#WHICH CANNOT BE DEVELOPED INTO LESS THAN APPROXIMATELY 100 THREADS

[ryuukia]

[Translation] Tsukihana Kagura - Stage Play Plot

Ryota and I have been talking about it both here and on twitter, so you already know we were working (or more like cracking our brains) on this.

Let me say this first, the entire team (Ryota and Chrome) agreed this is more Chinese than Japanese and you can’t change our minds ヽ(＿　＿ヽ) // the kanji, the horror. Kudos to those two for suffering with me (aka assisting me and helping out with the proofreading).

If you like my work, consider donating or commissioning me, I use all the money I receive to get (rare?) items like this and translate them. The link is at the bottom of the post~ 

Please don’t repost/reuse/retranslate my work. Likes and reblogs are appreciated.

Paying no mind to the sounds of this fleeting world, the King of Flowers threads the dance of Tsukihana Kagura.

A [song]. Yet not a [song].

A [dance]. Yet not a [dance].

Even without the honors from the so-called [King of Flowers], a celebration where the [flowers] dance, the “Tsukihana Festival”, shall begin!

―—— Not here, somewhere apart from this world.

There lie twelve island countries, floating above the ocean in a flower-like shape. Once every few years, in each of these countries, those who live in grace and are referred to as [flowers], shall compete not with their swords, but with their beauty.

World View

■ The World

This world consists of 13 countries floating above the ocean.

Lying in the centre of the world is a large island called “Mushiki”. Islands of about the same size surround Mushiki radially, as if they were a flower blooming over a large desert. The appearance likewise makes the residents refer to themselves and these countries as “flowers”.

■ The History of the World

① Prehistoric Era

There was a time when the 13 islands were joined by land, forming one continent.

In the centre of the continent rested a massive volcano named Kataku, which converged the entire volcanic activity from the area and actively erupted on countless occasions.

As a result, the ground around the base of the volcano is thought to have expanded, eventually becoming large enough to be called a continent.

This vast land expanded radially along the mountain range until it divided together with some neighbouring areas and developed their own individual ecosystems.

Somewhere in the northern part of the continent, humanity ended up planting its roots.

Following their migration towards the south, their area of activity broadened and it seemed soon the entire continent became inhabited.

② Antiquity (First Half)

❶ [The First Blooming]  - Before and After (approximately 600 000~10 000 years ago)

The large-scale seismic shift which occurred due to a tectonic plate rift and also caused the radial fragmentation of the continent, then provoked a massive eruption from the Kataku Volcano. This was later named ‘The First Blooming’. 

The tremendous force of the eruption gave birth to an enormous caldera in the centre of the continent (later becoming the inland sea). Subsequently, the plate rifts and the caldera led to the separation of the continent into different areas.

Scattered in various regions and unable to come in contact with each other, mankind gave up on further exchanges from that point on and all areas followed their own evolution and development.

❷ Kurobana Period (approximately 10 000~4000 years ago)

The period of time when the Kataku Volcano and its volcanic chain became dormant.

As the climate and the environment regained their stability, humanity once again started to practice exchanges between regions. When mankind proceeded to share the knowledge and techniques they developed in separation, their cultural level instantly improved.

The construction of large cities brought along a drastic increase in population numbers, and soon countries were born in every zone. 

‘Shikkoku’ and ‘Geppaku’, the oldest existing countries, are said to have been born around this time.

❸ Shirohana Period (approximately 4000~1300 years ago)

Around this time, almost the entire continent had a cultural living secured. Moreover, disciplines like academics and arts were flourishing.

The exchanges between the nations became more and more popular, but at the same time, attracted conflicts and clashes due to differences in values and ideologies.

❹ Akahana Period (approximately 1300~1000 years ago)

Starting with the small conflicts between fellow small countries and continuing with the head-on collisions of the major nations, this time period brought on the first large-scale war in history.

In a world where a diverse set of values and ideologies exist, fires that have started cannot be quenched easily. Furthermore, advancements in technology and the invention of gunpowder and explosives supported those ideologies. Under the principles of each island’s doctrine, they were to send out one great candidate to determine who will be the Great Ruler of all nations in order to unify the continent. The remaining islands would stand together with the champion of the world.

As war or disputes would always occur somewhere, the public order domain had suffered the most throughout the world.

A lot of blood was shed even outside the battlefield.

From that point on, the entire continent was thrown into chaos for around 300 years, a period known as the dark age.

