Flat Earth

Come on dude. Every flat earther knows the sun is only 33,000 miles away

 

Are you not begging the question though, pulling out an expression derived from rounder assumptions as if a flatter should have to explain it?

Sneak.

 

In AutoCAD: draw circle with earth's diameter, draw a line from it's "top", head up say 5.5', then continue the line, next point being tangent to circle.

First thing tomorrow...

 

Did he at least get a death certificate?

Bob Wilson

 

As the saying goes, "Comedy = Tragedy + Time", though it may be too soon.

 

Otherwise known as gallows humor.

 

I watched a documentary a while ago on the whole "Flat Earth" phenomenon.

I guess I was surprised by the actual dedication and intelligence of some of the people that embraced the flat earth theory. There is an easy outlook to accept, that all these people are just ignorant or quite frankly unintelligent but that's really not accurate. IMO....many of them are actually passionate, intelligent people, just entirely wrong.

For many of them, I felt they came out in support of this concept, and actually become part of something bigger than the idea itself. Once you are speaking at seminars, and a leader of local groups on the topic, it becomes hard to step back and say "You know what guys?, We're totally WRONG the earth is round "...regardless of how much undeniable evidence is presented. In other words, they get trapped.

I also think the whole thing is indicative of an amazing thing about humanity. That is the human ability to create theories, and stories, to fit the desired need.
It reminded me of watching the documentary "Room 237" about many of the ideas and theories surrounding the Stanley Kubric version of "The Shining". So many theories and ideas about hidden meanings and conspiracy theories, most of which IMO are totally unfounded.
But the amazing thing is the ability of the human mind to create them. To look for them.

I feel the same way about people that support the flat earth concept. I think it's obviously wrong. But it is amazing the ideas, concepts, and ways they create things to allow themselves to believe it is possible.

To me it's this way of thinking, that in part makes humankind so successful. It's the willingness to "Believe it is possible" even when it is really isn't, that has led us to creating and doing things that were at one time...impossible.

In 2020?
The earth is flat.
No, it isn't.
But for many of the supporters? I have to say kudos for the flexibility, and creativity it takes to support such an unsupportable idea.

 

As a little kid who laid out in the backyard looking up at the constellations, I would imagine the Stars being in a slight curve from Horizon to Horizon. I don't know if I would have called it a dome, but I never got the sense that the Stars went outward forever.

Now that I'm an adult I've been brainwashed by religion, politics, pseudoscience, and emotional outrage(both positive and negative).

I wonder if my child's view of the universe was more correct.

 

Already drawn in link in #104.

What's the diagram you would draw if you were a flatter?

 

Flat Earth viewed from an airline cockpit through a camera with a fish-eye lens.....

Don't know why the MSS wouldn't allow you to view it, except perhaps the source..... (CNN)

 

Well, he was conducting an experiment.

Maybe the guy in the other row is just an elf vacationing in Middle Earth.

 

You wonder how they explain the changing seasons and gravity? How would a flat mass hold its position in the universe?

I would guess they also would have to deny that man ever went to the moon, orbited the earth or launches satellites?

A most basic question - with billions and billions of people why has no one approached the actual end of the earth to prove it is flat?

How to planes fly around the world?

I think it is a game with them to derive as much attention from others at they can get.

 

Looks like it's working.

 

NASA may have gone to the moon, but I question the claimed battery performance of the Lunar Module. Efficiency depends on an optimal range of temperatures. How's that efficiency on the moon with such huge variations from outside to inside the space craft? How much thermal insulation would the LEM's compartment have to use, to keep the batteries at optimal temperature from +200 outside to -200 in the shade? Where is that perfectly maintained battery compartment where the chemical reaction isn't boiled away or frozen solid? Some things don't add up.

 

Do recall that there is no thermal conduction or convection from a thick atmosphere to worry about, just radiation. Radiative heat can be mostly reflected away, radiative cooling can be reduced by surfaces that are not good black-body emitters.

Plus, insulating blankets can have much better R values in the vacuum of space than we can possibly hope for at sea level atmospheres. Down here, the air within ordinary insulation blankets conducts considerable heat. One can purchase Vacuum insulated panels that perform much better than air-filled foams. These are costly because they must be well sealed, have enough internal compression strength to resist atmospheric pressure, and have gas absorbers to handle the slow diffusion and leaks through the pressure membrane. But in space, even ordinary foams and blankets will do much better once their internal air has vented.

So, temperature regulation in these spacecraft works much different than we are accustomed to down on the ground. Start your thinking with an ordinary vacuum thermos bottle.

 

what insulation would have been available in the 60s?

 

I saw an unedited version and let's just say it was the real life version of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon but without the sound effects.

 

Dewar invented the vacuum bottle in 1892. Consumer versions were plentiful back to my earliest memories, before the moon landings.

Fiberglass thermal building insulation was invented in 1932-33. Mineral wool insulation in 1942. Expanding foam insulation in 1963. Asbestos, cellulose, and various others were also in use long before the 1960s. There was no shortage of choices.