# Person actualy tries to seriously prove the earth is flat



## Lobolover (Dec 31, 2008)

YouTube - The Earth Is Flat and Much Larger than the Sun

..........

no coment except

if "no doctor knows how the eye works"

then the very glasses you have on are a logical impossibility.


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## kythe (Dec 31, 2008)

So that's why I'm nearsighted. I just lack the upper part of my eye! It's all so clear now...

Seriously, I have heard of these people. There is actually a "Flat Earth Society" who genuinely believe that the evidence for the Earth being round is a conspiracy. 

I used to know an older lady who believed that the moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was accomplished through camera tricks and visual effects. She didn't believe anyone had ever been to space and continually pointed to movie special effects that make fantasy seem real. Thus, it made perfect sense to her to not believe anything she sees or hears about space travel. It's all lies supported by special effects. She was a follower of the Flat Earth Society.


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## Lobolover (Dec 31, 2008)

Well,this guy is a Koran nut,so I dont think he's in that society.


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## Scifi fan (Dec 31, 2008)

You know how many of my friends have fallen off the edge of the Earth? I can still hear their screams as they plunged into the nether regions.


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## Drachir (Dec 31, 2008)

Interesting that they gave the flat earther air time.  I can hardly see that happening in a Western nation.  However, the debate was hardly fair.  It is always one-sided when it becomes a debate of scientific evidence against religious belief.


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## kyektulu (Dec 31, 2008)

Scifi fan said:


> You know how many of my friends have fallen off the edge of the Earth? I can still hear their screams as they plunged into the nether regions.




Lol, I cant believe how many fruit loops are out there... thank god these people are of no social significance.


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## Ursa major (Dec 31, 2008)

Scifi fan said:


> You know how many of my friends have fallen off the edge of the Earth? I can still hear their screams as they plunged into the nether regions.


 

I'm guessing that it was it only their heads that disappeared into their nether regions. (Anything more than that would just be silly.)


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## Lobolover (Jan 1, 2009)

Oh,im afraid it was much worse.For you see,theres a DOOR halfway down and it just HAPENED to open and......well,I dont want to drive you uterly insane and force you into a mad frenzy,murderign everyone and everything you see until disolving in one glorious self combustion,so,I wont tell you the rest


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## Nik (Jan 1, 2009)

Sad...

Tragically, there is a 'lost generation' who flatly refuse to believe Neil & Co walked on Moon. Give it a couple of years, though, and the Chinese Taikonauts (sp?) will be taking home movies of those Apollo sites...

Want to *really* annoy Apollo-Deniers ?? Mention that the British Interplanetary Society had a workable Moon-mission designed in 1938. Yup, before liquid fuels were proven, before V2s began falling on London and points East, even before Arthur C. Clarke made his modest proposal for orbital relay stations...

Um, if Earth is *flat*, how come eg Sky (TM) dishes point thataway ?? Or pendulums precess according to latitude ?? Sorry, even the Ancient Egyptians figured the Earth was round, got a fair estimate of diameter... 
;-)


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## Scifi fan (Jan 1, 2009)

Something just occurred to me. If the Flat Earthers really believe that, what kind of fiction do they read? Specifically, what kind of science fiction do they read? There's no serious SF author that would write novels based on the flat Earth theory, so who would these people turn to for entertainment?


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## Ursa major (Jan 1, 2009)

If the Earth is flat, it is either infinite in extent, which would accelerate the decrease in house prices (which are based on the value of the land on which they sit), or there is an edge, in which case why are there no picture of it (and why isn't at least a part of it a tourist attraction)?







Oh, and why don't believers in a flat Earth take their medication?


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## kythe (Jan 1, 2009)

Scifi fan said:


> Something just occurred to me. If the Flat Earthers really believe that, what kind of fiction do they read? Specifically, what kind of science fiction do they read? There's no serious SF author that would write novels based on the flat Earth theory, so who would these people turn to for entertainment?



They may not read sci fi at all, or they may focus more on the type that concentrates on other technology and that's not about space travel.

The flat earth believer I knew had spent her life as a housewife and had no real interest in science, technology, or higher education.  I don't think she read much at all, but she was a very nice lady who very good at cooking and sewing.  She may be a few hundred years behind the times in her understanding of how the world works, but her personal beliefs didn't affect her life negatively at all.  It's not a belief that causes any harm.


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## Dave (Jan 1, 2009)

kythe said:


> They may not read sci fi at all, or they may focus more on the type that concentrates on other technology and that's not about space travel.


Maybe there is a whole new genre in this idea?

Instead of Steampunk, Sailpunk!

Fantastical adventures at the actual edge of the world. But beware, there be monsters! 

But I forgot, we already have Pirates of the Caribbean: At the Worlds End.


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## Pyan (Jan 1, 2009)

They already _have_ their very own setting and author; *Sir Terry Pratchett and the Discworld,* where it is quite easy to fall off the edge of the world, as Rincewind knows all too well...


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## Nik (Jan 1, 2009)

*Re: Person actually tries to seriously prove the earth is flat*

DiscWorld aside --Turtles all the way down ??-- I once had a run-in with a FlatEarther who cheerfully pointed to the Unchanging Moon as proof.

His faith was sorely shaken to learn about Libration, and how the Earth/Moon pair's elliptical orbit allows us to 'peek around the edge'. Verifiable with patience and eye-ball Mk#1, almost trivial with the binoculars he was carrying...

( For the first time, I understood how/why Galileo had been first on record to point a spy-glass at the sky: Simply hadn't occurred to the others... ;-)

Mr FlatEarth was even more upset to discover it was the Russians, NOT the perfidious Americans who first took photos of far side of our round Moon. Yeah, verily, there was space exploration *before* the purported sound-stage stuff...


