City streets, traveling up Broadway and down Fifth Avenue through the thick of a traffic jam. The American Wonder was a 1926 Chandler that was equipped with a transmitting antenna on the tonneau and was operated by a person in another car that followed it and sent out radio impulses which were caught by the transmitting antenna. The antenna introduced the signals to circuit-breakers which operated small electric motors that directed every movement of the car.​
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I had thought about the radio control idea, and that could very well be what was driving the car. It just seems like such a risk to be following behind a radio-controlled car through busy traffic. What if you get separated from the vehicle as does happen quite often in busy traffic? I myself couldn't keep up with the vehicle due to being shifted through traffic. It's also possible someone could've rigged the vehicle to allow someone to be in a hidden position within the vehicle other than the driver or passenger side. I know when "Lights, Motor, Action" used to be at Hollywood Studios in Disney World, some of the cars had the drivers tucked away in the rear of the vehicle where the driver couldn't be seen as he had to drive the car backward at high speed.
 
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Zero Point Native said:
It's also possible someone could've rigged the vehicle to allow someone to be in a hidden position within the vehicle other than the driver or passenger side.
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That was my first thought, and how it is often done.

Not sure what the red and white stripes mean but I'm sure it's intended to draw attention, which lends credence to the idea that it's a prank.
 
Zero Point Native said:
[...] It's also possible someone could've rigged the vehicle to allow someone to be in a hidden position within the vehicle other than the driver or passenger side. I know when "Lights, Motor, Action" used to be at Hollywood Studios in Disney World, some of the cars had the drivers tucked away in the rear of the vehicle where the driver couldn't be seen as he had to drive the car backward at high speed.
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Yah, maybe a bit similar to parade float drivers hidden in cramped spaces, but minus driving backwards and at a high speed. But still not an easy task, especially without practice on a specific highway, at normal speeds, potentially limited ability to see, and no coordinated orchestration with the other vehicles. Stunt drivers take on the challenge, though.

Depending on the design, parade float drivers usually have impaired views. Sometimes there's a narrow opening allowing front viewing only, and sometimes only views from the sides of the float. Or no view at all, in which case a second person has to guide them.

https://www.bendbulletin.com/busine...cle_9577bd97-e6ca-57e0-a8fe-5910a11f9640.html

In his observer role, Hupp will sit in the lifeguard tower on the float’s nose. He will relay instructions by intercom to Hill in the driver’s compartment, nestled beside the engine bay underneath the front end of the pool. [...] “Greg doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing unless I tell him,” Hupp said recently by telephone from Vermont. “A wrong decision can get you some real excitement.” The two men endure this pressure and discomfort neither for glory nor a fat paycheck.​

In the 1930s, they were so close or exposed to engine exhaust that carbon monoxide would occasionally cause them to pass out before the parade finished.

These days, a few lucky ones are equipped with a camera/television screen setup, along with computers controlling speed and taking care of parade float effects that would otherwise also be the driver's responsibility to regularly activate.
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The story of Gef the talking mongoose. A rather peculiar but well-documented case of a poltergeist haunting that combines all the tricksterish elements (ie throwing stones, bangs in the walls) with a new twist of being quite vocal and even downright obscene. The world is weird folks. Tread forth with trepidation...


And they're even making a movie about it:

 
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Cattle mutilations for years on the same ranch. No tracks of predators on the ground. No blood. Surgically cut skin. One eye and ear missing. What exactly are we dealing with here? View first 4:05 minutes:


 
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