❺ [The Second Blooming] - Before and After (approximately 1000 years ago)

The chaos installed by the dark age came forcefully to an end as another seismic shift hit the continent and the Kataku Volcano released another violent eruption (known as ‘The Second Blooming’). 

The valley created around the volcano by the rift expanded even further and was flooded by seawater, separating the 13 islands completely.

③ Antiquity (Second Half)

❶ [The Second Blooming] - Before and After (approximately 1000 years ago)

The unexpected calamity that divided the 13 islands completely should have eliminated all life, including humanity.

However, even though humans resorted to quite a substantial number of sacrifices, they tried to make it through the crisis with their own power, too.

Countries that foresaw the large-scale eruption tried to minimize casualties and joined hands.

Anticipating what could happen in the future, people made physical walls using special techniques, analysed scientific data, geology, etc…...

The countries that opted to join forces and brought pieces of their own wisdom managed to survive The Second Blooming, becoming the twelve countries that exist in the present.

❷ Tsukihana Period (approximately 1000 years ago~present)

Because of the previous calamities, much knowledge and craft skills were lost. Humanity’s history continued. However, compared to the Second Blooming, the loss of civilization development was significantly less. (It has been said that roughly 1000 years of cultural advancement had been undone.)

In relation to this, engineering and techniques that were often used by the military were strictly governed by the National Institution in order to avoid a repeat of the Akahana Period’s tragedy. It seemed as though they purposely abdicated themselves as well. ※ Studies call these techniques and knowledge that were lost and could not be reproduced again as Pre-Blooming Techniques or “Budding Techniques”.

The 12 nations wrote the following joint declaration:

① War must be abandoned once and for all in order to ensure permanent peace. ② The path to mutual understanding, mutual support, and mutual growth shall be paved through dialogue and not through military power.

“The bloodshed is over. We narrow our eyes as we look to the sun, and when the moon glimmers above our heads in this very sky, we shall bloom into dignified flowers.” (The final paragraph of the joint declaration)

Four years have passed since this declaration was signed.

The first Tsukihana Festival is about to start.

■ The Current Circumstances of the World

■ A World of Harmony ■

In the next 100 years following The Second Blooming, the twelve nations’ miraculous efforts to protect the joint declaration managed to keep any dispute or confrontation on a low scale.

All the countries dropped their weapons in favour of a peaceful world.

■ The Council of the Twelve Nations ■

① As border crossing was still a major problem, the nations have decided to resolve rising conflicts by means of thorough discussions and assembled the highest ranking decision-making body known as the “The Council of the Twelve Nations”. 

② The Council of the Twelve Nations is hosted by an appointed country for only four years, and it cannot be elected successively. If a country doesn’t become a host for more than 20 years, the following year it is automatically appointed.

③ The hosting nation’s leader will be dispatched to the official residence for hosts located in Mushiki. In order to avoid any emergencies, the commander of the Allied Forces is also dispatched together with them.

④ The nations have adopted a “rule by majority” policy and should there be a case where the votes are tied 6 to 6, the Council will adapt the plan suggested by the host country.

■ Deciding the Host Country for the Tsukihana Festival ■

The Chairman of the Twelve Nations Council is one who holds tremendous political power. In order to avoid military conflict, the Chairman is elected through the Tsukihana Festival wherein the nations battle in the fine arts of kagura.

This originates from the legend about a person who danced the Kagura and calmed the volcano during the Second Blooming.

Although the idea of fighting with “beauty” instead of “strength” has a strong political connotation for the common people, it also offers a strong sense of recreation for them. It is evidence of how peaceful the world actually is.

Each Country’s Circumstances

Shikkoku

● Among the twelve nations, this country has the longest history and the strongest military force.

● Even though the Allied Forces of the Twelve Nations Council is under their direct control, they take a defensive stance.

● Warriors originating from Shikkoku are known for journeying throughout the world and doing good deeds, which earned them a high respect.

● National Trait ●

Daring and resolute / Imperturbable

Momo

● Once focusing on the development of dyeing and making fabrics for clothes, this country has as many family crafting skills as it has craftsmen.

● They also have a wholesale district dedicated solely to preparing garments or props for the Kagura. During the time of the Tsukihana Festival, it’s crowded with people.

● Their specialty is ‘tsukimi udon’

● Local Colour ●

Repayment for indebtedness / Gentle and sincere

Akane

● A country prominent not only for their large number of mining sites, but also for their industrial skills.

