Life Noggin Debunked

Life Noggin releases video, 'This is How We Know The Earth Is Flat' in the wake of D. Marble taking his Spirit Level on an Airplane

Broadcasting to more than 1.3 Million subscribers, Life Noggin has hopped on the Flat Earth Debunk Train. Their recent video, made in response to D. Marble's Spirit Level Experiment (Flat Earthers toss him a like, he got a lotta hate for it), and has a sum total half a million views, about the same as D. Marble's video. We're gonna walk through the points Life Noggin made one by one, and see what's what. Here goes: 

Image of "where you are" by Life Noggin.

"Right now you're probably watching this video from somewhere on Earth. That big round beautiful planet humans call home. But how do you know the earth is round?" 

FIRST REBUTTAL: FLAT EARTHERS DO NOT CLAIM THE EARTH IS NOT ROUND. THEY CLAIM THE EARTH IS NOT A SPHERE AT THE SIZE WE HAVE BEEN TOLD, AND EITHER IT'S A BIGGER SPHERE OR IT'S LEVEL AS IT APPEARS TO BE (WITHSTANDING MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS). THIS IS A KEY LANGUAGE ISSUE AS THE EARTH COULD BE ROUND AND FLAT, LIKE DINNER PLATES, FRISBEES, LAKES, AND MANY OTHER THINGS. 

"But how do we know the earth is round? Your senses would tell you the earth is flat. 

This is true. Our senses indicate a flat and stationary earth. 

Image of "Flat Earth" by Life Noggin.

"After all if you stand in a large field it actually looks pretty flat. And if you walk through that field it doesn't feel like your going over a curve. Could it be that the earth is actually flat? Well let's try an experiment. Say you're standing in a field outside of Chicago. If the earth is flat you should be able to see South West, and see some of the tallest points in the United States The Rocky Mountains. But the thing is... you can't. That's because of the curvature of the earth." 

SECOND REBUTTAL: CHICAGO LIES AT 595 FT ABOVE SEA LEVEL, and MT. ELBERT (THE TALLEST POINT IN THE ROCKIES), IS 14,440 FT ABOVE SEA LEVEL. THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THEM 1006 MILES. 

The Distance from Chicago to the Highest Point in the Rockies is over 1,000 Miles.

PRESUMING YOU COULD SEE SOMETHING 3 MILES HIGH FROM 1,000 MILES AWAY IS SO COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS  WHETHER THE EARTH IS FLAT OR ROUND.

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS SUCH AS HUMIDITY, HAZE, POLLUTION, LIGHT REFRACTION, AND OTHER PARTICULATE MATTER ARE ENOUGH TO OBFUSCATE ONES VIEW OF AN URBAN METROPOLIS FROM ABOUT 100 MILES AWAY (E.G. SOMETIMES PEOPLE SEE CHICAGO FROM MILWAUKEE AIRPORT, NEARLY 100 MILES AWAY).

According to LiveScience.com, "If the Earth were flat, or if you were standing atop a mountain surveying a larger than usual patch of the planet, you could perceive bright lights hundreds of miles distant." 

RIGHT HERE LIVESCIENCE.COM ADMITS YOU COULD ONLY SEE "HUNDREDS" OF MILES ON "A FLAT EARTH", IF YOU WERE "ATOP A MOUNTAIN" VIEWING BRIGHT LIGHTS! THE VIDEO PRESUMES YOU ARE JUST OUTSIDE CHICAGO AT 595 FT. ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

FURTHERMORE, THE TIPS OF MOUNTAINS DO NOT EMIT BRIGHT LIGHTS, AS EVIDENCED BY OBSERVATIONS OF CITIES FROM GREAT DISTANCES, ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS TYPICALLY OCCLUDE ONE'S VIEW OF TALL OBJECTS FROM GREAT DISTANCES (SUCH AS A CITY SCAPE).

