home Botany Flat earth theory with Igor Prokopenko. The earth is flat! Documentary film with Igor Prokopenko

Flat earth theory with Igor Prokopenko. The earth is flat! Documentary film with Igor Prokopenko

On September 25, 2017, the federal TV channel REN TV aired a program dedicated to the theory of a flat Earth, and on October 3, Igor Prokopenko received the TEFI award for the Military Secret program in the Educational Program category. The program in question belongs to the series of programs by Igor Prokopenko “The Most Shocking Hypotheses”.

Written here, of course, will not come as a surprise to most readers, because. the very name of the channel has long become a meme, but still I decided to analyze this issue in detail, given that in this moment there were too many people who succumbed to the influence of such a sect-like phenomenon as the theory of a flat Earth in the 21st century for various reasons.
And it should be especially noted that the aggravation began long before the memes with the schoolboy.
Also, contrary to popular belief, most flat earthers are not trolls, it's much sadder.

Before proceeding to a detailed analysis of this masterpiece, based on a comparison of information and my personal understanding of the topics under consideration, I propose to get acquainted with the characters who will enlighten us throughout the program.
To begin with, let's get acquainted with the Russian researchers invited to the broadcast.
We'll meet the rest in the process.

1. Pavel Sviridov

According to REN TV:

Scientist / PhD technical sciences

In the real world:

Astrologer, flat earther, conspiracy theorist (also, perhaps, indeed, a candidate of technical and legal sciences and a colonel).

Pavel Sviridov may indeed be a candidate of technical sciences. So, at least, it is written on his own website, but there is no data on his scientific activity no.

2. Vadim Shegalov

According to REN TV:

Archaeologist / Scientist

In the real world:

Unfortunately, nothing could be found about Vadim's archaeological activity. And in general, there is very little information about this person on the network, but judging by his VK page, if it is not a fake, then he is apparently a fan of Diana Shurygina, as well as conspiracy theories.

3. Andrei Bukharin

According to REN TV:

Popularizer of false science

In the real world:

Astrologer

I could not find evidence of Andrei's activity as a popularizer of science. The main activity is astrology.

As you can see, the type of activity of these characters promises us complete competence, an adequate assessment and fairly logical reasoning in areas to which they are not related.

About time codes

I warn you in advance that the timecodes may be slightly inaccurate, and some things may not be considered, because. an endless stream of delusions of truth did its job, well, or something sounded too meaningless to refute it at all or somehow consider it.

Intro.

Juno's head of mission is Scott Bolton.

1:24

We are shown an ancient, mysterious videotape in which, as they are trying to convey to us, a former NASA employee named Matthew Boylan, who was forced to make images of a flat Earth spherical.

Former NASA employee, medicine man, carpenter, doctor, engineer, architect, and comedian Matt Boylan.

In reality, the attitude of the person in the frame to NASA is known only from his words. There is no reliable evidence that he is a former NASA employee (at least I could not find any). But managed to find speeches as a stand-up comedian.

Also, according to information from the network, he also positions himself as a composer, chemist, herbal medicine consultant, engineer, architect, interior designer, carpenter, portrait painter, doctor, scientist, political expert and historian.

It looks more like a summary of the regulars of some talk shows on our television, or a resume of another "expert" from REN TV.

Accordingly, I will not consider this part of the program about his revelations in detail for lack of semantic load.

3:10

From this point on, the person in the frame named David Murphy will continue to be called a scientist, although the caption says that he is supposedly just an amateur physicist.

Dave Murphy. There is information that he started as a graphic designer, animator and programmer, and ends up as a flat-earther conspiracy theorist.

He calls himself a former researcher(in a letter to Neil DeGrasse Tyson), but the relationship to some scientific field not in his biography. Yes, and an amateur physicist, this is probably the physicist who denies the existence of gravity, and does not understand how and why planes fly.

It's funny enough that in this program we are offered the opinion of some people, supposedly from science. In fact, there is no information about their scientific activities. Uuuu... or the matrix blocked me Google. 4:58

We are told that artillery does not take into account the curvature of the Earth

I am not competent enough in ballistics, apparently, therefore I am not invited to REN TV as an expert, but the data found contradict the statements in the program. Artillery apparently still sometimes takes into account the curvature of the Earth. This is noted in the English Wikipedia article. If for someone the Wikipedia article is not a source that should be trusted, then similar information regarding taking into account the curvature of the Earth is also found in some other sources. You can also get acquainted with the data regarding the accounting for the rounding of the Earth in ballistics, for example, in this book starting from page 493:

Screenshot from the book Exterior Ballistics

In general, as far as I understand, this is a minor factor affecting accuracy, because. There are more significant influences.