● They invented gunpowder and explosives. This knowledge is kept under strict control, and thus only state agencies are allowed to learn about it.

● One of their specialties is the Akane Festival, a festival where they dance for 3 days and 3 nights continuously.

● Local Colour ●

Sticking to their original intentions / Intense passion

Kikyo

● This mysterious yet profound country is well versed in foreseeing the future and reading the stars.

● They only choose to settle when they find the place they want to reside in for life. They are people who hold a peculiar sense of values. Many of its residents choose to travel.

● Their territory is surrounded by fog.

● One of their special products is the ‘Shingon Rice Cake’.

● Local Colour ●

Wayfaring people who go on pilgrimages / Belief in destiny

Asahanada

● This country has a deep connection to water. They are a religious nation and believe the dragon god to be a symbol of nature. Many of them are gentle spirits.

● They are among the leaders in the rice production field, which is considered a staple food in this world.

● Their specialty is ‘kudukiri’. You don’t even feel it going down your throat.

● Local Colour ●

Clean and serene like still water / Unrelenting

Tsuyukusa

● This nation is well versed in astronomy and geology. They possess an enormous national library filled with data they collected in the past.

● They have many hot springs, which attract a large number of people.

● Their specialty is ‘Napoli-san’, tomato-flavored noodles.

● National Trait ●

Mature consideration / Healthy food for healthy bodies

Geppaku

● Out of all twelve nations, this mysterious country has a history as long as Shikkoku’s.

● Their strange skills can cause miracles and seem to be passed down within each household.

● Each of them has a peculiar view on life and religion, being required to find and serve their own god.

● National Trait ●

Enjoying life to the fullest / Peaceful life without worry

Kikuchinashi

● This country has the biggest theatre in the world and a national school dedicated to the study of plays.

● Because many of them also work as carpenters and architects, they can easily make a living by working for the Tsukihana Festival’s stage.

● Their specialty is a ‘musical play’ that brings together dancing, singing, and drama.

● National Trait ●

Unyielding diligence in studies / Undying patience

Seiran

● An academic city that has many schools specializing in various fields. People gather here to seek knowledge.

● Their national school has sub-branches in all 12 countries. It is also said that Seiran is the best place where one could learn about the twelve nations.

● They are experts in making a large variety of ‘bentos’.

● Local Colour ●

There’s a blue sky right behind the clouds / Sincerity that could move heaven

Botan 

● This country has an entire district dedicated to entertainment, managing to gather all types of people. Any type of amusement can be provided.

● The real attractions for sight-seeing are after dark. There are vigilante corps around to keep people safe.

● Their specialty is the ‘adzuki bean mochi’.

● Local Colour ●

Unfettered and flexible / Trusting to chance

Asagi

● This country is a major agricultural power, strangely possessing the most fertile soils in all the world.

● It is said that the current kagura was inspired by the dance they perform here to celebrate the harvest.

● Local Colour ●

Everything is bound to change・Being thankful for every single uttered word

Mokuran

● A mysterious country covered by desert. They possess a certain “skill” that is a trade secret.

● The capital city is the world’s largest gambling house and is a source of income that enriches the national treasury.

● Their specialties are “suna tamago” which are made by boiling eggs in hot sand.

● Local Colour ●

Consulting the past to learn about the future / Independent spirits who stand on their own

Tsukihana Festival

■ About the Tsukihana Festival ① The Significance Behind the Tsukihana Festival 

As mentioned before, despite the political implications behind the selection of the country that will host the Tsukihana Festival, it is generally a major recreational event that surpasses even the national framework. (Reference: ‘Deciding the Host Country for the Tsukihana Festival’ from ‘World View’, page 8)

After the hosting country is decided, the chairman (king) of the twelve nations (flowers) is named ‘King of Flowers’.

② Summary

A brief summary of the Tsukihana Festival is presented below.

■ It is held on a special site located in the centre of the world, on the Mushiki Island every four years.

■ In addition to the "Hana Awase" that determines the greatest "King of Flowers", there will also be a collection of (see below): theater programs, amusements, performances, and exhibits from each nation. People from all across the continent come, items are gathered, and money is collected.

A part of the profit earned from the festival goes to the Council of the Twelve Nations.

■ The festival and the Hana Awase gets broadcast in real-time using combined technologies from Mokuran and Geppaku.

