Flat-Earth conspiracy spreading around globe

[The Eternal Flame 590]

November 17, 2019 (CNN) — "I don't want to be a flat Earther," David Weiss says, his voice weary as he reflects on his personal awakening. "Would you wake up in the morning and want everyone to think you're an idiot?"

But Weiss is a flat Earther. Ever since he tried and failed to find proof of the Earth's curve four years ago, he's believed with an evident passion that our planet is both flat and stationary -- and it's turned his world upside down.

 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/11/16/us/flat-earth-conference-conspiracy-theories-scli-intl/index.html

[sci-nerd 4,046]

[Facepalm]

http://www.smarterthanthat.com/astronomy/top-10-ways-to-know-the-earth-is-not-flat/

[Noteverythingisaconspiracy 14,931]

14 minutes ago, debra odem said:

November 17, 2019 (CNN) — "I don't want to be a flat Earther," David Weiss says, his voice weary as he reflects on his personal awakening. "Would you wake up in the morning and want everyone to think you're an idiot?"

But Weiss is a flat Earther. Ever since he tried and failed to find proof of the Earth's curve four years ago, he's believed with an evident passion that our planet is both flat and stationary -- and it's turned his world upside down.

 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/11/16/us/flat-earth-conference-conspiracy-theories-scli-intl/index.html

He evidently didn't try very hard did he ? 

 

6 minutes ago, sci-nerd said:

[Facepalm]

http://www.smarterthanthat.com/astronomy/top-10-ways-to-know-the-earth-is-not-flat/

Are you saying that those examples are better than his "proof" ? 

"Let's just say there is an adversary, there is a devil, there is a Satan. His whole job would be to try to convince the world that God doesn't exist. He's done an incredible job convincing people with the idea that we're just on a random speck in an infinite universe."

Edited November 17 by Noteverythingisaconspiracy

[Desertrat56 6,019]

Even Christobol Colon (Columbus) knew the earth was round, he didn't believe there was a continent east of Europe between Europe and Asia.

I think too many people either skipped or slept through basic science classes. 

 

[freetoroam 34,219]

Quote

"Would you wake up in the morning and want everyone to think you're an idiot?"

But Weiss is a flat Earther. 

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/11/16/us/flat-earth-conference-conspiracy-theories-scli-intl/index.html

 

Weiss,  you are an idiot,  stay in bed.

[Aaron2016 952]

I think the issue they have is with the refraction of the horizon which can be very misleading as two thermal layers clash and create the effect e.g.

Here is a French aircraft carrier I watched as it was refracted by the atmosphere, which made the ship rise up onto a false horizon, invert itself and enlarge as it moved further away.  The refraction of the horizon allowed the ship to be visible 'many miles' beyond the horizon, because the horizon was being curved upwards by the refraction.

This produces the illusion that the Earth is flat and can be convincing and confusing when observed without knowledge of how refraction of the horizon works.

 

 

 

 

Photos of the aircraft carrier as I watched it enter the refracted zone.  Instead of disappearing over the horizon, it elevated, doubled, and inverted itself.  This created the illusion that I could see a hundred miles away, when the horizon was just being curved upwards by refraction.

 

 

 

Edited November 17 by Aaron2016

[Rlyeh 14,484]

The motion of the stars are incompatible with the flat earth.

[Tatetopa 10,554]

I love Terry Pratchett discworld novels, but I get my laughs not my science lessons from them.

[aearluin 93]

Flat earthers only prove that in the age of internet any moron can have a public.

 

The Earth is not flat because the back of a turtle is not flat. Haven't you seen a turtle before?

[Alchopwn 1,387]

15 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

Even Christobol Colon (Columbus) knew the earth was round, he didn't believe there was a continent east of Europe between Europe and Asia.  I think too many people either skipped or slept through basic science classes. 

