Basic Geometry and a Round Sphere
The Global Earth theorists for 500 years have been telling us the Earth is a sphere. IF the earth is a globe, and is 25,000 English statute miles in circumference, the surface of all standing water must have a certain degree of convexity–every part must be an arc of a circle. From the summit of any such arc there will exist a curvature or declination of 8 inches in the first statute mile. In the second mile the fall will be 32 inches; in the third mile, 72 inches, or 6 feet, as shown in the following diagram:
Measurements are quite easy to determine the angles of curvature based on 360 degrees and the number of feet of change per number of miles along a curved path. To determine how much the Earth falls away on the curve you take miles squared X eight inches. This is an inverse relationship so the farther one travels the greater the distance of feet or miles the Earth will fall away.
Let the distance from T to figure 1 represent 1 mile, and the fall from 1 to A, 8 inches; then the fall from 2 to B will be 32 inches, and from 3 to C, 72 inches. In every mile after the first, the curvature downwards from the point T increases as the square of the distance multiplied by 8 inches. The rule, however, requires to be modified after the first thousand miles. 1
Miles squared X 8 inches
one foot = .000189394 miles
Curvature of Earth
1 mile 5.33 ft. or .12626 mile
10 miles 66.666 ft. or 1.2626 miles
100 miles 6,666.66 ft. or 12.626 miles
So the farther one travels the greater the drop (or rise) in distance.
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The Great Rivers and Earths Curvature
Look at the above map of the greatest rivers in the world. Some flow North, some South, some Easterly and Westerly. Some are below the Ecuador, above and near the Ecuador.
The longest rivers are thousands of miles in length. Many, like the Nile and the Missouri are in central valley plains and deserts with little or no elevations.
However, given the curvature of the Earth, larger rivers would have to follow the arc. If flowing towards the Equator or Poles, they would have to flow uphill, if flowing away, then downhill, sometimes both. Yet this most basic of physics must occur on a globular Earth, yet does not.
“Whoever heard of a river in any part of its course flowing uphill? Yet this it would require to do were the Earth a Globe. Rivers, like the Mississippi, which flow from the North southwards towards the Equator, would need, according to Modem Astronomic theory, to run upwards, as the Earth at the Equator is said to bulge out considerably more, or, in other words, is higher than at any other part. Thus the Mississippi, in its immense course of over 3,000 miles, would have to ascend 11 miles before it reached the Gulf of Mexico!” -David Wardlaw Scott, “Terra Firma” (126)
The Mississippi River is one of the world’s major river systems in size, habitat diversity and biological productivity. It is the third longest river in North America, flowing 2,350 miles from its source at Lake Itasca through the center of the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico.
At the headwaters of the Mississippi to the NW, the average surface speed of the water is near 1.2 miles per hour. Downstream at New Orleans the river flows 3 miles per hour on average. This is impossible on a ball where the river has to flow upwards towards the highest point at the Ecuador.
The Earth cannot be a sphere.
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The Nile, longest river in the world, c.4,160 mi (6,695 km). The Nile flows northward and drains about one tenth of Africa, including parts of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Congo (Kinshasa).
As you can see from the elevation chart the Nile runs in a desert basin. If half circumference of the Earth is 12,000, this means that the Nile would have to descend while traveling North some 16 miles, but it doesn’t.
The Earth cannot be a sphere.
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The Flattest Place on Earth? No Curves Here.
The Sala de Uyuni Salt Flats
Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa). It is located in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above mean sea level. Salar de Uyuni spreads over 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi), which is roughly 100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.
The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter (3 1/4 ft.) over the entire area of the Salar. With the use of modern GPS technology, it can now be proved that the Salar de Uyuni is not perfectly flat. New measurements revealed previously missed features resembling ridges, hills, and valleys only millimeters in height.
The salt flats are 100 miles long by 84 miles wide yet is near perfectly flat when it should have a drop of some 12 miles in length if the Earth was a sphere.
Which it doesn’t, so it cannot be a sphere.
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“….We’ll Be Cruising at 30,000 ft. for the next 4 hours.”
Anyone that has traveled in a airplane experiences the same level flight path once cruising altitude is reached.
Rarely, except for storms or turbulence, will the pilot alter the cruising altitude no matter what direction being traveled.
If the Earth is curved and a plane is traveling any direction at 500 mph, the airplane would continually be having to be make a correction of 2,557 ft., or one-half mile each and every minute or the plane would continue on its level plane out into space.
