West Wing becomes reality.

[Forty Two]

On a related note, apparently the kooky idea that the Earth is flat is growing popularity.

I'm not sure it's "growing." It's always been an undercurrent, along with hollow Moons, hollow Earth, and all the rest....

[pErvinalia]

...because the Mercator map displayed the northern hemisphere in the north ...

You do realise that "north" is not objective, right?

North is north whether the globe has it pointing down or up. In the universe, there is no up, so displaying the Earth on its side (based on the way we've usually displayed it) is also just as valid. But, "just as valid" doesn't mean the traditional display of north on top is invalid or less valid, or that we need to be "fair" to all directions and display the Earth with different directions on top....

Yeah, that's great. But it's irrelevant to what I was saying. You should have written "...because the Mercator map displayed the northern hemisphere at the top...".

[pErvinalia]

On a related note, apparently the kooky idea that the Earth is flat is growing popularity.

I'm not sure it's "growing." It's always been an undercurrent, along with hollow Moons, hollow Earth, and all the rest....

It's been popping up more and more on my newsfeed lately. And there actually was a story claiming that belief for it is up amongst celebrities. I didn't read the article but it had a picture of Shaq with it. Big fella should leave the thinking to the experts..

[Forty Two]

A flat Earth is a perfectly reasonable theory for people who grew up and lived in societies where they did know anything much about stars, planets, and such. We are so steeped in the structure of the solar system that we find it ludicrous for people to believe anything else. But, take away a little bit of knowledge, and we all would think the Earth is flat. Imagine growing up in a pre-industrial farming vilage where traveling outside of your town was a rarity, difficult, and dangerous. A place with few, if any, books, and you're really just judging based on what you see around you. The Earth looks flat, but with hills and valleys and such, in all directions. You have no idea how far the land goes. There is no theory of gravity in your head, so in most people's minds, things stay down because there is an up and a down. Things fall down, and settle at the bottom. We have no idea what stars are, but something must hold them up in the sky, otherwise the "things fall down" concept would have them coming down. Must be a ceiling of some kind up there to hold them. Looking up, it looks kind of like a dome. So, the world is flat, with the dome of the heavens above. It couldn't be round, because things underneath fall off.

I makes perfect sense. Also, the curvature of the Earth is nearly flat. The curvature of the earth is nearly 0 per mile, so that although the flat-earth theory is wrong, it happens to be nearly right. That's why the theory lasted so long. http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/ ... fwrong.htm

But, in this day and age, I can't believe people are seriously thinking the Earth is flat. But, I guess some do. I wonder if they really do hold the idea, or they just like conspiracy theories....

[Forty Two]

...because the Mercator map displayed the northern hemisphere in the north ...

You do realise that "north" is not objective, right?

North is north whether the globe has it pointing down or up. In the universe, there is no up, so displaying the Earth on its side (based on the way we've usually displayed it) is also just as valid. But, "just as valid" doesn't mean the traditional display of north on top is invalid or less valid, or that we need to be "fair" to all directions and display the Earth with different directions on top....

Yeah, that's great. But it's irrelevant to what I was saying. You should have written "...because the Mercator map displayed the northern hemisphere at the top...".

That's what I meant, and I'm sure you understood that.

[Hermit]

On a related note, apparently the kooky idea that the Earth is flat is growing popularity.

I'm not sure it's "growing." It's always been an undercurrent, along with hollow Moons, hollow Earth, and all the rest....

It's been popping up more and more on my newsfeed lately.

Newsfeeds are not a good way to measure the prevalence of anything. You just have to click on one of them on any given topic and google, facebook or whoever will think you are interested in it and feed you more of the same. That's how their algorithms work.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, but as I said, there was literally an article stating that it is growing in prevalence (albeit amongst a certain category of idiot).

[NineBerry]

I like to follow the belief that my belly is flat although I should very well know it is round...

[Hermit]

Yeah, but as I said, there was literally an article stating that it is growing in prevalence (albeit amongst a certain category of idiot).

Did it mention surveys done or did it say something like "lots of people are talking about it now, and there are even new web sites and youtube channels." Believe it or not, The Guardian serves up some utter crap from time to time. If its editor forbade Beau Dure to write about anything except soccer, or better still shunted him off to the Daily Mail, the paper would experience an immediate lift in quality. Come to think of it, both papers would.

[pErvinalia]

I didn't read it. The stupidity would be too much for me to handle.

[Hermit]

I didn't read it. The stupidity would be too much for me to handle.

You mention an article you have not read to support your assertion that "apparently the kooky idea that the Earth is flat is growing popularity"? How cool is that?

[pErvinalia]

"Apparently". Are you struggling with English again?

[Hermit]

"Apparently". Are you struggling with English again?

apparently
adverb
As far as one knows or can see.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/apparently

Apparently not.

Are you unable to relinquish an untenable position again?

[Forty Two]

I didn't read it. The stupidity would be too much for me to handle.

You mention an article you have not read to support your assertion that "apparently the kooky idea that the Earth is flat is growing popularity"? How cool is that?

He doesn't have to read what people write in order to know what they really mean. He knows.... once a person is assigned a jersey, he knows exactly what they mean, which might be different than what they write, so, what would be the point of reading it?

[Animavore]

I've seen some of that bullshit about a growing number of celebs becoming flat earthers. A lot of them basketball players for some reason.