Are "flat-earthers" an actual thing?

Not an "actual thing", there are many of them, all around the globe.

Flay Earthers are like Bald Eagles, we don't have any of them where i live either.

wtfunny wrote:

Not an "actual thing", there are many of them, all around the globe.

Gotta bee wrote:

Flats are winning wrote:

As a bystander who has read the entire thread, the globe people haven't even presented an argument

People have traveled completely AROUND the globe that's all anyone needs.

The only people that need to prove something are flat-earthers, because facts (undeniable truth) say the earth is round, globers(anyone with a brain) don't need to prove anything.

Wrong. People have never circumnavigated the Earth from the North to South over Antarctica. Prove it. Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance, globehead. Do some research for yourself and break out of the indoctrination.

you folks are ridiculous.

So if the earth is flat, not spherical, what's underneath?

wtfunny wrote:

you folks are ridiculous.

So if the earth is flat, not spherical, what's underneath?

I don't have all the answers. However, insults & ridicule from ball heads are not arguments. What evidence do you have to prove as globe, other than CGI from NASA and fisheye lenses high above?

Why are you taking my word or his word? That's kind of an odd way to frame the discussion. I thought the mantra of flat earthers was to do the experiments yourself, make observations, and think for yourself. You seem to be playing the wrong game, thinking the real game is deciding which speaker to follow, as if this is all a religion, and not science. This isn't about replacing the words of NASA and Neil de Grasse Tyson with the words of Mark Sargent, and an army of "youtube scientists".In any case, if I go to 35-39 min, and listen to the description of the US Navy missile instructor, he seems to describe the radar exactly the way I did. The ship sends a radar signal to the target, and the missile detects, and continuously redirects itself into the direction of the reflected radar signal. Such mid-course corrections will correct for Coriolis and curvature of the earth, without any input, or necessarily even any awareness, from the US Navy missle instructor.So you can chose my words, or his words, and draw the same conclusions about how the missile system uses radar to guide the missiles to their target. What is clear, between the three of us, it is your words we must reject. There there was never any "targeted laser firing as a straight beam up to 60 miles over water".You could reject my ignorant statements, if any, but my description of the Sea Sparrow and radar guided missiles is public knowledge. These statements are not mine, but public. They are not ignorant but knowledge. You keep being about as polar opposite wrong as anyone can get, about everything.I listened a little more, about the part where he used high powered infrared binoculars up to 20 nmi. I guess that's why you threw "infrared" in the discussion, even though it wasn't relevant to the missiles -- this seems to be a common tactic you use to change the subject when cornered by factual observations. Doesn't it seem strange to you that a radar could have a "direct line of sight" up to 50 nmi, while infrared binoculars, which don't refract, only has a "direct line of sight" of 20 nmi. There is no flat earth explanation for this significant difference.Did you ever wonder why AM radio broadcasts can travel farther than FM, using shorter wavelenghts with higher frequencies? There is no flat earth explanation for this either.Speaking of experience, and personal knowledge, and taking my word versus the Navy instructor, I also have some 30 years of direct RF experience with bouncing signals off a target and receiving the same signal returned from the target. I wrote the technical specifications to build a transmitter and receiver sending four tones at different frequencies, receiving the same signal returned, and measuring the incoming signal to the outgoing signal. I personally wrote the software to interpret these phase differences observed over the four tones. This is a common technique using radio signals to measure the distance of satellites, bouncing the signals off the target, and listening for the reflected signal. I've also seen other techniques used, such as measuring the time taken for the round trip of a signal sent to satellites. I've led a team responsible for implementing new passive ranging techniques. These personal experiences have led me to strongly believe that satellites pretty much do exist, and GEO satellites are some 22,000 miles above the equator. I've worked on many projects related to MEO, and GEO and even one inter-planetary satellites. I would argue that my personal work experience is at least as relevant of the US Navy missile instructor. But you don't need to decide which of us is more qualified, as both the Navy instructor and I described the use of radar guiding missiles in exactly the same way.You don't need to take my word or his, to determine the existence of satellites. Another low cost experiment to find out, is to go to your local satellite TV retailer, and purchase a satellite receiver and a dish. Maybe you can convince the retailer to borrow one, or look for a moneyback guarantee, if money is an issue. Or create a "youtube flat earth" channel, and use that revenue to fund the experiment. If you think the signals come from a land tower, or undersea cables, do the research and find out how to point your antenna at the land tower or sea cable source of the signal. Let me know how many TV channels you get. Now, point the antenna at the sky, according to the antenna installation instructions (there are websites that can help you determine correct pointing). Compare the number of channels received with a skyward pointing antenna, verusus pointing to the land tower antenna. I did this antenna pointing experiment for a friend, who had trouble getting any TV reception. Armed with a spectrum analyzer borrowed from my work, we pointed the parabolic antenna at the sky, directly where the satellite should be. As soon as we pointed the antenna close to the right orientation, the spectrum analyzer instantly showed some 40 or so spikes, rising far above the noise, representing the individual channels, a directed signal coming directly from a satellite. You would not be the first to perform this kind of experiment -- 100s of millions of satellite receiver owners can confirm that reception will not work when their antenna looks at land based antennas or undersea cables.In case you doubt the nature of parabolic antennas, versus omni-directional antennas, in fifth grade, I did another experiment with a cardboard structure carefully cut and constructed in the shape of a parabola, some aluminum foil, and a pot of water strategically located in the center, and cooked a hot dog -- so I have a pretty good idea from the age of 11, of the principle of parabolic antennas and directed signals, not unlike the 2-inch pencil beam radar used by "fire control" to target a ship.These are all real personal experiences that help shape my thinking, not requiring NASA CGI or fisheye photographs.

