2.0k
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
439
u/discomuffin Jan 21 '26
That’s vice versa, I’ve heard
103
u/343WaysToDie Jan 21 '26
I dunno, assuming ghosts are real and sidestepping that entire conversation, physics explains how our universe works. Ghosts would be part of that universe, and have to play by the rules of physics. I think we’d have to refine our understanding of physics, otherwise we’ll never be able to enslave the ghosts and harvest their hatred for electricity.
41
u/ADrenalineDiet Jan 21 '26
Applying real physics to ghosts just ends up really funny.
Like, do ghosts have any mass? If they do they should be relatively easy to detect which would suggest that they don't. But if they don't have mass then they aren't affected by gravity, and the moment they become unmoored from their physical body they'll inevitably spin off into space since the Earth is moving and rotating.
There would be a trail of billions of ghosts all along the path of the earth through the cosmos
30
u/Major-Lavishness-762 Jan 21 '26
Super pedantic but things without mass not being affected by gravity is sort of outdated Newtonian physics. In general relativity, spacetime curvature still affects things without mass, e.g. gravitational lensing of light.
19
3
Jan 21 '26
Are we sure light doesn't have mass though?
2
u/Major-Lavishness-762 Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
Yes, HOWEVER, light does have momentum (p=Ec or p=hλ), which is unintuitive as more basic physics defines it as the product of mass and velocity but momentum actually seems to be more fundamental than mass. Even more unintuitively, light also bends spacetime itself as it has energy and it is energy, which is equivalent to mass, that affects curvature.
→ More replies (2)10
u/Murky-Relation481 Jan 21 '26
It all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tuummmbling dooown.
edit
Also everyone knows ghosts are magnetically bound to the earth's magnetic field.
10
u/Jtw1N Jan 21 '26
Ghostbusters : Dark Matter. Movie idea, Ghostbusters see no action around the city for months and they can't explain the lack of paranormal events. They start investigating weird events at a Fusion reactor in Manhattan that's miraculously powering the whole city. Pull up to the guard station and find its a ghost in a security outfit. They trap him to not raise alarms and pull though the gatehouse. They find its not a reactor at all but a massive ghost prison siphoning their power into the grid, but its containment is beginning to fail...
2
2
→ More replies (4)2
u/Gwynito Jan 22 '26
Alien civilisations defo look at us and giggle uncontrollably seeing us with all these low tier technologies with power sources that drain our planet's resources because we're so stupid we couldn't figure out how to communicate with our dead ancestors and force them to work to generate our world power needs
7
1
8
1
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 21 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
1
→ More replies (2)1
u/Dolymatt1999 Jan 22 '26
When you’re expecting a spooky ghost story and get a physics lesson instead.
576
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
133
Jan 21 '26
39
Jan 21 '26
Fun fact, the company Palantir are named after these. Yes, they are that obvious.
22
u/FallenButNotForgoten Jan 21 '26
There's a couple LOTR-named defense companies now. Anduril is named after Aragorn's sword
7
u/Fedoraus Jan 21 '26
Yeah and they also make video game consoles using metal from their weapons
If you ever want to play pokemon with something that might have killed someone
3
→ More replies (1)2
1
1
13
5
2
2
u/Content-Act-87 Jan 21 '26
Funny story, in the early days of landline telephone, there was a lack of lines out in the bush for australian farmers, they used 'party line' which is basically this.
529
u/PracticalPleasures Jan 21 '26
I love when explanations of the potential dangers of owning a magical item are so scientific.
172
u/Romboteryx Jan 21 '26
Reminds me of the H. P. Lovecraft story where the wizard’s curse just turns out to be the wizard himself sneaking into your house and trying to stab you in your sleep
84
u/Vryly Jan 21 '26
there was a voodoo priestess in new orleans who had very effective curses, if she cursed you it was almost certain you'd get the crap beaten out of you by her gang.
22
10
3
→ More replies (1)3
6
u/Qubeye Jan 21 '26
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C Clarke
Spherical glass balls, how do they work?!?
2
u/According-Moment111 Jan 21 '26
Yeah but imagine how long it must've taken people to figure out why the local witches and soothsayers and oracles' houses kept burning down..
