All maps have distortions of scale affecting distances and angles between places. If the Earth were flat, Earth’s surface features would scale down without distortion. In fact the only non-distorted representation of the Earth is a globe.
Flerfs will often say that nobody uses a globe to navigate with. What size are they talking about? Let’s be generous and say a 30 cm diameter globe. A bit bulky for a car or aircraft cockpit maybe, but let’s see how that would work.
What is a scientist? Just someone who thinks about stuff, then chooses to back up their thoughts with evidence and facts. Only difference between me and a scientist? I don’t feel the need. I’m not so insecure I need to back up what I say; I just say it. Naaah!
Flerfs have a hard time finding any sources that support their claims. This leads to ‘cherry picking’ sections of text from other sources; without fail they remove context and misrepresent the authors of these sources. See also Toon’s law of Flerf #1 .
One of the stranger cherry picks is this, from the University of Hawaii, used by “Mr Ghetto Daddy” on YouTube.
If you can locate the North Star, the angle between the height of the North Star when it reaches its zenith (highest point) in the sky and the horizon indicates your location in degrees latitude1. The North Star is a unique star for navigation in the northern hemisphere because it is located almost directly above the earth’s North Pole (SF Fig. 8.3). At the equator, an observer will see that the North Star is located almost exactly at the horizon. Thus, at the equator, the angle between the horizon and the North Star is zero degrees, indicating the observer is at zero degrees latitude.
Hard to know were Mr Ghetto Daddy is going with this. The reference to ‘hemisphere’ is ignored, and the reference to Fig 8.3 is removed from his quote. Here is that diagram. Note the rather large distance to Polaris. No wonder as to why he removed the reference.
SF Fig. 8.3. A diagram depicts the relationship between the North Star, Earth’s axis, and its orbit (diagram is not drawn to scale). The North Star is 434 light-years away from earth.
you think u can measure an angle from a curved baseline, youre maths skills must be so amazing u think 2 + 2 = 5.
The rationale behind the flerf chant that “the earth measures flat” is that altitude angles (also known as elevation angles) of celestial objects used in celestial navigation require a flat baseline. They claim that this flat baseline is the surface of the earth.
Inevitably, any evidence showing the earth’s curvature is dismissed and ignored because of this claim. However, anyone with a rudimentary understanding knows this is false:
