Too much Pirates of the Caribbean?

September 19, 2007 12:58 AM

Is the world flat? The great minds of The View explore the age old question. As we've recently and painfully learned, the children of America need maps.

*added to my list of things to do when elected to the presidency: ban daytime television.

posted by allkindsoftime (95 comments total)

Actually the children of America don't need maps, but globes.
posted by Crusty at 1:03 AM on September 19, 2007 [7 favorites]

Wow. That was stunningly retarded. And, alkindsoftime, I would support your presidency.
posted by snwod at 1:05 AM on September 19, 2007

Money quote for those who can't make it to the end:

BW: If your son says to you, "Mom, is the world round or flat?"

SS: And I'll have to go "Baby, we got to go to the library"
posted by uri at 1:34 AM on September 19, 2007

You know how people say that if the red states split from the rest, they'd be a third world country in ten years. Well, I think ten years may be a little generous.
posted by rhymer at 1:45 AM on September 19, 2007 [4 favorites]

I can't watch clips from The View anymore. It seems like they're all designed to turn people into misogynists.
posted by hjo3 at 1:45 AM on September 19, 2007 [10 favorites]

Actually the children of America don't need maps, but globes.

Not if the world is flat, they don't.
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:48 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Children need maps of the US Uterus?
posted by p3t3 at 2:10 AM on September 19, 2007

An admission of ignorance that monumental should be a valid argument for disbarring someone from public discourse, just in the same way that someone who cannot distinguish between the butt and the muzzle of a gun should not be allowed on a gun range.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:26 AM on September 19, 2007 [4 favorites]

Because the woman is obviously not mentally retarded, it's impossible to believe that she actually doesn't know whether the world is round. I think she was making an incredibly misguided effort to reframe the discussion ("it doesn't matter whether the world is round").
posted by Tlogmer at 4:09 AM on September 19, 2007

I had no idea that whoppie was so dumb. I'd never really listened to her talk, but wow.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 4:18 AM on September 19, 2007

One of our major problems in this country is that most intelligent people have an overdeveloped sense of "fair play", which dullards and ideologues constantly take advantage of. We waste far too much time on fools. Rather than writing them off, we scramble to accommodate their idiocy and provide them with a platform to perpetuate it. If someone injects a full-goose crazy idea into a discussion, the tendency is NOT to dismiss it as "full-goose crazy" -- but to seek a middle ground. All in the name of "everyone is entitled to their opinion". That's nonsense, of course. As Harlan Ellison countered: "No! You're not entitled to your own opinion. You're entitled to your own INFORMED opinion."
posted by RavinDave at 4:19 AM on September 19, 2007 [30 favorites]

the same way that someone who cannot distinguish between the butt and the muzzle of a gun should not be allowed on a gun range.

Unlike this argument though, you're problem will eventually take care of itself.
posted by thanotopsis at 4:26 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

I thought the world was spherical.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 4:28 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Tlogmer: ... it's impossible to believe that she actually doesn't know whether the world is round.

Ya know ... it is a funny quirk of nature that when we see someone so utterly foolish, incompetent or downright stupid -- we often respond by viewing them in the exact opposite way. We respond by giving them the benefit of the doubt. "No one could be THAT stupid." Thus, people like George Bush are elevated from "incurious frattish dolt" to "deviously sagacious manipulator" -- all because we just don't want to believe that someone could be that pig-ignorant. Well, Occam says they can be.

This is an increasingly common logical trap.
posted by RavinDave at 4:31 AM on September 19, 2007 [3 favorites]

I thought the world was spherical.

I'm afraid not </pedant>
posted by knapah at 4:45 AM on September 19, 2007

Sphere-earthers are also wrong. Closer but still wrong.

I had no idea that whoppie was so dumb

You couldn't provide a better example of why it is dangerous to mock people for stupidity.
posted by srboisvert at 4:46 AM on September 19, 2007 [5 favorites]

Oops, I'm a stupid pedant apparently, I didn't paste the link: Figure of the Earth
posted by knapah at 4:47 AM on September 19, 2007

a robot made out of meat, you appear to be mistaking the woman in the middle, who talks about feeding her kids being more important to her than knowing whether the earth is or isn't flat, for Whoopie Goldberg, who originally asked her the question from the end of the table.
posted by cgc373 at 4:58 AM on September 19, 2007

I need to add a block so that I don't comment pre-coffee. Some chemical sensor that I put a drop of caffeinated liquid on which allows me to use metafilter.

I (mis)heard the first sentence as an incredulous "so you believe that evolution happened?" and suffered a severe case of fremdschämen, closing the tab.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 5:12 AM on September 19, 2007

Is this map for real?
posted by cillit bang at 5:13 AM on September 19, 2007

The world is flat in some places, round in others.
posted by effwerd at 5:21 AM on September 19, 2007

This probably suprises very few people, especially among the show's audience. At least this host is perfectly happy displaying her ignorance of the form of the freakin' planet she lives on. If it is really the case that she does not have an opinion, I reluctantly conclude that it is because there has never been in her life any academic, social, or professional pressure to consider this little piece of her envorinment. Not to mention human curiosity. I never thought about it?

I think I'll leave the internets for a few hours.
posted by preparat at 5:33 AM on September 19, 2007

Someone's been reading too much goddamn Thomas Friedman.
posted by casarkos at 5:38 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the link, knapah. That was interesting. For some reason I'm attracted to the idea of the earth being pear-shaped.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 5:41 AM on September 19, 2007

Actually the children of America don't need maps, but globes.

Flat, round, what's the difference? The more important geographic fact is that the atmosphere around the planet is equal to the thickness of the paint on that globe.

You can even concede, for the sake of argument, that God created it that way - real, real thin - and since He is unlilkely to be creating any more maybe we humans should stop shitting into it like diarreahic Goldfish.
posted by three blind mice at 5:45 AM on September 19, 2007 [3 favorites]

I would just like to point out that this post is eponysterical. Anyone who pays attention to what is said on The View certainly has allkindsoftime.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:47 AM on September 19, 2007

She might not know if the world is flat, but she knows for sure that she doesn't "believe in evolution, period."

Apparently she is far too busy to learn that the world is round.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 5:48 AM on September 19, 2007

(though I admit that she is pretty strong evidence against evolution.)
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 5:50 AM on September 19, 2007

She's not sure if the Earth is flat or not, and she's allowed to reproduce? If I were king of the world, she would be sterilized. I know, that's harsh, but I'll take that drastic move in order to insure that our species has a chance in hell to survive. Holy shit, it gets scarier and scarier in this nightmare we call America.
posted by dbiedny at 5:50 AM on September 19, 2007

Even though Whoopie doesn't come across as the dumb one here, she named herself after farts. Do I need to repeat that? SHE NAMED HERSELF AFTER FARTS. On purpose.

Plus, she's been box-office poison for nearly 20 years, including in her fine body of work Theodore Rex. I really wish her celebrity status were revoked and she was sent to a disease-ridden prison.
posted by item at 5:52 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

... someone who cannot distinguish between the butt and the muzzle of a gun ...

Strangely enough I cannot find a copy of that wonderful picture of Dan Quail holding a SAW backward while a Ranger looks on, visibly restraining himself from laughter.
posted by lodurr at 6:01 AM on September 19, 2007

Tacos Are Pretty Great Naaah, she's actually pretty good evidence for evolution. Remember, evolution is a blind force, it doesn't have a goal, and it tends to produce something that kinda, sorta, works, rather than the best.

Look at the human body, for example, a first year engineering student could do a better job. Start with the fact that the spine is at one edge of the trunk rather than at the core. Then look at the awful plumbing in the sinuses. Then examine the "funny bone" and notice that one of the primary control nerves for the arm and hand is completely unprotected and think for a moment on how monumentally stupid that is. Or the carpal tunnels, there's a truly wretched bit of design. Or the spinal column itself, easily and perminantly damaged, etc, etc, etc.

Honestly, I think that the human body is the best evidence *against* an intelligent designer that exists

So, the fact that this woman's mind doesn't function very well seems to be perfectly reasonable given the horrible design on everything else. The truly astonishing thing is that despite all the flaws we manage to think clearly at all...
posted by sotonohito at 6:05 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

She's not sure if the Earth is flat or not, and she's allowed to reproduce? If I were king of the world, she would be sterilized. I know, that's harsh, but I'll take that drastic move in order to insure that our species has a chance in hell to survive. Holy shit, it gets scarier and scarier in this nightmare we call America.