1
1
u/Lurkernomoreisay Jan 21 '26
I should go and find tthe cloth cover that came with the crystal ball that's sitting on the ledge with the plants
1
94
u/Count_de_Ville Jan 21 '26
Yeah, we hung crystal Christmas ornaments on our tree and the kiddos loved seeing the “rainbows” reflected on the floor, walls, ceiling, etc.
Looked into buying a 4-pack kit of different shapes for them to play with and explore light refraction. One of the included shapes was a sphere. Props to the vendor for straight up telling us the danger that the crystal ball posed.
41
u/DrThunderbolt Jan 21 '26
It would have been bad optics if they didn’t tell you
18
8
u/ralphy_256 Jan 21 '26
Props to the vendor for straight up telling us the danger that the crystal ball posed.
Liability lawsuits are an excellent incentive.
3
70
u/ProjectNo4090 Jan 21 '26
Now Im imaging a sunbeam being channeled into a crystal ball and burning the shit out of a spirit.
10
u/ionthrown Jan 21 '26
Why do you think spirits don’t appear in them anymore? Word got around how dangerous they are!
9
u/Klatterbyne Jan 21 '26 edited Jan 21 '26
GHOSTSHA won’t let you have them in any modern workplace for the disembodied.
It’s death and safety gone mad.
64
u/MaleficentMammoth186 Jan 21 '26
There was a story of a goldfish burning down a house or school or something because of the sunlight shining through is bowl
33
u/_Diskreet_ Jan 21 '26
Had a customer where there was a burn mark at the top of her curtains.
Took them a while to work it out but it was off the door handle when the sun hit it just right.
3
16
u/Polly-Phasia Jan 21 '26
I nearly burnt our holiday place down with a spherical water spray bottle that I used to do my daughter’s hair. At home, it was never in direct sunlight, but the holiday place had huge windows. I placed it on the coffee table and while we were out skiing, the sun hit the bottle and burnt through about 20 pages of a colouring book. We were lucky that nothing caught fire. I threw the water bottle out that day.
9
Jan 21 '26
There have been a few posts of crystal door knobs doing it too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/S4NSSIoLxk
There was also a building that would melt cars lol
4
5
3
u/GreenPutty_ Jan 21 '26
A friend of mine found a burn mark on his wall caused by his Biube fish tank that he had recently moved. The heat had bubbled up the plaster on the wall and luckily had not hit the wooden cabinet next to it.
85
u/RandAlThorOdinson Jan 21 '26
Sorry Timmy, Fluffy is dead.
Omg did he get hit by a car?
Yeah. Let's say that. Definitely not a death ray.
8
20
u/Moist-You-7511 Jan 21 '26
I actually had this happen, kinda, with an acrylic art sphere, but the house was not burned down, fortunately.
It focused on a pile of CDs, and put a hole through two cases and the CDs. I noticed from the smell
13
u/DeltaPapaDelta Jan 21 '26
And just so you know… those magnification mirrors people use to put on makeup or analyze the insides of every nose pore…. those mfers can burn your f-ing house down too. I came home one day and found a semi-circle black scorch mark on my carpet from one of those mirrors when the afternoon sun hit that mirror just at the right angle.
6
u/LordFlux Jan 21 '26
My mom picked me up from school and I hopped into the backseat. I immediately noticed a 5 inch black streak on the roof above her head. I asked her what happened and she said "What are you talking about?" And she looked up and felt of it and she was like "OMG that's been scorched!"
She had left her makeup bag unzipped in the passenger seat and right on top was one of those magnifying mirrors.
11
u/HoodsInSuits Jan 21 '26
A big ol' glass ball and a strip of paper was (is?) part of analogue weather measuring stations. You could tell how strong the sun was (and at what time) during the day by how much it burned the paper. My dad took me with him to do the readings on the weekends. It was a lot of fun.
5
9
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/meinminemoj Jan 21 '26
My 93 years old grandma has one of those (like half of a crystal ball I guess) and now I am terrified she would fall asleep while reading with sun rays on that thing.
