Flat Earth Theory

[K'Z'K]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

The earth is a cube.

[commence thread drift]

That reminds me of one of the all-time greatest insanities of the interwebs: Time Cube. The domain expired a couple years ago, but there's an archived copy: http://web.archive.org/web/20150818094035/http://www.timecube.com/

The RationalWiki explanation of it is quite entertaining: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Time_Cube "No one really understands it, especially since the website looks as though Dr. Bronner loaded up on LSD, composed a few thousand soap bottles, and had them translated from English to Xhosa to Chinese and back to English by someone who speaks only Basque."

Time Cube was the brainchild of "Doctor" Gene Ray, who is (was?) racist, homophobic, anti-religion, anti-academia, and completely, utterly, totally bonkers. His rantings drip with contempt for anyone who believes differently than he does (so. . . everyone). They'd be offensive if they were even remotely coherent.

@amandaaries This may be too out there for you to use as an example, but hey, it is (or was) on the internet...and as far as anyone can tell, Ray believes it wholeheartedly (which actually makes it sad rather than funny, since he probably has one or more serious psychiatric disorders that need help rather than mocking). He even had a disciple or two.

A couple excerpts (though you really gotta see it to properly appreciate the formatting):

It Is The Absolute Verifiable Truth & Proven Fact
That Your Belly-Button Signature Ties
To Viviparous Mama.

 

Evil educators refuse to recognize
the wisest of humans to ever exist.
My magnificent creation of 4
simultaneous 24 hour days within
a single rotation of Earth, debunks
the puny 1-day rotation of a fake
word god and stupid educators.
Nature has no choice but to bring
forth a hell upon evil cubelessness.
Know it to be of your own making.

 

 

Truth about Santa Claus debunks
Santa God. God evolves from Santa.

 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

2 hours ago, KZK said:

[commence thread drift]

That reminds me of one of the all-time greatest insanities of the interwebs: Time Cube. The domain expired a couple years ago, but there's an archived copy: http://web.archive.org/web/20150818094035/http://www.timecube.com/

 

Oh man, Time Cube was one of the first "look how much crazy shit there is on the internet" things that anyone ever showed me. Sort of a precursor to the interest in wacky religious websites that led me to this forum.

[Childless]

I don't understand this.  Considering people have been in space and have seen a round earth, how can anyone believe it's flat?  Do they think NASA only employs blind astronauts?

[Jilli]

Flat earth fascinates me. Not in an I believe it sort of way, but in I can't believe people believe in this stuff kind of way. I've been stuck in this rabbit hole before. 

Watching the YouTube videos is always interesting for as long as my attention span will allow. Most of the time the comments are off and the like/dislike ratios are close to even. 

[Petronella]

On 20/03/2017 at 9:41 PM, ILoveJellybeans said:

Im a member of a conspiracy related Facebook group that I joined when I was 16 and thought of myself as maybe an indigo child. Now I am just a member for entertainment purposes, and the occasional debate with stupid people.

Oh, indigo children! My experience with that theory is parents (mothers) who overindulge their kids, give them no boundaries and never say no, then label the resulting insufferableness as evidence of their children's higher evolution. It's their superiority that makes them impatient and demanding, donchaknow...

On 20/03/2017 at 9:41 PM, ILoveJellybeans said:

 

On 20/03/2017 at 9:41 PM, ILoveJellybeans said:

 

[Howl]

5 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

Oh man, Time Cube was one of the first "look how much crazy shit there is on the internet" things that anyone ever showed me. Sort of a precursor to the interest in wacky religious websites that led me to this forum.

Wait, WHAT?  I hope not in a linear way! 

I had to look up "Nachos Flanders Style", which I didn't realize until now was a Simpsons' thing. 

INGREDIENTS

1  Cup  Deans small curd cottage cheese

1  cucumber

2  Tablespoons dill

1/3  Cup  blue cheese dressing

2  Grams  reen onions

Pinch salt

Pinch Crushed black pepper

How to make it

Cut the cuke into slices

Lightly salt the cuke slices

Mix the above ingredients in mixing bowl

Serve on top of cuke slices

Sprinkle with crushed black pepper and a little extra dill

I think this would pair well with straight vodka, while contemplating cube earth vs flat earth. 

 

[LadyCrow1313]

4 minutes ago, Howl said:

Wait, WHAT?  I hope not in a linear way! 

I had to look up "Nachos Flanders Style", which I didn't realize until now was a Simpsons' thing. 

INGREDIENTS

1  Cup  Deans small curd cottage cheese

1  cucumber

2  Tablespoons dill

1/3  Cup  blue cheese dressing

2  Grams  reen onions

Pinch salt

Pinch Crushed black pepper

How to make it

Cut the cuke into slices

Lightly salt the cuke slices

Mix the above ingredients in mixing bowl

Serve on top of cuke slices

Sprinkle with crushed black pepper and a little extra dill

I think this would pair well with straight vodka, while contemplating cube earth vs flat earth. 

 

That looks good.

And I came up with a brilliant (to my mind, at least) nickname for Flat Earth believers: flearthers.  

[RosyDaisy]

And this is why my church's youth group goes to the Space and Rocket Center for their annual summer trip. No fake science.

[Zuzus Petals]

I haven't had this discussion with my nephew yet, but I've been told he believes the earth is pie shaped.  This is why you don't fall off the edge.  

[Petronella]

24 minutes ago, Zuzus Petals said:

I haven't had this discussion with my nephew yet, but I've been told he believes the earth is pie shaped.  This is why you don't fall off the edge.  

But... pies have edges....