■ Hana Awase 

The representatives for each country will dance a kagura performance that incorporates their nation’s techniques, music, and expressions. They compete against each other with these concepts of “beauty.”

The dancers who participate as the representatives for their nations (flowers), are hence called “Flower Dancers”. This was born under the concept of: “Kagura dancers are not people but are flowers when they dance.” As such, the dancers refer to themselves with a “flower name” for the performance.

Because the nation’s dignity is at stake, it has since been a great honor for someone to be chosen as a “Flower Dancer.”

❶ The Process of Selecting Flower Dancers

Since each nation is essentially able to decide freely, the standards and methods for choosing vary from one nation to the other.  

In general, public announcements are made and the participants are decided through domestic screening. In addition, there are nations where a certain family carries the tradition generationally, nations who determine dancers via fortune-telling, nations that choose from the vocational schools that train dancers, and so on.

❷ Requirements for Becoming a Flower Dancer

Some nations have a very detailed list of requirements, but the most common ones for the Twelve Nations are:

More than three generations of their family must have been a part of the country.

They should be physically and mentally healthy.

Once the Dancer has become the King of Flowers, it is impossible for them to be re-elected.

There are very simple rules that should be followed regardless of age or gender.

Essentially, as long as they haven’t become the King of Flowers yet, they can be participants for as many times as they want (though, they may be restricted accordingly due to their own nation’s policies).

For this reason, it is not rare to hear of people who have dedicated most of their life to the Hana Awase. 

❸ Rules Regarding the Dances for the Hana Awase

Failure to comply with the rules will result in disqualification.

The time allotted is 10 minutes.

Props and other such tools can be brought and used, but things larger than the dancer or things that can move sporadically (like machines, skills, any form of magic) are not allowed.

Do not look down on, attack, or criticize another dancer or another participating nation.

Costumes, choreography, music, and other such expressions that are sexual, violent, or abusive in nature, as well as any conduct that violates public order and morals are strictly not allowed. 

Each nation should have a total of 10 dancers participating.

Tsukihana Kagura

■ About Tsukihana Kagura ❶  The dances performed at the Tsukihana Festival, especially for Hana Awase, are referred to as “Tsukihana Kagura.”

❷ Although the dance is called ‘Kagura’, it is not necessarily dedicated to a “god.” Since this is a world where a wide variety of ideologies and religious views co-exist, there are various perceptions of “god”. In addition, there are also those who are non-believers. Therefore, the “Tsukihana Kagura” is not dedicated to a specific “god” but rather, a dance for personal beliefs. It is dedicated to praying for each nation’s permanent peace and well-being.

❸ In a world where “beauty” is used instead of mere “strength,” performing arts like dancing are highly regarded as a symbol of “beauty.” Courtship, farewell, joy, sorrow. There are various songs and dances for all of these instances.

Paying no mind to the sounds of this fleeting world, the King of Flowers threads the dance of Tsukihana Kagura.

T/N: (prepare yourself, this will be a ride)

Kataku (花托) means 'torus' or 'receptacle' and it's (botany) the thickened part of a stem from which the flower organs grow. Look up some flower diagrams and you'll it looks a bit like the volcano sketch.

Literally translated, tsukimi udon (月見うどん) means 'moon viewing udon'

Kudukiri (葛きり) is 'kudzu starch noodles'

Hana Awase (花あわせ) can be translated 'Flower(s) Gathering'

Kagura (神楽) is a bit more tricky. 神 means 'god' and 楽 means 'music/comfort', so basically something like 'god entertainment'. You could think of it as ancient Shinto music and dancing I suppose.

//I thought they'd be more

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#tsukihana kagura #tsukiuta #tsukipro #english traslation #agf 2019 #pamphlet translation #stage play plot #six gravity #procellarum #solids #quell #growth #soara #vazzy #rock down #infinit0 #fluna #seleas #gekidan altair #vazzrock #alive #sq

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Our latest episode of the podcast is up for your listening pleasure: Forgotten History Part 2: The First Film and the Murder That Nearly Killed It

Who Started the Flat Earth Conspiracy Theory?

Contrary to popular belief, a decent percentage of the human population has known definitely the Earth was roughly spherical for over two thousand years. Hardly impressive, as noted in our BrainFood Show podcast, bees also use this fact in their own absurdly fascinating navigation and in communicating directions to other bees.