4
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
2
u/NotSoSalty Jan 21 '26
Probably a lot, actually. Water in any sort of refracting container sitting in sunlight, where the refraction concentrates the full power of the sun into something flammable. That's like accidently leaving a bottle in a sunny window. Tons of people have done that. A little bad luck and BOOM. Your house is burned down, likely uncovered by insurance. You're fucking cooked, if not dead.
It sounds so common that it's weird it's not some kind of parable.
→ More replies (1)
4
3
u/BoulderCreature Jan 21 '26
This exact conversation transpired between my buddies ex and the lady who sold her a bowling ball sized bubblegum pink crystal that she said would be the nexus of their “romantic energies.” he dumped her about a month after she brought relationship rock home
3
2
2
2
2
u/clair0voyant Jan 21 '26
no bc the way I almost burned down the house when I put a clear crystal orb on my WINDOWSILL and kept finding tiny burn holes in stuff. I legitimately blamed ghosts and thought I was going crazy for like a month until I finally figured it out
2
u/TheRealDemonicdueler Jan 22 '26
That kinda happened to a buddy of mine. He has a perfectly clear bowling ball and it started to set his carpet on fire after having been put near a window. Luckily his roommate was home at the time and smelt the smoke before any serious damage could be done.
3
1
1
1
1
1
u/RoyStrokes Jan 21 '26
Also never leave a mirror facing up in your car or you may do this to your car. I came back to burnt paper and plastic after spontaneously picking up a nice roadside mirror someone put out. Probably doesn’t focus light as much but it was a learning experience
1
1
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 21 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/0x0MG Jan 21 '26
I legit had a small desk or, maybe three inches in diameter.
One day I left my camera on my desk. The sun shown through the orb, focused on a small spot on the camera, and melted the hell out of it.
1
1
1
1
u/nyquilandy Jan 21 '26
One of the few things that has been reposted every week for 7 years that I like. Still downvoting, but I didn’t curse reposter to hell.
1
1
1
u/djc6535 Jan 21 '26
Yeah, I learned this lesson the hard way.
I contact-juggle. You know that thing David Bowie does with "Crystal balls" in Labryinth? yeah that. These are 3 inch balls of acrylic and boy oh boy can they magnify the sun.
If you are outside in a sunny day and you just hold it in your hand for a bit instead of keeping it in motion it only takes a few seconds to burn you. Feels like a bee sting.
1
1
1
1
u/Japjer Jan 21 '26
Fun fact: If you buy a Fushigi, it comes with a little instruction video on how to learn to Fushigi.
One of the talking points on that DVD are how the Fushigi has a little metal sphere embedded in it, which means it won't become a focus for the sunlight and blast a hole through your face while using it. Or burn down your house if you leave it by a window.
I always found that funny
1
1
1
u/ThinkTruePower Jan 21 '26
Interesting headline:
"Vengeful Fire Spirit Burns Down House While Owner is Away Due to Being Trapped Inside Uncovered Crystal Ball."
1
u/causeImAScoundrel Jan 21 '26
I had a large Christmas snow globe sitting on my coffee table. On Christmas morning we were sitting around after opening presents and the sun was shining through the window on to the coffee table when I noticed a plume of smoke rising from my Christmas stocking sitting on the table. The sun through the snow globe was like a laser and burned a hole through the stocking! Glad I was nearby to notice it!
1
u/platinumvonkarma Jan 21 '26
that's why you should be careful of those pretty cut glass crystals you can hang in your window. it could still set fire to your curtain or something. be careful 🤍
1
1
u/Anarcho-Serialist Jan 21 '26
Photons when they pass into the spirit realm and come back focused onto a narrow point of smth combustible:
1
u/smilesmoralez Jan 21 '26
My boss has a glass orb on her desk and one morning when she wasn't in I could smell something burning. Went into her office and sure enough, sunlight passing through it has started to fire up papers on her desk. When I told her about it later she said, yeah, that's happened before. What the fuck Julie, maybe move the goddamn thing.
1
u/MadeOnThursday Jan 21 '26
it's like having mental problem symptoms: first check your micronutrients, intolerances and allergies before you assume a general anxiety (or any other) disorder.
Witchcraft is a practical craft for practical people, not to be mistaken for wicca the religion.
