Bobbie Bobster Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 what irony? No,that's sarcasm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22flat+earth%22 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=flat+earth back in early february, the flat earth search results were below a thousand. so i'm not sure how chinahand's explanation; that the search contains other videos with flat and earth in the title, makes any sense considering the sharp rise in results since then? then gerry started this thread and ever since i've been finding out just how many people believe they are on a ball without actually knowing the many reasons why. someone just told them they are stupid to think otherwise. a friend of mine "found out" i was looking at all the "flat earth" videos. he tried to ridicule me about it the next time we met. to keep his anonymity we'll call him "bickies". so, bickies was coming out with all the "we live on a ball"cliches, tellin me all the places he'd travelled, been in planes blah blah. and saying i was "mental" for thinking the earth is flat! never mind me telling him it can't be flat and to go and walk up crellins hill. oh no. it didn't matter that i told him to his face in front of a group of mutual friends, that i do not believe the earth is flat. he was just foamin at the mouth to tell me how stupid i was! he got the message in the end though after he resorted to petty name calling. i put him on the spot and told him i just don't know the shape of the earth and that was fine by me. then i offered him a £500 bet that i got better exam results than him in school. he couldn't handle it. i asked him how far the sun and moon were supposed to be away from earth. he didn't know. i was on him like a rash. didn't even know why he lived on a ball, yet he just knew i was stupid! even though i know exactly why he lives on a ball! it's just too ridiculous really that someone can be that indoctrinated. don't even get me started on the rest of what he hadn't even heard of. chinahand you would be very embarrassed of your fellow baller. i mean just forget about it, he knew absolutely zip about any of it. he's not the first and he won't be the last. i do my homework simple as that, and here's some clown tryin to put me down for daring to look at "flat earth". so, to finish off, three months after this happened i saw bickies again. three months! and guess what. he still didn't know the supposed distance of the sun and the moon. i stand by my motto quilp x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 what irony? No,that's sarcasm. cheers quilp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbie Bobster Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 You have some influence with my grandfather there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 You have some influence with my grandfather there. you've lost me again bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 i could tell you story after story of people just screaming " but gravity gravity", "you can see the curve". "ok mate ye. so how far's the sun away so you can live on a ball?" "exactly mate so stfu and just admit you don't know why. so it's because someone told you" anyway, my next tasty encounter was with a smart, well educated young man. he also had a very sophisticated bit of kit with him. we had a bit of a chat and opened each others eyes. more about this to come on "flat earth" tales soon. good night to all, i hope you enjoyed watching the news so you know more news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbie Bobster Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Don't get discouraged Paul, remember No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 i'm still not with you bob i have no idea what you are saying to me? you could just say it then i could reply to you. anyway, like i told china and you a long time ago, i'm still thoroughly enjoying my research. i'm sure people enjoy the news just as much though. makes them feel informed i suppose. i don't think you understand the depth of the message you wrote bob. no one is usless full stop. the rest of the sentence wasn't necessary. anyone can lighten another's burden and much more. enjoy your paper bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbie Bobster Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Those monkeys were right, this is the blurst of threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 ... tellin me all the places he'd travelled, been in planes blah blah. and saying i was "mental" for thinking the earth is flat! never mind me telling him it can't be flat and to go and walk up crellins hill. ... chinahand you would be very embarrassed of your fellow baller. i mean just forget about it, he knew absolutely zip about any of it. he's not the first and he won't be the last. i do my homework simple as that, and here's some clown tryin to put me down for daring to look at "flat earth". so, to finish off, three months after this happened i saw bickies again. three months! and guess what. he still didn't know the supposed distance of the sun and the moon. i stand by my motto quilp x No, believe me PGW, I am not embarrassed by other people's ignorance, but I do consistently try to put up information to allow them to understand the world. PGW - do you know how smooth the earth is comparaed to a sphere? Wrighty talked about it earlier. Putting Crellin's Hill and even Mount Everest into perspective the surface to the earth is smoother than a snooker ball - though the difference in the radius about the equator and about the poles is such that the earth would be rejected from an interstellar scale pool game due to it not rolling uniformly. All those hills, mountains, canyons, valleys and deep see abysses have no more impact on the smoothness of the earth's spherical shape than a slight scratch on a cue ball. PGW - I've put up multiple ways you could examine the shape of the earth - from seeing how features visible over the horizon, like the Mournes or the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, change as you move up and down a hill, to the changes in the position of the stars as you move from place to place, to measuring the dip of the horizon (at 100 m above the horizon a metre measure aimed at the horizon will drop over 5mm over its length from the true horizontal), to the changes to a Foucault's pendulum with latitude It is likely your friend hasn't heard of many of these things, just as he didn't know the distance to the sun or the moon - I've also given you the knowledge and showed you results when people have collaborated to measure the distance to the moon, something which is reasonably easy for two non-professional astronomers to do in an evening. Maybe your friend is ignorant of all these things ... but you're not. You've had them explained to you, and had the results posted up for you to see. For all the effect Crellin's Hill has the earth is as round and smooth as an ever so slightly squashed snooker ball, and you can prove this pretty easily with very elementary equipment - a telescope, clock and patience is about all you need. You friend accepts a scientific conclusion based on hundreds of years of work he is ignorant of. Paul ... what do you think about all these efforts, do you think they are wrong? And if so why? Because you find Youtube videos more convincing than the works of people like George Everest (click here for a summary)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 ok china mate calm down it's only a flat earth thread. nothing for you to worry about. we're just doing science and asking questions that's all. and in the process we're finding out just how many people don't even know why they live on a ball. in the research boom, try to remember that you are just a small part of the whole. some might say insignificant (not me though) compared to the vast number of people involved and all the info about this subject. now, back to "flat earth" tales and the young man i met. it was a lovely day about six weeks ago and i was off to do some messages in town. i'd cycled down prospect hill with the intention of coming back up crellins hill. but in a twist of fate, i changed my mind once i'd began the journey back. i now fancied goin back up prospect hill. so off i went. by the time i turned the next corner i was looking along the pavement and saw a well dressed lad looking down the sight of a laser level. me with me trackies, on me mates bike. him with his smooth builders attire. he came off the sight, turned towards me an was about to put his headphones in. i couldn't resist really and he looked friendly enough. i was pretty sure he could take it so i waved to him and said "excuse me, but would you mind if i ask you a question please. he kindly said yes. "it's about the laser level i saw you on just then. do you take the curvature of the earth into account when you're using it?" let's just say he looked surprised. "not for the work i'm doing here" he said "oh i see. ok. does the laser level always take it into account then?" "well yes but it would only be measurabe over bigger distances, and nothing i have been involved in has been that big" "oh ok then" i said. by now he was looking rather uncomfortable, but still being polite and keeping eye contact with me. i was as jovial as ever of course. so i said "well if you were to do this over long distance, what would be the equation to figure out the curvature of the earth per mile. and would you adam n eve it. he didn't know, and even better, he said "but the machine knows". i asked him his profession and he was a qualified surveyor. now me doin my homework of course, i knew how to figure it out, and that's what i told him. he said if he needed, to he could go and figure it out. i asked him if he didn't think this was a little strange how i, a common lad, knew what he, a qualified surveyor, surely should be expected to know by trade. he agreed but insisted that he could find out or that his boss could tell him. it was a brilliant exchange and in the end i just reassured him that in no way was i being deliberately pushy with him, and in no way was i making fun of him. it was just a small test to see just who is aware of the simplest facts. he was a very nice man and i just said " type flat earth in youtube and have fun. and if you need to know any more facts about the ball you're better of asking a flat earther or ball earth skeptic, they are far better informed in my experience" we parted ways and i hope to meet him again to see how he got on. wonder who he asked about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul's got wright Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeliX Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 I don't get what your story is trying to illustrate PGW? Someone who has never worked in an environment where he needs to account for curvature of the earth isn't likely to carry the calculation around in his head on the off chance he gets caught by surprise. If he was going to need it for his day's work, he'd check it before he left. I don't think it demonstrates a lack of understanding about the proofs of roundedness. Just that he doesn't carry that particular calculation around daily. As an aside I think I saw you in the street last week. On Victoria Street. Your hat blew off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerrydandridge Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 I think what Paul is getting at is that people immediately mock, as this is the response they have been encouraged to give if anyone dare to question a "known belief" and doubly so for "Flat Earth". And most of these mocking people do so in total ignorance of the world around them, they just take what was told to them as an unquestioned fact and that is that. Questioning our cosmology is a taboo subject, prima facie evidence of this is right here in this thread. Not to name names, but when someone who, is mocking you, come's along and tries to debunk you with the line "if the sun is only 3000 miles up, then why don't planes crash into is, as I am sure a plane can travel that far on one tank of fuel" (paraphrased but close enough as I cant be bothered to go back and look it up) I pay little attention to what consensus belief is on anything, as I would not be surprised if I went down to Douglas with a clipboard and asked people what direction does the sun set as a 4 option multiple choice, the majority would get it wrong or have to phone a friend..I imagine you would get a higher fail rate if you filtered the results to "high school students" but they are still happy to take the piss out of people questioning the globe earth model.. Its called dubbing down and as an example of this I would expect a poor result if you were to give an A-star maths student of 2015 my old 1983 O'level maths paper. Ask a few people what 1/3 + 1/4 is, go on, most wont have a clue or it will take 15 mins to get the answer.....This is why the latest NASA psy-op targeted on Britain 2 days ago worked a treat...this is why we are bombing Syria right now, because the majority of people don't have a fecking clue, they are incapable of thought and believe every lie told to them by the BBC and Sky News...And they think Simon Cowel is great....Its a sad and sorry state we face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Questioning our cosmology is a taboo subject No it's not. It's what cosmologists do. Nothing taboo about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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