this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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Astronomy

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On Dec. 30, 1930, the first-ever photo of the Earth's curvature was taken by Lieutenant Colonel Albert William Stevens, who was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps and an aerial photographer.

This photo is one Williams took over South Dakota in 1936 during a record-breaking balloon flight, which also shows Earth's curvature.

(Image credit: National Geographic/Albert William Stevens 1930)

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[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

here we are, in the the astronomy community, that should attract rather smarter people, but most of you are as lazy as average flat-earher and did not bother to even click the link before following in steps of the first downvoter. if that person jumped off the cliff, i am afraid most of you would follow, because it is easier than to use your own brain.

i made myself sad on new year.

(for the extra lazy ones who don't have time to listen to the lyrics of his social commentary, he put that blackboard there with kepler's 3rd law to give you hint he might not actually believe the earth is flat. but that would require using at least 10 of your brain cells. good luck next time when you complain about stupidity of the "other side".

columbus saw the ocean
he sailed far and wide
just to get a cup of spices
from the other side
he knew he would die for sure
if he should reach the edge
but that's okay cause long before
he'd starve to death instead

the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat

earth's an oblate spheroid
revolving around the sun
spinning on its axis
which is tilted just for fun
that explains the seasons there
and the changing length of day
but here's an inconvinient truth
you can't explain that way

the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat

trump won re-election
he won it by a mile
only to protect us
from the socialist pedophiles
but biden wants the mail and ballots
counted and at what cost
he is so out of touch
he can't admit when he has lost

the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat

endless interventions
never-ending war
all to please the oligarchs
and economic horse
but lower taxes on the rich
and do it really quick
my ship is coming in soon
and i don't want to pay for it

the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat
the world is flat

[–] Soupbreaker@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just in the interest of cheering you up a bit, I'd like to point out that many people simply refuse to click on YouTube links. Personally, I have no desire to engage with video content, especially when it's shared with little to no context. It's not out of laziness, but more out of a conviction that far too many people have outsourced their thinking to random vloggers, and believe that posting a link to their favorite video essay lends credibility to their argument.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago

believe that posting a link to their favorite video essay lends credibility to their argument.

unfortunately that is definitely a trend. but then you also have the person who grabs one rhyme out of context and comments it aged like a milk, meaning they did open the video, listened to it and absolutely did not understood.

i am also not going to watch every 60 minutes long video someone posts me in a discussion, but if i am invested in the discussion so much i care about answering or voting on something, i at least try to understand the concept of the video and what it is trying to say.

the headline in this case did not help, but i rarely see such an example of crowd behaviour concentrated in such short time as was the case with this link.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

People aren't lazy, we just all live in a social media landscape where, when someone posts a link with an intentionally provocative title, it's rarely worth the effort to engage with it enough to find out if they're being sarcastic or sincere.

Sometimes this means that well-meaning people get downvoted. Oh well. Learn to read the room.

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

I'm pretty sure the inclusion of any equation should've been a dead giveaway.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

and from the native speakers, i'd like an opinion - is he singing oblate spheroid at the beginning of 3rd paragraph? or is he singing old blade, which is what i hear, and is it some strange poetic phrase?

[–] tate@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] tate@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thank you more! I can hardly believe you went all that trouble to transcribe my stupid song.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

i liked the song 🤷‍♂️