Legit question wrote:

I will take the word of any active service US Navy missile expert over your ignorant statements. Go to the 35 min - 39 min mark for an exact description of how the 2 inch beam is used to paint the target The US Navy active duty veteran explains the process.

Why do flat earthers bash the tens of thousands of beautiful photographs of others as being frauds, yet they have zero photographs of their own? Only ridiculous sketches and drawings.

And just so I am clear. The countries that are enemies and cannot agree on anything. (North Korea, South Korea, Russia, US, Israel, Iran, etc,etc) They all know secretly that the earth is flat yet keep it quiet and present the same round earth lie in unison? We live in a world of immediate leaks yet this conspiracy has remained unleaked for thousands of years by everyone?

Where do I sign up?

The document LQ linked to explains it well, and I don't think he actually read it through. The system is designed to target incoming low flying aircraft in the range of a couple of miles to 20 miles, 20 miles being the usable horizon for radar in that scenario. This would be about right. At 20 miles, radar would still be capable of locating aircraft flying at ~250 feet or so. It could target aircraft at further distances if they are flying higher than that. The limiting factors are of course the curvature of the Earth's surface and radar strength. The document actually a global, not flat Earth.

Flights absolutely have gone over the SP. They do not routinely for several reasons. First is probably lack of demand on those routes. Second is the risk of very limited diversion options if a problem arose.

Look, we know this is a bit, and your dedication to it is admirable but it might be time to move on. We all know you don't*actually* believe this.

Start a thread on chemtrails, alien rectal probing, JFk conspiracy, or something slightly more believable than a flat Earth.

Spotter of idiocy wrote:

Why do flat earthers bash the tens of thousands of beautiful photographs of others as being frauds, yet they have zero photographs of their own? Only ridiculous sketches and drawings.

And just so I am clear. The countries that are enemies and cannot agree on anything. (North Korea, South Korea, Russia, US, Israel, Iran, etc,etc) They all know secretly that the earth is flat yet keep it quiet and present the same round earth lie in unison? We live in a world of immediate leaks yet this conspiracy has remained unleaked for thousands of years by everyone?

Where do I sign up?

Every "photo" from space is CGI. Every feed from a Space agency uses a fisheye lens which distorts the image. This is in direct conflict to photos taken from high altitude balloons with a standard lens- no curvature is detected. As for countries not agreeing- that is certainly not the case when it comes to Antarctica. As of 2015, it has 52 signatory nations.

Globe earthers have cognitive dissonance as their only argument in support for their imaginary spinning ball model. They rely on NASA CGI, elementary school textbooks (which also have cartoons & art work) and daily indoctrination. Everything they are told by the "authority" is taken on faith because of their misguided belief that the "authority" will never conspire to concoct such a monstrous lie.

Globe earthers throw ad hominem and can never form coherent arguments to refute very convincing evidence that the earth is flat. Everyone becomes an insult comedian instead of researching the topic on their own.