5:33

It is said that some scientists (probably our characters) explain that all calculations on bombing ballistics are made taking into account that the Earth is flat and motionless.

It's a lie.

In this manual from the official site marines The United States has a description of the effects that affect, as well as tables of adjustments due to the rotation of the Earth:

6:47

It's about about Chicago, which is visible from a distance of 140 km, and should have dropped 1.5 kilometers below the horizon due to the rounding of the Earth. The person with the title "Popularizer of Science" is in fact, again, an astrologer, and thus, apparently, he is popularizing not science, but pseudoscience. Sits and laughs at a mirage. But he laughs best who laughs last. In addition, the video sequence perfectly demonstrates how the lower part of the skyscrapers disappeared behind the horizon, clearly not because of the plane of the Earth. Anyway, well done here.

As you can see, the earth is really flat. the foundations of the buildings are not visible. Although ... it is quite possible that part of the city is underwater.

We are not given any facts in favor of the reality of the distance of 140 km from which the survey was made, and there is also no data on the height of the observer and weather conditions.
And it’s not a fact that filming in the REN TV video sequence was generally positioned among flat-earthers.

But let's try to find these shots of Chicago from 140 km. What are we actually talking about? Googling, I came to the conclusion that this photo is meant. This was stated in a lonely post on Peekaboo (strange, such an epic shooting, worthy of mention on TV, but in fact a photo that someone called so).

Photo of Chicago allegedly from 140 km. As we can see, the mirage is still present.

But, finding real data was not difficult. Posted on the author's Facebook time-lapse The that contains this frame.

The filming location is Warren Dunes State Park.

We check the distance from there to the skyscrapers. It turns out something about 86 km. Ok, let's round it up. Let it be 90 km.

There is a simulation of the visibility of Chicago on a spherical Earth, in which you can choose the distance, the height of the observer, etc., if you wish, you can also use refraction in the simulation (it is responsible for the mirage).

By the way, in the park from which the survey was conducted, there are several rather high sand dunes, the highest of which reaches a height of 73 meters. In the description of the video, the author wrote that it was filmed from the top of a dune (but not the fact that it was this one).

Highest point of Warren Dunes State Park.

So let's take it virtually and climb! And since we climbed high, and it’s not a fact that we shot from this dune, we’ll sacrifice the mirage and set the standard refraction.

We get this look:

City view simulation (the height of the high tower taken into account in Chicago), from a distance of 90 km, a height of 73 meters, with standard refraction and a lens focal length of 500mm (the larger, the larger the city). On the right is the spherical Earth. Left is flat.

As you can see, Chicago can be observed from such a distance on a spherical Earth with the help of optics (the author said that from the top of the dune, under the right weather conditions, everything is visible without the help of a camera). Moreover, we did not resort to strong refraction as in the photo, and the exact terrain is also not taken into account, because. Buildings can also be located on a hill. You can spin the simulation yourself, and "raise" the city even higher.

Perhaps, under special weather conditions, and even from a great height, it will be possible to see the tops of skyscrapers from a distance of 140 km. But REN TV did not show us the footage from 140 km, and flat earthers, as far as I understand, “feed” on this very photo from 90 km. And since we do not have data for simulation, we will not invent. Yes, and in general, simulations were invented by the Masons.

Completely forgot...
ha ha ha

7:11

We are talking about curvature in the pictures due to special shooting equipment.
Further! ARCHAEOLOGIST! talks about photography, fisheye lens, and how with a regular lens you will never see any curvature.

The rounding is visible from very high altitudes, but it is weakly expressed in the images. Simulation will again help us to verify this. You can simulate the desired type of optics and height, thereby checking the roundness. Even in those shootings where at first glance the horizon looks flat, in reality it is not.

Video arguments of flat-earthers from the Internet, when compressed in length, become convex. Of course, no one canceled the distortion, but to say that the bulge is a plane is rather stupid, especially considering that even without compression, the horizon sometimes does not look even in such videos.

Video examples from Soyuz and stratospheric jump are also incorrect, because the optics used, and indeed the space that the Earth occupies in the frame, do not allow visually assessing the rounding due to the large radius of the Earth. Moreover, in one of the frames of the video of the stratospheric jump, the Earth generally looks more concave than flat (an excellent move is to talk about optical distortions and cite frames and distortions as an example, but reversed).

