rocket launch postponed

[neufer]

---

Could he see that the Earth is round?

• A Frisbee is round.

• "Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is," he said.
  "Do I know for sure? No. That's why I want to go up in space."

[Ann]

---

Could he see that the Earth is round?

• A Frisbee is round.

• "Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is," he said.
  "Do I know for sure? No. That's why I want to go up in space."

Okay.

Could he see that it is shaped like a ball?

Ann

[neufer]

---

Could he see that the Earth is round?

• A Frisbee is round.

• "Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is," he said.
  "Do I know for sure? No. That's why I want to go up in space."

Okay. Could he see that it is shaped like a ball?

We don't know for sure? No.

[Ann]

---

• A Frisbee is round.

• "Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is," he said.
  "Do I know for sure? No. That's why I want to go up in space."

Okay. Could he see that it is shaped like a ball?

We don't know for sure? No.

What a pity. That's why he launched himself skywards in a rocket, wasn't it?

Ann

[neufer]

Could he see that it is shaped like a ball?

We don't know for sure? No.

What a pity. That's why he launched himself skywards in a rocket, wasn't it?

• I doubt it.

[rstevenson]

There are buildings where he could have gone up in an elevator and had a better chance of seeing the curving horizon. A passenger jet would get the fool much higher. But, to quote Forrest Gump, stupid is as stupid does.

Rob

[Chris Peterson]

There are buildings where he could have gone up in an elevator and had a better chance of seeing the curving horizon. A passenger jet would get the fool much higher. But, to quote Forrest Gump, stupid is as stupid does.

He could hang a camera on a balloon. For a few hundred dollars, he could send his own equipment tens of thousands of feet high, or more.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

There are some details to work out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zni00B36f7E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UAHORcbvvQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwku5Alsi04

[geckzilla]

You'd think it'd be pretty easy to go check out the Antarctic pole and see that it doesn't actually do that... easier than launching in a home-made rocket, anyway.

[neufer]

You'd think it'd be pretty easy to go check out the Antarctic pole and see that it doesn't actually do that
... easier than launching in a home-made rocket, anyway.

• Well...that really isn't the point now is it

<<Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.

American television comedian Stephen Colbert coined the term truthiness in this meaning as the subject of a segment called "The Wørd" during the pilot episode of his political satire program The Colbert Report on October 17, 2005. By using this as part of his routine, Colbert satirized the misuse of appeal to emotion and "gut feeling" as a rhetorical device in contemporaneous socio-political discourse. Colbert ascribed truthiness to institutions and organizations, including Wikipedia. Colbert has sometimes used a Dog Latin version of the term, "Veritasiness". Responding to claims by Michael Adams that the word already existed with a different meaning, Colbert said, "Truthiness is a word I pulled right out of my keister".

Truthiness is tearing apart our country, and I don't mean the argument over who came up with the word ...

It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that's not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It's certainty. People love the President [George W. Bush] because he's certain of his choices as a leader, even if the facts that back him up don't seem to exist. It's the fact that he's certain that is very appealing to a certain section of the country. I really feel a dichotomy in the American populace. What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true?...

Truthiness is 'What I say is right, and [nothing] anyone else says could possibly be true.' It's not only that I feel it to be true, but that I feel it to be true. There's not only an emotional quality, but there's a selfish quality.>>

[MarkBour]

I thoroughly enjoyed this thread. One of the choicest bits was Art's subtle use of "shear delight".

Mad Mike Hughes has achieved an altitude of 1875 ft off the floor of the Mojave desert. The summit of Mt. Whitney, that people walk up to every day most of the year, stands at about 11,500 ft above the floor of the Mojave desert.

I wondered, though, if he did better, and got to 50,000 ft, or 100,00 ft, or even 300,000 ft, what would he see? Assuming the Earth is a sphere (which I do!) he would eventually get high enough to see what looks a lot like a frisbee, as he reportedly suspects. Indeed, a snapshot from the ISS does not strongly differ from a shot of a frisbee. And really, how does the picture of the Earth clear from the Moon differ from that of a frisbee? You have to add time to the image. Either watch the Earth rotate, or move around it yourself.

But to me, that is why flat-earthers are too ridiculous to even talk with. A simple and inexpensive disproof of a flat earth is to buy tickets on a few plane flights.

[geckzilla]

I wondered, though, if he did better, and got to 50,000 ft, or 100,00 ft, or even 300,000 ft, what would he see? Assuming the Earth is a sphere (which I do!) he would eventually get high enough to see what looks a lot like a frisbee, as he reportedly suspects.

If he could get to around 30,480 meters (100,000 feet) he'd be able to see a slight curve. This is doable with some kind of military grade jet powered craft. It would look nothing like a frisbee because he'd only see a small percent of the sphere instead of all the way to Antarctica. At this point, he'd have to either say the pilot or instruments were lying or malfunctioning, or accept a spherical Earth, or modify the dimensions and curvature of his frisbee. The higher he went, the more modified the frisbee would become until eventually it would have to be a sphere...

[orin stepanek]

If the Earth were flat the rivers wouldn't flow;
There'd be no place for the water to go!
There would be no North or South pole!
There'd be no Summer or Winter to see.
All this would really confuse me!







Anyone can add on to this poem if they want to as long as they keep with the theme!

[neufer]

<<Mike Hughes (February 9, 1956 – February 22, 2020), popularly known as "Mad" Mike Hughes, was an American limousine driver, and daredevil known for flying in self-built steam rockets.

On February 22, 2020, Hughes, at the age of 64, died near Barstow, California, following the crash-landing of a rocket he was piloting, built by Hughes and his collaborator Waldo Stakes. During launch, the rocket’s parachute, which was designed for landing, appeared to deploy early and detach from the craft. The launch event was being filmed for the Science Channel television series Homemade Astronauts, in which Hughes was to star.

Following Hughes' death, Darren Shuster, his public relations representative, stated: "We used flat Earth as a PR stunt... Flat Earth allowed us to get so much publicity that we kept going! I know he didn’t believe in flat Earth and it was a schtick.">>