Ah yes. The cure for a bit of harmless stupidity should be outright evil. Good plan.
posted by srboisvert at 6:07 AM on September 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

Anyway, the likelihood is that she achieved this exalted state of ignorance through (mis)education, rather than inheritance. So I think it would be sufficient to send her children to a better parent. (One who understands, for example, that feeding them today is ultimately only slightly more important than raising them to have the intellectual capacity to feed themselves in 18 years.)
posted by lodurr at 6:10 AM on September 19, 2007

Harmless? Bullshit.
posted by notsnot at 6:13 AM on September 19, 2007

I sent this to a friend who's a big TV and celebrity watcher (as well as a rip-roarin' atheist who doesn't suffer fools) and he's pretty sure that, while she's a "bible-believing" Christian who doesn't "believe in" evolution, in this case she's either playing a part or simply saying that the shape of the earth isn't relevant to evolution.

I really think this is giving Ms Shepherd too much credit, as mentioned above, some people really are that stupid and get promoted a la Chauncey Gardner. On the other hand, she's been on 30 Rock so she mostly gets a pass from me.

But whatever. I work from home 5' from a television and I can resist The View, so anyone who watches this gets exactly what they have paid for.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 6:21 AM on September 19, 2007

srboisvert - I guess irony is lost over the internets. Lack of the nuances of body language and all. But all kidding aside, you think it's a good thing that this woman has offspring? Seriously? I would suggest you watch Jesus Camp, it'll make you think long and hard about this issue.
posted by dbiedny at 6:39 AM on September 19, 2007

SHE NAMED HERSELF AFTER FARTS!!!
posted by item at 6:43 AM on September 19, 2007

I can see that you either think you said something really really clever, or you really dislike Whoopie Goldberg.

Either way, we heard you the first time.
posted by lodurr at 6:53 AM on September 19, 2007 [4 favorites]

cillit bang: yes, the map is real.
posted by desjardins at 6:56 AM on September 19, 2007

nevermind, that site is run by a crackpot.
posted by desjardins at 6:58 AM on September 19, 2007

Ya know ... it is a funny quirk of nature that when we see someone so utterly foolish, incompetent or downright stupid -- we often respond by viewing them in the exact opposite way. We respond by giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Seriously, my first reaction when she was talking was that she was going to make some epistemological point that she never personally went out and did the experiment that confirms the world is round, but no.

Someone should ask her if she believes in epistemology.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:16 AM on September 19, 2007

Sure she does, TOCTim. She had one when her baby was born, and it hurt like hell.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:26 AM on September 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

Oblate spheroid.

Mixed feelings here. Disgusted by Whoopie's version of evolution that God sneezed and ...and what, His Boogers became or were dinosaurs? yikes. Horror that a grown woman, Sherri Shepherd, The View noob, well dressed and appearing on a show about having a view didn't know if the world were flat or round and never thought about it.

One of my closest friends grew up with a ghetto education and shocked the daylights out of me by not knowing what I thought of as simple stuff, like what is a noun. Her being uneducated didn't stop her from being an awesome human being, a total inspiration to me and pretty much everybody I know who knows her. She asked me (alternating between aksing and asking) to teach her English grammar and I did. She's now helping run a clinic in DC, runs a business on the side, is the mother of two well-adjusted kids, happily married and a professional singer on the weekends. She still alternates between saying aks and ask and I think that is part of the quandary of the woman on the The View, who to side with religious black folks or educated white folks? I think a large percent of black Americans may perceive being educated as Uncle Tomish.

Even though I was appalled Ms. Shepherd expressed her staggering lack of education, I felt glad she said she'd take her kid to the library in the event she needed to educate him.
posted by nickyskye at 7:39 AM on September 19, 2007

I guess irony is lost over the internets. Lack of the nuances of body language and all. But all kidding aside, you think it's a good thing that this woman has offspring? Seriously? I would suggest you watch Jesus Camp, it'll make you think long and hard about this issue.