9:00

"Scientist" Dave Murphy urges NASA to show the Earth live using the Hubble telescope.

Apparently, this "scientist" is not aware that the Hubble telescope is not equipped with equipment that allows broadcasting live.

Regarding the impossibility of shooting the Earth with this telescope, there is an official statement for everyone who does not really understand photography and the capabilities of certain spacecraft.

The minimum exposure time of the Hubble telescope is 0.1 second. During this time, the telescope moves relative to the planet by 700 meters, respectively, all images will be smeared. Obviously, such a survey is completely inappropriate.

9:23

Murphy, through the mouth of the REN TV channel, talks about the different proportions of the Earth from the Moon in NASA images. The following are examples of various shots.

This is about the same weight category of stupidity as being surprised that the Moon shot from the Earth on a phone camera does not look very impressive, unlike shooting with long lenses.

I think the REN TV operators understand why this is happening better than Murphy and the "scientists", however, like every sane person familiar with photo / video equipment. Accordingly, here too - complete ignorance and incompetence on the part of the "scientist".

I'll just leave this here.

As an example, at 9:38 we are shown a picture of Lunar Orbiter 1, comparing it with a picture from the lunar surface and a picture from lunar orbit.

This effect is very well explained.

10:03

For some reason, the archaeologist again takes the responsibility to talk about photographic equipment, but although he says the right things about orbits and focal lengths, these explanations do not suit him, because. apparently do not match his worldview. He also cites as an example the differences in the proportions of the continents in some images of the Earth from space.

Again, here is the complete incompetence of the archaeologist in this matter, it is no longer surprising. This effect is perfectly demonstrated in this video using a globe as an example, and depends on the same focal length and distance to the object.

Moreover, a fairly well-known image of the Earth, in which America visually occupies a larger area than we are used to seeing, is a composite image obtained from a fairly close distance by space standards. I will not consider it deeper, because. REN TV did not show it to us.

11:27

Igor Prokopenko says that astronomers are warning that a meteorite the size of half the Earth is flying towards our planet.

Apparently, Igor Prokopenko is not from our planet because:

A meteorite is a fallen body.

Astronomers did not warn about this, because. the meteorite does not fly.

Igor Prokopenko says: “Where is the truth?” The truth is clearly not in his speech. Not to distinguish an asteroid from a meteorite is somehow very weak for the owner of "TEFI" as the main educator of the country.

12:23

Astrologer/Ph.D. Pavel Sviridov, according to REN TV, assures that the Earth is flat and its real map looks like it is shown at 12:32.

The same card.

This card is a polar azimuth projection, namely, a sweep of a sphere with north pole in the center. It has terrible distortions in the southern regions. You can evaluate the distortions on a similar projection, but calculated with the south pole in the center instead of the north on the map that Pavel adheres to.

Polar azimuthal projection with the south pole at the center. The usual territories of the northern hemisphere (in the real world) are distorted in exactly the same way as the southern ones on the “flat earth map”. Flat earthers from the southern hemisphere will definitely like it.

Both maps are, of course, real maps of the Earth, but neither of them confirms the flatness of our planet, just as a map in the form of a star does not mean that our planet is actually in the form of a star, and the evil Masonic-Illuminati Sinoiists hide this. .

Berghaus star projection

An unremarkable projection of this kind

It should be noted that distortions on the same azimuth projection, of course, disappear when projecting back onto a sphere.

A visual demonstration of the distortion of the azimuth projection.

In general, a rather disastrous opinion for a Ph.D., isn't it?

12:36

The connection between the map and Paul's hypothesis is unclear. Next, a video is shown with Bush Sr. in a wheelchair and an astronaut against the background "used in the film industry." We are told that Pavel Sviridov discovered this feature.

George Bush Sr. behind whom an astronaut is visible on the screen against a checkered background.

As far as I know, for the first time this was discovered (although no one found anything there in the case, except for their own stupidity) by foreign conspiracy theorists. But it's not that important.

The information persistently rubbed into us is not true, because this checkered background does not serve the stated purposes, how could people from the TV channel not know about it.

This is the test screen. Against his background, a series of experiments was recorded (unfortunately, Pavel did not find them), which are available to everyone, and, as we see, without replacing the background. Yes, the screen is used to capture the trajectories of objects, and the result is this.

One of the secret videos

Video with water in zero gravity, this is a completely different video.

