War on Science

Here’s a wonderful video on the so-called “war on science,” featuring, among other things, the Flat Earth Society, which drew a record 650 participants to its fourth annual conference.

For grins, I caught a few minutes of the lectures on the Flat Earth on YouTube; yes, they honestly do believe that the Earth is shaped as shown here.

The ancient Greeks proved the Earth was shaped like a sphere, and estimated its circumference with amazing accuracy.  In the intervening 2400 years, with air travel, space flight, highly precise tools for gravity measurement, the exploration of the antarctic, and so forth, the points of proof now number into the hundreds or perhaps thousands.

Here’s one way to prove that this flat model here can’t be correct.  Since the flight time from Santiago, Chile to Los Angeles is 11:25, one would estimate that a trip from Santiago to Auckland, New Zealand might be 30 – 35 hours.  In actuality, it’s 12:20.

There is no standard way of teaching science in U.S. schools, which is disturbing, to put it mildly.  Note the scene early in the video in which a classroom full of junior high school kids is asked, “How many of you believe in the theory of evolution?” and not a single hand goes up.

If you’re wondering how it’s possible that Donald Trump, a pathological liar with no interest in science or truth whatsoever is the President of the United States, look no further.