Flat Earth International Convention 2017

Anything else you want to talk about.
Post Reply
User avatar
RF
Senior Member
Posts: 7760
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:15 pm
Location: Wolverhampton, ENGLAND

Flat Earth International Convention 2017

Post by RF »

It has been reported on the BBC today that an international convention is being held in Raleigh, North Carolina by a group of Flat Earth activists.

I was curious as to why beliefs in the Earth being flat should persist in today's world, and as to how a flat earth can be justified scientifically.
Well, listening to these people I soon found an answer. Its all down to conspiracy theory, with NASA as the fall guy. Not only that but their attempts to ''prove'' the Earth is flat were so ludicrous that it reminded me of the religious fundamentalists and creationists living in their universe of self delusion.

What it represents for them is the triumph of dogma and bigotry over scientific reason. It isn't (in my opinion) too far removed from the anthropogenic global warming scam.

That the Earth was round and orbited the sun has been known to the human race since pre-biblical times, by people simply using their eyes and observing the seasons, the movements of the Sun, the phases of the Moon and of course eclipses. All before the religious zealots came along and claimed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and all revolved around it. It took the Reformation before this metaphysics could be overcome.

I was particulary amused by the flat earthers claiming that every attempt to prove that the Earth was spinning had failed. Well, it seems to me that these tests are only a failure because they say it is a failure. Just as the AGW lobbyists insist that AGW is there because they say so, And because they say so they don't have to prove it.

For myself I have seen proof the Earth is round several times - you can see the curvature of the umbral shadow as its edges run across the lunar surface during a partial eclipse of the Moon. From an airliner I have seen with my own naked eye the curvature of the horizon to left and right.

It doesn't require any great intelligence to be able to appreciate reality. All it needs is an open mind and not a closed bigoted one.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
User avatar
Dave Saxton
Supporter
Posts: 3148
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 9:02 pm
Location: Rocky Mountains USA

Re: Flat Earth International Convention 2017

Post by Dave Saxton »

Catastrophic AGW will eventually go the way of eugenics and Lysenkoism.

Nonetheless, even now AGW advocates are beginning to hedge their bets. (see the Millar et al paper in Nature Geoscience Aug this year)

Millar, Grub...et al are lead authors on previous IPCC reports, and previous advocates of CAGW, so for them to come out and admit that the AGW skeptics have been more or less correct all along is rather interesting.

However, one must understand that many scientists and much of the science have long been misrepresented in IPCC media releases for decades. The way it works is that there is a summary of the scientific reports for policy makers released to the general public and the news media. This is called the Summary for Policy Makers or the SPM. What the SPMs report is often very different from the scientific papers, the SPMs are supposed to be a summary of, actually read. The summary is written by the politicians and PR people before the scientific reports are fully compiled and released. The scientific reports are then selected and edited to comply with the already existing SPM. Yes, really. Goebbels would approve.
Entering a night sea battle is an awesome business.The enveloping darkness, hiding the enemy's.. seems a living thing, malignant and oppressive.Swishing water at the bow and stern mark an inexorable advance toward an unknown destiny.
User avatar
RF
Senior Member
Posts: 7760
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:15 pm
Location: Wolverhampton, ENGLAND

Re: Flat Earth International Convention 2017

Post by RF »

Dave Saxton wrote: Yes, really. Goebbels would approve.
Even more so Lenin, Stalin and any communist leader would approve.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
Post Reply