The statement at 14:17 about experts and 100% coincidence cannot be called anything other than an outright lie. If you see a 100% match between these two videos, and think that the second is due to the background and balloon swap, then congratulations, most likely you are in big trouble.

Based on the above facts, Pavel Sviridov is blatantly lying.

All further comments by Pavel on the topic of the ISS are of approximately the same value.

16:18

The archaeologist again for some reason acts as a person who judges the authenticity of something, based on his own perception. In this case, about the authenticity of images from the ISS.

As you know, RAW files are the measure of the reliability of images in our time. On this site you can find thousands of RAW files taken on the ISS by astronauts. Although ... stop ... most likely these are fakes, in the same place the Earth is rounded ... well, okay ... I'll leave the link.

16:30

We are shown unique shots with balloon satellites that miraculously rose to a height of 4 times the ISS orbit, etc.

For some reason, the footage may be from 1962, but we are talking about Echo satellites. By the way, the satellites themselves were still launched on rockets, and were already inflated in space.

20:10

The archaeologist assures that even in the 20th century it was possible to find world-famous physicists who did not doubt that the Earth is flat. As an example, we are given a quote by Auguste Piccard that from a height of 17,000 meters the Earth seemed to be a flat disk with curved edges. The archaeologist read it in the archives.

Apparently, the list of such physicists ends on Piccard, and the English-language article on Wikipedia is the archive.

It is unlikely that Piccard was lying about a flat disk, because from a height of 17,000 m the rounding is insignificant (you can check it in the same simulator that I gave above), the truth about the curved edges is not entirely clear, but let's leave it to Piccard's conscience.

However, this does not make him a flat earther, just as there are no more scientists who did not doubt the plane of the Earth.

21:48

We are shown a map of Orlando Ferguson, saying that this is what Piccard saw. Quote! "The earth on it is flat, with curved edges."

Map of Bible Land (in the real world). Map of what Orlando Ferguson saw (according to REN TV)

Quite comical. Especially considering that this is a map of the Biblical Land, and, accordingly, is nothing more than a fiction, however, this should not be surprised, because. in a conspiracy environment, it is customary to collect any trash and try to link it together. But it's not time to talk about religion yet.

22:00

Interestingly enough, in the article itself they write that the original map is eaten away by worms, and what is given above is not quite what the Chinese allegedly drew.

Indeed, the Earth does not look like a ball, however, as on all maps. But I could not find a picture of the original map, apparently, the worms still ate it, or the dog ate it.

22:22

The popularizer of astrology and false science tells us about the maps of the USA of the 19th century, where? hemispherical? Earth is the official map of the world.

Of course, the criteria of officiality are interesting. The astrologer claims that they sailed, traveled, used in navigation. Amazing Facts, especially when you don't know what a map projection is.

22:40

And here it is, the map of Alexander Gleason, and again the off-screen voice assures that the Earth is flat on it (how do they do it?).

Gleason Map

In fact, the map itself is a map in the already familiar azimuth projection. Apparently, the azimuth projection is a priori a criterion for the plane of conspiracy theorists. I would like to look at a map on which the Earth is not flat, if we speak in the language of REN TV.

We are persistently rubbed that travelers were guided by it. Yes, yes, on a map that does not even have a scale. The scale below only shows the ratio of land and nautical miles, as well as the correspondence of minutes and degrees of longitude to minutes of solar time.

Ironically enough, the map itself says that it uses a projection, and is not just a direct, undistorted display of the plane. It's a pity that Alexander was too shy to indicate the true type of projection.

Everything is perceived even funnier after reading the patent of this map www.google.ru/patents/US497917

23:13 The part that no one has repeated the Cavendish experiment is completely incomprehensible.

But the values of the gravitational constant are periodically updated.

Written here, of course, will not come as a surprise to most readers, because. the very name of the channel has long become a meme, but still I decided to analyze this issue in detail, given that at the moment there are too many people who have succumbed to the influence of such a sect-like phenomenon as the theory of a flat Earth in the 21st century due to various reasons.
And it should be especially noted that the aggravation began long before the memes with the schoolboy.
Also, contrary to popular belief, most flat earthers are not trolls, it's much sadder.

Before proceeding to a detailed analysis of this masterpiece, based on a comparison of information and my personal understanding of the topics under consideration, I propose to get acquainted with the characters who will enlighten us throughout the program.
To begin with, let's get acquainted with the Russian researchers invited to the broadcast.
We'll meet the rest in the process.