It's difficult sifting through all your ad hominem about globe earthers to find real arguments.Putting aside you've already been shown real non-CGI photos from space and of space, the globe earth idea has been around for 2000 years before NASA, an idea formed from mundane observations of the moon and stars, and has been accepted by science for centuries before NASA, based on, and confirmed by an ever-growing body of observations. Photos from space are not necessary, and have only confirmed what we've already known for more than 2000 years before man sent a camera to space.I note here the hypocrisy from flat-eathers as there are no real flat-earth photos -- it's all CGI or cartoon animations. Flat Earthers don't even yet have an accurate map of the earth -- one only needs to look at Australia to see that the Equidistant-Azimuth map is distorted. If the earth is truly flat, it should be possible to draw it on a flat piece of paper without any latitude or longitude distortion.Much of what flat-earthers claim includes a lot of mythology:- Globe earthers do not accept the word of authorities on faith alone. Simple everyday observations of the moon and stars and the sun favor a globe earth over a flat earth.- To address contradictions, flat-earthers suggest as fact, without evidence or research, that these things don't exist:, e.g. the South Pole, gravity, GEO, MEO, and LEO satellites, atmospheric refraction, man on the moon, etc.Flat earthers have a long way to go to form a coherent model including a flat earth. They need to:- Produce an accurate flat map- Develop the physics to explain the unique motion of the Sun and the Moon- Explain why the phases of the moon look the same to observers at different locations- Explain why lunar eclipses are visible from different locations at the same time- Explain how a lunar eclipse is even possible, from two bodies roughly the same size and height in the sky- Explain how do we get satellite TV, by pointing directional antennas at the sky (not land or sea), without satellites- Explain a 24 hour sun in Antarctica, or a 17 hour sun in Chile, or how the Sun can illuminate any two of South America, South Africa, and Australia, at the same time, in their summer- Form a coherent branch of science without gravity -- e.g. how would a suggested "Law of Density" explain what water does on the Space station, or in airplanes simulating space, when the air around it doesn't change density?- Explain the motion of other planets, and stars, without gravityFlat-earthers spend a lot of energy attempting to disprove a globe earth. But disproving a globe earth is not enough. Flat earthers need to affirmatively prove a flat-earth with a coherent model that explains all observations. The flat-earth model is far behind the globe-earth model in explaining what can be observed everyday.

Legit has the lowest sub-basement level of trolling skills, relying solely on soapboxing which requires no skill greater than persistence. The thread has lost all creativity. It still gets a few suckers who think it's worthwhile to say "oh yeah the world is round" but it has lost all entertainment value.

Legit, the benchmark for a true master troll is to make people argue not with you (let alone you alone) but with each other. You should say something so provocative and controversial, yet subtle and well-phrased that they immediately square off and have at it with each other. Only occasionally should you have to pop up and provide some well-timed impetus for the fray to continue. Instead you are all to eager to poison the well with your personality, ruining the joke. On a 20-post thread page you should appear no more than three times.

I have tried repeatedly to enhance the experience of this thread by providing well-stated and very stupid round-earth arguments, but you insist on stifling creativity with a solo act which, let's face it, has gotten old. It doesn't matter that some people still fall for it - it's just not funny anymore.

PLEASE PROVE THAT THE EARTH IS A SPHERE. THERE IS NO PROOF, NO PHOTOS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED FOR DAYS. THE EARTH IS JUST NOT A SPHERE. MAYBE IT'S NOT FLAT, BUT IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A SPHERE.

Bad Wiggins wins todays internet goodiebag!

Signed baseball cap and AOL voucher on its way to you sir!

Bravo, perfect post.

When you view a lunar eclipse, you can see with your naked eyes that the earth's shadow is round.

Proof today. The Earth, it is round like your head.

What a keen observation.

Here ya go.

Not this zombie thread again.

For those that don't want to go through it all, here's the lowdown:

1. Flat Earth Troll trolls for people that will argue with him, thinking he is serious about the Earth being flat (he is good, and a lot of you are stupid, so you WILL go to great lengths to "prove" Earth is round to him.

2. Flat Earth Troll delights in their efforts and discounts it with on-the-ready cut-and paste text, videos, diagrams, etc. refuting their claim. This troll works particularly well because there is lots of read-made material like this to aid in the troll.

3. This enrages/frustrates easily-trolled people (which is the goal of trolling). They argue with Flat Earth Troll. He insists he is "not a troll, you people are sheep who believe what the government tells you, and here's some proof Earth is flat." Easily-trolled people scour the internet for counter-proof that the Earth is round (which Flat Earth Troll knows, but that is beside the point). (repeat step 2).

4. Although some understand it as a troll, many do not and can't resist, as he seems to be good at the troll, coupled with the fact that many people are apparently stupid and don't see it as what it is: a never ending, never resolved argument that is the very essence of a troll.

5. Thread disappears for a few months. Flat Earth Troll resurrects it, often by pretending to be someone who wants to argue with Flat Earth Troll. (repeat step 1).

Addendum: Although I have pointed out what this thread is all about in plain English, Flat Earth Troll will still, incredibly, be able to bury the post and continue making stupid people engage in the never-ending argument.