Everyone should have one, and Neil deGrasse Tyson will never finish a meal ever again.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Everyone should have one, and Neil deGrasse Tyson will never finish a meal ever again.
Actually, I think I’ve seen his photographic proof! On the wall of my office… a picture of the earth… and it’s FLAT!! Holy shit. How did I never notice that?!
So how many people, exactly, are listening to this rapper’s music now who never even heard of him yesterday? And we’re supposed to belive this guy is unintelligent why, exactly?
“Congratulations, you have just achieved a new high score in the “US media” game while playing in the “easy” mode (its only setting).”
I’m glad I never tried to listen to BoB’s full rap. The short clip Wilmore played was painful to hear.
I actually encountered a “flat earther” once. I asked why the shadow earth casts on the moon is round and he said “The moon is tidally locked” wait whaaatt? They don’t make flat earthers like they used to. Nowadays they have weapons-grade denial.
The moon is tidally locked… so round earth shadow?
Erm.
Right.
I am having difficulty processing this concept.
I always thought that watching boats sail away from you is proof the earth isn’t flat. Unlike land, which could have hills on it, the surface of large bodies of water should be smooth, so why do boats slowly disappear from the bottom up rather than just get smaller? I’m sure the flat-earthers have an answer for that which makes sense to them but to no one else.
@1
*X-Files theme*
@redwood
I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but… uh… those boats? They all sank. All of them.
I mean, you’ve never noticed a boat you were standing on disappearing from the bottom up, did you? No? Exactly!
Ships coming into port from over the horizon, you say?
Ghost ships. Ghost ships, all the way down.
They surely do: “the ship will appear to intersect with the vanishing point and become lost to human perception as the hull’s increasingly shallow path creates a tangent on which the hull is so close to the surface of the ocean that the two are indistinguishable.”
My favorite problem for which I have yet to see them seriously attempt to explain is how, on a disc that is supposedly centered upon the North Pole (the favored solution) an 11 hour flight from New Zealand to Chile is possible. One brave flat-earther stuck his neck out to claim that while the service is advertised, it’s impossible to book on it. Well, we shall see, since my niece is scheduled to take that flight in the near future.
Meanwhile, apparently there are some Catholics staking a claim on some of the anti-science craziness:
http://galileowaswrong.com/
Not quite as crazy as flat-earthers, but they do claim that the entire Universe is rotating around the Earth, so not far off…
Awesome video! Larry Wilmore and Neil deGrasse Tyson are so very funny. I hope they do some more shows together.
I wonder how flat-earthers explain differences in the angle from the horizon of a celestial object viewed from different latitudes. So, if you live in Toronto, measure the angle made by Polaris, then call a friend in Miami and ask them to do the same.
Anyway, let’s hope Wilmore doesn’t push the panic button for a problem involving light scattering in fog, because Tyson really doesn’t understand that.
Atmospheric refraction. Which I’ve also seen as an explanation for how ships disappear.
So it’s optical illusions all the way down.
Incidentally, there’s an experiment where someone (I think it was an engineer) tried to measure this curvature-or-not thing in an English canal and all sorts of stuff went wrong so as to get the “right” result. Isn’t there some law about engineers and science?
khms
Samuel Birley Rowbotham, c. 1838
Alfred Russel Wallace, c. 1870.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Level_experiment
You know what’s going to happen. 6 months down the line B.O.B. is going to announce that he was being “ironic”. We can’t let that happen, we must hold him to his words.
Rob Grigjanis #12
Yeah. Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t grok fog at all.
@11
The stars aren’t very far away. thousands of miles at the most.
chigau @16: Hey, I read that collection about forty years ago! “Inconstant Moon” made the biggest impression on me.
Rob Grigjanis #18
re: Inconstant Moon
To this day, if I am without refrigeration, I cook the meat.
Rob @11
Being Australian, I have always marvelled at Southern Hemisphere flat earthers. The Earth being flat, but all those star charts from the Northern Hemisphere show different stuff from what’s in our night skies. Where, exactly, has the Pole Star got to?
Indeed, the Flat Earth model would be pretty insulting to the intelligence of anyone living South of the equator. It’s a good thing nobody is.
Everyone always gets stuck picking at the minute differences on the ground in the Northern Hemisphere, but there are much bigger problems. Distances between Southern land masses won’t let the ocean be big enough to fit around the Northern Disc. Even more obvious would be the horrifically mangled Southern sky: How do the stars make up for the extra surface area? Are there three times as many of them, or are they a third as dense? Why do all the stars circle a single point that’s directly Southward no matter which longitude you’re on? On a globe those sight lines converge, but on a disc…
Tyson came up with a diss track response to B.o.B., by the way, although it’s his nephew who raps it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-VDrD1CBXU
And here’s the lyrics, if anyone wants:
[Intro]
Flat Earth is a problem only when people in charge think that way
No law stops you from regressively basking in it
[Verse 1]
He learned the game from Carl Sagan, you can never check him
You say the Earth is flat and then you try to disrespect him?
I’m bringing facts to combat a silly theory
Because B.o.B has gotta know the planet is a sphere, G
Woah… very important that I clear this up
You say that Neil’s vest is what he needs to loosen up?
And he’s a Mason ’cause the brother’s getting paid?
When the ignorance you’re spitting helps to keep people enslaved??
I mean mentally…
You gon’ make me go insane
I’ve already stepped out of the fast lane
You the Donkey of the Day, I ain’t waiting for Charlemagne
And all them strange clouds must be messing with your brain
I ain’t waiting four days B.o.B I’m right here
I’ve got science in my corner and there’s nothing to fear
I’m not sure what it was that really made you think
That you can disrespect a Tyson and your ship won’t sink?
I mean, woah….
Can’t fool the people B.o.B they know what’s up
I’m in the Hayden Planetarium getting shoulder rubs…
I think it’s very clear that Bobby didn’t read enough
And he’s believing all this conspiracy theory stuff
Are these all of your thoughts, or is this the loud talking?
I’m a high flyer but you must be cloud walking
And I know Bobby Ray’s a great musician
With intelligence to say some better shit than what he’s written
Yeah… guitar strings turn to Twitter things
Yeah… you getting bodied by a young king
I’m far from famous but I got an education
And I’m putting it to use to make a better nation!
I’m making sure you get it when it’s said and done
Because the track is just a one-of-one
I could make another one and then another one
The DJ Khaled of teaching Bobby about the sun
Bobby Ray is thinking that flat is fact
Yeah, that flat is fact
Bobby Ray is thinking that flat is fact
But we’ll go from flat to fact
[Verse 2]
I don’t wanna hear about this ever again
Not even when this ends and we’re better as friends
Not even when they’re saying “TYSON, tell ’em again
And we’ll put you on a show to make a sell out event”
Whoa… what about the change of seasons?
The planet spins around the sun, do you need more reasons?
It’s very clear that you’re rapping for fame
While I represent the culture and the spirit we claim
I mean, please… check him for a wire or an earpiece
Please… is Donald Trump that’s feeding you all of these?
Stupid bits of information keeps you on your knees
I know that we got freedom of speech, but Bobby please…
Somebody stop this…
Or call the Drop Squad, because they got this.
And maybe they can pick up Stacy Dash too
So if you’re ignorant here’s what they gon’ ask
They gon’ ask if you can play this track back-to-back
Yeah, it’s going back-to-back
I had to help Bobby go from flat to fact
Took a break from my debut and now it’s back to that
[Outro]
Duude – – to be clear
Being five centuries regressed in your reasoning
Doesn’t mean we all still can’t like your music