Proof of the Earth's Rotundity

Very few people still believe, these days, that the Earth is flat, although
this is the initial impression that presents itself to our senses.

Some of the later advocates of a flat Earth illustrated their conception of the
Earth with maps laid out with the North Pole at the center of a circular Earth.

This would seem to be the most tenable arrangement one could suggest. With the
Sun hovering about the Earth, and moving in a circle once every 24 hours, it is
possible to explain time zones... more or less.

Such a map did not look quite like an azimuthal equidistant projection centered
at the poles, as in such a projection, the southern continents are all made to
look considerably widened. The maps in our conventional round-earth atlases
need to accord well with the actual local truth in the individual countries and
continents of the world if they are to be accepted.

This indicates that those of the world's sea captains who work in the Southern
Hemisphere would have to be in on the conspiracy to hide the true flat nature
of the Earth, since voyages by sea, say from Chile to New Zealand, and so on,
would involve more distance than expected.

But then, most of us aren't sea captains or airline pilots, and most of us have
never been to Antarctica, so it, too, could be much bigger than claimed.

However, there is one place on Earth where this particular flat-Earth theory,
at least, can be refuted, not with technical arguments requiring training as an
astronomer to understand, but in a simple manner intelligible to quite ordinary
people.

I think you will grant me that there are people in Sydney and in Perth who
have... sundials. And, as well, people in those two cities will occasionally
converse with friends and relatives in the other by long-distance telephone.

Now, then, the distance in longitude between Perth and Sydney can be confirmed
by ordinary people - since they talk to each other by telephone, they know
their watches reflect the time zones they are supposed to reflect, *and* since
there are sundials in both cities, people can see directly that the disparity
between sun time and clock time is what it is supposed to be, and so the
longitude of each city is what our maps claim it to be.

But in that case, the distance between those two cities must be the short value
that it has on the Southern Hemisphere of a globular Earth, and not the much
larger value it would have on a pancake Earth.

In southern Africa, in Chile and Argentina, there is not a discrepancy of the
same magnitude as to be unavoidably noticed.

One could go upwards to Brazil, but there the interior is difficult of access.
Thus, while one could still imagine someone in Recife talking to someone in
Lima by telephone, for Brazil to be wider than our maps show would not be as
much of a problem; few people would ever have driven across the Amazon to be
able to independently verify the distance involved.

Australia, despite the inhospitable outback, is still a country where private
automobile owners are free to travel across its breadth.

So, if one wishes to hold that the Earth is flat, one presumably would have to
add a conspiracy of a "dead zone" in the secret middle of Australia where
travellers are whisked across at great speed after being put to sleep in their
cars by mysterious rays.

John Savard

On Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:01:14 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote this crap:

Very few people still believe, these days, that the Earth is flat, although
this is the initial impression that presents itself to our senses.

If you go to 43.0799 N and 79.0747 W you see where the water runs off
the Earth.


This signature is now the ultimate
power in the universe

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:01:14 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote:
Very few people still believe, these days, that the Earth is flat,
although
this is the initial impression that presents itself to our senses.
Some of the later advocates of a flat Earth illustrated their
conception of the
Earth with maps laid out with the North Pole at the center of a
circular Earth.

This would seem to be the most tenable arrangement one could
suggest. With the
Sun hovering about the Earth, and moving in a circle once every 24
hours, it is
possible to explain time zones... more or less.

However, on a flat Earth, the Sun would rise and set at the same time
all over the Earth. And during June and July, when there's midnight
sun at far Northern latitudes, there would also have to be midnight
sun all over the Earth. And when travelling to more southern
latitudes, one would not see stars and constellations which never
rise above the horizon further north.

Some flat-earth proponents have tried to "explain" this by claiming
there's a very big and tall mountain at the north pole. Well, maybe
this mountain could have a spherical shape and cover all of the
Earth?

Paul Schlyter wrote:
On Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:01:14 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc wrote:
Very few people still believe, these days, that the Earth is flat,
although this is the initial impression that presents itself to our senses.
Some of the later advocates of a flat Earth illustrated their conception
of the Earth with maps laid out with the North Pole at the center of a circular Earth.

This would seem to be the most tenable arrangement one could suggest.
With the Sun hovering about the Earth, and moving in a circle once
every 24 hours, it is possible to explain time zones... more or less.

However, on a flat Earth, the Sun would rise and set at the same time all
over the Earth. And during June and July, when there's midnight sun at
far Northern latitudes, there would also have to be midnight sun all over
the Earth. And when travelling to more southern latitudes, one would not
see stars and constellations which never rise above the horizon further north.
Some flat-earth proponents have tried to "explain" this by claiming
there's a very big and tall mountain at the north pole. Well, maybe this
mountain could have a spherical shape and cover all of the Earth?

From Tacitus/ Agricola writing about Britain
Their sky is obscured by continual rain and cloud. Severity of cold is
unknown. The days exceed in length those of our part of the world; the
nights are bright, and in the extreme north so short that between sunlight
and dawn you can perceive but a slight distinction. It is said that, if
there are no clouds in the way, the splendour of the sun can be seen
throughout the night, and that he does not rise and set, but only crosses
the heavens. The truth is, that the low shadow thrown from the flat
extremities of the earth's surface does not raise the darkness to any
height, and the night thus fails to reach the sky and stars.

On Wednesday, October 15, 2014 8:08:27 AM UTC+1, Mike Collins wrote:

From Tacitus/ Agricola writing about Britain.....

You can't discuss the proof of a round Earth without acknowledging the differences between Equatorial and Polar diameters which in turns discussing the rotation of the Earth responsible for the spherical deviation.

I have never encountered an individual who believed the Earth was not round however I have encountered your cult and the inability to assign the maximum Equatorial speed of the Earth per hour and without that value it is impossible to discuss why the Earth deviates from a perfect sphere and is therefore not perfectly round.All anyone has to do is appreciate that the 'average' 24 hour day serves the purpose of asserting 'constant' rotation insofar as both words share similar traits hence it works so well with the Lat/Long system in tandem with the 24 hour system.

" It is a fact not generally known that,owing to the difference between solar and sidereal time,the Earth rotates upon its axis once more often than there are days in the year" NASA /Harvard

Beautiful day today Collins, the Sun came up and it will set this evening, tomorrow will be the same and the day after that and on and on. It means that days and rotations always keep in step as a foundation fact and then you get into the Lat/Long system and the 24 hour system after that. This is what you need to prove the Earth is round even if not exactly. What is certain is that you can't do it with the old RA/Dec fiction.

Time to move on.

On Wednesday, 15 October 2014 13:31:35 UTC+2, ø1461 wrote:

Time to move on.

If only.

The Earth is obese.
Live with it.
Many do.
Or die trying.