1

Flat Earth Projects / Re: Wiki - Moon

« on: February 28, 2019, 08:36:12 PM »

I've been a licensed ham myself for 55 years now.  You can see some YouTube videos of EME communications.  I believe that there's a club out there now that actively pursues that mode.  I've never tried it before myself and no longer have the property to put up the necessary antenna system for a serious attempt.  All my years as a radio 'professional' have drained a lot of my desire to talk on the ham bands much anymore.  I do listen quite a bit at times, however.  Years ago I used to hear some very obvious echos when trying to communicate on 20 meters CW.  I used to chase the Russian stations and would aim my beam toward the North to work them on that path.  When the band was seriously open I could, at times, hear their signals coming all the way around the world and arriving from the South off the back of my beam. You could swing the beam around and find a signal peak from the South as well. The differences in the path lengths would cause a distinct echo and was interesting to listen to.  Only another ham would probably understand the phenomenon. I've talked to other 'old timers' at the local radio club and most of them have heard the same thing.

2

Flat Earth Investigations / Re: 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse

« on: January 21, 2019, 04:51:16 AM »

According to FE theory there should be some other body covering the moon right now.  If that's the case then that mysterious body should be directly above the earth somewhere and be fully lit by the sun.
It should be fully visible somewhere on the earth.  Just where is it?  who can see it?

3

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Another FEW Question...

« on: January 14, 2019, 10:07:34 PM »

What about the guy on the ISS who looked out his window and definitely saw that the earth was a sphere?  Why shouldn't I believe him?    Some of the ISS guys are amateur radio operators and talk to other amateurs on the ground (world wide).  I've actually heard them talk myself.  Does that make me part of the conspiracy?  I'm not a Mason, nor have I ever worked for NASA.  It sounds like there are some serious questions here and no answers available, even from Tom.

4

Flat Earth Investigations / Re: Flight Paths

« on: January 14, 2019, 09:47:13 PM »

Lots of mis-information here. 

When an airliner closes the door, and leaves the gate, the captain of aircraft (pilot in command) is in absolute control of the aircraft by federal regulations. If the pilot in command believes that a stop is necessary for the safety of the passengers, crew, and aircraft then a stop will be made.  You can be sure that if the airline believes that the pilot in command wasn't justified in his decision, based upon the judgement of the airlines chief pilot, then that pilot may loose his job.  Any non-stop flight can stop along the way due to a whole host of reasons.  Airlines have been sued by people who thought that they should have stopped but didn't.  Maybe a passenger had a medical condition, like a bad hang nail, and requested medical attention.  At that point the pilot in command has to make a very difficult decision.  Additionally, while the aircraft is at the gate the aircraft is fueled.  The more fuel that's put aboard the less payload can be carried.  It's a real balancing act.  If the pilot had a crystal ball and knew exactly what the weather conditions would be along the way, better decisions could be made.

The news reports did say that there had been some unusual weather conditions aloft causing a lot of headwinds.  Of course when this happens the over the ground speed of the plane slows down and the aircraft runs low on fuel.

Flight information regarding the position of the aircraft along the way most likely is coming from a private company called INMARSAT.  They have a service called Sat-C that provided regular position reports.  We used the same service on ships.  I am familiar with the equipment.   I doubt that NASA is involved here. 

The nice video Tom had linked was a little mis-informed.  The commentator did say that the aircraft was being tracked by ATC.  He did use the words Arctic, but of course what he should have said was 'air traffic control', that's what ATC means.  Radar (ATC) can only be used for a tiny fraction of the route.  Radar has a very limited range.  INMARSAT is the real workhorse here.

What you have here is airlines struggling to make a profit, they moved into more efficient aircraft to reduce costs like any good corporation should do.  Would blame them if you were a stock holder?  Unusual weather conditions were working against them and they had to make unscheduled stops that looked bad for them.  Do you really think the company wanted to do things that way?  Would it look a lot worse if an aircraft ran out of fuel, crashed & killed all aboard?  Is this a NASA conspiracy?  Are the Masons at fault for producing a defective earth map?  All some really good questions but I'm sure that most really believe that the whole problem is just some unusual weather conditions that eventually will change.

 

5

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Seeing the curvature of the Earth directly

« on: January 14, 2019, 08:03:33 PM »

I agree that it is difficult to actually see the earth's curvature by looking at the horizon.  The 'sinking ship' effect seems to be somewhat controversial on this site.  Why not just short circuit that whole argument and look at something in the sky, the North Star for example?

https://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=9797.msg175959#msg175959

When you look at this post you will see that the mathematics just won't work out unless the earth is spherical.  This is a direct observation of the curvature of the earth by observing something above the earth and not on the earth. 

