The 66.6 degree theory...

[Keith&Co.]

So, I've always understood the Earth's axial tilt to be 23.5 degrees. In my textbook, my reference, my presentations...

I guess some authorities peg it at 23.4 degrees. Significant degrees, there.

This is measuring the axis angle down from perpendicular to the Earth's orbital plane.

But some Flat Earthers have determined that if it's 23.4 degrees DOWN, then it's 66.6 degrees UP from perpendicular.

That makes the alleged tilt THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!

Obviously, it's all just an attempt to fool people into discounting a Flat Earth...Or a donut Earth...or, burrito Earth... I wonder if we'd make more headway if we called the globe the Swedish Meatball Earth?

 

[ideologyhunter]

When I was teaching 6th grade back in 1981, I had a student come in on Monday morning and tell me -- with a wide-eyed look of utter enthrallment -- "Our preacher said that President Reagan's name has the numbers of the Antichrist. RONALD WILSON REAGAN!! SIX--SIX--SIX!!" She got a few wide-eyed looks from some of her fellow students. And I...I decided that this was not a teachable moment. You think I was going to tangle with the Bible humpers out on State Road, across from the choo-choo tracks? No. It was Monday morning; we got out our spelling books.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

When I was teaching 6th grade back in 1981, I had a student come in on Monday morning and tell me -- with a wide-eyed look of utter enthrallment -- "Our preacher said that President Reagan's name has the numbers of the Antichrist. RONALD WILSON REAGAN!! SIX--SIX--SIX!!" She got a few wide-eyed looks from some of her fellow students. And I...I decided that this was not a teachable moment. You think I was going to tangle with the Bible humpers out on State Road, across from the choo-choo tracks? No. It was Monday morning; we got out our spelling books.

Churchill
Hitler
Roosevelt
Il Duce
Stalin
Tojo

 

[Treedbear]

Once I was registering a used car at the DMV and when it came to issuing me a license plate the clerk asked if I minded if they gave me one with 666 in it. As tempting as it was to say sure, I told her to give me something else because I didn't want people shooting at me.

 

[Gun Nut]

it's only 66.6 degrees during summer. It's 113.4 degrees during winter.

right?

 

[Keith&Co.]

I have to assume you're talking about tilt towards or away from the sun...?

Because though the tilt from the plane of the orbit does vary, it doesn't vary anywhere near that much.

 

[Keith&Co.]

give me something else because I didn't want people shooting at me.

I wouldn't worry about being shot, but i would worry about self-fulfilling superstitions.

Guy at the tire place drops a wrench, they say 'be careful.' Life goes on.
Same guy drops the same wrench when Satan's SUV is on the lift, people get anxious about how the car 'tried to kill me!' And start paying too much attention to the threat, not enough to what they're actually doing, and someone gets hurt because stupid.

Which is NOT, i should point out, an exercise in an atheist imagining silly inferior Christains being sillies. I have seen it several times on ship. Sailors can be quite superstitious...and stupid.

Someone gets a toy submarine in their gift box. Drops it. The TOY hull cracks, and suddenly we're all inches from death. It wasn't even the right class of sub...

 

[4321lynx]

give me something else because I didn't want people shooting at me.

I wouldn't worry about being shot, but i would worry about self-fulfilling superstitions.

Guy at the tire place drops a wrench, they say 'be careful.' Life goes on.
Same guy drops the same wrench when Satan's SUV is on the lift, people get anxious about how the car 'tried to kill me!' And start paying too much attention to the threat, not enough to what they're actually doing, and someone gets hurt because stupid.

Which is NOT, i should point out, an exercise in an atheist imagining silly inferior Christains being sillies. I have seen it several times on ship. Sailors can be quite superstitious...and stupid.

Someone gets a toy submarine in their gift box. Drops it. The TOY hull cracks, and suddenly we're all inches from death. It wasn't even the right class of sub...

And I guess no-one would thank me if, to cheer myself up at sea in those circumstances, I would whistle a happy tune, even though they tell me that subs do not use sails to propel themselves these days...

 

[Keith&Co.]

Not to propel, no. One sail. All the 14 masts are inside it.

G'head and whistle, though, submariners are also self-evidently bonkers.

 

[bilby]

give me something else because I didn't want people shooting at me.

I wouldn't worry about being shot, but i would worry about self-fulfilling superstitions.

Guy at the tire place drops a wrench, they say 'be careful.' Life goes on.
Same guy drops the same wrench when Satan's SUV is on the lift, people get anxious about how the car 'tried to kill me!' And start paying too much attention to the threat, not enough to what they're actually doing, and someone gets hurt because stupid.

Which is NOT, i should point out, an exercise in an atheist imagining silly inferior Christains being sillies. I have seen it several times on ship. Sailors can be quite superstitious...and stupid.

Someone gets a toy submarine in their gift box. Drops it. The TOY hull cracks, and suddenly we're all inches from death. It wasn't even the right class of sub...

I am a little concerned that you had to emphasize the word TOY there. I know submarine hulls are known for their relative fragility (in comparison to the belt armor of surface warships), but I was hoping that they would be sufficiently robust as to be able to be relied upon not to crack if someone merely drops a small toy onto them.

 

[WAB]

give me something else because I didn't want people shooting at me.

I wouldn't worry about being shot, but i would worry about self-fulfilling superstitions.

Guy at the tire place drops a wrench, they say 'be careful.' Life goes on.
Same guy drops the same wrench when Satan's SUV is on the lift, people get anxious about how the car 'tried to kill me!' And start paying too much attention to the threat, not enough to what they're actually doing, and someone gets hurt because stupid.

Which is NOT, i should point out, an exercise in an atheist imagining silly inferior Christains being sillies. I have seen it several times on ship. Sailors can be quite superstitious...and stupid.

Someone gets a toy submarine in their gift box. Drops it. The TOY hull cracks, and suddenly we're all inches from death. It wasn't even the right class of sub...

Just out of sheer curiosity, did you ever see an albatross in your travels? And did anyone get nervous about it?



It's always a good time for Python.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I was hoping that they would be sufficiently robust as to be able to be relied upon not to crack if someone merely drops a small toy onto them.

Oh. I did not mean to imply that the hull was in danger of cracking, just that I could understand a bunch of upsetness if the actual boundary of the people-tank were threatened.
Freaking because of a fear of sympathetic magic to the hull, through damage to the toy, was where I was heavily underimpressed.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Didn't see too many albatrosses 400 feet down, no.

 

[WAB]

Didn't see too many albatrosses 400 feet down, no.

D'oh!

I guess my question was sub-par.

 

[bilby]

Didn't see too many albatrosses 400 feet down, no.

Well most probably end up there sooner or later. As you have remarked yourself, there are far more aircraft in the sea than there are submarines in the sky.