To maintain a 30,000 ft. altitude around a round Earth, the airplane would have to be angled significantly lower than in the rear of the airplane to maintain a 30,000 foot relationship to the Earth’s curvature.
Yet this never, ever happens. When traveling in an airplane it is level form nose to stern.
This means that the Earth is not a globe but is a level piece of land.
Aplanetruth.info 
This is the dumbest thing I have ever read. I’m giggling so hard at almost every sentence. Thanks for giving me a hearty chuckle.
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not such a thing as a hearty chuckle, all he is pointing out is that the earth is flat.so stop trying to be clever trevor
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I am actually really glad I found this site. It makes me think differently about the world around me- very interesting stuff! Thanks for putting this out there!
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If the earth is not a sphere then the whole astrology argument goes down the drain. Not to mention solsitices, equinoxes, etc. The earth is not a spherical spinning top. “Astronomers” claim to divine what is happening, “billions and billions” of light years ago. Better they learn what is going on under their feet. Either that or get a pool route.
If the earth is flat then shouldn’t the Sun and Moon also be flat?
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Why would the Sun and Moon have to be flat as well. The Moon could very well be a disc, like a frisbee. The lies are so monstrous, most have trouble comprehended how successful the programming has been. for more on this read here.
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The sun and the moon circle overhead, here is a perfect depiction of it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R52_PdZlSq8
You can actually predict the paths and storms of hurricanes, and their intensity as they approach land. It explains why hurricanes spin counter clockwise in the northern hemipshere, and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. As the sun approach the southern hemisphere from the east, storms get tugged to the “right” or clockwise. As the sun approaches the north from the west, the sun pulls the winds “left” or counter-clockwise. It also completely pulls the storms into their arcs.
Pull up hurricane katrina and look at that link i sent you, you can see Hurricane Katrina was completely predictable.
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You still have equinoxes and solstices on the flat earth .
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It would help the cause a lot if you got your maths right.
You give the curvature at 1 mile as 5.33 ft or .12626 miles. Firstly the curvature at 1 miles is, as you state, only 8 inches. Secondly, 5.33ft is only .00100947 miles, not .12626.
Then you correctly give the fall at 10 miles as 66.666 ft, which is .012626 miles. Your figure of 1.2626 is out by a factor of 100.
Likewise, at 100 miles the fall is indeed 6666.66 ft, which is only 1.2626 miles, not 12,626
as you give, which is out by a factor of 10. Very shoddy work.like this make it easy to rubbish the whole notion that that world might not be a globe.
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As you state, the Bolivia salt flats are around 100 miles long. The fall from horizontal at this distance is 1.2 miles, not 12 miles.
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yea, i made a mistake and cannot get into the video to correct, my apologies. thanx for pointing it out.
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The fall from horizontal at 100 miles long the curvature is 6,666.6 feet= 79992000 miles.
I only believe in evidence my evidence proof 100% the earth is flat
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A 1.2 mile drop on a curved surface, is still a large curved mirror reflection. The reflections as you can clearly see by looking at any images or videos online show absolutely no distortion on that surface.
You know as well as I do, if you look at yourself in a curved mirror, you will look distorted. The reflections on that surface are kissing the horizon all around, that shows it’s flat.
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Amanda, the curve is SO small that you can’t see a distortion. How flat do you think your mirrors are at home? I bet they are further out from flat than 8 inches in a mile (1 part in nearly 8000, or just over 0.01%)!
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you can’t correct your math in either the video or the article?
as you and your cohorts say incessantly, “hmmmmm.”
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I did not know it was also incorrectly stated in the post as well. thanx for pointing it out, will correct.
FYI, Nitpicking and avoiding discussions of big topics like a 500 yr. massive lie, as well as all other math figures being correct indicates shillspecious activities…things that make us truthers go hmmm…. back at ya!
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The only one who is avoiding discussion is you. See your other comment where you say you “don’t have time” to refute what the commenter presented. You seem to have plenty of time to promote FE and incessantly repeat “why do the rivers flow uphill.” But when someone gives you a completely sane answer, it’s back to the bible quotes and YOUR INTERPRETATION (often racist) of ancient knowledge.
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Of course it’s my interpretation, whose else would it be. let’s see your body of work please so we can judge you.
here is mine
Blogs
http://tabublog.com/
https://aplanetruth.info/
http://avvi.info/
You Tube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE5KlMLlrXWDhPklv7wK04g
here is a very important local legislative ordinance, first in the country, to pass local rights home rule for Mendocino county last month.
I’m calling you out dude, let’s see what you’ve got to share and be ridiculed with. ..yea, i thought so!!! so let’s just end with a big STFU. thanx.
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I genuinely like what you are doing here and have reviewed some things here plus those evidences collected and expounded by Eric Dubay… For example: flat horizon no matter the direction you look or altitude. Moonshine or sunset water reflection straight line to viewer. Sun’set’s last light seems to gather around ‘setting’ Sun. Sun ‘hotspots’ visible above clouds; Triangulation of splayed rays through clouds indicative of close illumination source; stars and constellations orbit Polaris no matter your position in northern latitudes; even the one about jetliners traveling 500mph at cruise not having to set ‘trim’ on stabilizers to keep them following the contour of allegedly curved earth… etc, etc, & etc. All this is amazing, convincing and hardly refutable… The one I find that I CANNOT relate to is the flow of rivers ‘proof’ something about running ‘uphill’. According to this argument, On a curved surface as a globe or sphere (if ‘gravity’ or density/buoyancy are at play) any direction you walk is neither uphill or downhill is it? since you are always at the same angle to the center of the earth. well I dont get that one… nor do I get the idea that we should feel rotation on a ‘merry go round that takes 24hrs to rotate… that is a SLOW, BORING MERRY-GO-ROUND!
The ones I like are:
1)if sun is holding us in its orbit why does it not suck the oceans off the globe surface.
2 How the hell would the atmosphere resist dissipation by the vacuum of space unless the atmosphere is physically contained! (on the other hand, if it is physically contained, should it not be the same pressure at all altitudes?) Okay, no I dont get that one either… 😦
3) why the ‘weight’ of an item or body is not measurably less at the equator of the globe as this is where the greatest centrifugal force would be felt….
4) Likewise how is the weight of an item or body is not measurably greater at the North pole where there is NO CENTRIFUGAL FORCE WHATEVER!?
Thanks all.
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Yes, you’re on the path of discovery by questioning everything. It was a year ago i came to the same thought process’ and since I’ve only gotten further confirmation that “flat is where it’s at!”.
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Howard, to answer your questions:
1. The Sun does pull the oceans off the Earth’s surface (just not far!), have a look at “spring” and “neap” tides!
2. There is no “border” between atmosphere and the “vacuum” of space – pressure simply decreases with altitude (try climbing Mount Everest!).
3. It is! By about 0.5%! See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force#Weighing_an_object_at_the_Earth.27s_poles_and_on_the_equator.
4. It is – see answer to 3!
Howard, scientists for the last 2000 years have not been unaware of the “proofs” offered to support a flat Earth. Every one has been answered. Unfortunately, science education is generally so poor (or maybe just focusses on the wrong things) that most people are not aware of the easily accessed answers.
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I think I have to take it as a matter of personal comfort because, like the whole ‘actors in government’ / ‘fake media events’ machine exposed by www,.wellaware1.com it is not terribly interesting to most folks… Most have really profound responses such as: ‘so who ya gonna vote for’?
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Also, I notice that there is quite a bit of time between posted responses… indicating a lack of an interested audience? Bummer
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Hello, I became convinced of the geocentric universe in 2011/2012 but had not considered flat earth until a couple of months ago. While I am not yet a FE believer, I am a BE skeptic. Thanks for your work. Manny Clay
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My sentiments exactly Manny …
I have to get to the bottom of this. If we have been deceived on every other issue, then why not this too? I can find no sound and conclusive evidence that the earth is a sphere.
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Thanks, I really appreciate and enjoy your research.
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Listen for those of you whom are curious and want to get to the bottom of this, the world is pancake flat and I’ll give you 2 examples you can verify yourself, thermal imaging/infrared/night vision, and reflections.
Thermal imaging and others only work in a straight line, they don’t work on a curved surface. You can figure out the curve via earth curve calculators online, find yourself a camera that would shoot over the curve, and voila, you have your answer.
The other way is reflections, we’ve all looked in a curved mirror and seen a distortion. There is a place on earth that acts as a giant mirror, the Bolivia Salt Flats, aka Salar De Uyuni. It’s over 11,000+sq km, and would be a 12 mile curved down mirror on a globe. All you have to do is look at the reflections, there are many images and videos online of it. here is a perfect example:
No distortion anywhere in those reflections, and remember, on a globe, that surface would be a 12 mile curved mirror.
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Sorry not 12 mile curve, 1.2 mile curve or about 6500ft. Either way, that is a giant curved mirror on a globe which would be very evident from the reflection. Elevation was also tested across the entire plain and it was found to only be a 3ft difference.
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Made the error calculation in the vid/doc and corrected in show liner notes. Thanx for the note.
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Here is an example you can do yourself. Let’s simulate the supposed curve of the salt flats over 10 miles. Get a 10″ mirror. Find a completely flat surface. Take a hair from your head. Place it under the middle of the mirror (ideally you should split the hair in half but let’s skip that for extra effect). Press down on the edges of the mirror. Tadaaa! That’s how much curve there is on your curved salt flats mirror over 10 miles.
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Amanda,
You said “No distortion anywhere in those reflections”. Is this a simply a claim, or are there measurements or other specific evidence available to understand what you said?
Thx.
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Aircraft, to maintain level flight, are trimmed to fly at the same altitude above sea level. It’s a balancing act between thrust, gravity, lift and drag. The only way for an aircraft to fly a straight path at an angle away from sea level is to apply more thrust and ascend. So your assertions about aircraft on this page are a bit silly. You might want to talk to any pilot to get some basics about flying and the forces that act on a plane in flight.
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I would like to know where in the world any river ascends during its course. Water always flows downwards relative to sea level. Curvature is not a factor. Only the distance from the centre of the Earth – down is closer to the centre. In FE terms, down is the direction from any altitude that descends to a lower altitude. Liquid water cannot gain altitude without being put under pressure via a pump or similar.
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How did you calculate that the Mississippi is 11 miles higher at its mouth than at its source?
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i cannot find what you are referring to. please copy and paste for an informed response. thanx.
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michaelgeogeau has the correct answers. Aeroplanes actually need to be angled to gain height to counter the force of gravity, but this is imperceptible if you are on board as all is balanced by speed and flaps to keep the plane level compared to the slight curvature below. Try turning off a plane’s engine and see what happens!
River comment also 100% accurate! Go to any point on a river, measure altitude above sea level, then go downstream anywhere and measure again, and it will be lower. Obvious due to gravity!
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in relation to flying: Flight dynamics are based on a flat earth…. you do the math!
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Simple for anyone, The Moon can be seen, to be clearly in front of the blue evening sky/firmament and not 230,000+ miles behind it, out in a non existent outer space.
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d taylor,
All I see are your words; no moon in front of a blue sky. Care to explain yourself?
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How do i explain a tree in front of a barn seen in a field, what’s the difference are you saying that tree is not in front of the barn. A lit (full,quarter,half, etc..) Moon is in front of the Blue sky/firmament, other wise the side not lit (bluish side during daylight) would not be the same color/or as the blue sky. The same at night, the not lit side becomes black or a deep blue the same as the black/deep blue sky/firmament at night. The moon could not have the blue shadow if it is 230,000 miles away from (behind) the blue sky out in a black outer space. The shadow on the moon would always be black if the moon was 230,000 miles out in space.
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d taylor,
re: “Moon is in front of the Blue sky” – if this is true, how do you then see the blue sky behind the moon (the part that is not lit)?
BTW, as one unfamiliar with your view of things; how do you explain how parts of the moon are lit (or not)?
Something doesn’t match what we can all see, as far as I can tell.
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The moon powers it own light same as the sun. That is why i said the part of the moon not lit and did not use the term in shadow that reference (in shadow would imply that the moon is being lit by the sun).
Here is what i am seeing, the air, where birds fly, airplanes fly, where the clouds are and the sun and moon are located. Then behind the air is the firmament which from our position on earth, we see as blue. So with the moon being in the air, it is like the clouds, sun, airplanes, birds, and is seen in front of the firmament and not behind it. Out in a non existent outer-space. Simply stated no one sees beyond the firmament.
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d taylor,
I’m inclined to take that as a non-answer, since no part of my comment was addressed by you. 😦
1) how do you then see the blue sky behind the moon?
2) how do you explain HOW parts of the moon are lit (or not)?
For example: what is the power source? What causes parts to be lit or not (what is the cause of that & why does it change like we all see it do so)?
As to your new “information”:
3) there’s not much the “same” about the moon and sun; they’re quite different:
* the sun provides an abundance of light, as well as heat; the moon – nada
* the sun light changes daily how it’s reaches the earth, in a 12 month cycle (any explanation?)