As for humans, we took a little longer to realize this, with Pythagoras (6th century B.C.) generally credited with being the first known person to have suggested a spherical Earth, though the idea didn't exactly catch on at this point. Aristotle (4th century B.C.) agreed and supported the hypothesis with observations such as that the southern constellations rise higher in the sky when a person travels south. He also noted that during a lunar eclipse the Earth's shadow is round. Much more definitively, the 3rd century BC head librarian at the Library of Alexandria, Eratosthenes, built on their ideas and managed to calculate the circumference of the Earth with remarkable accuracy. How? He simply used the knowledge that at noon on the Summer Solstice there was a well in Syene where the sun shown directly down to the bottom, with no shadow. Thus, at noon on Summer Soltice he used a rod to measure the angle of the shadow made in Alexandria and found it to be about 7 degrees or about 1/50th of a circle. With this information, he now just needed to know the exact distance between Syene and Alexandria to get the circumference of the Earth (about 50 times the distance between Syene and Alexandria). He hired a survey crew, known as bematists, to measure the distance, which they found to be about 5,000 stadia. He then concluded the Earth must be about 250,000 stadia around. Depending on which stadion measurement he was using, his figure was either just 1% too small or 16% too large. Many scholars think it likely that he was using the Egyptian stadion (157.5 m), being in Egypt at the time, which would make his estimate roughly 1% too small.

Moving on to the so called Dark Ages in which Christianity supposedly squashed such outlandish ideas as a spherical Earth, the truth is actually the opposite. In Christian medieval Europe, 7th century Catholic monk and scholar Bede produced an influential treatise that included a discussion of the spherical nature of the world. This work, The Reckoning of Time, was copied and distributed to clerics across the Carolingian empire. Later, in the 1300s, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy also describes the Earth as a sphere and again nobody seemed to have a problem with this.

The Catholics and later other branches of Christianity weren't the only religious sects that seemed to have its clergy and scholars almost universally think the world was spherical. The Islamic world also concurred. As historian Jeffrey Burton Russell sums up,

With extraordinary few exceptions, no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the Earth was flat.

Beyond the academics of the Western world, even the most empty headed sailor knew the Earth was spherical simply by the fact that ships disappear over the horizon with the bottom first and then the mast the last to be sighted. A similar effect is observed when spotting land from a ship. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to realize the sea's surface must curve continually.

Despite this, there really still is a tiny percentage of the populace of the developed world who believe the world is flat.

You might at this point be wondering just how many? While internet comment threads make it seem as if the percentage is large, the reality is probably drastically less. (Comment trolls gonna troll.)

As for some numbers, according to a 2018 poll run by the massive market research firm YouGov, the 8,215 responses which were chosen to have a high probability of accurately representing the wider adult populace, showed,

84% of respondents said they have always believed the world is round

5% stated "I always thought the world is round, but more recently I am skeptical/have doubts",

2% stated "I always thought the world is flat, but more recently I am skeptical/have doubts"

and 2% went with "I have always believed the world is flat".

The remaining 7% stated "Other/not sure".

While the good people at YouGov certainly know their stuff with respect to getting accurate data that represents the wider populace, we were curious as to what a larger sample of our own audience would reveal, though with the caveat that a general internet poll can sometimes be notoriously inaccurate. But for the curious and for whatever it's worth, our poll asking more or less the same questions received over 72,000 votes. What were the results? Approximately

96% of respondents stated they "firmly believe the world is round",

1% went with "I used to firmly believe the world is round, but now have doubts"

1% voted for "I firmly believe the world is flat"

0% stated "I used to firmly believe the world is flat, but now have doubts"

1% noted "I am not sure what I believe on this issue."

These numbers seem surprisingly reasonable for an online poll when compared to something a little more rigorously implemented like the YouGov poll. While our numbers skew more towards Round Earthers, this is perhaps to be expected given we know definitively that our audience skews towards being much more educated than the general populace.

And just because we were curious about the many, many online trolls who, as stated, it's our pet hypothesis are actually making it seem like there are a lot more Flat Earthers than there actually are, we did a follow up poll which got 54,000 votes. For whatever it's worth, in this one, approximately

9% of respondents stated "I believe the world is round, but sometimes say online it's flat"

2% stated "I believe the world is flat and advocate this position online"

The remaining 89% stated "Neither applies to me."

(And, yes, we know those numbers don't add up to exactly 100% in either case, but YouTube's polling system rounds to the whole number, so here we are.)

