Flat Earth

Yes, unbelievable but true. The Earth is flat. It’s most probably a round disk rather than the spinning globe we are told we’re living on. Not sure if there’s four elephants and a turtle beneath us though. How can I be so sure the Earth is flat? It’s thanks to the Interweb of course.

And the many articles make quite a convincing case for their claims. If Earth really was a sphere then wouldn’t airline pilots forever be correcting their course downwards to prevent them flying off into space. And if Earth was revolving couldn’t helicopters just hover above the ground and wait for their destination to come to them. If Earth was a sphere some rivers would flow downhill whilst other rivers would somehow have to flow uphill to reach the sea. The river Nile flows for 1000 miles with measurably far less fall than would be the case if it was situated on a sphere. Etc etc.

There are claims that the Earth must be flat using basic maths that are difficult to refute:-

“NASA and modern astronomers claim we are living on an oblate spheroid 25,000 statute miles in equatorial circumference with a curvature of 7.935 inches to the mile, varying inversely as the square of the distance, meaning in 3 miles there is a declination of nearly 6 feet, in 30 miles 600 feet, in 300 miles 60,000 feet and so on. Therefore, if we wish to prove or disprove the validity of their convexity claim, it is a fairly simple, straight-forward matter of measurements and calculations”

“For example, the distance across the Irish Sea from the Isle of Man’s Douglas Harbour to Great Orm’s Head in North Wales is 60 miles. If the Earth was a globe then the surface of the water between them would form a 60 mile arc, the centre towering 1944 feet higher than the coastlines at either end! It is well-known and easily verifiable, however, that on a clear day, from a modest altitude of 100 feet, the Great Orm’s Head is visible from Douglas Harbour. This would be completely impossible on a globe of 25,000 miles. Assuming the 100 foot altitude causes the horizon to appear approximately 13 miles off, the 47 miles remaining means the Welsh coastline should still fall an impossible 1472 feet below the line of sight!”

And if we are really on a spinning sphere, how on “earth” does Gravity work? Gravity somehow keeps all the water of rivers and oceans, all the atmosphere we breathe and all the people and vehicles they use firmly held to the sides of this spinning ball called Earth. Yet not so tightly that we can’t move around. Scientists don’t seem to understand gravity at all, merely claiming that it is the size of Earth that creates it. Experiments with smaller globes show the opposite effects. If you spun a wet tennis ball on a central axis water wouldn’t stay held onto its’ surface, rather it would spray away from it in all directions.

Back in Victorian times an experiment was carried out at a canal on the Cambridge levels by Dr Samuel Rowbotham that proves Earth isn’t a globe. He wrote:-

“A boat, with a flag-staff, the top of the flag 5 feet above the surface of the water, was directed to sail from Welche’s Dam to Welney Bridge. These two points are six statute miles apart. The author, with a good telescope, went into the water; and with the eye about 8 inches above the surface, observed the receding boat during the whole period required to sail to Welney Bridge. The flag and the boat were distinctly visible throughout the whole distance! There could be no mistake as to the distance passed over, as the man in charge of the boat had instructions to lift one of his oars to the top of the arch the moment he reached the bridge. The experiment commenced about three o’clock in the afternoon of a summer’s day, and the sun was shining brightly and nearly behind or against the boat during the whole of its passage. Every necessary condition had been fulfilled, and the result was to the last degree definite and satisfactory. The conclusion was unavoidable that the surface of the water for a length of six miles did not to any appreciable extent decline or curve downwards from the line of sight. But if the earth is a globe, the surface of the six miles length of water would have been 6 feet higher in the centre than at the two extremities. From this experiment it follows that the surface of standing water is not convex, and therefore that the Earth is not a globe! On the contrary, this simple experiment is all-sufficient to prove that the surface of the water is parallel to the line-of-sight, and is therefore horizontal, and that the Earth cannot be other than a plane!”

He carried out a further experiment using flags along the canal each one mile apart with their tops 5ft above the water and then looked through a telescope. If the Earth was a globe of 25,000 miles, each flag should have been lower than the last. The first and second flags simply established the line of sight, the third flag should then be 8″ below the second, the fourth flag 32″ inches below, the fifth 6ft, the sixth 10ft 8″, and the seventh flag should be a clear 16ft 8″below the line of sight. Even if the Earth was a much larger globe than claimed some curvature should have been evident but no curvature was detected and the flags all lined up completely on the level.

People even claim that NASA have never released any genuine photos of Earth from space. Only computer-generated images that change over the years, sometimes even showing whole continents that differ in size to previous images. I certainly can’t recall seeing any real-time video from space showing the Earth revolving.

The second best superhero comic book in the universe

The second best superhero comic book in the universe? Really? To declare yourself second best is like admitting defeat.

So, what then is the BEST superhero comic book in the universe? I think we should be told.

“Critter” is the daughter of the Superheroine “The Velvet Fox” (Who??). She has the power of telekenisis and super strength. She also has a prehensile tail (?!?) which must be slightly awkward to explain when she’s in her normal attire in her secret identity as teenager Cassia Crawford.

PS: Actually it turns out that her prehensile tail is made of metal and attached via a belt. Whew. Had me worried for a minute.

Fifteen revisited

I was listening to this in the car the other day. Originally recorded four years ago and then completely forgotten about, it quite cheered me up to rediscover it.