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Flat-Earthers Explain Why We Don't Fall Off the Edge of Our Planet, and It Involves Pac-Man
Space.com ^ | 05/02/18 | Jeanna Bryner,

Posted on 05/04/2018 4:41:24 PM PDT by Simon Green

More than 200 flat-Earth enthusiasts descended on West Midlands, England, this past weekend to "engage freely in deep and meaningful discussions," according to the Flat Earth Convention UK.

The Earth's glorious globular-ness was proved more than 2,000 years ago by the ancient Greeks, but there's a small subset of people who think the planet is a disk despite enjoying the downward pull of gravity that could only result from living on a sphere.

At this conference, they were presenting their scientific evidence for such a disk. One of the more interesting pieces of evidence came from speaker Darren Nesbit, who referred to the "Pac-Man effect" as the reason why planes don't fall off the edge of a flat Earth, according to the science news website Physics-Astronomy.org. When a plane or other object reaches the edge of the horizon, such as when Pac-Man reaches the end of the screen, that object will teleport from one side of the planet to the other, a la Pac-Man entering from the other side of the screen.

According to the group that put on the convention, the gathering also included some "alternative viewpoints." (You think?)

"In conjunction with a select number of well-known flat-earth speakers, we have also provided some alternative viewpoints. We truly hope that new friendships are forged, ideas and experiments are brain stormed and future actions are set in motion," they state on their website.

Among the nine speakers were Nesbit, a musician who became interested in flat-Earth beliefs in 2014; Dave Marsh, a manager with England's National Health Service; and Gary John, an independent flat-Earther who put on the convention.

Marsh was one of four speakers who are associated with the flat-Earth research group called FEcore. His research focuses on the moon, "as he believes it is the key to unlocking the globe earth deception," according to the convention website.

He studies the speed of the moon across the night sky. (Flat-Earthers believe the moon and sun orbit around Earth's North Pole.) "My research destroys big bang cosmology," he said, according to Physics-Astronomy.org. "It supports the idea that gravity doesn't exist and the only true force in nature is electromagnetism."

Another speaker, Martin Kenny, purports to have broader views of a flat Earth than other believers. "It is my innerstanding that there are other lands, dimensions and civilizations yet to be discovered across and within the plane of our Earth. The whole earth consists of 4 concentric rings of land, each ring having its own sun and moon, which would be our wandering stars," he says on the convention website.

Flat-Earthers like Kenny agree that the planet is a flat plane, though they have varied ideas for the disk's particular layout. Many seem to think the Earth is a disk surrounded by an ice wall and that those who show evidence to the contrary — including NASA, with its many satellite pics beamed down of our blue marble — are fakes. These conspiracy theorists believe NASA and others are trying to keep this secret from the public. [101 Images of a Round Earth Taken from Space]

As for how many people buy into this clearly mistaken belief, that is unknown. However, the oldest flat-Earth organization, the Flat Earth Society, claims to have 555 registered members as of August 2016. According to the society's website, the group was founded by an English inventor named Samuel Birley Rowbotham in the 1800s.

In addition to the Q&A's with the nine speakers at the three-day convention, there was apparently a talk entitled "Heliocentric v Geocentric experts Debate." The convention's site doesn't indicate who was debating these two views, one proved ages ago, and the other suggesting Earth is fixed in space with the universe revolving around it.

This isn't the first flat-Earth convening. In November 2017, the Flat Earth International Conference was held in Raleigh, North Carolina. That convention hosted some big-name (in flat-Earth circles, at least) speakers, such as founder of the Flat Earth Clues series on YouTube, Mark Sargent, who thinks we are all locked inside a "Truman Show"-like dome structure. The next FEIC is scheduled for Nov. 15 -16 in Denver.

We hope you don't fall off the planet before then


TOPICS: Astronomy; Humor; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: battlestarmoronica; flatearthliars; flatearthmorons; lol; mentalillness; nutjobbery
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To: Simon Green

What happens when we run out of quarters?


21 posted on 05/04/2018 5:14:27 PM PDT by SMGFan (Sarah Michelle Gellar is on twitter @SarahMGellar)
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To: Simon Green

And ever so slowly we creep on distended bellies toward the Dark Ages again.


