"Flat Earth" photo, and why it's so hard to debunk pseudoscience

[DIYSwede]

Found these memes the other day, and can't still decide whether they're "truely" meant to be taken seriously, or are just tongue-in-cheek:

[mklotz]

Where's the meme for mathematics? That's the field of study by which they seem most confounded.

[Toolmaker51]

i wonder if the flat earth is square...with the corners rounded off...and put on the flats....and...there we have it the fat earth is now rounder with mountains.( any ****ing moron can clearly tell that a mountain is not flat...well most ****ing morons can.

Lol. Started out like a folded pizza, then opened and connected with those sides now adjacent. Like a fanfold Hallmark ball Christmas decoration! They forgot to pull a patent, fools.

[marksbug]

"women "seem to be the main thing thats never been solved...or agreed upon. oh so many variable's....

about 4 years ago when I was in Milan Italy we were at a off the beaten path restraunt, full of locals, tottaly awesome food and even better prices. when we were done the wife went up to pay the bill....we had 2 pizzas&2 calzone's...the guy said 4 pizzas $20.....my wife started arguing as females tend to do...no we had 2 pizzas and 2 calzones....his reply, ok 4 pizzas $20......so the wfe got fustrated and tried to speak more clearly and slowley.......2 p i z z a s....2 c a l z o n e s. he then spoke slowley 4 pizzas. then gestured. pizza round calzone = pizza folded...no charge for the folding. it was priceless. I hope we can find that place in may when I go back for my daughters wedding.

[WmRMeyers]

This was a fascinating, well-thought-out, and well-researched article. It was also chock full of hubris. I'm not saying I believe in these strange conspiracy theories, but just because you've been told that they are false by some self-righteous scientist on TV doesn't mean you should immediately discount it either. I've learned over my many years to be comfortable with the phrase "I don't know." Is the Earth flat? I doubt it, but I've never been in orbit to see for myself. Therefore, "I don't know." Was the moon landing faked? Probably not, but I haven't been to the moon, OR seen evidence of the landing through a telescope. Therefore, "I don't know."

To be absolutely and supremely confident about something you haven't actually witnessed with your own eyes is simply the OTHER extreme from the wild-eyed conspiracy nuts. It makes a person into a wild-eyed conspiracy hater, and no better than the people they ridicule.

...Just a thought to consider.

Cybersam

What makes you think you have to go into orbit to figure out if the world is flat or not? As for the moon landing, I've talked to Michael Collins, who said he was in orbit around the moon. I believe him. He commented to me about how lonely it was up there, waiting to find out if the ascent stage would work. I've only been about half-way around the world, but you can see the curvature if your aircraft flies high enough. Or you can walk across the country (any county, pretty much) and watch the mountains spring up in front of you, or shrink down behind you. And you can model a globe with a basket ball and a match stick, and flat earth with a table and a match stick. I'm not particularly absolutely supremely confident about much of anything, though I do like to check up on folks who make absolute statements about such things. Heck, they may even be right, but I'm probably not going to take their word for it unless I know something about them.

Bill

[DIYSwede]

Where's the meme for mathematics? That's the field of study by which they seem most confounded.

Here you are, Sir!

[marksbug]

hey bill I had a moron tell me one time the reason for the mountains appearing and going away is the human eye can only see a hundrad or so miles.....so i pointed up in the sky and asked what they **** is that half moon shaped thingy up there and all those shiney thingys that he apparently could not see...but he did seee them,,...he then realized that his smart degrees were just a waste of $$$. you cant fix stupid.

[WmRMeyers]

hey bill I had a moron tell me one time the reason for the mountains appearing and going away is the human eye can only see a hundrad or so miles.....so i pointed up in the sky and asked what they **** is that half moon shaped thingy up there and all those shiney thingys that he apparently could not see...but he did seee them,,...he then realized that his smart degrees were just a waste of $$$. you cant fix stupid.

If you can't fix it, you should muffle it with duct tape. Duct tape won't fix it either, but will reduce the noise.

[marksbug]

funn you bring up duck tape....the NHTSA lets GM ductape patch the child seat sensor for the airbags instead of fixing them, and when that craps out in about 20 seating cycles the owner is now on the hook for the $1000 bill to have it fixed/replaces as it should of been in the first place with the updated sensor.....and yes I own one of those cars...oops. 2 of those cars. one that has the ducttape ans went bad after the ducks went for a few rides and the other will not go in for the ductape fix. I may swap sensors then take it in with the bad one that had the ductape and then went bad...only them will they replace it. can you say kick back/pay off?? yup. thats what our kids&wives life is worth a 6" strip of duck tape.

[Rattlerjake]

[QUOTE=Toolmaker51;193688]About all I'm willing to contribute at 04:00 CST......
a] https://www.google.com/search?q=why+...client=gws-wiz

b] Spare 1.02 seconds, and review any quantity of results. Plenty to chose from, a nice round 299,000,000 items...first was Huygens in 1653 via phases of Venus.
https://www.google.com/search?client...e+from+the+sun. With quill pen and paper, and early slide rule likely. Estimates are acceptable in realm of figuratively infinite calculations. That subsequent researchers have used different bodies or methods only reinforces the entirety, ever narrowing range of error(s).

c] re Flat Earth;
Mt. Everest @ 8,848 meters (29,029 ft) ~ 5.50 miles
+ Marianas Trench @ 11,034 meters (36,201 feet) ~ 7.0 miles
rather assures a minimum 19,882 meters (65,230 ft) ~ 12.35 miles 'thickness', minimum.
What remains unclear, how large is the drain plug?
Convention says about 2412.17 meters (41785656 ft) ~7913.95 miles, from two points roughly equatorial in latitudinal position and mere 6018947 meters or 3740 mi that is 19°8'10" apart (about 1.28 time zone which are 15° each.)



Your a] reply is worthless. Maybe you should go back and 1) actually read what I stated, and 2) read what you provided. What you provided doesn't address taking a closeup photo showing the actual ISS in detail, all it does it address taking a picture of a dot traveling cross the sky.

Your reply c] just shows a blatant ignorance of the term "flat earth". The term "flat earth" simply means the earth is a horizontal plane. Mountains and oceanic trenches are nothing more than forms of relief on that plane, no different than a "relief map".

Your reply b] also shows your complete ignorance of understanding of astronomy and mathematics between 1600s and present day. 1) Nowhere is there any reference to what the distance is that he calculated, same goes for the majority of those early "astronomers, and 2) it states: "However, because Huygens' method was partly guesswork and not completely scientifically grounded ..."