1. Pavel Sviridov

According to REN TV:

Scientist / PhD

In the real world:

Astrologer, flat earther, conspiracy theorist (also, perhaps, indeed, a candidate of technical and legal sciences and a colonel).

Pavel Sviridov may indeed be a candidate of technical sciences. So, at least, it is written on his website, but there is no data on his scientific activities.

2. Vadim Shegalov

According to REN TV:

Archaeologist / Scientist

In the real world:

3. Andrei Bukharin

According to REN TV:

Popularizer of false science

In the real world:

Astrologer

I could not find evidence of Andrei's activity as a popularizer of science. The main activity is astrology.

As you can see, the type of activity of these characters promises us complete competence, an adequate assessment and fairly logical reasoning in areas to which they are not related.

About time codes

Intro.

Go!

0:43

Voice-over talks about the shocking revelation of a NASA employee! The video sequence also shows us the current head of the Juno mission - Scott Bolton, but this is not the worst.

Juno's head of mission is Scott Bolton.

1:24

We are shown an ancient, mysterious videotape in which, as they are trying to convey to us, a former NASA employee named Matthew Boylan, who was forced to make images of a flat Earth spherical.

Former NASA employee, medicine man, carpenter, doctor, engineer, architect, and comedian Matt Boylan.

It looks more like a summary of the regulars of some talk shows on our television, or a resume of another "expert" from REN TV.

Accordingly, I will not consider this part of the program about his revelations in detail for lack of semantic load.

3:10

From this point on, the person in the frame named David Murphy will continue to be called a scientist, although the caption says that he is supposedly just an amateur physicist.

Dave Murphy. There is information that he started as a graphic designer, animator and programmer, and ends up as a flat-earther conspiracy theorist.

He himself calls himself a former researcher (in a letter to Neil Degrasse Tyson), but there is no relation to any scientific field in his biography. Yes, and an amateur physicist, this is probably the physicist who denies the existence of gravity, and does not understand how and why planes fly.

4:58

We are told that artillery does not take into account the curvature of the Earth

Screenshot from the book Exterior Ballistics

In general, as far as I understand, this is a minor factor affecting accuracy, because. There are more significant influences.

5:33

It is said that some scientists (apparently, our actors) explain that all calculations on the ballistics of bombing are made taking into account the fact that the Earth is flat and motionless.

It's a lie.

This manual from the official website of the US Marine Corps has a description of the effects that affect, as well as tables of adjustments due to the rotation of the Earth:

6:47

We are talking about Chicago, which is visible from a distance of 140 km, and would have to fall 1.5 kilometers below the horizon due to the rounding of the Earth. The person with the title "Popularizer of Science" is in fact, again, an astrologer, and thus, apparently, he is popularizing not science, but pseudoscience. Sits and laughs at a mirage. But he laughs best who laughs last. In addition, the video sequence perfectly demonstrates how the lower part of the skyscrapers disappeared behind the horizon, clearly not because of the plane of the Earth. Anyway, well done here.

As you can see, the earth is really flat. the foundations of the buildings are not visible. Although ... it is quite possible that part of the city is underwater.

Photo of Chicago allegedly from 140 km. As we can see, the mirage is still present.

But, finding real data was not difficult. Posted on the author's Facebook time-lapse The that contains this frame.

The filming location is Warren Dunes State Park.

We check the distance from there to the skyscrapers. It turns out something about 86 km. Ok, let's round it up. Let it be 90 km.

Highest point of Warren Dunes State Park.

So let's take it virtually and climb! And since we climbed high, and it’s not a fact that we shot from this dune, we’ll sacrifice the mirage and set the standard refraction.

We get this look:

Simulation of the view of the city (the height of the tallest tower in Chicago is taken into account), from a distance of 90 km, a height of 73 meters, with standard refraction and a lens focal length of 500mm (the larger, the larger the city). On the right is the spherical Earth. Left is flat.

Completely forgot...
ha ha ha

7:11

We are talking about curvature in the pictures due to special shooting equipment.
Further! ARCHAEOLOGIST! talks about photography, fisheye lens, and how with a regular lens you will never see any curvature.

9:00

"Scientist" Dave Murphy urges NASA to show the Earth live using the Hubble telescope.

Apparently, this "scientist" is not aware that the Hubble telescope is not equipped with equipment that allows broadcasting live.

9:23

Murphy, through the mouth of the REN TV channel, talks about the different proportions of the Earth from the Moon in NASA images. The following are examples of various shots.