Ah yes, the irony that comes with subsequent viewing recommendations to support the point that was supposedly ironically made. High art. Seriously.
posted by srboisvert at 7:39 AM on September 19, 2007

item writes "Even though Whoopie doesn't come across as the dumb one here, she named herself after farts. Do I need to repeat that? SHE NAMED HERSELF AFTER FARTS. On purpose."

That doesn't mean she's stupid. To me, that adds points.
posted by krinklyfig at 7:53 AM on September 19, 2007

You know who else named himself after farts?

Adolph Shitler.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:07 AM on September 19, 2007 [6 favorites]

item wrote: Plus, she's been box-office poison for nearly 20 years, including in her fine body of work Theodore Rex. I really wish her celebrity status were revoked and she was sent to a disease-ridden prison.

hey, man, don't you talk about Guinan like that. She's 600 years old but she'll still fuck you up with that giant phaser behind the bar.
posted by Avenger at 8:09 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Is this map for real?

Yeah right. Why would a 1938 map put Taiwan in the United states, rather then China, or Japan?
posted by delmoi at 8:24 AM on September 19, 2007

No, this guy named himself after farts. Whoopie was an expression of exuberantion before it was used to label a cushion.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:28 AM on September 19, 2007

You know who else named himself after farts?

Gaseous Clay?
posted by hydrophonic at 8:46 AM on September 19, 2007 [3 favorites]

If the earth were flat the horizon line would be a lot higher than it is. Conclusion: We're living on some kind of convex dome.

Not quite figured out why all the water doesn't run off the edges yet.
posted by Artw at 8:53 AM on September 19, 2007

Well, that explains why it's not called The Informed View.

she's been box-office poison for nearly 20 years, including in her fine body of work Theodore Rex.

Man, I get shivers when I remember the scene when she took San Juan Hill (And keep an eye out for a young Phillip Seymour Hoffman's bit as Samuel Young!).

And the sassy way she'd exclaim "Bully!" still cracks me up.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:58 AM on September 19, 2007

Every reasonably intelligent, thinking religious person in the world (and I don't think that's an oxymoron) should be shocked and horrified by that clip. That video confirms the absolute worst stereotype of religious folk - that belief in G-d is justification for choosing to be willfully ignorant in other areas.

The same way I would be horrified if they had a Jewish host who tried to haggle over the price of his sandwich with craft services on-air.
posted by The Gooch at 9:03 AM on September 19, 2007

delmoi, the map is in the Library of Congress. It's wishful thinking on someone's part.
posted by desjardins at 9:07 AM on September 19, 2007

Whoopie Goldberg has a reputation for being difficult and mean. She yelled at a friend of mine for not saving her seat at Tribeca Film Festival a few years back when she walked out five minutes into Insomnia and came back just before it ended at a sold-out show.
posted by rottytooth at 9:11 AM on September 19, 2007

Alvy A, it's all that much more impressive when you realize she filmed under duress: It probably didn't help matters that Goldberg backed out of the film and agreed to the role only after legal action was initiated.

(And shocking, shocking that the reviewers never mentioned the San Juan hill scene. Shocking.)
posted by lodurr at 9:15 AM on September 19, 2007

I agree with preparat--what's more appalling to me than this woman's actual ignorance is the defiant attitude behind it: 'not only do I not know, there is no need for me to know unimportant things like the most basic, easily observable facts about the planet I live on,' is what I heard.

She is stupid because she chooses to be, and defends that choice on nationally syndicated television. Wow.
posted by LooseFilter at 9:18 AM on September 19, 2007

They took Rosie off of the View because, as a liberal lesbian, she was too controversial, but THIS is okay?

Stop the world, I want to get off, please.
posted by misha at 9:41 AM on September 19, 2007

Stop the world, I want to fall off.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:51 AM on September 19, 2007

Not to dignify the idea, but Missile Gap by Charles Stross">what if the world really were flat?
posted by lodurr at 10:00 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Oo, bork de link, me havings... feeling the shame....
posted by lodurr at 10:01 AM on September 19, 2007

"but THIS is okay?"
MSNBC canceled Donahue and put Mike Savage Weiner in his place.
See a pattern?
posted by 2sheets at 10:05 AM on September 19, 2007

Higher resolution version of the interesting "Moral World Order" map.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:10 AM on September 19, 2007 [3 favorites]

Stop the world, I want to get off, please.

