General Chat

In these modern times when you can Google map anywhere in the world instantly it

makes me wonder. Considering all the evidence to the contrary there is still a flat earth society. Orbiting satellites have for years been mapping every square metre of our planet. We have sent rockets to the moon and far beyond and demonstrated without doubt that the planets are spheres. Yet some doubt it. We have sent the Hubble space telescope the view the outermost reaches of space, all spherical, yet some insist this planet is flat, without out proof. And we entertain them. Strange. :-S

Well, aluminium foil and colanders, though hardly a fashion statement, are a necessity to some :-D :-D :-D

These people are known as brexiters. Their leader is a guy called Linus who carries around a comfort blanket labelled "the earth is flat".

Given the difficulties of navigation at sea in the olden days with an ever moving sea and unsteady ship maps based on the idea of a spherical earth were impossible to use. A guy called Mercator came along and worked out a projection such that with a flat map a course could be plotted as a straight line (though of course the bearing changed over time).

An interesting effect of the Mercator projection is that on a global scale it makes countries of the far north and south ( eg UK, Russia, Canada ) look a lot bigger than they really are while equatorial countries are reduced.

If certain countries were colored in pink this gave a somewhat distorted view of world power. All the same it is a view that remains well beloved by flat earthers and brexiters who call it Empire2. A leading advocate is Liam Fox whose job and air miles depend upon it.

Looking at the very large scale the universe is for the most part flat with irregularities. Knowledge of this does of course serve to encourage Linus and friends but as usual they have no idea of scale.

You are funny Rollo is there any subject you can't bring around to Brexit.

Not that I follow it David but I suppose the flat-earthers would argue all of what you used for an example could be faked. :-)

Like the moon landings!!

LOL there you go.

Buzz Aldrin in his 70's decked a pest of a reporter asking him if the landing on the moon was fake. (Think he'd been silenced by the government but his fist talks)

The brewers claim that there is a Europe wide shortage of CO2 which they use to put fizz into drinks both alcoholic and not so as to avoid a flat EU.

UKIP and friends of course like flat warm beer which goes so well with their other attributes - knocking each other down flat in the Berlaymont for instance. They have no need of CO2.

Shepherd Neames Spitfire beer , inspired by guys who could see from 20 000 ft that the earth is not flat , has just the right amount of natural fizz. My OH goes for something stronger and yet again S.N. have the answer, the Bishop's Finger.

It has been known since the earliest times that the world is round while the Greeks got pretty close to working out the size. Consider (at sea level) a 2m stick stuck in the ground. Measure its shadow at midday. Go a bit further north (same day) and the shadow will be shorter. And so on.

The Vikings took advantage of this for ocean navigation with their sunstones.

The Chinese knew too and visited Vancouver Island during the C13/14. They did not consider it worth the trouble after which exploring became illegal opening things up for Drake the Mayflower sugar barons and Empire1.. Instead they went in for wall building. Remind you of anyone?

By the time of the sailing clipper with 200ft masts only somebody with a bad case of the simples could have believed in a flat earth. As the clipper appeared from over the horizon until the whole ship was visible there were only two possibilities (a) water can run uphill (b) round earth.

A related curiosity is that the north and south poles have started to swap over. Nobody knows how long it will take or the effects. The S Atlantic magnetic anomaly has gone on growing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly

Such a phenomena would be impossible with a flat earth. Some people think too much about turtles.

I am writing this from my new monitor (Ilyama) which is supposed to be an improvement at 32in. Previously I had 2 x 23 in so I am not so sure. It is at least flat some models are curved for watching movies when what you want is not on at the Odeon or they have run out of biscuits. It arrived on Monday and it is only today I discovered that it is a "touch screen" allowing me to do all those cool things you see on the telly. Yet another way to lose weight as well 'cos nibbling biscuits and eating pizza is NOT ALLOWED!

A colleague has somehow managed to half inch a second screen so has 2x32in. I felt a bit jealous until I realised she has had to fit arm extensions despite her natural endownment.

What will David discover next ? Violet eyes? Humans on C4? 10 legged spiders, Leo Kessler, the Knights Templar rule the world (and are aliens), tougher enforcement will stop crime ( inc "illegal" immigrants ), the English cannot cook - or grow anything interesting except strawberries. As an exercise of self loathing they are about to collapse their food supply as well as deporting the strawberry pickers.

As M Bentine said it is a mad world. Get used to it.

There you go Caroline no use of the b word.

Additional proof if it were needed that this planet is spherical are the equator and the

tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. The time zones. Every 15 degrees east

or west of GMT is plus or minus one hour.

"There you go Caroline no use of the b word."

Not in so many words no, but.......

and, David, the fact that no-ones fallen off the edge :-D

If they fell off the edge and there was no one there would we know....... :-)

Trruuue.....

The Rim is the edge of the Discworld. It is about thirty miles thick. It's the end of the world, where water continuously falls off in what is known as the Rimfall. Why the water never runs out is one of the disc's greatest mysteries, another being why it falls, and where.

In The Colour of Magic, Rincewind and Twoflower are nearly washed over the rim but are saved by the Circumfence.

>>>> read this bit carefully Caroline and consider

The most notable place near the Rim is the island of Krull, whose inhabitants constructed the Circumfence. The mountainous edge of Krull actually sticks out over the rim, so that it is possible to look down and see the stars.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/58832/discworld-the-colour-of-magic-rincewind-and-the-potent-voyager

We all <3ed Terry Pratchett

No, I never loved reading Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' books.

However, I heard the books, animated on the radio - which was better, but still not my cup of tea.

">>>> read this bit carefully Caroline and consider"


Umm should I be insulted I was the only one to read it carefully...nah....cos it's only an insult if you're bothered.....oh yes and I was joking and had stated I don't believe in the flat world..... :-D

...and it's a quote from a fictional book......

...so why would anyone actually 'consider' it?

Anyone want to 'consider' the following, from Trollope
:
"She well knew the great architectural secret of decorating her constructions, and never condescended to construct a decoration."

or this one (more on topic) from Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker:

“I'll follow him to the ends of the earth,' she sobbed. Yes, darling. But the earth doesn't have any ends. Columbus fixed that.”

:-D