https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/18/flat-earthers-keep-the-faith-at-denver-conference

It's a rather long article. Short version: mostly biblical literalists, who will swallow any nonsense. There is no idea, no matter how preposterous, that some people won't support.

There were attendees from all around the globe.

and from the 4 Corners!

the rim is a giant ice wall that circumscribes our disk.

From that I have extrapolated that the end of the world will come when Rover catches us in his mouth and destroys us with bad doggy breath and dog drool.

It's not going to be pretty.

and was very disappointed that they didn't come up with any "proofs" that I could take seriously.

Their alternative explanations of the movements/attributes of the sun and the moon left me begrudgingly admiring the relatively greater sophistication demonstrated by Joseph Smith in his tall tales about Kolob and Kokaubeam (which, for some odd reason, always makes me hungry for Cocoa Puffs).

Apparently, the sun is alway circling overhead, but it gets so far away that things get dark, even though it's still way up high in the sky/dome and can illuminate an entire continent and then some, we are unable to detect the illumination from our side of the disk because it's too far away, even though there's no reason as to why the glow in the sky would not be perceptible at all times given the distances involved between the illuminated continents and the non-illuminated continents. And even though the sun travels so far away from us that it is too far away to illuminate our side of the disk, it always looks huge at sunset because of atmospheric diffraction, as it seems to sink below the horizon, with you seeing something looking like a half-disk, quarter-disk, etc. until the entire disk is gone. It would seem to be perfectly explainable by a globe model, but it's really just an optical illusion.

Damn! I was looking forward to exploring beyond the great ice wall (which seems to be inspired by Game of Thrones). But trying to find something plausible in it is as hard as trying to find something plausible in Joseph Smith's revelations about polygamy.

For some reason, they can’t explain why GPS works with a flat Earth, unless there’s a vast conspiracy to fudge the math. GPS math even compensates for relativistic effects in the movement of the satellites, proving both round Earth and General Relativity.

But for some people, that’s so much less satisfying than pissing in the wind.

I was once discussing with a flat-earther the fact that I can see
the sun set (ya know, go below the horizon) and that it doen't
change apparent size in the sky as it would if it just went far
away. I pointed out that I see this regularly with my own eyes.

He didn't care. He, enthusiastically, kept telling me to watch
some Youtube video which supposedly shows it getting smaller. So
I said, "why should I believe a Youtube video over my own eyes?"
He just said to watch the Youtube video--repeating it like a
broken record.

Evidently the "open-mindedness" that flat-earthers (and Mormons)
tell us we need to have only goes in one direction.

Oh no, I missed Flat Earth Bull-a-palooza. What great theories on why some cabal is making everyone think the earth is round I must have missed (#sarcasm).

Make America Rake Again !

for context...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/make-america-rake-again-finland-trump-forest-fire

Oh geez, Dave is on a roll again.

He's so. . . rakish!

No worries, BOJ. I hear there's a climate-change denier conference coming up soon.

That'll be almost as much fun.

At least no flat-earthers chair any House or Senate committes--yet.

we had this guy

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-lamar-smith-20171103-story.html

Riverworld!

Kinda sad considering I grew up less than an hour away from Denver...

It's obviously just a game they play every few years. That would explain the lack of well-tested ideas. Geocentric astronomers had highly developed explanations for their ultimately disproven theory. This sounds more like Game of Thrones fan fiction than the Holy Bible.

I can't believe that anyone is still gullible enough to believe in this ongoing media hoax. It's a competitive sport for the Guardian and other outlets to see how long and how often they can fool us. And some people will believe this hoax just to laugh and feel superior. That's what propels the "news" coverage of an inconsequential event.

Apparently there is some sort of "Society," a bit like the Elks Club. I have a friend who plays poker at the Moose Lodge every Wednesday. But no one really believes he's a moose. It's a game, folks. Pull your heads out and let the sun shine.

It seriously looks like they're often struggling not to bust out giggling and laughing in their duper's delight. I have a hard time believing that they're sincere.

I wonder if this is like the linguist experts who get together to work out what the Latin would be for modern concepts like computers, spaceships and electric refrigerators?

Or who work out the grammar rules of Klingon or debate how they can promote the use of artificial languages like Volapuk and Esperanto?

For context, the Guardian newspaper is the home of smug, self-regarding British inteligensia.

It rarely, if ever, covers real news, which it used to be fairly good at, some years ago.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2018 04:06AM by matt.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2018 11:01AM by Dave the Atheist.

The Guardian didn't rent the hotel and plan the conference. For some people this is no doubt a joke and a chance to get out of the house for a few days, but there are biblical literalists who truly do believe the earth is flat.

There are people who truly believe the moon landing was faked.

There are people who truly believe Noah and the Ark actually happened.

There are people who truly believe the earth is some small number of thousands of years old.

There are people who truly believe that Native Americans are displaced Hebrews.

There are people who truly believe that Jesus will return in Jackson County, Missouri.

There are people who truly believe they are going to get their own planet.

There are people who truly believe fry sauce proves Mormons are smarter than the rest of the world.


We know these people.

My late wife's cousins in W. Virginia believe the moon landing was faked and that dinosaurs are fake...because their bible thumping evangelical preacher twit told them so.