No, it's an observation that flat-earth "evidence" begins and ends with "look out your window". Beyond this, there is no evidence. Furthermore, anyone with any amount of intelligence would realize that coming to the conclusion that the earth is flat just from eye-balling it out your window is completely silly, given the huge size of the earth.
Unless evidence is presented which contradicts them, we have no reason to dismiss what our immediate senses tell us. The Earth appears to be relatively flat no matter where you happen to find yourself upon it.
My point is that
both models predict that the earth will look flat just from eyeballing it out your window. In the absence of further evidence, either model could be correct.
If the debate truly cannot proceed after a quick glance out of the window, that is only indicative of the shortcomings of RET.
But it can proceed! There is tons of evidence that the earth is round! We are in the process of collecting it
here. (Please don't start a debate in that thread. Start a separate debate thread and link to it.)
If you want hard evidence that the earth is round, I recommend starting with this:
the sun and moon stay the same size throughout the day. I have yet to see a decent flat earth explanation for this phenomenon.
I noticed that no one has posted one of the "many" experiments that have confirmed Rowbotham's findings.
Check out Lady Anne Blount.
Rounder already touched on Lady Blount's experiment a few posts up. But let's take a closer look at it, shall we? I will assume
this is the experiment you are talking about:
...
The Old Bedford Level was the scene of further experiments over the years, until in 1904,
photography was used to prove that the earth is flat. Lady Blount, a staunch believer in
the zetetic faith hired a photographer, Mr Cifton of Dallmeyer's who arrived at the
Bedford Level with the firm's latest Photo-Telescopic camera. The apparatus was set up at
one end of the clear six-mile length, while at the other end Lady Blount and some
scientific gentlemen hung a large, white calico sheet over the Bedford bridge so that the
bottom of it was near the water. Mr Clifton, lying down near Welney bridge with his camera
lens two feet above the water level, observed by telescope the hanging of the sheet, and
found that he could see the whole of it down to the bottom. This surprised him, for he was
an orthodox globularist and round-earth theory said that over a distance of six miles the
bottom of the sheet should bemore than 20 feet below his line of sight. His photograph
showed not only the entire sheet but its reflection in the water below. That was certified
in his report to Lady Blount, which concluded: "I should not like to abandon the globular
theory off-hand, but, as far as this particular test is concerned, I am prepared to
maintain that (unless rays of light will travel in a curved path) these six miles of water
present a level surface."
First of all, as usual, there is a math error. Assuming the bottom of the sheet was in fact at water level, it should be only 8 feet (assuming standard refraction) below his line of sight, not 20 feet. 12 feet if you completely discount all refraction. Whoever did the math clearly forgot to take into account that the camera was 2 feet above water level.
That being said, if everything else they said were true, and if refraction was non existent, then they would certainly have an interesting find! However, we have no way of knowing how careful they were with their measurements, since there doesn't seem to be any photographic documentation. They already proved they were sloppy with their math. Why should we trust that everything else was correct?
Secondly, refraction
does exist. The above scenario can easily be explained by a temperature inversion.
Thirdly, the Bedford Canal is just that... a canal. There is no reason to believe that the entire length is at the same altitude. So what's the point of doing an experiment there? Even if an experiment
did manage to prove that it is completely flat, it wouldn't matter...
Lastly, we have
tons of modern photographic evidence that the earth
does curve, which directly contradicts the conclusions of the experiment
edit: post got cut off somehow.