Yeah Chris Colon was a douche in so many ways.  His surname was appropriate for someone who was  Ignorant, brutal, and authoritarian, and who somehow caused Native Americans to be mislabelled "Indians" for centuries (but that's on us too).  Note how his real name Colon was rejected in favor of Columbus, which is wrong.  The guy was a huge puckering pimpled anus, and he was sufficiently wrong about the New World he discovered that it was named after Amerigo Vespucci instead of him.  Who saw that coming?  The continents of North and South Colon.  Hilarious.  Okay now to the point... Even Chris Colon, who was really one of history's stupidest and biggest jerks, knew that the Earth wasn't flat, and that is the only reason he deserves to be remembered at all (yeah I suppose discovering the island of Hispaniola counts for something too).

Edited November 18 by Alchopwn

['Walt' E. Kurtz 3,454]

Face palm

[Desertrat56 6,019]

7 hours ago, Alchopwn said:

Yeah Chris Colon was a douche in so many ways.  His surname was appropriate for someone who was  Ignorant, brutal, and authoritarian, and who somehow caused Native Americans to be mislabelled "Indians" for centuries (but that's on us too).  Note how his real name Colon was rejected in favor of Columbus, which is wrong.  The guy was a huge puckering pimpled anus, and he was sufficiently wrong about the New World he discovered that it was named after Amerigo Vespucci instead of him.  Who saw that coming?  The continents of North and South Colon.  Hilarious.  Okay now to the point... Even Chris Colon, who was really one of history's stupidest and biggest jerks, knew that the Earth wasn't flat, and that is the only reason he deserves to be remembered at all (yeah I suppose discovering the island of Hispaniola counts for something too).

Yes, the thing is, why did his name get changed in the U.S. and why were we told in school (1960's using books rescued from a dumpster published in 1940) that Columbus thought the world was flat?  I clearly remember that in one of those books.  The teacher knew it wasn't true and told us that but when we moved to town and I went to a new school  all the kids "knew" that Columbus' biggest failing was that he thought the world was flat.  What is that about????  My teacher in the village school was very smart and she taught us real history because she had been taught better.  In the mean time my mother found out where the books came from and organized a PTA that went to the county seat and demanded that the school get the money allotted for books and facility (we had a wood stove that the two teachers supplied wood for).  The PTA got us a new modern school building and a library and current books but they still said Colulmbus (not Colon) thought the world was flat. 

[Noteverythingisaconspiracy 14,931]

2 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

The PTA got us a new modern school building and a library and current books but they still said Colulmbus (not Colon) thought the world was flat. 

It makes no sense to continue teaching kids something they know isn't true. 

Who writes the history books ?

[Desertrat56 6,019]

8 minutes ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

It makes no sense to continue teaching kids something they know isn't true. 

Who writes the history books ?

Lots of publishers, and the school board goes through the new books when they want to update and picks the ones they like the best.  It is always up to the school board, so each county might have different books that say different things.  Text books is a big business.

Edited November 18 by Desertrat56

[Noteverythingisaconspiracy 14,931]

Just now, Desertrat56 said:

Lots of publishers, and the school board goes through the new books when they want to update and picks the ones they like the best.  It is always up to the school board, so each county might have different books that say different things.

So there isn't really a standard across the country ? 

Here people from the ministry of education checks the curriculum and if they fail the minimum standards they risk getting closed. 

[Desertrat56 6,019]

5 minutes ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

So there isn't really a standard across the country ? 

Here people from the ministry of education checks the curriculum and if they fail the minimum standards they risk getting closed. 

Oh, there is a standard curriculum but it is bare bones for the country and each state gets to pick and choose what gets taught, and inside of that each county or school district gets to choose the books used.  There is huge disparities between places like Mississippi, Georgia, Washington state, New Mexico, etc.  In New Mexico the curriculum changes almost every time we get a new governor (every 8 years), the previous governor was a b**** about education, made it almost impossible for the teachers to actually teach and gave the teachers raises or demotions based on a standardized test that caused the teachers who were worried about their jobs to teach to the test rather than the curriculum.  We have a new governor that is trying to straighten all that out now.

One gradeschool I went to had a lot of kids who were the children of the scientists at Sandia Labs so we got special science classes that most people didn't get until high school.  I was shocked when I found out our school was the only one in the city that got those classes.