[Zuzus Petals]

13 minutes ago, Petronella said:

But... pies have edges....

Yes, but he actually means the earth is shaped like a pie plate.  so the lip on the pie plate (so to speak) keeps you from falling off.  It's insanity.  My nephew is in his 40s and the recent crazy Alex Jones quoting embrace any conspiracy guy he is now is only about a year old.

 

[Petronella]

10 minutes ago, Zuzus Petals said:

Yes, but he actually means the earth is shaped like a pie plate.  so the lip on the pie plate (so to speak) keeps you from falling off.  It's insanity.  My nephew is in his 40s and the recent crazy Alex Jones quoting embrace any conspiracy guy he is now is only about a year old.

 

But... but... has anyone hit this edge? Taken pictures? No, never mind. It's impossible to argue with, isn't it. So sorry that this change has come over your nephew!

[Nashville92]

This is a topic among many Preds fans.  One of the players admitted someone on the team is a flat Earther but they won't admit who it is and no one else associated with the team will say who it is.  I've not seen or heard one person in my inner circle who believes it.

@RosyDaisy you're talking about the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center correct? I remember driving by the big rocket when i was little and loving it.  I haven't been to the Center in years though.

[Lurky]

The whole "you don't fall off the edge because you hit a wall" theory is just.... surely you realise you hit the wall???  People do know that Antarctica has been crossed, right, and the icebergs etc aren't the Wall in GoT?

[TeddyBonkers]

4 hours ago, Childless said:

I don't understand this.  Considering people have been in space and have seen a round earth, how can anyone believe it's flat?  Do they think NASA only employs blind astronauts?

BECAUSE, you sheep, no one has really been to space! It was all set up on a sound stage in Area 51, paid for by Illuminati/Rockefeller Foundation money, and Neal Armstrong was a 33rd degree Mason so he was in on the whole thing. 

Also, that's why the Russian cosmonaut "burned up" on impact. He's actually alive and well, living in Boca.

/massive sarcasm

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, Zuzus Petals said:

I haven't had this discussion with my nephew yet, but I've been told he believes the earth is pie shaped.  This is why you don't fall off the edge.  

Ohhhh pie!

[Zuzus Petals]

1 hour ago, Lurky said:

The whole "you don't fall off the edge because you hit a wall" theory is just.... surely you realise you hit the wall???  People do know that Antarctica has been crossed, right, and the icebergs etc aren't the Wall in GoT?

Well, according to nephew, it's all a government conspiracy to keep us in line.  What line you may ask?  I have no idea.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

Wait, WHAT?  I hope not in a linear way! 

In a cube-ular way, obviously!

I mean that it sparked my interest in the weird underside of the internet, where conspiracy theorists, fundies, and other strange subcultures thrive. 

PS I had no idea that my namesake nachos had more than two ingredients!

[Granwych]

I have a theory that flat Earthers have flat heads.  Oy.

[Howl]

21 hours ago, LadyCrow1313 said:

That looks good.

And I came up with a brilliant (to my mind, at least) nickname for Flat Earth believers: flearthers.  

I like this, a lot.  For some reason a few days ago I was contemplating the utter weirdness of the word pleather (basically, plastic leather).  And even more delicious, pleather and flearthers are both in the portmanteau category of words. 

[ILoveJellybeans]

On ‎22‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 0:06 PM, Petronella said:

Oh, indigo children! My experience with that theory is parents (mothers) who overindulge their kids, give them no boundaries and never say no, then label the resulting insufferableness as evidence of their children's higher evolution. It's their superiority that makes them impatient and demanding, donchaknow...

My official diagnosis is Aspergers, but I identified with indigo children because it sounded cool and unique and youre like this special higher evolution of person, not something lots of people in the world have.

I am glad my scepticism saved me from falling down the rabbit hole and becoming a flat earther or rejecting modern medicine. Some of the stuff people said sounded too weird for me, but science sounded much more rational.

[Black Aliss]

On 3/22/2017 at 7:00 AM, Zuzus Petals said:

Yes, but he actually means the earth is shaped like a pie plate.  so the lip on the pie plate (so to speak) keeps you from falling off.  It's insanity.  My nephew is in his 40s and the recent crazy Alex Jones quoting embrace any conspiracy guy he is now is only about a year old.

 

See, this is why the hyperbolic geometry proof works better--there is no lip, everything gets smaller and smaller as you approach the edge so you never actually reach the edge. You might want to share that idea with your nephew.

[nausicaa]

On 3/22/2017 at 6:34 AM, Childless said:

I don't understand this.  Considering people have been in space and have seen a round earth, how can anyone believe it's flat?  Do they think NASA only employs blind astronauts?

It's even better. They think that all astronauts and pilots, of every nationality and belief system, have all sworn to uphold the lie that the earth is flat and disguise that they're just flying back and forth over this pie plate planet.

Also, "flerfers" is the accepted term amongst people who believe the earth is flat. Carries a lot of intellectual gravitas...

Also, did you guys know that Shaq has a doctoral degree in education? And not some honorary degree either, an honest to God, he had to write papers and read books, advanced degree. I expect much more from him.

[Curious]

On 3/20/2017 at 1:09 PM, JMO said:

There are a few celebrities that are flat earthers too.  Shaq.

I just came to read this thread to see if anyone had mentioned Shaq.  My husband told me about him being a flat-earther a couple weeks ago.  Apparently his logic is that he drives from CA to FL all the time and it's flat.......

[Granwych]

You'd think with all Shaq's height he could see the curve of the planet.  Oh, I forgot.. while he's driving, he's sitting.