Flat Earth Society - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: daqq
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 04:04:29 pm
content: ...Erm... yeah... erm... but... I don't even... well... what?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth_SocietyIt does not seem to be a joke...

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 04:14:23 pm
content: They've been around for ages. Bunch of nutters, with a fair mixing of trolls as well. Many of them are either hyper-fundamentalist Christians, or mentally ill conspiracy theorists.

author: mos6502
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 04:59:39 pm
content: Another candidate for Poe's law:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 07:28:10 am
content: I'd like to see a Flat Earther arguing with a Hollow Earther.There probably should be single quotes around 'arguing'.It seems odd there are no Klein Bottle Earthers.

author: lewis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:15:22 am
content: Well there could be something in it.After all, no-one's actually gone all the way round the earth in a boat or someth...oh wait.Well no-one's actually seen it from spa.... oh wait.No-one's actually flown round the earth in a balloo.... shit.Erm...

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:37:55 am
content: It seems odd there are no Klein Bottle Earthers.Brilliant!

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:40:36 am
content: A flat earther thinking outside the box is a Mobius twister.

author: lewis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 10:26:49 am
content: Quote from: mojo-chan on March 13, 2014, 09:12:31 amI started reading it, but really couldn't be bothered. How 'thick' do they think the earth is? And what's on the other side?

author: Gribo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 01:42:09 pm
content: Turtles, all the way down.

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 02:15:29 pm
content: Quote from: Gribo on March 13, 2014, 01:42:09 pmDrat, Gribo beat me to it.I think some of these "flat earthers" are proponents of logical argument - the art of "proving" something with precision and rigor. At least, I hope that some don't really believe the things they purport and they are merely arguing for the sake of arguing.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 05:14:15 pm
content: Quote from: Gribo on March 13, 2014, 01:42:09 pmWith a crunchy layer of elephant in between.

author: hamster_nz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:12:57 pm
content: Let me first say that I'm not a member of the flat earth society, and completely beleive that the earth is round.But as a quite interesting exercise, ask yourself how you would prove by your own direct observation, using only your the human senses that the earth is round. Given how passionately people feel about the subject it is surprising how many can't.It makes so little impact on day-to-day life I can see why people took the obvious answer for so long!

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:21:28 pm
content: Quote from: hamster_nz on March 13, 2014, 08:12:57 pmhuman senses aren't particularly useful for evaluating the world, isn't that why we all have tools?

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:24:12 pm
content: Quote from: hamster_nz on March 13, 2014, 08:12:57 pmStand on the equator and plant a stick straight vertical. At noon on the longest day of the year the stick should have virtually no shadow. Travel 100 miles due north or south, and perform the same exercise the same day next year. The stick will have a significant shadow to the north (or south). This demonstrates that the earth's surface is curved between those two points relative to the sun. You can use the length of the shadow to calculate the curvature of the earth.You can also demonstrate that the earth goes around the sun (which flat earthers also deny) by measuring the parallax of nearby stars; although this does require a good telescope.

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2014, 10:03:43 am
content: Another tool to prove the existane of a round earth rotating in space is a Foucalt pendulum.You do unfortunately require a two story building to house it.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2014, 10:09:23 am
content: or better yet, go to the top of a very tall building or mountain overlooking the ocean, it looks curved,or even better again, pick out a camera lens you know will give a perfectly flat image to the corners, tie it to a balloon and have it stream back an image, before it pops you will see enough to comfortably call the world a spheroid, use a high altitude balloon and you will see so much that your in denial if you still refuse it, and should design a test on the same scale disproving that one,

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2014, 04:37:55 pm
content: There was an experiment to prove the earth is flat or not carried out some years ago near here, they set up some optical equipment on a drainage dyke near Peterborough between two bridges they proved the earth curved but of course as it was pre Einstein and they thought that light travelled in straight lines so all their calculations must have been out.