2020-02-01_Fortean_Times

56 FT389

FORTEAN LIBRARY

BUILDING A

We’renot about to embarkona

comprehensive debunk ofOne Hundred

Proofs thatthe Earth is notaGlobe,partly

becausethatwould be tedious (and

overlong), and partlybecauseafairfew

of the 100 ‘proofs’ amount torepetitions

of others.Butwecan address those that

have struckusmostfromamongthe

throng of egregious eccentricities...

Carpenter starts with an introduction

mostlyconcerned, or consumed, with

exercisinggreat sarcasms against the

globalist arguments of astronomer

RichardAProctor (1837–88), who is

clearly hisbêtenoire.This ultimately

causes Carpenter tofall on hisface

even beforehe’slaunched into his 100

‘proofs’. “Why,” heexclaims, “if itwere

possible to showthe twoends ofafour-

mile stretchofwater to be onalevel,

with the center portion of thatwater

bulged up,the surface of the Earthwould

beaseries offour-mile curves!”This is

partly, um,circularreasoning, seeming

to takethe flat Earth asagiven,but

nutty nonetheless.Proctorwasusing

thefamiliar demonstration of the ship

‘sinking’ belowthe horizon asaproof

of Earth’sglobularity.The horizon, on a

plain likethe mighty Serengeti or in the

open sea, isabout three miles distant

to a6ft-[1.8m]tallhuman;addabit of

range if the observer’sonadeckofaboat

or top ofabus –12ft(3.7m)upand the

horizon is 4.7 miles (7.6km) distant. Now

float on angel’swings abovethe observer

and drawacircle of three milesradius

around him: it will have an area ofabout

NO 52.100 WAYS TO FALL FL AT ON YOUR FACE

c

THE HIEROPHANT’S APPRENTICE PRESENTS

c

28 squaremiles (73km^2 ). Nowthink of that

circle as the area litbyaspotlight ofgreat

power, heldaloftbymoreangels, or aliens,

or fairies, ifyou’dprefer. As the observer

moves, so does that pool of light, and the

visible horizonretreats accordingly. The

distant ship doesn’tgoupahillofwater

and down the other side, it continues on

onecurve,thatoftheglobe.Andifyou do

the arithmetic,you’ll discoverthat that 28

squaremiles isabout sevenmillionths of

the area of the Earth, withacurvatureso

gentle thatforthe purposes of map- and

chart-making it can berepresented as flat,

down to quite small scales beforebecoming

practicallymisleading.

Thepointabout the curve of the globe

being gentle enough to be treatedforall

practical purposes as flat at large scales and,

indeed, on theground, deals in short order

with Carpenter’sthird‘proof’:“Surveyors’

operations in the construction ofrailroads,

tunnels, or canals areconducted without

the slightest ‘allowances’ being madefor

‘curvature’,although it is taught that this

so-called allowance isabsolutelynecessary!

This isacutting proof that the Earth is not

aglobe.”Was the pun intended,wewonder.

That allowance is made automatically

through the employment of the humble

spirit leveland moreexaltedtheodolite and,

wehave noticed,lengths of string. If itwere

possible (oreven useful) to buildawallor

digatrenchofpreciselythe same height

or depth throughout, all alongasingle line

of Earth’slatitude,the spirit levelatany

pointwould showa‘flat’ surface. Actually

it’sbetter described aslevel.Arailroad

built withaflat or straight bedwouldsoon

find itself going off atatangent intospace

instead of to Chattanooga, Charing Cross, or

wherever.

Anice illustration of the difference came

from Dr Stirling Colgate (1925–2013), who

in 1954wasput incharge of the “fast”

diagnostics (neutrons and gammarays)for

the BravoH-bomb test, on Bikini Atoll. In a

memoir (www.nmt.edu/news/all-news/516-

2013/4971-meet-dr-stirling-colgate-iconic-

tech-president), it’srecalled that “Therewas

one particularly amusingpartofthis bomb

testexperimentinvolvingadozen two-

mile-longvacuum pipe lines necessaryto

accuratelyviewthe device fromfarenough

awaytosavetherecording equipment from

Just asit is thelotofexecutioners andevangeliststowalk amongsinners,soitis

thefate offorteans to mingle (if onlyonthe page) withthe slightlymad and,on

occasion,with thewhollydeluded.It isoursettled opinion,whateverCharles Fort

mayhavesaid on the subject–andwecan’t recall ifhe said anything–thatthe

Earthisanoblatespheroid,trundling around theSun in an ellipticalorbit. This was

first shownbyanancient Greekortwo,the 16th-centurycircumnavigatorMagellan,

andratherconclusively bysomewonderful photographstakenmorerecentlyfrom

spacebysundryastronauts. Ye tfromabout themid-19thcenturyontherehas been

afluctuatingbandofmildobsessiveswho insistthe Earthisflat,andproduce

theirown ideaofproofs that thisisso. Backinlate2 017 ,one MikeHughesfrom

California (whereelse) attemptedto fire asteam-powered[sic]rockethigh enough

abovetheMojaveDeserttodemonstrate thepoint [seeFT368:10]. Therocketfailed.

Likeotherflat-Earthers, Hughes seemsconvincedaconspiracy of Freemasons and

the Illuminati,aided andabettedbyNASA(andpresumably byChinese,European,

Indian,Israeli andother space agencies) iskeeping thetruth from theworld,

althoughexactly whyisnever quite clear. Onecan go downalargeand labyrinthine

rabbit hole in pursuing this stuff,sowethoughtwe’d bringyouthe conciseversion

of flat-Eartherism,firstpublishedbyitsauthorWilliamCarpenter in1885, and

updated in 2017toincludevariousweblinks tokeepyouabreastof current

thinking.This is contrarian thinking at its finest.[See alsoFT328:20-21.]