MAKING AN OBSERVATION OF MT. ELBERT FROM 1,000 MILES AWAY IN CHICAGO AKA ACROSS "HUNDREDS OF MILES" WOULD ONLY BE POSSIBLE IF IT WAS BRIGHTLY LIT, AND WE'RE TALKING VEGAS LIT, AND PRESUMING PERFECT VIEWING CONDITIONS, AND PRESUMING WE'RE ATOP A MOUNTAIN, ACCORDING TO LIVESCIENCE.COM.

This is the optical myth portrayed as factual and ridiculously out of scale by Life Noggin.

"You'll notice a similar problem if you stand on the seashore and try and watch a boat sail away. After a while it will disappear from view and not only that but the bottom of the boat will vanish before the top as it goes over what is called the horizon line. The place where the sky meets the earth. For someone who is six feet tall the horizon line is only six feet away." 

THIRD REBUTTAL: THE FACT THAT THEY ARE STILL MAKING THIS ARGUMENT AND HAVEN'T UPDATED IT IS HILARIOUS. CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE A BOAT IN VIEW FROM A CAMERA, WHICH PANS BACK, AND MAKES IT "GO OVER THE HORIZON". THE BOAT DIDN'T GO OVER THE HORIZON, IT TRAVELED BEYOND YOUR LINE OF SIGHT. THE FACT THAT LIFE NOGGIN SAYS WATCHING A BOAT GO OUT TO SEA AND DISAPPEAR IS PROOF OF THE CURVATURE OF THE EARTH IS A BLATAN LIE WHICH YOU CAN VERIFY FOR YOURSELF WITH A HIGH-POWERED ZOOM CAMERA LIKE A P900. FURTHER MORE, THE ASSERTION THAT THE HULL OF THE BOAT DISAPPEARING BEFORE THE TOP OF THE BOAT INDICATES A CONVEX LANDSCAPE IS FALSE, THE SAME EFFECT CAN BE FOUND TO OCCUR ON LEVEL SURFACES. AS ERIC DUBAY NOTES, "THE LOWEST PARTS OF OBJECTS RECEDING FROM A GIVEN POINT OF OBSERVATION NECESSARILY DISAPPEAR BEFORE THE HIGHEST."

FURTHERMORE, FROM 120,000 FT THE HORIZON RISES TO EYE LEVEL. IF WE CANNOT OBSERVE THE CURVE FROM 20 MILES UP, HOW DO EXPECT A PERSON TO SEE THE CURVE FROM SEA SHORE? 

"We've known about the planet's curvature for over two thousand years. The Ancient Greeks figured out the earth is round based on several pieces of evidence including their observation of ships going over the horizon line. The Scientist Aristotle writing in 350 BCE noted that during an eclipse the earth makes a round shadow on the moon."

FOURTH REBUTTAL: OBVIOUSLY THIS IS THE BEST, AND PERHAPS ONLY RELEVANT ARGUMENT. I'LL STATE THE QUESTION AGAI: HOW IS A LUNAR ECLIPSE POSSIBLE ON A FLAT EARTH IF THE EARTH IS BETWEEN THE MOON AND THE SUN, and THE EARTH'S SPHERICITY CAUSES THE CURVE TO APPEAR ON THE SHADOWED OCCLUSION OF THE MOON, AKA THE ECLIPSE? 

LOOKING AT THIS MODEL THAT DEPICTS HOW LUNAR ECLIPSES OCCCUR, IF THE LIGHT SOURCE (SUN) IS ABOVE THE OBJECT (EARTH), THAT IS TO THE SUN IS ABOVE OUR VISUAL HORIZON, AND THUS SHOULD BE ILLUMINATING THE TOP PORTION OF THE MOON, WHILE THE EARTH, BENEATH YOUR FEET, SHOULD BE CASTING THE PENUMBRAL SHADOW VIEWABLE ALONG ITS BOTTOM PORTION.

HOWEVER, ON DECEMBER 10th, 2011 IN SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, MICHAEL ZEILER (REUPPED BY POLLY WHITE) RECORDED A LUNAR ECLIPSE DURING A SUNRISE, WHICH MEANS THE SUNLIGHT IS ABOVE THE OBJECT IN THE MODEL DEPICTED ABOVE, AND THUS THE TOP PORTION OF THE MOON SHOULD BE ILLUMINATED, WHILE "THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH" SHOULD OCCLUDE OUR VIEW OF THE MOON ACROSS ITS LOWER HALF.