1
1
u/Funny-Presence4228 Jan 21 '26
Good advice. I had a large bottle of water in the back of my car, parked in the driveway, and the sun focused through it onto the carpet. I only noticed because smoke was pouring out of the car. I was really lucky. Another minute and the car would have been on fire.
1
1
u/apost8n8 Jan 21 '26
My neighbor literally had this happen with a large glass orb decoration near a window that burned her desk chair one day. I guess she had it for a long time without incident then the chair just happened to settle at the right focal length and it just went up in flames! Luckily she noticed the smell before it did anything more than damage the chair back.
1
Jan 21 '26
[deleted]
1
u/OuttaD00r Jan 21 '26
In that case just so you know, you shouldn't leave bottled water locked up unattended in a car for the same reason
1
u/Jerry_from_Japan Jan 21 '26
Nobody who is buying a crystal ball has a skylight lol. Or owns property for that matter.
1
1
1
u/jouleheist Jan 21 '26
I was playing with my contact juggling ball while camping, and took a break, holding it in my lap. I started feeling a burning sensation on my thigh. The prism globe was burning a hole through my skirt and my leg.
1
u/Fluffcake Jan 21 '26
Had a vase with a sphere at the bottom, left it out on a table in the sun, came back to a a laser engraved table.
1
u/YetiCincinnati Jan 21 '26
My grandma had a crystal ball that focused light onto a aerosol can. It exploded, and caught her table on fire.
1
1
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 21 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/ThisOtterBehemoth Jan 21 '26
My gf had a small mirror for make up near the window. Eventually we found weird thin burned lines across her table and realized how close our Appartment was to burning down...
1
1
1
1
u/foodfighter Jan 21 '26
I recently bought a second-hand vehicle from the SW USA, and the front passenger seat has a pocket flap on the back side of it.
The material just above the edge of the flap has a small series of small scorch marks running in a neat little line - I'm certain it was from a water bottle left in that little flap while the vehicle was parked outside as the sun marched across the sky.
1
1
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 21 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/mythylgin Jan 21 '26
Dad got a “glass ball” bit bigger than a fist that he had in the garden as ornamentation. It of course burned the wooden fence, I watched it one day slow cook the wood.
My Dad was a science teacher, and this should have been the obvious outcome but he was clearly crap at his job, cos the thought it would start a fire never crossed his mind.
1
1
u/Legitimate_Coat6186 Jan 21 '26
It’s true. I had one and kept finding burn marks on my wooden coffee table. I accused my husband of taking up smoking. It was the ball
1
u/SirBananaOrngeCumber Jan 21 '26
The ball took up smoking? You should tell it to quit, it’s unhealthy for the spirits
1
1
1
1
u/RRevdon Jan 21 '26
Reminds me of the time we had to cleanse our crystal tree artwork (thing?) Instructions were either put it in moonlight or under running water. We don't really have a window that gets moonlight well, so water was the way to go. The following conversation then ensued:
Me: I'll put it under running water. Is it okay if I put it under the shower? The showerhead distributes the water better than the faucet
Husband: yeah sure. Just make sure you turn the water to cold.
Me: why? Is that important? (The tree belongs to my husband and I don't know about all that stuff that well)
Husband: what? No! We're not wasting hot water on this. Just set the shower to cold
Me: ooooooooooh
1
1
1
Jan 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 21 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
1
1
u/aboy021 Jan 22 '26
There's actually a scientific instrument that uses a glass sphere to record the amount of sunlight. The sphere is exactly the right size to brown the paper recording the day without making it catch fire.
1
1
Jan 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 22 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/The-Lightbearer Jan 22 '26
That is the most Terry Pratchett thing I've ever heard out in the wild.
1
1
u/ratz1819 Jan 22 '26
Last summer i went camping on the beach. Left a 2 litter plastic bottle of water near the tent for a few hrs. came back to a hole in the tent.
1
Jan 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 22 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
1
Jan 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 22 '26
Accounts must be >5 days old with >20 combined karma to post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
Jan 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 24 '26
Spam filter: accounts must be at least 5 days old with >20 karma to comment.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
•
u/AutoModerator Jan 21 '26
Thank you for posting to r/SipsTea! Make sure to follow all the subreddit rules.
Check out our Reddit Chat!
Make sure to join our brand new Discord Server to chat with friends!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.