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## Scifi fan (Jan 2, 2009)

What's beneath the Turtle anyway? 




> His faith was sorely shaken to learn about Libration, and how the Earth/Moon pair's elliptical orbit allows us to 'peek around the edge'. Verifiable with patience and eye-ball Mk#1, almost trivial with the binoculars he was carrying...



This is new - what does that mean, can you educate me?


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## ManTimeForgot (Jan 2, 2009)

Well: if its turtles all the way down, then you have to believe that beneath every turtle there is in fact another turtle.

This runs into serious problems once entropy and conservation of energy are taken into consideration.  Whatever part of reality these "turtles" were part and parcel to existing within would very quickly find itself with an energy density of infinity assuming that that section of reality was not itself infinite in expanse.


Of course there is a linguistic problem with "all the way down," since this denotes a direction and therefore implies an alternative location.  If there is another location to be found, then what is to be found there?  The answer of: more turtles smacks of sophistry and really amounts to little more than an assertion of "spaghetti monster."


And as far as "libation" is concerned: I suspect this address will help. www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1678.html 

MTF


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## ktabic (Jan 2, 2009)

Scifi fan said:


> If the Flat Earthers really believe that, what kind of fiction do they read? Specifically, what kind of science fiction do they read?



Press releases from the Flat Earth Society?


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## Nik (Jan 2, 2009)

Libration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Care: There is an animated GIF that takes a *long* time to load. IMHO, it is worth the wait.


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## Somni (Jan 2, 2009)

> Mention that the British Interplanetary Society had a workable Moon-mission designed in 1938



Nik, that sounds interesting - is there any information about that available on the web or other easy source?


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## Nik (Jan 2, 2009)

BIS Lunar Lander

British Interplanetary Society, Home Page, London, UK

I've been in BIS since ~1979, after they helped me track down info on nearby stars for a 'HardSF' tale and a 3D planetarium program I was writing...


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## Somni (Jan 2, 2009)

Thanks, it looks interesting.  I'll read it in more detail when I have the time.


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## Drachir (Jan 3, 2009)

Scifi fan said:


> Something just occurred to me. If the Flat Earthers really believe that, what kind of fiction do they read? Specifically, what kind of science fiction do they read? There's no serious SF author that would write novels based on the flat Earth theory, so who would these people turn to for entertainment?


 

SciFi, you are naively assumng that these people actually read *anything*.


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## Nik (Jan 3, 2009)

Typically, the 'Stars' in their down-market tabloid ??

{ cynic-mode/}


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## Scifi fan (Jan 3, 2009)

Well, the BIS had a moon mission, but they never landed on the moon, did they? And, even if they did land on the moon, as Neil Armstrong did, that didn't prove the Earth was round. IOW, the Earth can be flat, and they can fly up to the moon to plant a flag - the two propositions aren't mutually exclusive.


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## Ursa major (Jan 3, 2009)

I seem to recall that various space missions (including those predating the Apollo Program) involve a craft orbiting the Earth; that rather suggests that the Earth is at least vaguely spherical.


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## Scifi fan (Jan 3, 2009)

Orbiting the Earth, or just hanging about in the heavens?


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## j d worthington (Jan 3, 2009)

Orbiting the earth is, as far as I can recall, always a part of such a mission....


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## Nik (Jan 4, 2009)

"Well, the BIS had a moon mission, but they never landed on the moon, did they? And, even if they did land on the moon, as Neil Armstrong did, that didn't prove the Earth was round. IOW, the Earth can be flat, and they can fly up to the moon to plant a flag - the two propositions aren't mutually exclusive. "

Your logic is impeccable, of course, but since my victim's BlindSpot was big enough for me to plant two stakes, I did not hesitate...
;-)
---

ps: Thanks for prompting me to reply-- I've just realised the term 'BlindSpot' will plug a clumsy gap in surreal tale I'm writing...


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## Urlik (Jan 4, 2009)

Nik said:


> BIS Lunar Lander
> 
> British Interplanetary Society, Home Page, London, UK
> 
> I've been in BIS since ~1979, after they helped me track down info on nearby stars for a 'HardSF' tale and a 3D planetarium program I was writing...


 
according to the link, the Apollo mission took place in 1999 



> The one metric ton spacecraft delivered a crew of three to the lunar surface, landing on gear very similar to those used for the Apollo Lunar Module sixty years later.


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## Nik (Jan 5, 2009)

I suspect an attack of 'finger trouble' !!

Earn yourself some kudos and remind the bemused webmeister...

ps: Also possible that the notion was circulated privately a decade earlier and the editor skipped a phrase...


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## ktabic (Jan 5, 2009)

Nik said:


> Your logic is impeccable, of course, but since my victim's BlindSpot was big enough for me to plant two stakes, I did not hesitate...



But they only need one stake to not only prove the Earth is round, but also figure out the circumference. One stick and a working brain. Ah, I see the problem.


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## Urlik (Jan 5, 2009)

Nik said:


> I suspect an attack of 'finger trouble' !!
> 
> Earn yourself some kudos and remind the bemused webmeister...
> 
> ps: Also possible that the notion was circulated privately a decade earlier and the editor skipped a phrase...


 
 that would take the concept back to the 20's and place Apollo 9 in the 80's which is still out by a good margin


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## Lobolover (Jan 5, 2009)

ktabic said:


> But they only need one stake to not only prove the Earth is round, but also figure out the circumference. One stick and a working brain. Ah, I see the problem.



Yes-its so hard to find good sticks theese days


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