This is about the same weight category of stupidity as being surprised that the Moon shot from the Earth on a phone camera does not look very impressive, unlike shooting with long lenses.

I'll just leave this here.

As an example, at 9:38 we are shown a picture of Lunar Orbiter 1, comparing it with a picture from the lunar surface and a picture from lunar orbit.

This effect is very well explained.

10:03

For some reason, the archaeologist again takes the responsibility to talk about photographic equipment, but although he says the right things about orbits and focal lengths, these explanations do not suit him, because. apparently do not match his worldview. He also cites as an example the differences in the proportions of the continents in some images of the Earth from space.

11:27

Igor Prokopenko says that astronomers are warning that a meteorite the size of half the Earth is flying towards our planet.

Apparently, Igor Prokopenko is not from our planet because:

A meteorite is a fallen body.

Astronomers did not warn about this, because. the meteorite does not fly.

12:23

Astrologer/Ph.D. Pavel Sviridov, according to REN TV, assures that the Earth is flat and its real map looks like it is shown at 12:32.

The same card.

This map is a polar azimuthal projection, namely, a sweep of a sphere with the north pole in the center. It has terrible distortions in the southern regions. You can evaluate the distortions on a similar projection, but calculated with the south pole in the center instead of the north on the map that Pavel adheres to.

Berghaus star projection

An unremarkable projection of this kind

It should be noted that distortions on the same azimuth projection, of course, disappear when projecting back onto a sphere.

A visual demonstration of the distortion of the azimuth projection.

In general, a rather disastrous opinion for a Ph.D., isn't it?

12:36

The connection between the map and Paul's hypothesis is unclear. Next, a video is shown with Bush Sr. in a wheelchair and an astronaut against the background "used in the film industry." We are told that Pavel Sviridov discovered this feature.

George Bush Sr. behind whom an astronaut is visible on the screen against a checkered background.

The information persistently rubbed into us is not true, because this checkered background does not serve the stated purposes, how could people from the TV channel not know about it.

One of the secret videos

Video with water in zero gravity, this is a completely different video.

Based on the above facts, Pavel Sviridov is blatantly lying.

All further comments by Pavel on the topic of the ISS are of approximately the same value.

16:18

The archaeologist again for some reason acts as a person who judges the authenticity of something, based on his own perception. In this case, about the authenticity of images from the ISS.

16:30

We are shown unique shots with balloon satellites that miraculously rose to a height of 4 times the ISS orbit, etc.

For some reason, the footage may be from 1962, but we are talking about Echo satellites. By the way, the satellites themselves were still launched on rockets, and were already inflated in space.

18:10

The same archaeologist speaks of the fall of a satellite in a balloon in Brazil.

In Brazil, it was not a satellite that fell, but a stratospheric balloon for distributing the Internet of the Loon project from Google. It even had the inscription CONTACT PROJECT LOON RECOVERY TEAM, apparently for such cases.

Fallen satellite and inscription.

23:13 The part that no one has repeated the Cavendish experiment is completely incomprehensible.

But the values of the gravitational constant are periodically updated.

The fact that our planet is round was again doubted back in the 19th century, and the theory of a flat Earth still has followers. They reject scientific facts and firmly believe that our planet has the shape of a plate with rounded edges. Online, "flat earthers" are in the spotlight: American rapper B.o.b. decided to launch his satellite and prove to everyone that he was lying. The next sensational film arrived on time. Especially for the Memepedia project, I figured out why the Internet does not get tired of laughing at people who refuse to believe that our planet is round.

rap against everyone

One of the most ardent supporters of the flat earth theory is the American rapper B.o.b (Bobby Ray Simmons Jr.). In late September, he announced a fundraiser on the Go Fund Me crowdfunding platform to launch "one or more" space satellites. The musician believes that the photographs of our planet taken by NASA are fake, and he is ready to prove it.

To “expose”, the musician first requested 200 thousand dollars, but as soon as he realized the viral nature of his intention, he raised the bar to a million. At the time of writing, he has received just over $6,000 in donations.

“Instead of just launching one or more satellites into space, I will become the founder of the foundation. It is necessary to conduct any available experiments using balloons, drones and even radars, ”- declared rapper b.o.b.

Bobby became fascinated with the flat earth theory last year. He posted in his Twitter photo against the horizon and wrote: “Cities in the background about 16 miles (25 kilometers - approx. "Tapes.ru") from each other... Where is the bend? Please explain this."

