This entry is dedicated to illuminating some of the world issues I feel are completely redundant, yet for some inexplicable reason humans are still arguing about them. Mind you, this is also just my opinion...feel free to argue and prove me right!
1. The Earth is flat
According to the Flat Earthies, the world is shaped like a disk, with the North Pole at the centre and Antarctica at the edge. There is also a rim of 'something' to hold in the water. The continents are arranged around the North Pole (and very close to the pole if you look at some of the supposed pictures of the planet. Amazingly, Shenton does believe that the sun and the moon are spherical, but very small. He also denies the existence of gravity completely.
The website contains some very well-worded and convincing arguments about why classic circumnavigation is in fact a small concentric circle around the centre of the planet disk, and some very read-worthy conspiracy theories, focusing mainly on the "faked" space exploration expeditions.
My disbelief in the debate of this issue does not come from the fact that somebody has the ability to dismiss overwhelming scientific evidence, more from the notion that the society now has over 9,000 members worldwide. To believe that the Earth is flat requires one to believe that NASA (and all other space agencies) have fabricated each and every photograph of the Earth from space. It requires complete denial of long-haul international travel distances, gravity, the moon landing (and all associated footage) and the true route of circumnavigation voyages. Heaven forbid also that a person should look out of the window of a plane and see the natural curvature of the horizon...
Historic physicists can easily be forgiven for thinking that the Earth is the shape of a pancake, however it is my opinion that it is an obsolete debate.
2. It's for research!
Every summer, the Japanese ships venture into the Southern Ocean off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand to catch a quota of whales on behalf of the Institute of Cetacean Research. This has been permitted by the International Whaling Commission, (and I imagine many Japanese restaurant owners are also strong supporters) amid heavy criticism.
The reason I feel that this should be a non-debate is due to the fact that not one single peer-reviewed research paper has been published by the Institute, despite harpooning as many as 1000 whales in a season. The views of the majority seem to be that the operation is a barely-disguised commercial whaling venture, and year after year the Greenpeace vessels of Australia and New Zealand avidly protest against the presence of the whaling ships. I recall watching one such campaign on the news one evening. A crewman on one of the protest vessels held up a sign saying 'would you like some soy sauce on your research?!'
I am very much opposed to the so-called research whaling venture carried out by the Japanese, and I do not believe for one moment that there is any worthwhile scientific investigation taking place at the Institute. With the number of whales they have brutally killed, they should know everything there is to know about the species. The practise should be banned, leave our whales alone!
3. "I don't get hangovers"
You're obviously not drinking enough. Try a couple of bottles of cheap white wine on a hot day. Don't worry about dinner, it'll slow you down.
There are many more topics of debate on this wide wonky (and most likely spherical) Earth, they keep the discussion boards on news websites growing on a daily basis. Some are more complex, however there are a few I feel could be shovelled into the 'Already Done' pile to let people move onto real topics. Like: 'What makes a polar bear left-handed?'
Blue skies,
-E
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