Those numbers out of the way, this finally brings us to who started the relatively modern Flat Earth movement and how on God's oblate spheroid Earth this movement is actually growing in an era where nearly all human knowledge is almost literally at everyone's fingertips?

The genesis of the modern Flat Earth Society started in the mid-19th century thanks to one Samuel Rowbotham of London, England. Dropping out of school at the tender age of 9, Rowbotham would eventually become convinced, or at least claimed he was, that not only was the Earth flat, but that everything we see in the heavens is actually only a few thousand miles from the Earth- stars and all. While his ideas were absurd for an incredible number of reasons, even given the technology and scientific knowledge of his era, what Rowbatham had going for him was he was reportedly incredibly quick on his feet in debates and an extremely charismatic speaker, able to twist the words of even the best academics. It didn't matter if he was actually right or not, only that he was better at convincing laypeople than the academics he regularly debated, or at least good at creating reasonable doubt. As noted by a contemporary article published in the Leeds Times,

One thing he did demonstrate was that scientific dabblers unused to platform advocacy are unable to cope with a man, a charlatan if you will (but clever and thoroughly up in his theory), thoroughly alive to the weakness of his opponents.

Besides making a small fortune public speaking, he also wrote various works including a book aptly titled Earth Not a Globe. Rowbotham ultimately created the Zetetic Society, which, besides advocating for a flat Earth, also advocated that only facts one could prove themselves could be accepted as true. On the side, Rowbotham also began going by "Dr. Samuel Birley" and making money selling people on cure-alls and life extenders of his own invention, among other such activities.

While by the early 20th century the society he started had gradually faded into even more obscurity than it already was at its peak during Rowbotham's lifetime, all was not lost. The truth cannot be killed so easily! In 1956 when mankind was on the verge of putting a satellite in orbit, Samuel Shenton of Dover, UK, came across the former works of the Universal Zetetic Society, the successor to Rowbotham's, and was hooked. He then established the International Flat Earth Research Society (IFERS) which adopted some of the ideas of the Zetetic Society before it, most notably, as you might have guessed from their new name, that the Earth is flat.

Of course, his timing wasn't exactly ideal given the launch of Sputnik in 1957 which, beyond being in orbit, put out a signal that anyone with a little know-how could track, very clearly demonstrating the spherical nature of the Earth.

This didn't faze him in the slightest, however. He simply noted that satellites circled over the disc of the world and that, "Would sailing round the Isle of Wight prove that it were spherical? It is just the same for those satellites."

When pictures of the Earth were taken from space clearly showing the planet's spherical nature, the man who strongly advocated trusting what you can see with your own eyes stated, "It's easy to see how a photograph like that could fool the untrained eye."

When astronauts came back still believing the Earth wasn't flat, he went with the catch-all explanation for any conspiracy theory when no other suitable explanation can be thought up- "It's a deception of the public and it isn't right."

Despite the giant, roughly spherical mound of evidence staring the members right in the face, including the variety easily confirmed by anyone with a modicum of knowledge in physics, the society did not die completely, though by 1972 had dropped from a peak of about 3,000 members down to around 100 spanning the globe.

That same year Shenton died and Californian Charles Johnson more or less took over the remnants, creating the International Flat Earth Research Society of America. Johnson also advocated that there was a global conspiracy with regards to the very flat Earth, not just today, but spanning millennia. To quote him, this was a conspiracy that "Moses, Columbus, and FDR all fought" against. Beyond that Columbus most definitely thought that the Earth was roughly spherical, simply misjudging its circumference, we're guessing Moses didn't have to fight anyone on this one as the Ancient Egyptians firmly believed in the concept of a flat Earth, as did seemingly the Hebrews around the time he supposedly lived.

So what exactly do the world's governments and countless scientists and high school physics students throughout human history have to gain by convincing people the world is spherical instead of flat? Well, Johnson advocated that this is a tool used by scientists to get rid of religion. Of course, as noted, Christian scholars throughout history on the whole advocated for the very spherical Earth and we're not aware of any major religious denomination the world over today that goes with the flat Earth model, so no apparent conflict... But, hey, we guess Eratosthenes must have really had it in for those Ancient Egyptian and Greek gods...