Frame: Big Think / YouTube

True, in the end, the specialist admitted that the rapper's lag of 500 years in these arguments does not affect his musical abilities in any way.

The skirmish with the scientist inspired the musician to the track flat line, in which he stated that "you managed to fool us one last time".

“Why is NASA a part of ?
They divided the seas into 33 degrees,
They feed the children with Masonry, bro, be careful what you read "

Eminent astronauts tried to dissuade the "flat earther". NASA astronaut Terry Werts, who has been to space twice, made his case; Buzz Aldrin, the pilot of Apollo 11 and the second man on the Moon, and Scott Kelly, who flew into space four times and, together with Russian Mikhail Kornienko, set a record for staying on the ISS. But Bobby remained adamant.

The rapper's outbursts about the shape of the planet cause controversy among his fans and haters alike. No one understands if Bobby really believes in a flat earth or if it's all part of the artist's PR campaign.

Shock and sensation from REN TV

The release of the program "The Most Shocking Hypotheses", dedicated to the flat Earth, was shown on REN TV on September 25. Inserted into the program are clippings from an interview with former NASA employee Matthew Boylan, who claims he was told about the "real" shape of the Earth almost immediately after being hired.

“I thought they were testing my sense of humor to see if I was stupid. But no, they weren't joking," Boylan assured the audience.

According to him, in "real" images, the Earth looks flat, as in the logo, but NASA is beneficial to hide the truth. The second "expert" in the REN TV film is British amateur physicist Dave Murphy. According to him, the curvature of the Earth is a fictitious indicator that is not taken into account when laying aircraft routes.

A Russian astrologer believes that a view of Chicago from a distance of almost 100 kilometers is convincing evidence that the Earth is flat. We are talking about the video of photographer Joshua Nowinsky, who shot an American city from the opposite shore of Lake Michigan. Due to the curvature of the Earth, the city should have disappeared below the horizon, but it is visible thanks to the so-called "upper mirage": the difference in the temperature of the air currents allows the object to be reflected and be visible at a great distance.

REN TV experts claim that images of our planet from space are taken with fisheye lenses, which is why objects in the frame look rounded.

According to supporters of the idea of a flat Earth, it is beneficial for modern science to support the belief in a round planet, because billions are allocated to the space industry.

In social networks, the program was reacted with sincere bewilderment. Someone wrote angry messages, and someone just laughed. In a few days, a new trend has formed on Russian-language Twitter: using jokes about a flat Earth, users began to convey their mood or attitude to a topic.

Quite unexpectedly, he joined the ranks of the defenders of science, who usually takes a conservative position and works closely with religious organizations. In a comment, Tsargrad accused his colleagues of chasing sensations.

Flat Earthers vs Ballooners

Russia also has its adherents of the flat earth theory. Their beliefs are in most cases based on the Bible, and they call the modern structure of the world "pseudoscience."

“The Bible gives us a clear and precise picture of the world order. modern science, financed by Masonic circles, denies this picture and slips its own instead, designed to confuse minds. We have a choice - who are we with? With God and the Bible, or with Freemasons and their pseudoscience,” says the description of the largest group "Flat Earth Societies" in VKontakte.

In Runet, the main supporter of the theory of a flat Earth is the schoolboy Maxim Ozherelyev from Miass, Chelyabinsk region. A 13-year-old teenager on his YouTube channel and VKontakte broadcast his arguments about a flat planet for a long time. At the end of June 2017, the recordings began to attract more and more attention and criticism, and as a result, the boy deleted all his videos.

A copy of one of the records not only preserved, but also became a popular meme thanks to the word "ball ***" (an obscene version of the words "balloons" and "ball lovers") - this is how Maxim called everyone who believes in the round shape of our planet. The term "flat earthers" (the collective term for members of the Flat Earth Society) also became widely known after his video.

The teenager argues his beliefs by the fact that during the jump a person does not land in a new place, although the Earth rotates at a speed of 400 meters per second.

The meme about "ball ** s" fell in love with netizens and was at the peak of popularity all summer, and Maxim's face became recognizable.

Now Ozherelyev is no longer engaged in the popularization of the theory of a flat Earth, as he stated in the last video on his channel.

Igor Prokopenko. “An independent expert assessment of the events that changed the world. News from all areas of human knowledge and the mysteries of our subconscious,” reads its description. Prokopenko himself at the beginning of the issue says that this is the only program where any theory can be discussed "without damage to reputation."