INSTEAD, WE VIEW THE EXACT OPPOSITE.  OBSERVE THIS MODEL PROVIDED BY NASA.GOV, AND KEEP IN MIND HOW THE SUN ISN'T TO SCALE WITH RESPECT TO ITS SIZE AND DISTANCE, NOR IS THE EARTH SMALL AS IT WOULD BE.

AS YOU CAN TELL BY THE MODEL ABOVE, THE EFFECT OF THE SUN AND MOON BOTH BEING UP AT THE SAME TIME WHILST AN ECLIPSE IS OCCURRING SHOULD MEAN THAT THE PENUMBRAL SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH WOULD BE UPON THE BOTTOM OF THE MOON, AND THE SOLAR REFLECTION CAUSED BY THE SUN WOULD BE ON THE TOP OF THE MOON.

According to Dubay, The Greenwich Royal OBservatory recorded that "during the lunar eclipses of July 17th, 1590, November 3rd 1648, June 16th, 1666 and May 26th 1668 the moon rose eclipsed whilst the sun was still above the horizon." We can add to this date December 10th, 2011 by Michael Zeiler.

An additional video recorded the same event on the same day (12/10/2011) standing atop Cahokia Mounds (38°N, 90°W), just East of St. Louis at 6:55 AM, reveling a Full Moon going into a Full Lunar Eclipse as it sets, with the shadow coming from the top of the moon, and moving down across its face. The opposite of what should occur according to penumbral shadow of the earth. 

"He [Aristotle] also realized that stars appear in different places depending on where you are standing. For example, he saw stars in Egypt that were invisible farther north."

Life Noggin points Aristotle said one's view of stars in Egypt will be different if you go further north.

FIFTH REBUTTAL: EGYPT LIES AT ~ 26°N, 30°E. OBVIOUSLY, TRAVELING NORTH OF THAT LOCATION, SUCH AS UP TO 48° N IN PARIS, WILL SHIFT YOUR ANGULAR VIEW OF THE SKY. THIS HAS NO BEARING ON WHETHER THE EARTH IS FLAT OR SPHERICAL, AS EITHER ONE CAN EXPLAIN THIS SHIFT. ALL THIS MEANS IS THAT COVERING HUNDREDS OF MILES OF EARTH'S SURFACE, WILL IN TURN, SHIFT YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF WHERE YOU SEE THE STARS IN THE NIGHT SKY. 

"Roughly 100 years later Humans got their first measurements of the earth's curve, from another Greek Mathematician, Aristothenes, he had heard of a city in Southern Egypt, Syene, where at noon on the summer solstice the sun was directly overhead and the buildings cast no shadows, but at the same time in the northern city of Alexandria, the buildings did cast shadows, meaning the sun was at a different angle in the sky. On the day of the solstice the Eratosthenes stuck a stick in the ground in Alexandria, and measured the angle of its shadow, using the distance between the two cities, he was able to calculate the curvature of the earth." 

How LIfe Noggin wants you to think of the shape of the earth.

SIXTH REBUTTAL: FIRST OFF, ERATOSTHENES EXPERIMENT WAS DONE TO APPROXIMATE THE DISTANCE AROUND THE EARTH, NOT ITS DEGREE OF CURVATURE. 

ON THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE THE SUN REACHES ITS NORTHERN MOST POINT, WHICH IS TO SAY IT TRAVELS ALONG THE TROPIC OF CANCER, AT 23.5° N. LAT. SYENE, EGYPT IS AT 24°N LAT, WHICH EXPLAINS PERFECTLY WHY THE BUILDINGS THERE WOULD CAST NO SHADOW. THE SUN IS DIRECTLY OVERHEAD ON THE SUMMER SOLSTICE.

WHEREAS ALEXANDRIA IS FURTHER NORTH AT 31°N LAT, MEANING IT LIES A LITTLE OVER 7° NORTH OF THE TROPIC OF CANCER, SPANNING A DISTANCE OF 525 MILES.

THE ANGLE OF THE SHADOW WAS 7.2°, WHICH IS 1/50TH OF 360°, SO 525X50 = 26,100 MILES, WHICH IS A DAMN CLOSE APPROXIMATION TO THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL DISTANCE AROUND THE EQUATOR. 

525 Mi. Distance between Alexandria and Syene.

ONLY TROUBLE IS, THE EARTH DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A SPHERE FOR THIS MEASUREMENT TO MAKE SENSE. SAYING, "IF THE EARTH WAS FLAT NEITHER THE STICK IN ALEXANDRIA NOR THE BUILDINGS IN SYENE WOULD CAST A SHADOW" PRESUPPOSES THE SUN IS SO FAR AWAY, THAT A DISTANCE OF 7 ° NORTH COULD CAUSE AN ANGULAR SHIFT IN ONES RELATION TO IT. 

WHEREAS IF THE SUN IS IN FACT CLOSER (AS CREPUSCULAR RAYS, SUN SPOTS, AND BASIC HUMAN OBSERVATION INDICATE) THE 7.2° DIFFERENCE AT HIGH NOON BETWEEN ALEXANDRIA AND SYENE, COULD SIMPLY BE THE RESULT OF SOLAR PROXIMITY SUCH THAT TRAVELING 525 MILES FURTHER NORTH FROM THE TROPIC OF CANCER WHICH AT 23.5° ON THE SUMMER SOLSTICE REPRESENTS THE AS FAR NORTH AS THE SUN WILL GO WHILE BEAMING STRAIGHT DOWN OVERHEAD AND CAUSING THE "NO SHADOW" EFFECT. ANYTHING FURTHER NORTH, ON THAT SAME DAY OR ANY OTHER FOR THAT MATTER, WOULD AT "HIGH NOON" CAST A SHADOW COMMISERATE WITH THE LATITUDINAL DISTANCE IT IS AWAY FROM THE TROPIC OF CANCER. 

NASA WILL HAVE YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS MEASUREMENT ONLY WORKS ON A SPHERE EARTH, BECAUSE OTHERWISE THE SUN WOULD HAVE CAST NO SHADOW IN BOTH SYENE AND ALEXANDRIA, BUT THIS ISN'T NECESSARILY TRUE, BECAUSE IT PRESUPPOSES, THAT AS THE SUNLIGHT MOVES FROM TROPIC TO TROPIC BETWEN SOLSTICES, THAT IT IS EXTREMELY FAR AWAY. 

NOW, FOR THE RECORD, ERATOSTHENES WAS FUCKING DOPE, HE FIGURED OUT THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH (ON EITHER MODEL) AT THE EQUATOR BY APPROXIMATING THE TRAVEL TIMES IT TOOK A HORSE AND BUGGY TO GET FROM ONE LOCATION TO THE OTHER, AND MULTIPLYING THAT 'STADIA' BY, AS MENTIONED, FIFTY. 

HE WAS VERY ACCURATE IN CALCULATING THE APPROXIMATE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH, THE ONLY THING IS, HE DIDNPT SAY IT WAS A SPHERE OR FLAT, AND THAT SAME CIRCUMFERENTIAL MEASUREMENT WORKS ON A FLAT MODEL AS WELL, JUST GOING AROUND IN A CIRCLE ON A RECORD, IN STEAD OF GOING NORTH SOUTH AROUND A SPHERE (WHICH INCIDENTALLY NOBODY HAS DONE).

LASTLY, I WANT TO UNDERSCORE, THAT ERATOSTHENES WASN'T PROPOSING TO HAVE MEASURED THE EARTH'S CURVATURE, BUT RATHER ITS CIRCUMFERENCE. ​THE FACT THAT THIS IS BLATANTLY MISREPRESENTED IN A KID'S LIKE CARTOON IS DISGUSTING CONSIDERING IT IS MEANT FOR INTELLIGENT ADULTS WHOM PRESUMABLY WANT TO LEARN ABOUT WHERE THEY ARE IN THIS WORLD, OR MORE POSSIBLY AND ACCURATELY, WHOM JUST WANT TO DEBUNK FLAT EARTH THEORY AND GO ON ABOUT THEIR DAY.  

