The earth is flat and i can prove it!

[epg20]

OMG, I just can't believe people ACTUALLY believe this.

[Annoyed]

Yeah, there's some nut job in Calif. who is trying to kill himself in his own rocket to prove this.

https://link.theplatform.com/s/2E2eJ...&formats=MPEG4

But this leads to a bigger question. Why is everyone in California nuts?

[StargateMillennium]

Part of me wants to respect flat-earthers. A lot of science is built around faith and skepticism is a core part of the scientific method. I mean, we (me and whoever else reads this post) don't know the earth is round. We've never conducted the experiments shown throughout history. None of us have jumped in an airplane and flown in a straight line around the globe. We were told and kinda just took it as truth. So congrats on them, they decide to challenge what they've been told.
But then they kinda decide to stop halfway into the scientific method. If you are skeptical of a scientific model, you adopt a new one, which they did. Great. Then, you go out and try to disprove your model, which they don't. You're supposed to try to disprove your model then adopt a new one when something doesn't make sense. Instead, they try to prove their model then plug their ears and scream "la-la-la" when something doesn't align. They don't try to conduct the experiments described in the history books. I mean, traveling across the world and putting a stick in the ground is a hell of a lot easier than building a rocket ship.

[Annoyed]

Last time I had to suffer airline travel, you could look out the window and see the earth's surface appeared to be curved, when it wasn't obscured by clouds, that is. I think we were at about 35K ft or something like that.
But you don't even have to go to that expense, if you live near a large body of water. Just watch as a ship sails away; it gradually drops below the horizon. Q.E.D.

[StargateMillennium]

Honestly, I've never been able to see the curvature even in an airplane. I hear people can "Feel" the earth rotate but I feel that's a placebo.

The ship over the horizon is a simplified example. Once the ship seems to vanish over the horizon, grab a telescope or something with a zoom and you can see the ship again. Once the ship vanishes again, you can grab a more powerful one and bring the ship back into view. An experiment similar to this was performed where two markers were placed at a really tall height on either end of a 6 mi long canal. Following the curve, one marker should appear lower than the other but they both appeared the same height. This is an experiment often cited by flat-earthers and they cite the concept as proof that there is no curve. The issue is, they fail to take into the account optical effect of the air over the water, which refracts the light as it travels from the marker to the telescope and makes it look like they are the same height. The other issue is that there is a limit to the optical illusion. While a telescope or binoculars can bring something over the horizon back into view, it can only be done so many times before no telescope no matter how powerful can bring it back into view.

[Annoyed]

The ship over the horizon is a simplified example. Once the ship seems to vanish over the horizon, grab a telescope or something with a zoom and you can see the ship again. Once the ship vanishes again, you can grab a more powerful one and bring the ship back into view.

First hand experience tells me otherwise.
I live in Western NY State. Just to the north of us there is a very large lake, one of the largest in the world, Lake Ontario. Shipping traffic makes its way from the Great Lakes region through L.O. to the St. Lawrence Seaway. So there is frequent large, oceangoing freighter sized traffic along this path.
In the St. Lawrence, there is a very popular vacation mecca, the Thousand Island region of NY.

Back in the 1990's or so, I used to drop my boat in along the the southern shore of L.O. and cruise to the Thousand Islands region. This was before the days of civilian GPS access, so you had to be good at navigating. Strong binoculars, charts, a good compass an all that stuff. So occasionally I would encounter a freighter on the lake. You could see the mast first, and as you got closer, the rest of the hull would come into view.

Same phenomenon when it came to the shore of the big lake. It slowly came over the horizon and into view.

[StargateMillennium]

Ok...
I don't really understand what that has to do with my comment. I'm talking about an optical illusion caused by refraction. Like, what you see wouldn't be the ship itself but its illusion and probably half an illusion since I've been told ships seen like this are often still half sunk below the horizon line.

[SoulReaver]

Yeah, there's some nut job in Calif. who is trying to kill himself in his own rocket to prove this.

https://link.theplatform.com/s/2E2eJ...&formats=MPEG4

looks like his attempt fell flat

[Annoyed]

Ok...
I don't really understand what that has to do with my comment. I'm talking about an optical illusion caused by refraction. Like, what you see wouldn't be the ship itself but its illusion and probably half an illusion since I've been told ships seen like this are often still half sunk below the horizon line.

But I'm saying it isn't an illusion. It's an accurate description.

[StargateMillennium]

You're talking about a ship vanishing bottom up as it vanishes over the horizon. But I'm talking about the ability to still perceive it even after it happens.

[epg20]

there is a simple way to show them the truth, just look at the golden gate bridge, they had to make it arch to compensate for the curvature of the earth when they built it , and you can actually see the curve when you look at it from one side or the other, I am not sure if you can when you drive over it though, but I think you can, just a piece of a memory, I am not sure on that point.

[epg20]

You're talking about a ship vanishing bottom up as it vanishes over the horizon. But I'm talking about the ability to still perceive it even after it happens.

no, you are right, but remember, light bends, that is why you can still see it for a while.

[epg20]

Yeah, there's some nut job in Calif. who is trying to kill himself in his own rocket to prove this.

https://link.theplatform.com/s/2E2eJ...&formats=MPEG4

But this leads to a bigger question. Why is everyone in California nuts?

OMG I KNEW THIS SEEMED FIMILAR!!! I REMEMBER this short lived series.

SALVAGE 1

[StargateMillennium]

no, you are right, but remember, light bends, that is why you can still see it for a while.

Yeah. I said it was an optical illusion caused by refraction.

[Womble]

Ok...
I don't really understand what that has to do with my comment. I'm talking about an optical illusion caused by refraction. Like, what you see wouldn't be the ship itself but its illusion and probably half an illusion since I've been told ships seen like this are often still half sunk below the horizon line.

But then couldn't you do it on a flat surface area where refraction is not a factor?

P.S. I seem to remember a Russian sci-fi novel where due to refraction, people of a non-space faring civilization thought that they lived on the inside of a hollow sphere.