Astounding scientific breakthrough, The sun orbits the earth. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:14:56 pm
content: :-DDAnother dingbat in Saudi this time.http://youtu.be/HLfwudUJqCkHe reckons the earth is static, the proof is a plane would not be able to fly to china if it rotated.

author: elgonzo
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:25:01 pm
content: Quote from: G7PSK on February 18, 2015, 05:14:56 pmDon't call a Saudi cleric a dingbat, or he might ask for your head...

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:38:34 pm
content: Oh god how the hell does this happen in this day and age* seriously.Edit for stupid phone keyboard

author: BlueBill
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:41:10 pm
content: Quote from: XOIIO on February 18, 2015, 05:38:34 pmReligion is not science.

author: suicidaleggroll
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:43:12 pm
content: It kind of reminds me of a guy who called into the local radio station back when the MA Flight 370 stuff was going on last year. He claimed he knew exactly what had happened to it, and couldn't believe nobody else had thought of it. You could tell from the sound of his voice that he was being sincere.He was convinced that what happened was the plane lost cabin pressure and everybody on board passed out. Then, the plane flew right out into space because the pilots weren't awake to steerdown. He was under the impression that because the Earth was round, if the pilots didn't actively steer the plane down while flying, it would just go straight off into space.

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:52:20 pm
content: Scientific illiteracy is alive and well in the western world. A couple weeks ago I was at Griffith Observatory, and heard one lady comment, "Wow, I never knew the sun was so big! I thought it was the same size as the earth!"If that can happen in the US, is it really surprising to find nuts like this in a medieval Sharia oil kingdom?

author: f5r5e5d
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 05:53:28 pm
content: so I don't have to worry about future Iranian ballistic missiles actually hitting me? since I live on the east coastor does the Suni/Shia divide come into the calculation?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 06:23:02 pm
content: As my friend once said to me, you send the stupid ones out to do your dirty work, they believe the bull fed to them. You do not have to do anything but pander to their wrong beliefs. fire them up and aim them, then act all sad at the funeral.Same places, similar times, different sides. We met afterwards. He was just happy that he survived the dirty tricks guys, they came close a few times, but he survived.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 06:48:14 pm
content: the vid seems to be trending at the moment, it flashed across my facebook today as wellit really seems sometimes like we are going back in time, regressing to a darker period in human history, its shocking considering how much easier it is to find information

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:05:04 pm
content: Quotesure. But there is no shortage of "men of science" who treat science like a religion.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:18:50 pm
content: Heretic. Onto the pyre with thee !

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:20:36 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on February 18, 2015, 07:05:04 pmTell me, oh Repetitive One, which particular "men of science" you're trying to get us to talk about.

author: cyr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:21:00 pm
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on February 18, 2015, 06:48:14 pmThat may be part of the problem, it's also very easy to find misinformation presented in various slick and convincing (to many) ways.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:32:17 pm
content: Quote from: cyr on February 18, 2015, 07:21:00 pmvery true!

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 07:40:24 pm
content: Can somebody please close this!Jeez, not againPlease

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 08:46:48 pm
content: THIS GUY IS RIGHT.If you get on an plane at Sharjah Airport - you have no idea where you're going to land.He's just confusing aerodynamics, the earth's rotation and physics with his one-eyed view of the world.

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 10:41:40 pm
content: Bah, that guy is only teaching basic stuff. See more advanced world view here:

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2015, 11:52:18 pm
content: A sad, sad man.p.s. The Earth is NOT round. It's an oblate spheroid

author: elgonzo
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 12:54:47 am
content: Quote from: SL4P on February 18, 2015, 11:52:18 pmBut, but, an oblate spheroid is round...

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 12:56:44 am
content: Quote from: elgonzo on February 19, 2015, 12:54:47 amKinda-sorta... rounded, but hard to differentiate.Not a circle. Not a sphere.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 09:40:36 am
content: Please bear with me here, I can see where the Saudi cleric got his idea from, he is however lacking some essential factsThe Earth is about 24.000 miles in circumference at the equator and it rotates once in a 24 hour period (figures rounded off to make the math easier). The Earth therefore rotates at about 1.000 Miles per Hour at the equator and no passenger aircraft can fly at this speed.Unfortunately the good cleric has forgotten that everything including the atmosphere and the plane are rotating at the same speed at the moment of takeoff and thus the journey is made somewhat easier. Out of curiosity I consulted the Lufthansa website and there is a seventy minute difference in the flight times between Los Angeles and Frankfurt for the E-W flight and the W-E. This could be accounted for by the spin of the Earth but it is more likely due to wind direction.I'm tempted to send the cleric the link to the Timecube site but that would be unkind. For those who have not heard of the site here is a samplehttp://www.timecube.com/timecubeflierimg.gif

