Astounding scientific breakthrough, The sun orbits the earth.

[G7PSK]

 :-DDAnother dingbat in Saudi this time.



http://youtu.be/HLfwudUJqCk

He reckons the earth is static, the proof is a plane would not be able to fly to china if it rotated. 

[elgonzo]

:-DDAnother dingbat in Saudi this time.

Don't call a Saudi cleric a dingbat, or he might ask for your head... 

[XOIIO]

Oh god how the hell does this happen in this day and age* seriously.

Edit for stupid phone keyboard

[BlueBill]

Oh god how the hell does this happen in this day and she seriously.

Religion is not science.

[suicidaleggroll]

It kind of reminds me of a guy who called into the local radio station back when the MA Flight 370 stuff was going on last year.  He claimed he knew exactly what had happened to it, and couldn't believe nobody else had thought of it.  You could tell from the sound of his voice that he was being sincere.

He was convinced that what happened was the plane lost cabin pressure and everybody on board passed out.  Then, the plane flew right out into space because the pilots weren't awake to steer down.  He was under the impression that because the Earth was round, if the pilots didn't actively steer the plane down while flying, it would just go straight off into space.

[Phaedrus]

Scientific illiteracy is alive and well in the western world. A couple weeks ago I was at Griffith Observatory, and heard one lady comment, "Wow, I never knew the sun was so big! I thought it was the same size as the earth!"

If that can happen in the US, is it really surprising to find nuts like this in a medieval Sharia oil kingdom?

[f5r5e5d]

so I don't have to worry about future Iranian ballistic missiles actually hitting me? since I live on the east coast

or does the Suni/Shia divide come into the calculation?

[SeanB]

As my friend once said to me, you send the stupid ones out to do your dirty work, they believe the bull fed to them.  You do not have to do anything but pander to their wrong beliefs. fire them up and aim them, then act all sad at the funeral.

Same places, similar times, different sides. We met afterwards. He was just happy that he survived the dirty tricks guys, they came close a few times, but he survived.

[dexters_lab]

the vid seems to be trending at the moment, it flashed across my facebook today as well

it really seems sometimes like we are going back in time, regressing to a darker period in human history, its shocking considering how much easier it is to find information 

[dannyf]

Religion is not science.

sure. But there is no shortage of "men of science" who treat science like a religion.

[free_electron]

Heretic. Onto the pyre with thee !

[c4757p]

Religion is not science.

sure. But there is no shortage of "men of science" who treat science like a religion.

Tell me, oh Repetitive One, which particular "men of science" you're trying to get us to talk about.

[cyr]

the vid seems to be trending at the moment, it flashed across my facebook today as well

it really seems sometimes like we are going back in time, regressing to a darker period in human history, its shocking considering how much easier it is to find information 

That may be part of the problem, it's also very easy to find misinformation presented in various slick and convincing (to many) ways.

[dexters_lab]

the vid seems to be trending at the moment, it flashed across my facebook today as well

it really seems sometimes like we are going back in time, regressing to a darker period in human history, its shocking considering how much easier it is to find information 

That may be part of the problem, it's also very easy to find misinformation presented in various slick and convincing (to many) ways.

very true!

[ivan747]

Can somebody please close this!  Jeez, not again  Please

[SL4P]

THIS GUY IS RIGHT.
If you get on an plane at Sharjah Airport - you have no idea where you're going to land.
He's just confusing aerodynamics, the earth's rotation and physics with his one-eyed view of the world.

[electr_peter]

Bah, that guy is only teaching basic stuff. See more advanced world view here:

[SL4P]

A sad, sad man.

p.s. The Earth is NOT round. It's an oblate spheroid

[elgonzo]

A sad, sad man.

p.s. The Earth is NOT round. It's an oblate spheroid

But, but, an oblate spheroid is round... 

[SL4P]

A sad, sad man.
p.s. The Earth is NOT round. It's an oblate spheroid

But, but, an oblate spheroid is round... 

Kinda-sorta...   rounded, but hard to differentiate.
Not a circle.  Not a sphere.

[German_EE]

Please bear with me here, I can see where the Saudi cleric got his idea from, he is however lacking some essential facts 

The Earth is about 24.000 miles in circumference at the equator and it rotates once in a 24 hour period (figures rounded off to make the math easier). The Earth therefore rotates at about 1.000 Miles per Hour at the equator and no passenger aircraft can fly at this speed.

Unfortunately the good cleric has forgotten that everything including the atmosphere and the plane are rotating at the same speed at the moment of takeoff and thus the journey is made somewhat easier. Out of curiosity I consulted the Lufthansa website and there is a seventy minute difference in the flight times between Los Angeles and Frankfurt for the E-W flight and the W-E. This could be accounted for by the spin of the Earth but it is more likely due to wind direction.

I'm tempted to send the cleric the link to the Timecube site but that would be unkind. For those who have not heard of the site here is a sample http://www.timecube.com/timecubeflierimg.gif

[dannyf]

there is a seventy minute difference in the flight times between Los Angeles and Frankfurt for the E-W flight and the W-E. This could be accounted for by the spin of the Earth but it is more likely due to wind direction.

If the earth's rotation is carrying the atmosphere with it, you would expect that the wind would blow in all directions (relative to earth) equally, and you would not observe a consistent difference in flight time from E-W vs. W-E, or N-S vs. S-N.

So how would you explain the seventy minute difference in flight time?

[elgonzo]

If the earth's rotation is carrying the atmosphere with it, you would expect that the wind would blow in all directions (relative to earth) equally, and you would not observe a consistent difference in flight time from E-W vs. W-E, or N-S vs. S-N.

So how would you explain the seventy minute difference in flight time?

Wind direction(s). In typical altitudes for commercial A/C the dominant air current is the jet stream...
Commerical A/C are designed with a certain cruise speed (relative to the surrounding air) in mind where good fuel economy can be achieved.
Even if the A/C flies against the direction of the jet stream, it will maintain roughly the same airspeed due to fuel costs and/or inability to fly faster (engine thrust, airfoil aerodynamics, etc...). Hence the difference in time when flying with the jet stream vs. flying against or not within it...

[cimmo]

If the earth's rotation is carrying the atmosphere with it, you would expect that the wind would blow in all directions (relative to earth) equally, and you would not observe a consistent difference in flight time from E-W vs. W-E, or N-S vs. S-N.

So how would you explain the seventy minute difference in flight time?

There are well known wind patterns due to pressure differences caused by variations in solar heating at different latitudes, coupled with the coriolis force due to Earth's rotation. These result in the prevailing winds  at typical airliner cruise altitudes being westerlies (see final image). On average, somewhere around 50-100 knots, but jetstreams can reach several hundred knots.

http://www.pilotfriend.com/av_weather/meteo/prv_wnd.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11337617/Jet-stream-blasts-BA-plane-across-Atlantic-in-record-time.html

[dannyf]

There are well known wind patterns due to pressure differences caused by variations in solar heating at different latitudes, coupled with the coriolis force due to Earth's rotation.

bingo!

the earth is far more complicated than a feature-less rock floating in space.