* the moon image changes about every 28 days
* the sun is always a circular image when up in the sky; not the moon
* why is the moon visible at varying parts of the day and night (on a regular basis and predictable location as well as shape)?
* what happens at night to the sun?
* the sun has spots, the moon has craters and such. Hmmm?
4) There is a major eclipse predicted for the US quite soon. How do you and yours predict eclipses? What is happening during the eclipse?
Give these a try, and let’s see if there’s any “there” there.
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Do this, get a canvas or a primed hardboard panel, paint a picture of what you say is happening, paint the back ground black representing the atmosphere around a moon at 230,000+ miles away. Then paint your moon on top of your black background atmosphere. Then paint the blue color representing the blue sky/firmament over the moon and its black atmosphere.
Then i will paint a picture, first i will paint the blue representing the sky/firmament then on top of the blue i will paint the moon and lets see which painting looks more like what is seen when outside.
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d taylor,
You claim an impossible scenario, simply stated as: “I can see the blue sky that is BEHIND the moon”.
If that is your story, you’re entitled to it. It is of course physically impossible, and ludicrous.
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Great observation Taylor.It is too bad that humanity is so deeply indoctrinated that most people cannot even understand your comment …
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So how do we see mountains 275 miles away on globe earth?. The worlds longest distance photograph record clearly shows a vista of mountains at 275 miles away! Impossible on a globe! We definitely do not live on a spinning ball, you can rasmataz your answers all you like. The egos of people still living on a ball is unquantifiable!
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D Ashcroft,
It’s customary to include evidence when attempting to make a persuasive claim, if you really want to convince anyone you’ve got something, and you’re not simply lying thru your teeth or making stuff up.
Please supply the following necessary details to support the “275 mile” claim:
– Observer position
– Observer elevation
– Target position
– Target elevation
– Distance: observer to target (not needed with proper gps coordinates given above)
You may also present your calculations as to why the claim is valid (specifically, what about globe viewing distances for the details above is false).
Then we can all be discussing a real scenario, not just “see mountains”, which is much too vague to mean anything regarding this subject of viewing at distances.
Thx.
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https://beyondhorizons.eu/
Thanks
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D Ashcroft,
Thanks for providing this quote (from your link): “As we all know, Earth is rounded, but its surface is not smooth.”
Not what was asked for, or able to be tested, but it’s a start. On a more serious note; if you can’t substantiate this claim with details, then we can simply consider it a personal anecdote, which is fine.
It would obviously not be actual evidence of anything, however. It’s also quite removed from being a serious response, IMO.
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Sorry you feel like that. I could say the same about you’re article. Ill leave this alone now but thanks for the reply. Just finally and In my opinion we have no idea what shape the earth we live on is. You’re mathematics is flawed gravity un proven and you have NO working model. You could read a book called kings Dethroned in regards youre math and we only have to look at the physics of water to disprove gravity imo. There are 1000’s of long distance photographs and measurements which tells me we have no curvature. We also have high altitude bloon video without fisheye again proving no curve at ove 120000 feet. I could go on but im pretty sure of youre response so ill not be wasting anymore of my time. Good day and good luck proving its a spinning sphere pear!
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D Ashcroft,
Feel free to exit the exchange of comments without ever providing reasonable details, and possible evidence of the claims you make. You’re very entitled to your opinion; however, that has no bearing on truth, reality, or the lives of others living on earth.
BTW, I know of no article I offered in our discussion, so perhaps you’re thinking of someone else.
TTFN
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Perhaps you’ve lost the plot?
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The use of GPS satellites in your argument disproves your entire argument.
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In order to prove that the earth isn’t a globe you have to show that current understanding is flawed somehow, sorry but you haven’t done that.
Claiming that rivers would have to flow “uphill” on a globe shows a complete misunderstanding of how gravity would work on a globe. You can’t just say gravity doesn’t exist, or gravity is a lie. You must show it wouldn’t work as described.
The claim is that gravity pulls everything toward the center of the earth, so if a river starts even one foot further from the center than where it ends, even if it travels 3,000 miles, it’s not flowing uphill as you claim.
Next, the salt flats. You do understand that there’s a difference between drop and bulge don’t you? On a globe there is an 8″ drop per mile, but there is only a two inch bulge. Meaning that if you were standing at one point and a friend standing a mile away, half way between you the earth would bulge out a mere two inches. So if you had a one mile mirror that bulged 2 inches in the middle, do you think that you’d notice that?
While I realize all these claims come from Eric Dubey or Mark Sargent, and the mistakes aren’t really your fault, the one about the airplane is unbelievable. Unbelievable in the sense that it’s hard to believe anyone would believe this.
So, the plane would have to drop over 2,500 ft per mile? Those numbers are based upon fuzzy math. They take the planes speed, say 500 mph then figure the drop, about 160,000 ft, which is correct. Then they divide that by 60, and then claim the plane would drop 2,700 ft per minute. As I said, fuzzy math.
Here is the correct way to figure out the problem, to make it easier we’ll use 600mph. The drop in 600 miles is about 244,000 ft. Using fuzzy math that would be 4,000 ft per minute and 67ft per second. But if the plane is travelling at 600mph then divide by 60 minutes then it’s flying 10 miles per minute. The drop in 10 miles is 67ft. That might still be noticeable on a plane, but at 10 miles per minute that would be one mile every six seconds. That would be an 8 inch drop in 6 seconds. Divide 8 by 6 and you get a 1.3 inch drop per second. If the plane maintains a 1.3 drop per second it could fly around the globe and you wouldn’t notice it not even on a spirit level.
Come on flatearthers, please wake up. It’s not NASA that is lying to you, it’s Dubey, Sargent and Skiba.
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uhhhh…… are you dumb? Gravity doesnt act in the exact same direction everywhere on the globe. According to your logic, a plane in china would have to fly upside down. But it doesnt. Gravity pulls things towards a single point in the center of the earth, or simply it just pulls things TO the earth. Planes fly within Earth’s atmosphere which follows the curvature of the Earth. The plane just naturally follows the curve due to gravity. The same thing happens for rivers. Its like how when you are walking, you dont have to adjust for the curve. Come on man, this is literally just common sense
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My comment to Eric Dubay about his claim that an airplane would have to drop 2777ft per minute:
**************************************
The problem is that you’re not doing the correct math equation.You’re taking the drop in 500 miles, 166,667ft and dividing by 60 minutes, or total flight time, to get the correct but ridiculous number of 2,777ft per minute drop.
To simplify, use 600 miles per hour, divide by 60 minutes means you’re flying 10 miles per minute, 10x10x8/12=67ft roughly. So, which is it? Is the plane dropping 2,777ft per minute or 67ft per minute? Neither.
If the plane is flying 10 miles per minute that means it’s going 1 mile in 6 seconds. Is an 8 inch drop in 6 seconds the correct answer? That’s really not much of a drop but that’s still not correct.
A 747 is about 250ft in length. 250ft/5280=.0473 of a mile. The plane is .0473 of a mile long.
.0473x.0473×8=.017 of an inch. In the planes length the earth drops .017 of an inch. That’s just a little over 1/64th of an inch.
Theoretically an airplane could maintain a flight altitude just a little over 1/64th of an inch out of level and circumnavigate the entire globe.
I say theoretically because there are so many forces involved the plane’s computer or the pilot are always making corrections.
Hopefully facts will prevail in this silly flat earth craze!
Kevin McMillen
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My comment on another forum where a poster said that Neil deGrasse Tyson stated that in an airplane you can’t see the curve of the earth.
***************************
Neil is correct. At 30,000ft the horizon is about 220 miles away. If you were able to see a full 360° around the plane what you’re seeing isn’t the curvature of the earth but the circle of the visible horizon. Facing forward, if you turn 10° right the horizon is still about 220 miles. Turn 90°, still about 220 miles. Everywhere that you look at the horizon it’s roughly 220 miles. Turn completely around you’ve made a circle but it’s not earth curve that you’re seeing.
This is why at the beach, the horizon looks straight. Look straight ahread, look left as far as you can at the ocean, now look right, every point on the horizon that you see is roughly three miles out. The reason it looks level is because the horizon that you’re seeing is only about 6 miles of a much larger circle that you’d be able to see if the land behind you didn’t block it.
If you were able to stand on the ocean 50 miles out with a calm sea, at six feet tall your horizon would be about three miles. Turn completely around, you’ve made a full 360° circle and every point on the horizon that you see is about 3 miles out. You’re not seeing earth curve, you’re seeing the circle of the visible horizon.
In fact, if you take a 16 inch globe and a U.S. quarter place the quarter anywhere on the globe, trace a circle around the quarter, that’s actually a little bigger than what you’d see from a plane if you could see 360°around it. That circle you traced is the horizon that you’d see, not the curve of the earth.
Kevin McMillen
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