Comments on: The World is Flat (No, Really)

By: Siamang

Siamang — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:15:54 +0000

Yeah… whatever you say, nutjob.

By: NYCatheist

NYCatheist — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:27:17 +0000

I don’t think the Bible says the Earth is a sphere. See:
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2001/PSCF9-01Schneider.html

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:15:09 +0000

Some of you pretentious, arrogant people need to get your facts straight. If an idiot out there thinks the world is flat, it has nothing to do with religion or the Bible. The Bible specifically states that the world is a sphere and it said so way before you and all of your precious scientist heroes jumped on the sphere bandwagon. So before you go talking about things that you don’t know and judging people who believe in God and calling them “nutjobs,” how about you practice a little bit of your own scientific method and get your facts straight first, unless you’re content to go making comments that make you look just as stupid as the people you’re making fun of. Sure, there are religious idiots out there. But there are plenty of atheist idiots out there too, as is evidenced by comments made within this topic, such as: “Either that, or she just believes anything her Bible tells her.” Riiiight. Hey, maybe you should try reading it before you go assuming that someone’s moronic beliefs originated out of it. Just because someone tells you something came out of the Bible doesn’t mean it’s true. But hey, let’s not let the facts color our opinions when sarcasm and snide remarks flow so much more easily from our fingertips without them.

By: Friendly Atheist » 2008 » February » 24

Friendly Atheist » 2008 » February » 24 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:05:19 +0000

[...] be a regular on Good Morning America, not a surprising move from the same network that brought us Sherri Shepherd of The View… but hopefully, Renfroe’s humor will be more intentional. Technorati Tags: [...]

By: Friendly Atheist » Nothing Comes Before Christ… Obviously

Friendly Atheist » Nothing Comes Before Christ… Obviously — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:02:16 +0000

[...] telling her audience that she wasn’t sure if the world is flat and that she did not accept evolution, she is now saying that nothing in history predated [...]

By: Polly

Polly — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:17:04 +0000

@Richard Wade,

Thanks for your response. I didn’t know that about the EM radiation from the sun’s poles.
I thought of the Oort cloud, but honestly I didn’t know where in relation to Earh’s orbit it is or how far away or what there might be to study.

Yup, it does help to ask. Your point is well taken.

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:10:14 +0000

Polly, they’re not stupid questions at all, and you’re correct that most of what we see north or south of the solar system are too far away to reach physically. That’s what I was saying, that there are not very many objects within our solar system that are north or south of the main plane, so we don’t have much interest in overcoming the physical difficulties of putting spacecraft out there.

But there are some solar system objects and some phenomena that are in those regions. Many comets come from the Oort cloud, which is a spherical cloud of billions of icy rocks beyond the orbits of the planets. The cloud is all around the solar system in all directions so comets from there can come from any direction. Also the north and south poles of the sun emit interesting electromagnetic radiation that is different from what the Earth receives. To study that we have to send a probe all the way to Jupiter to use it’s tremendous gravity to “make a sharp left turn” and go into an orbit perpendicular to the Solar System plane. Then the probe can pass over the north and south poles of the sun.

A question is not stupid simply because it reveals that the asker doesn’t understand something. The only stupid thing would be to not ask for fear of embarrassment and remain ignorant. I’m always asking experts in different fields questions that they would find elementary. Instead of saying “I have a stupid question for you,” I say “I have a very basic question for you.” I’ve never had one sneer down at me and chide me for my ignorance. Usually they’re delighted that a lay person is interested in their field.

By: PrimateIR

PrimateIR — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:39:43 +0000

Paul said

You go on and on about how ignorant believers are and how biased they are –that they just jump to conclusions and right here, right now, you show you ARE what you accuse others to be

Wait Paul, but now aren’t you doing the accusing?

By: Polly

Polly — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:53:27 +0000

@Richard Wade,

by “below” she might have meant “south” of the Earth away from the relatively flat disk of the Solar System where most of the nearby and interesting objects are.

May I pick your brain? Aren’t the objects “below” or “above” light years away? At the speeds of our mechanical explorers it seems like it would take far too long to realize any benefit from sending probes out in those directions. I imagine the asteroid belt(s) as also (more or less) along the plane of the ecliptic. So, even the minor planets aren’t out that way.
Am I missing something?

These may be stupid questions to an astronomer; I’m aware of the irony.

By: monkeymind

monkeymind — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:42:33 +0000

Batyah (daughter of God?) I third the request for you to stick around.