The first character in the Flat Earth issue was former NASA employee Matthew Boylan. He said that when he began to study real photographs of the Earth, he realized that the planet is flat. The sole purpose of NASA's existence, he says, is to promote the fact that the Earth is round, and real images of a flat planet were allegedly shown to him on the first day of work.

Another “expert” on the program was British amateur physicist Dave Murphy. REN TV used clippings from his interview with the Macedonian channel. Murphy is sure that "they" are lying to us and spending billions of dollars to create fake pictures.

The Russian "experts" were Candidate of Technical Sciences Pavel Sviridov, popularizer of science Andrey Bukharin and archaeologist Vadim Shegalov. Flat earthers are convinced that all space flights take place in near-Earth space, and all photographs are composite shots. If the plane were to fly on round ground, the pilot would have to lower his nose regularly. “This is absolute proof that the plane is flying over a flat surface,” the “expert” is sure. Curvature earth's surface- a parameter invented by scientists, explains Sviridov.

UN Emblem

If the Earth is a sphere, then Chicago could not be seen, but the city is visible from the other side of the lake, Bukharin continues. The curvature of the horizon on filming from orbit is obtained because astronauts use a fisheye lens, NASA specifically does not want to deploy the Hubble telescope and show the earth live, but in reality it looks like on the UN emblem:

Filming of astronauts in zero gravity was filmed on chromakey using computer graphics. The purpose of the whole fiction is to imitate the turbulent activity of space agencies in order to receive trillions of dollars a year, Shegalov is sure. The heroes of the program insist that the flat Earth was on all ancient maps, and that the Earth is covered by the firmament was said in the Bible. Anomalies in the sky are caused by a "failure in the operation of the dome" that rotates above us, Sviridov is sure.

Flat earth on old maps

The flat-earthers even launched a rocket, and it broke through the dome, but no one at NASA believed them. Even Hillary Clinton threatened to break the glass dome over the Earth during the election race, the authors of the film say. Even the basketball player Shaquille O'Neal admitted to the flat-earth theory.

Antarctica is a closed territory, it is impossible to control it, because it is a circle, because there is not a single image of the continent from space, it says at the end of the film.

“So what is the truth, really?” is the question that ends the program.

In 2017, many began to associate the flat earth theory with Igor Prokopenko. After some time, the writer clarified the situation, saying that he did not invent this hypothesis - its creator is the British researcher Dave Murphy. However, a documentary special project filmed with the participation of Prokopenko caused extraordinary attention, and journalists from various publishing houses began to pursue him. As part of one of the conferences, he said: "Let the one who says that the Earth is round throw a stone at me." To this, he added that now more than 500 million people around the world are supporters of the theory. Recall how it all began...

Documentary special project with Igor Prokopenko

Former NASA employee Matthew Boylan gave an interview in which he said that all images of the Earth are ordinary graphics. Moreover, he said that the essence of the existence of the National Aeronautics Administration lies in the false promotion of a supposedly scientific fact about the sphericity of our planet. Further, in the project of the theory of a flat Earth with Igor Prokopenko, the physicist Murphy appears, who claims that all space flights are carried out in near-Earth space. To develop the hypothesis, his words were taken from an interview on a Macedonian TV channel. As part of the telecast, he gives for about an hour the amazing facts that the Earth is flat, referring to the following arguments:

If the pilot of an airplane were flying in a curved line, then he would have to lower the nose of the aircraft every 5 minutes;
If the Earth were spherical, this would be taken into account when building bridges;
When creating ballistic weapons, only the fact that the surface is absolutely flat is accepted.

Russian scientists about the flat earth

After a speech by a British physicist and former NASA employee in a special project with Igor Prokopenko on the theory of a flat Earth, a Russian PhD appears. Pavel Sviridov made a no less loud statement: "Practice and calculations in ballistics have nothing to do with the rotation of the Earth." Moreover, he explained that the application of this parameter and the denial that the Earth is

flat, would lead to the fact that the missiles simply would not hit the designated points. Another popularizer of science, Andrei Bukharin, draws attention to the fact that the American city of Chicago is visible from a distance of 140 km, which contradicts science, because, taking into account the curvature of the planet, the city should fall for an observer at least 1.5 km down ...

This is just a series of facts from the personalities involved in the special project. But even this list of information is enough to raise doubts about the reliability of some scientific facts from NASA, not to mention the fact that as the official emblem of the UN, a picture is used in which the Earth is depicted as flat!