 

Edited November 18 by Desertrat56

[Tatetopa 10,554]

5 minutes ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

So there isn't really a standard across the country ? 

Here people from the ministry of education checks the curriculum and if they fail the minimum standards they risk getting closed. 

Not so in this country.  Desertrat is right,  Local school boards decide, and often these individuals are more interested in their  own agendas than education.

[Essan 5,940]

2 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

Yes, the thing is, why did his name get changed in the U.S. and why were we told in school (1960's using books rescued from a dumpster published in 1940) that Columbus thought the world was flat? 

It would have made no sense for Colombus (the English and Latin form of his name, Colon is the Spanish form) wanting to sail west to reach China or India if he thought the world was flat!

That said, I recall a story that some of his crew thought the world was flat and were terrified they'd sail off the edge of the world.  But it was not something I was ever taught at school, and may well have originated in a TV programme or something.

[toast 13,260]

1 hour ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

It makes no sense to continue teaching kids something they know isn't true. 

Who writes the history books ?

Betsy DeVos is running the show. Still any questions?

[Desertrat56 6,019]

13 minutes ago, toast said:

Betsy DeVos is running the show. Still any questions?

We can't blame this on Betsy, she has only been ruining things since 2017.

[aztek 19,856]

they are as much about flat earth as church of Scientology is about religion, this is a brilliant cover up. i just do not know of what, because they so brilliantly covered it up. 

[freetoroam 34,219]

2 hours ago, Essan said:

It would have made no sense for Colombus (the English and Latin form of his name, Colon is the Spanish form) wanting to sail west to reach China or India if he thought the world was flat!

That said, I recall a story that some of his crew thought the world was flat and were terrified they'd sail off the edge of the world.  But it was not something I was ever taught at school, and may well have originated in a TV programme or something.

Sailors never thought the Earth was flat. It was not until the middle ages that the flat Earth idea came in.

Quote

The myth of Columbus’ supposed flat earth theory is tempting: It casts the explorer’s intrepid journey in an even more daring light. Problem is, it’s completely untrue. The legend doesn’t even date from Columbus’ own lifetime. Rather, it was invented in 1828, when Washington Irving published The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/christopher-columbus-never-set-out-to-prove-the-earth-was-round

Here is why sailors knew the Earth was not flat:

Quote

it was obvious to observant sailors that the Earth is round. If you sail towards something tall, like a mountain, you will see the top of it appearing over the horizon before the rest of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20160126-how-we-know-earth-is-round

 

[Noteverythingisaconspiracy 14,931]

3 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

Oh, there is a standard curriculum but it is bare bones for the country and each state gets to pick and choose what gets taught, and inside of that each county or school district gets to choose the books used.  There is huge disparities between places like Mississippi, Georgia, Washington state, New Mexico, etc.  In New Mexico the curriculum changes almost every time we get a new governor (every 8 years), the previous governor was a b**** about education, made it almost impossible for the teachers to actually teach and gave the teachers raises or demotions based on a standardized test that caused the teachers who were worried about their jobs to teach to the test rather than the curriculum.  We have a new governor that is trying to straighten all that out now.

One gradeschool I went to had a lot of kids who were the children of the scientists at Sandia Labs so we got special science classes that most people didn't get until high school.  I was shocked when I found out our school was the only one in the city that got those classes.

 

So basically your location decides your level of education. Excuse me for saying this, but thats messed up.

[aztek 19,856]

3 hours ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

So basically your location decides your level of education. Excuse me for saying this, but thats messed up.

it is also not true, your determination decides your level of education,   the rest are excuses

[Desertrat56 6,019]

17 hours ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

So basically your location decides your level of education. Excuse me for saying this, but thats messed up.

No, your parent's attitudes about your education are huge factors.  A lot of what I have learned and what my kids have learned was not taught in school but it helped  us get in to college and succeed in college and in what ever occupations we have chosen. 

Yes, the school districts around the country have different curriculum within the federal set curriculum but even if they didn't, it still makes more difference about your motivation to learn and your parents willingness to help you learn what you want and what they think is important.  We are not victims of our education or lack there of unless we allow that.