6

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Seeing the curvature of the Earth directly

« on: January 14, 2019, 04:35:39 AM »

I saw a nice program on the Apollo 8 mission.  The idea was to navigate to the moon, orbit and come back without landing.  In order to navigate a sextant was installed so the earth & a navigational star could be observed and the spacecraft could be properly positioned along the route.  The black & white image on the lower right shows a nice view of the earth.  Even if the lens was dubbed as a 'fish eye' it wouldn't matter.  You can see the whole globe.
 
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/24619/was-the-apollo-sextant-used-or-tested-to-determine-position-while-in-earth-orb

I believe that the whole series of photographs of the periscope view is available on PeriscopeFile.com

Is this another example of the NASA lies?  If that's not the case then you will have to disbelieve your eyes as the pictures clearly show the form of the earth.
 

7

Flat Earth Community / Re: Samuel Birley aka Rowbotham

« on: January 13, 2019, 03:22:29 AM »

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Opium-in-Victorian-Britain/

I guess years ago you could go to your doctor and immediately get something for 'what ails ya'.  If a particularly troubled individual came in you could just take your phosphorus 'tonic' and splash in a little Laudanum.  That way it wouldn't matter if any disease was cured or not.  Your patient wouldn't be 'feeling any pain' and would have a strong inclination to keep coming back for more. 
Any 'doctor' likes that kind of repeat business. 

8

Flat Earth Community / Re: Samuel Birley aka Rowbotham

« on: January 13, 2019, 12:14:31 AM »

https://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/coca-colas-scandalous-past

I could believe that Rowbotham had a successful drug business. 

Maybe he was adding a 'nip' of something else to his brew and his customers were just a bit addicted after a while.
The drug business was probably 'legal' back then as well.  A hit of cocaine plus caffeine probably would take your headache away, or at least make it so you just didn't care if your head hurt or not.
Maybe he put in a wiff of phosphorous once in a while as well.

9

Flat Earth Community / Re: Samuel Birley aka Rowbotham

« on: January 12, 2019, 10:14:40 PM »

Wow, I guess I was really duped then.  Me and a bunch more.  See the references at the end of the article.  There are over 800.  Reference #25 (to get back to the topic) was about the Calcium and phosphorus change of the Apollo 17 crew. 

I guess that all the doctors and scientists had to be provided with fake samples for them to study. Perhaps all the doctors and scientists were just in on the hoax and just wrote up a bunch of lies and called it 'research'. 

Is the Rowbotham story real, or is it just a big hoax?  Is Rowbotham the same person as Birley?  If you are proud of what you are doing why have different names? 
Who is a bigger hoaxster, Rowbotham or NASA?    You have to admit these are all interesting questions.

10

Flat Earth Community / Re: Samuel Birley aka Rowbotham

« on: January 12, 2019, 09:02:40 PM »

Maybe more herbs for food and medicine will be used in the future. Do you believe it, or is it just a hoax?

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2299.html

Who will be the next Rowbotham in Space???  Will he be a quack, will it be a hoax?  Why do all the studies if there's no one in space anyway???
See page 40 regarding phosphorus.
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/human-adaptation-to-spaceflight-the-role-of-nutrition.pdf

11

Flat Earth Projects / Re: Wiki - Moon

« on: January 12, 2019, 06:00:25 PM »

A great project would be for the Flat Earth Society to get in touch with some radio operators that can actually communicate by bouncing their signals off the moon.  Yes, this is actually possible and happens on most days.  The operators are private individuals who are not necessarily connected with the government (NASA) in any way and are prevented by law from making any money whatsoever from operating their radios. 

After conducting some experiments, in the Zetetic fashion, the Wiki could be updated with a measurable, proved, distance to the moon. 

Would there be any objections to such a Flat Earth Project?  How would actually measuring the distance to the moon not further the accuracy of the flat earth theory?

12

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Seeing the curvature of the Earth directly

« on: January 12, 2019, 04:42:39 PM »

Anyone who believes that the Suez Canal can only happen on a flat earth doesn't really understand the way water really works.  I've actually been thru the Suez canal countless times, in both directions.  I always observe sea level on both sides.  What is meant by sea level is just the distance between the surface of the ocean and the center of the spherical earth.  As long as that distance is identical at each point along the canal, no water will flow. 

It seems that the flat earth people are always is confused with exactly what 'down hill' really means. Where water is concerned, 'down hill' means a lessening of the distance between any drop of water and the center of the earth.  As long as that 'center distance' is the same at all points no water will flow. 

I did go to school and I did learn a trade.  We learned about pumps, pipes, nozzles, and lots of other interesting stuff.  There were also some lessons about the properties of water.  In one of those lessons I learned that water will always flow in the direction of the net force vector.  You can have water sit nice and flat and not flow on the surface of a spherical earth as long as the distance between the water's surface and the center of the earth is the same at all points along the way. 