No need. Just take a trip to the edge. What, what? It isn't flat?
posted by howling fantods at 10:14 AM on September 19, 2007

What's interesting about that Moral World Order map is that one thing it has that actually exists is "Hebrewland." That worked out real well.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:17 AM on September 19, 2007

Not to belabor the farts!! issue, but doesn't the "Whoopie" in "Whoopie Cushion" equate to the fun involved?

Just want to get item his 5 bucks worth here.
posted by dosterm at 10:28 AM on September 19, 2007

cillit bang: Is this map for real?

Why not? It is not some official map, but apparently a particular cartographer's little thought exercise. There were also some crackpots back in 1942, and although this Maurice Gomberg definitely seems to have had somewhat extreme political views, he wouldn't have been seen as altogether batshitinsane. The basic themes of the map seem to be:

a) American hegemony;
b) Subjugation of the Axis powers;
c) US-UK-USSR alliance; and
d) Decolonisation.

Add to that a certain distrust of European powers and a push towards regional organisations, and you've got pretty much the same views as many officials in the FDR administration, although brought to an extreme that they probably wouldn't have dared to express in public. In particular, I guess they'd have been a little more diplomatic than the map regarding Northern Ireland and Canada...

The only weird thing about the map is that, according to some websites, it was originally created before Pearl Harbour. Since it has a 1942 imprint, I wouldn't put too must trust in that. What's obvious is that it was certainly drawn after the start of Operation Barbarossa.
posted by Skeptic at 10:40 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Whoopie actually did get her nickname as a child from a sound she used to make with her mouth, not unlike a whoopie cushion.

I'm full of useless trivia today.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:40 AM on September 19, 2007

I'm sorry, but haven't you ever heard of "making whoopie"?!
It isn't farts.
posted by Goofyy at 11:00 AM on September 19, 2007

I took this a bit differently than everyone else, I guess, I didn't see a lack of education, I saw someone was refusing to engage what she perceived to be a slippery slope argument.

She appeared to have come out in favor of evolution to the exception of everything else. Whoopi was developing an argument that allowed for the possibility of both, and was attempting to frame the argument in a "well we used to believe this silly fact which science has completely refuted" at which point Shepherd decided to disengage. By refusing to acknowledge the more basic point of the world being round, she was spared from having to potentially shift her opinion on her dogmatically held faith.

Which is to say that she decided that appearing painfully stupid was a better choice that believing that the bible was not literally true.

Which is a shame, because she has entertained me as an actress, and knowing she is willing to be characterized this way has really tainted my opinion of her.
posted by quin at 11:03 AM on September 19, 2007

The conversation spun out from her admitting that she doesn't believe in evolution because it's against what the bible teaches and her belief in god.

One of the others asked the flat earth question one assumes because a round earth isn't faith based but science, and because if you believe in the science for one than it's patently stupid not to believe in the science of the other.

I think the creationist realized that and realized what an ass the others were going to make her look and then argue her defense of creationism, and had to play stupid and say, I don't know maybe the earth is flat and I don't care.

Because she still looks stupid, but she's quashing the discussion that was going to happen while not backing down from her creationist views.

This person is an idiot, and NBC and Barbara Walters should be ashamed to have her in a seat in front of a camera and microphone.
posted by FunkyHelix at 11:04 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

The blonde became famous because she was on "Survivor" and then married an NFL quarterback.

On that note, do we need to take this show so seriously?
posted by wfc123 at 11:08 AM on September 19, 2007

Should have previewed because quin said what I was thinking much better.
posted by FunkyHelix at 11:10 AM on September 19, 2007

Is this the same clip? (the posted one is not working) If so, check out the end where Barbara says "..and look what we have now with internets and ... babies being born in sperm.."

Wow. This was aired to the general public in the U, S and A?

oh boy.
posted by weezy at 11:55 AM on September 19, 2007

Too busy trying to feed her children? They either don't pay her enough or her kids are huge.
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:56 AM on September 19, 2007

Also, I meant to say ABC and not NBC.
posted by FunkyHelix at 12:07 PM on September 19, 2007

rottytooth writes "Whoopie Goldberg has a reputation for being difficult and mean. She yelled at a friend of mine for not saving her seat at Tribeca Film Festival a few years back when she walked out five minutes into Insomnia and came back just before it ended at a sold-out show."