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 10:11:06 am
content: QuoteIf the earth's rotation is carrying the atmosphere with it, you would expect that the wind would blow in all directions (relative to earth) equally, and you would not observe a consistent difference in flight time from E-W vs. W-E, or N-S vs. S-N.So how would you explain the seventy minute difference in flight time?

author: elgonzo
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 10:16:22 am
content: Quote from: dannyf_who_cannot_quote_properly on February 19, 2015, 10:11:06 amWind direction(s). In typical altitudes for commercial A/C the dominant air current is the jet stream...Commerical A/C are designed with a certain cruise speed (relative to the surrounding air) in mind where good fuel economy can be achieved.Even if the A/C flies against the direction of the jet stream, it will maintain roughly the same airspeed due to fuel costs and/or inability to fly faster (engine thrust, airfoil aerodynamics, etc...). Hence the difference in time when flying with the jet stream vs. flying against or not within it...

author: cimmo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 02:13:05 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on February 19, 2015, 10:11:06 amThere are well known wind patterns due to pressure differences caused by variations in solar heating at different latitudes, coupled with the coriolis force due to Earth's rotation. These result in the prevailing winds at typical airliner cruise altitudes being westerlies (see final image). On average, somewhere around 50-100 knots, but jetstreams can reach several hundred knots.http://www.pilotfriend.com/av_weather/meteo/prv_wnd.htmhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11337617/Jet-stream-blasts-BA-plane-across-Atlantic-in-record-time.html

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 03:17:49 pm
content: Quotebingo!the earth is far more complicated than a feature-less rock floating in space.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 03:23:46 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on February 19, 2015, 03:17:49 pmErm, it IS pretty much a featureless rock in space. If you scaled it down to the size of a person it would be amazingly smooth, the height difference between the deepest trench and highest mountain only being a small fraction of the depth of the ridges on your fingertips.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:08:21 pm
content: I went out today, and in a woodland I saw a bear. He did not see me ( and I got a good look at the bear, so could see the differences between he and she) and, whils in the woods, he did stop and drop a load.thus it is true, bears do s%*t in the woods!

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:22:05 pm
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on February 19, 2015, 03:23:46 pmNot actually true. If by "size of a person" you mean about two meters in diameter, then Mount Everest would be about 1.4cm high, and the Marianas trench would be 1.7cm deep. Mauna Kea would be 1.57cm from base to peak.If you shrank Earth to the size of a pool ball the mountains and valleys would still be easily tactile, as our fingertips are capable of detecting bumps and surface irregularities down to the micrometer range.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:39:20 pm
content: Quote from: Phaedrus on February 19, 2015, 04:22:05 pmYup, you're right. Think the example was meant to be a soccerball, the depth of the Challenger Deep would be 4 millimetre lol. So I guess that teaches me not to trust pop quotes and do the maths myself...Still pretty featureless in the grand scheme of things though. If you compare to say Mars and Olympus Mons's height, higher than the difference from the bottom of the Challenger Deep to the height of Everest on a planet only half the diameter. Then you've the 7km deep Valles Marineris to add to that height as well.

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 04:48:43 pm
content: Yes. That's mainly due to gravity (which makes tall mountains collapse and deep valleys fill up) as well as our (relatively) thick, corrosive oxygen atmosphere which causes extreme weathering. The very thing that makes Earth interesting and allows it to support life, also contributes to its relatively low-relief surface.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 05:01:10 pm
content: The percentage of ignorant persons on the world is actually going down, and has been for hundreds of years. Unfortunately the ability of the ignorant ones to communicate with each other and even leak out into the educated world has skyrocketed over the last 50 years. We geeks have given the least among us a soapbox to speak to the entire world.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 05:17:52 pm
content: Below is a webcam feed from Australia. Notice how the room is not upside down. That Saudi scientist must be on something.https://www.dropcam.com/p/Lvh0CGSeriously, cultures go up and down. A culture that was advanced and tolerant at year Y can be primitive, fanatic and ignorant at year Y+N and vice versa. 1000 years from now it can be the other way around. Nuff said.

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 05:25:47 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on February 19, 2015, 05:17:52 pmThe room is upside, it's just the camera is too

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2015, 05:43:42 pm
content: Quote from: Mechanical Menace on February 19, 2015, 05:25:47 pmI once saw a reflection of it in one of the screens and it's wasn't.Edit: this is actually an interesting idea, to turn the eevblog webcam camera upside down on April 1st for the correct orientation for the northern hemisphere users.