If you want to do a Zetetic experiment look at the elevation of the head of any river, like the Mississippi River, and the elevation at the mouth.  You will always find that the distance between the start of the river and the center of the earth is a bit longer than at the end of the river.  Water in the river will ALWAYS flow to a spot closer to the center of the earth as long as there are no other external forces involved, like hurricanes, or tides. 

If you don't believe that, then just cite an example where water flows in some other direction than the net applied force vector.  If you can't find a valid example, then you have to believe that the earth really could be spherical even after observing what is happening on the Suez Canal.

13

Flat Earth Investigations / Re: Flight Paths

« on: January 12, 2019, 03:19:58 PM »

The idea that the airlines can 'do anything they want' is not completely true.  Yes, they can decide to offer a direct flight between any two airports they want, but are then faced with lots of federal/international regulations regarding that flight.  Additionally the airline has to believe that the seats in the plane would be filled, otherwise why offer a flight if will be a money looser?  Surprise, an airline is a company and has to receive more revenue from ticket sales than they pay in expenses, on the average, or they can't stay in business.  Any direct flight has to be flown by a plane that has sufficient range with ample reserve capacity at the end of the flight.  There are a lot of international regulations regarding the maximum distance a aircraft can be from an emergency field during the flight.  This distance depends a lot on the type of aircraft being flown (two engine or four). 

In my personal experience, I would say that most non-stop long haul flights are conducted without stopping.  I've been on quite a few over the years and can only remember 1 where a stop was necessary.  It was a direct flight from Chicago to Hong Kong.  The weather had been bad the whole route and there was a potential weather problem in Hong Kong as well.  We landed at Beijing, China and took on some fuel and waited on the ramp for about 2 hours until the situation got better.  It was a good thing too, because we had to be in a holding pattern for about 30 minutes at Hong Kong because the previous delays had traffic backed up.   

I have held a commercial pilot's license myself for a lot of years.  Any flight I planned always had to have enough fuel for the entire route as well as sufficient reserve for unexpected circumstances.  If your projected reserve is used up along the way due to weather or weather related diversions, then it's time to land somewhere and get more fuel and/or wait on the ground until things in the air become more favorable for you to continue. 

What would be the potential consequences of not doing that?  You could die, along with all your passengers.  It's better be safe than sorry.  I didn't blame the pilot for a second on my Chicago to Hong Kong flight.  I wanted to arrive safely.   

14

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Moon size and distance

« on: January 11, 2019, 05:05:23 PM »

Anytime you want to investigate the distance to the moon just consult the proper amateur radio operator.  There is a whole group of radio operators out there that communicate on a daily basis by bouncing signals off the surface of the moon.  Yes, Tom put up a post that had a radio operator who said it couldn't be done, but countless others have solved the technical difficulties and are making it happen. 

When you do that, the well known speed of light has to be accounted for and the distance to the moon can be determined by measuring the time it takes for your signal to return.

The radio operators are mostly just hobbyists who do this for fun.  In fact federal regulations prohibit them from taking any money for any communication activities they do. 

If you really want to perform a Zetetic experiment, just look into what these people are doing.  Many would probably be happy to personally give you a demonstration.

15

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Seeing the curvature of the Earth directly

« on: January 11, 2019, 04:34:21 PM »

Far out at sea the earth looks flat.  The horizon is flat, the water is flat, everything looks flat.  However, hour after hour, day after day......I see other big ships coming up over the horizon.  You see the very tops first then more & more of the hulls become visible.  Sometimes whole cities and mountains rise up out of the sea like magic. The same thing is seen on the radars as well.  First you only see just a little single pip once in a while, then slowly more & more return echos hit the screen.  You see this over & over, day after day.  After a while you consult your charts.  Sometimes you do a sighting of a heavenly body and do a little celestial navigation.  The thing here is that all the calculations you do are based upon spherical trigonometry.  All the calculations are based upon the earth being spherical.  Does this conflict with what your eyes actually see?  Yes, some.  What is the unavoidable overall conclusion?  The earth must be spherical.  If you look deep down into the technical operations of the commercial GPS receivers used aboard ships you will see that the software just uses spherical trigonometry to compute your position.  What you used to do by hand now is just done by the computer internal to the GPS receiver.  It's just another indication of the spherical nature of the earth. 

The Zetetic way is for everyone to verify for themselves how things are in the real world.  Don't believe what I've witnessed with my own eyes as evidence of the spherical earth.  Actually do some experiments for yourselves.  Will this probably happen? No.  Most people just don't care enough to spend the time, money, and effort to get it done.  I was lucky. I was trained at a major university as an engineer and got to go to sea and traveled all around the globe for many, many years.  Lots of neat equipment was used to probe the properties of the earth.  When that equipment malfunctioned it was my job to tear into it and get things working again.  To do this the basics of operation had to be understood.  For me it was great fun.  I was doing this kind of thing as a hobby also so often I poked around more than was really necessary just to get a good feeling for how everything really, really worked.  Of course what isn't really well understood is that if you rely on GPS for an accurate position fix you are really just proving to yourself that the earth is a sphere. 