In any event, despite Johnson's less than compelling arguments, over time this new society actually gained followers up to a peak of about 3,500 members under his leadership. Disaster struck, however, when a fire at headquarters destroyed some of the records of membership in 1997. Ultimately Johnson himself passed away in 2001 and the society was temporarily just as dead.

All was not lost, however, as there is no medium greater than the Internet at giving humans ability to discover the truth in anything for themselves... if we weren't all so lazy and our monkey brains not so chock full of cognitive biases.

And so it was that in 2004, one Daniel Shenton created a discussion forum home for the mostly dead Flat Earth Society and by 2009 a new wiki website was created in its place, with the society slowly growing from there to apparently around 500 members to date. There are also many Flat Earth pages and channels on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube sometimes exceeding 100K members or subscribers of a given page, channel, or profile, for whatever that's worth.

In the latest incarnation of the society, as with their forebears, the modern group strongly advocates for only accepting that which you can see with your own eyes and prove with your own efforts. As they note on their website,

The simplest is by relying on ones own senses to discern the true nature of the world around us. The world looks flat, the bottoms of clouds are flat, the movement of the Sun; these are all examples of your senses telling you that we do not live on a spherical heliocentric world. This is using what's called an empirical approach, or an approach that relies on information from your senses. Alternatively, when using Descartes' method of Cartesian doubt to skeptically view the world around us, one quickly finds that the notion of a spherical world is the theory which has the burden of proof and not flat earth theory.

As for the model of the Earth they go with, while there is some dissension among the ranks over exact details, the current belief advocated by the Flat Earth Society is that the the Earth is disc shaped. The North Pole lies at the center of this disc and there is an ice wall surrounding the outer most parts of the Earth that keeps the oceans contained. This wall is nearly impossible to reach owing to the fact that NASA is closely guarding it, ensuring no one ever gets close enough to see it for themselves. NASA also is extremely active in generating satellite photos of the Earth and generating other data all meant to keep people believing in a spherical Earth. Seemingly the Google Earth team must be in on it too, clearly abandoning the company's long held unofficial mantra of "Don't be evil."

As evidence of this conspiracy and how far reaching it is, they also point out on their website that the United Nations emblem strongly resembles the Flat Earth Society's view of what the Earth actually looks like.

(We guess clearly showing the logo design team, led by industrial designer Oliver Lincoln Lundquist, in 1945, didn't get the memo that the true shape of the Earth was supposed to be a secret. You had one job Lundquist!!!

To be fair, however, when his team designed it, it was originally just supposed to be used on the badges at the United Nations Charter signing conference, so only for people who already knew the Earth was flat... Fun fact, Lundquist did, however, make up for the screw up by later designing the classic blue and white Q-tip box.)

In any event, you might at this point be wondering how the Flat Earth Society believes commercial airlines and ships the world over continue to seemingly travel in one direction and manage to circle the globe. Well, this is because these ships and planes are literally circling. They state, "circumnavigation is performed by moving in a great circle around the North Pole."

As for how the ship and plane captains don't seem to be aware of this, in modern times it's because GPS devices and autopilots are designed in software to simply make it seem like the craft is circling a globe and not continually turning slightly. Of course, it's not clear how they account for people tricking themselves when navigating before or without GPS, which has only been ubiquitous for a couple decades or so. (See: Who Invented GPS and How Does It Work?)

There's also the fact that fuel burn on these ships and airplanes are carefully calculated, particularly important for planes where weight and balance is always an essential consideration if one doesn't want to die a fiery death. Thus, if they were really traveling in the way the Flat Earthers claim, the fuel requirements would be different, sometimes vastly so. (No surprise here that Big Oil must be involved...)

As for, you know, the whole day and night thing, this is explained on their website "The sun moves in circles around the North Pole. When it is over your head, it's day. When it's not, it's night. The light of the sun is confined to a limited area and its light acts like a spotlight upon the earth... The apparent effect of the sun rising and setting is...a perspective effect."

How exactly the light from the Sun only works as a spotlight isn't clear. It's also not clear how the phases of the Moon and lunar and solar eclipses work given this spotlight model and given they believe the Sun is always above the Earth...

Moving on- as for the many people who claim to be able to see the curvature of the Earth when on high altitude commercial flights, well, the Flat Earth Society, who advocated trusting your own senses over what anyone tells you. tells these people, to quote, "Quite simply you cannot... the windows on commercial aircraft are small and heavily curved. Even if they flew high enough for a person to see curvature, it would still not be visible to passengers."