22 posted on 05/04/2018 5:14:45 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Simon Green
OK....

So what's on the B side? Is Earth 78 rpm or 33 1/3 rpm?

Where is the center located?

23 posted on 05/04/2018 5:16:16 PM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: Covenantor

The center of the earth is located in my adopted home town of Toadsuck, Arkansas “Where Everyone Is Your Friend!”


24 posted on 05/04/2018 5:20:28 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Simon Green

This is silly. Just because the Earth is flat doesn’t mean there isn’t another side.


25 posted on 05/04/2018 5:20:46 PM PDT by bk1000 (I stand with Trump)
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To: Simon Green

Nesbit is wrong: the Pac-Man effect only works if you eat a Power Pellet first, otherwise you fall off the edge.


26 posted on 05/04/2018 5:23:03 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: blueunicorn6
Look under the earth and you’ll probably see 50 or 60 screwdrivers.

Flashlights, too.

Also a ton of pocket change.

27 posted on 05/04/2018 5:24:36 PM PDT by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
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To: al baby

By the time Ramona died (2006), he was already way over the hill IMO.

His golden years were the second half of the nineties. I know his son’s problems upset him, but it seemed to me that 9/11 embittered him even more, at least as it came through on the radio.

After 9/11, he no longer had that tongue-in-cheek twinkle in his eye which was so much a part of the charm of the show before.

Maybe it was just that 9/11 coincided with his son’s problems, and the change in Art was unrelated to 9/11 itself. But for a man whose show was based on conspiracy theories, it was striking that he would become upset at the mere mention of 9/11 conspiracy theories, in contrast to his generally open-minded attitude before.


28 posted on 05/04/2018 5:25:32 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: OddLane

Nice!


29 posted on 05/04/2018 5:27:23 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: MUDDOG
Whenever someone brings up Flat Earthers I automatically think of The Dark Tower and the guardians of the Beam.
30 posted on 05/04/2018 5:36:32 PM PDT by OddLane
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To: ConservativeMind

I tend to agree with you.


31 posted on 05/04/2018 5:36:40 PM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: Simon Green

I could much more readily accept what the Flat Earther’s claim, if they at least consult the experts, like Hank Johnson. Now, if Hank is aboard... then I am.


32 posted on 05/04/2018 5:40:32 PM PDT by C210N (Republicans sign check fronts; 'Rats sign check backs.)
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To: MUDDOG

I was a loyal listener love his show and your description is spot on he was never the same after the son thing Best middle of the night radio ever . I was in L.A. and would just tune to the left so the signal was a bit crappy to add to the expiernce enhanced the heebee geebeee s


33 posted on 05/04/2018 5:41:01 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: Simon Green

space is curved.


34 posted on 05/04/2018 5:42:35 PM PDT by the_daug
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To: Simon Green
...downward pull of gravity that could only result from living on a sphere.

I dunno.

My Junior High Science teacher had a hell of a time illustrating that to me, way back when.

He put ketchup on a ball that had been impaled on a small dremel type motor...turned it on...and tried to convince me that the resulting mess was a result of gravitational pull.

Then I asked him to illustrate centrifugal force and he sent me to the prinicpal's office.

I'm beginning to suspect something was not right.

35 posted on 05/04/2018 5:42:40 PM PDT by OldSmaj (The only thing washed on a filthy liberal is their damned brains.)
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To: Simon Green

This is a fake “movement”.

The MSM loves it.


36 posted on 05/04/2018 5:44:10 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: ConservativeMind

Yes.

Extra benefit is they use it to smear conservatives by analogy.


37 posted on 05/04/2018 5:45:56 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Pearls Before Swine

Kidding.

But if serious, on the perpetuating-the-lie-of-the-earth-ball side.


38 posted on 05/04/2018 5:50:57 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: al baby

I can see how that would add to the experience! Like a kid reading a scary book by flashlight under the covers.

And just as the covers would give a sense of security and safety, so too Art’s voice and manner. It was the listener and Art sitting by the fire in the cottage, listening to the scary ghosts and monsters outside.


39 posted on 05/04/2018 5:59:02 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: OddLane

I had to look that up. You must have a good imagination! That’s a very good thing to have.


40 posted on 05/04/2018 6:02:46 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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