Fascinating.

Regardless, she is correct about evolution.
posted by krinklyfig at 1:23 PM on September 19, 2007

Mostly right, I should add. The God part is something of a cultural vestige, IMO.
posted by krinklyfig at 1:24 PM on September 19, 2007

The post-WWII (Gomberg?) map also fascinates me. Whoever drew it thought that England was losing, France had lost, and that the Soviet Union was the main hope to defeat the Axis. The only part of the British Commonwealth to remain is Australia and adjacent areas (lost to the Netherlands!) though the Commonwealth has gained Madagascar (from the French). China gets Korea and French Indo-China but loses Mongolia and Manchuria to the USSR which gains greater access to the sea in the Baltic, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf(!) not to mention half of Europe, Iran, and assorted other places. This map shows some of the desperation felt at this stage of the war.
posted by CCBC at 1:53 PM on September 19, 2007

No, it looks like we live on a big, flat set of connected triangles which, when folded up, form an icosahedron.
posted by Tube at 4:13 PM on September 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

What quin (and FunkyHelix) said. She knew where that line of questioning was going and decided to cut it off early.

At least that's what I think; I refuse to believe there still are people who believe the Earth is flat.
posted by Penks at 4:46 PM on September 19, 2007

I refuse to believe there still are people who believe the Earth is flat.

Then you are equally naïve.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:49 PM on September 19, 2007

Why is Sherri Sheppherd allowed to vote?
posted by Bletch at 5:09 PM on September 19, 2007

I can't believe that woman has never flown in an airplane. Surely she's had to go from NY to LA at least once in the course of being on the show? How can you fly in an airplane and believe the world is flat?

What does she think, planes can just fly off the edges?
posted by Maias at 5:28 PM on September 19, 2007

I refuse to believe there still are people who believe the Earth is flat.

Oh, you can believe.
posted by zardoz at 5:39 PM on September 19, 2007

From the FAQ at zardoz's link:

Q: "What about NASA? Don't they have photos to prove that the Earth is round?"

A: NASA is part of the conspiracy too. The photos are faked.

Q: "Why has no-one taken a photo of the Earth that proves it is flat?"

A: The government prevents people from getting close enough to the Ice Wall to take a picture.

Ice wall? Awesome.

Tell me more.
posted by quin at 5:46 PM on September 19, 2007

Also from that FAQ (awesome reading, thanks!):

Q: "What's underneath the Earth?" aka "What's on the bottom?" aka "What's on the other side?"

A: This is unknown. Some believe it to be just rocks, others believe the Earth rests on the back of four elephants and a turtle.

posted by desjardins at 7:16 PM on September 19, 2007

Shit, what happens when the ice wall melts?
posted by Artw at 8:27 PM on September 19, 2007

The elephants get a much-needed shower.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:51 PM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Why is Sherri Sheppherd allowed to vote?

Hopefully she lives in DC.
posted by graventy at 3:02 AM on September 20, 2007

Q: "Doesn't this mean we'd be traveling faster than the speed of light, which is impossible?"

A: The equations of Special Relativity prevent an object from accelerating to the speed of light. Due to this restriction, these equations prove that an object can accelerate at a constant rate forever, and never reach the speed of light. For an in depth explanation: Click here.

Man. And I thought nuclear weapons were a bad use of Special Relativity.
posted by Citizen Premier at 6:43 AM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Well, fuck, I was wrong. Never underestimate ignorance again, I guess.
posted by Penks at 8:36 AM on September 20, 2007

Did you watch the second video from the next day, when she takes it back? Apparently, she had a "senior brain-poopy moment" and of course, she knows the world isn't flat. Look, the woman is two years younger than I am, and I have yet to have a "senior brain-poopy moment" in which I forget whether the earth is flat or not. If she's already having memory issues that severe at 40, she might want to visit a doctor and get that checked out.
posted by Orb at 10:16 AM on September 20, 2007

Whoopi redeems herself.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:41 PM on October 7, 2007