Use the Zetetic method, dig into the actual operation of the GPS for yourself.  If you do sufficient work, you can see the curvature of the earth thru the eyes of the instruments you are working with because you can't see it with your own eyes unless you go into space.

16

Flat Earth Projects / Re: Wiki entry for Universal Acceleration

« on: January 11, 2019, 03:37:20 PM »

Heavier objects need need more force to accelerate at a given rate, but are provided with that additional force by additional gravity (they weight more).
Lighter objects don't need as much force to accelerate at a given rate, but don't get as much gravitational force either (they weigh less). 
The end result is that all objects only get the force needed by gravity to accelerate at a particular rate, like magic.

The equations explicitly EXPLAIN the magical relationships between the forces and masses. 

Don't believe it?  Just provide any example where the equations aren't true.


 

17

Flat Earth Theory / Re: The Sagitta (Globe Earth "Theory")

« on: January 11, 2019, 03:36:54 AM »

OK, Bobbie.  I did the math a couple of different ways and came out with the same 4.54 inches that you guys got.  It did sound a little strange because the hump is 150 feet above the chord.  I have a HP48 calculator and a MathCad program for my computer and both yielded about the same results.  With a triangle of 80,000 feet on one side and 150 feet on the other, the hypotenuse is 80000.1406 feet.  The straight line is about the same as the curved chord in that situation.  I tried that just to see if all the results were at least reasonable, and it looks like they are.   

18

Flat Earth Theory / Re: Distance from Australia to Argentina dilemma

« on: January 10, 2019, 07:39:53 PM »

Yes, airline flight times can vary a lot.  I've been on countless 12 hour plus flights back & forth between Asia and the USA.  There's lots of good reasons why flights are delayed or take longer.  I've actually been on some flights were we arrived AHEAD of schedule too.  Some flights can't be conducted between airports because of international regulations.  Airliners always have to be a certain distance from an airport where they can land in an emergency while in transit.  That airport and distance depends upon the type of aircraft.  You wouldn't want to land a 747 on and airstrip that 3000 feet long.  Some longer direct routes just don't have a usable, approved emergency airport along the route, so a direct flight is impossible.  Other reasons might be that the airline just doesn't have the passenger count to justify a direct route either. 

It's all an irrelevant argument anyway.  The important (and relevant) argument is the measured distances between the airports where the non-stop flights are made.  Those distances are well known and very accurate.  Just ask a pilot who makes a flight twice a week between two airports thousands of miles apart.  Any flat earth map would also have to accurately represent the distances between all the airports whose coordinates are well known and where the distances to other airports are also accurate.  While you are at it, add in all the seaports as well. 

The problem becomes that all the locations are based upon a 3 dimensional globe geometry.  It would be impossible to construct a flat plane 2 dimensional representation of that and have all the accurately measured distances come out the same. 

That's not my speculation.  It's the math.  The first thing any flat earth geometer would have to do is show mathematically how the distances between any two points on a sphere could accurately be represented as two points on a flat plane. 

19

Flat Earth Theory / Re: 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse

« on: January 10, 2019, 06:49:09 PM »

Of course if there's a body that's blocking the sun's rays from hitting the moon and it's not the earth then it would be completely lit by the sun and would be visible from the earth, as it has to be above it somewhere between the sun and moon.  Yes, you could see it during the daylight hours.  I've often seen the moon during daylight hours when the sun was up.

Additionally,  that body would have to be lit by the sun's rays at other times that the moon is not in eclipse.  If it's not, then where did it go?

Since no one has ever reported seeing a body like that in thousands of years, you can assume that there isn't one up there. 

Hence, it's a crash & burn for that theory.  Any other ideas?

20

Flat Earth Community / Re: Why do you believe in the FE?

« on: January 10, 2019, 05:55:40 PM »

When I look out my window all I see is what looks like a flat earth.  It was the same when I was at sea.  All I ever saw was the flat surface of the ocean.  You can't always believe everything you see.  Think that's wrong? Just visit a good magician. 

Personally, I believe what a well calibrated instrument tells me.  Every time I do that I end up with spherical results. 

Any FET enthusiast can do the same thing, but it will take some time and work.  For most it really doesn't make any difference.  If you get on an airliner it makes a difference, but only to the aircrew.  They use spherical earth technology to deliver you to the next airport so effectively you are giving it up to the round earth idea and you probably don't even realize it and it doesn't really matter.