As for the issue of someone with even a half way decent telescope being able to see the spherical nature of other planets in the solar system, including them spinning away, the Flat Earth Society claims,

Planets are orbiting astronomical objects. The Earth is not a planet by definition, as it sits at the center of our solar system above which the planets and the Sun revolve. The earths uniqueness, fundamental differences and centrality makes any comparison to other nearby celestial bodies insufficient - Like comparing basketballs to the court on which they bounce.

As for how gravity works in the flat Earth model, it turns out that, "The earth is constantly accelerating up at a rate of 32 feet per second squared (or 9.8 meters per second squared). This constant acceleration causes what you think of as gravity. Imagine sitting in a car that never stops speeding up. You will be forever pushed into your seat. The earth works much the same way. It is constantly accelerating upwards being pushed by a universal accelerator (UA) known as dark energy or aetheric wind."

You may have spotted a problem with this explanation given the whole issue of eventually exceeding the speed of light. In fact, if constant acceleration at 9.8 meters per second squared, it would only take about a year for the Earth to reach the speed of light.

Well, they've got you covered, explaining: "Due to special relativity, this is not the case. At this point, many readers will question the validity of any answer which uses advanced, intimidating-sounding physics terms to explain a position. However, it is true. The relevant equation is v/c = tanh (at/c). One will find that in this equation, tanh(at/c) can never exceed or equal 1. This means that velocity can never reach the speed of light, regardless of how long one accelerates for and the rate of the acceleration."

...

Anyway, as to what lies below the Earth, this is heavily disputed among Flat Earthers. But it doesn't really matter as you can't get there anyway. You see, to quote Flat Earther Robbie Davidson in an interview with Forbes, "We don’t believe anything can fall off the edge, because a big portion of the flat earth community believes that we’re in a dome, like a snow globe. So the sun, moon and stars are all inside. It’s very high but all contained inside. So there’s no way to actually fall off of the earth."

Given it only takes a modicum of effort to disprove pretty much everything said on their website and prove definitively for one's self that the Earth is roughly spherical without needing to trust any scientist or government, you might think the Flat Earthers just aren't trying. Well, you're kind of right, but there are exceptions! Case in point- limo driver Mike Hughes who managed to raise about $8,000 thanks to a Flat Earth fundraiser. Why? To build a rocket to reach the heavens with to once and for all prove the Earth was flat.

Reportedly the final hilariously fitting steam powered rocket and launch platform cost around $20,000 and took about ten years to build. With it, Hughes managed to achieve an altitude of almost 1,900 feet, which while kind of impressive for an amateur built home made rocket that could carry a human, was nonetheless not able to achieve his objective of getting him to space.

If only it was possible to build more powerful rockets... Or if there existed a balloon designed to be able to soar into the heavens with some sort of device on board that could capture and store what it sees through an eye like apparatus... Or, stick with us here people, if a human going along for the ride was a requirement to show NASA hadn't tampered with this futuristic visual capture device, some sort of bird-like machine that could carry humans above 1,900 feet...

On that note, for a mere $12,000-$16,000 Hughes could have purchase a charter flight ticket to not only take him higher than altitudes of 1,900 feet, but also take him to Antarctica to see the massive ice wall for himself. Or if the Flat Earth society wanted to pool together their resources, for prices from $25,000-$70,000 they could charter a flight to the South Pole itself. Though, a thing they don't tell you on the vacation package brochure is that while you can go visit the South Pole, NASA subjects everyone that does to severe mental retraining to ensure all memories of the ice wall have been erased and replaced with pleasant, but very wall free, recollections.

All joking and head scratching aside, it's always important to note that many of the core psychological quirks that see Flat Earthers intractably convinced the Earth is flat in the face of all evidence to the contrary exist in all of us. Monkey brain gonna monkey. We further all have many beliefs we firmly cling to just as tenuously supported by our level of knowledge on a subject, though thankfully for most of us the absurdity isn't quite so easy to spot, allowing us to safely continue to think of ourselves as superior to mere mortals with alternate ideas...

In the end, we all firmly believe many things that aren't true at all and no amount of evidence could ever convince any of us to change our minds on some of these things. Food for thought.

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy:

Who Started the Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy Theory?

What Causes the Smoke Trails Behind Airline Planes High in the Sky?

The Mysterious Black Goo of Venezuela: La Mancha Negra

The Secret Society of Journalists Known as the Order of the Occult Hand

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