"You could actually perform this if you have a friend living a few miles away. Or if your friend is several hours west you can get more proof that the earth is round by calling them at sunset and asking how the sky looks. It will still be daylight there because of the earth's curve."

°SEVENTH REBUTTAL: OBVIOUSLY THIS IS JUST THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME LOGIC AS FALSELY APPLIED TO ERATOSTHENES' CIRCUMFERENCE CALCULATION, AND THUS WE'VE ALREADY PROVIDED CAUSE FOR DOUBT. BUT LET'S SUPPOSE YOU CALL YOUR BUDDY WHO LIVES A FEW HOURS WEST OF YOU AS THE SUN SETS, LET'S ALSO SUPPOSE THE TOP OF YOUR SUN HAS JUST GONE OUT OF VIEW. ALRIGHT SO YOU HIT EM UP QUICK AND HE LET'S YOU KNOW THAT HE'S STILL GOT TWO HOURS BRIGHT SUN UNTIL IT SETS. SUPPOSE HE PULLS OUT HIS ASTROLABE TO MEASURE THE ANGULAR DEGREE AT WHICH HE IS VIEWING THE SUN. LET'S SAY FOR FUN, YOUR ON THE EQUATOR AND ITS THE EQUINOX, AND HE'S ALSO LOCATED TWO HOURS WEST OF YOU ON THE EQUATOR.

SO WE KNOW THERE IS 12 HOURS OF DAYLIGHT. THE SUN COMES UP AT O 0° RISES TO 90° BY MIDDAY, AND DROPS DOWN TO 180° AFTER SUNSET. 180° / 12 HRS = 15° AN HOUR. WHEN YOU HIT YOUR BUDDY UP WHO IS TWO HOURS AHEAD OF YOU, THE SUN WILL BE AT ABOUT 30° FOR HIM, (THAT IS TWO HOURS BEFORE SETTING) 

HALF OF THE EARTH'S CIRCUMFERENCE AT THE EQUATOR IS ROUGHLY 25,000/2 = 12,500 AND 12,500 /12 = 1,041.6 miles, AND 1,041.6 X 2 = THE DISTANCE HE IS AWAY FROM YOU.

THAT'S 2,083.3 MILES AWAY FROM YOU. IF THE SUN IS VASTLY CLOSER AS SOME EVIDENCE SUGGESTS (SUN SPOTS, CREPUSCULAR RAYS, SOLAR ECLIPSE, ETC) THEN WHEN YOU'RE THINKING "GOSH IT MUST HAVE GONE AFTER IT SET" YOU CALL YOUR FRIEND IN A TIMEZONE TWO HOURS WEST ON THE EQUATOR, AND HE SAYS TO HIM IT'S AT 30° UP OFF THE GROUND, ​

BUT IF THE SUN IS VASTLY CLOSER, SOME CONJECTURE IT AROUND 3,391 MILES AWAY, THEN THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE. SOMETHING 3,000 MILES UP WHICH HAS TRAVELLED WHICH WILL TRAVEL JUST OVER 2,000 MILES IN TWO HOURS, IS SIMPLY FLYING OUT OF VIEW, JUST AS PLANES DO.  

"And there is one more piece of clear evidence for the planet's shape. Pictures taken from space. Maybe you're not on earth after all and are actually watching this video from the Space Station, in which case please leave a comment because that's so cool. If that's true you'll have a birds eye view of this giant blue and green globe what a beautiful place to live. So what other myths about the earth do you want me to explore.

EIGHTH REBUTTAL: PICTURES FROM SPACE IS THE DEFAULT ARGUMENT GLOBEYS TAKE WHEN YOU PIN THEM ON CURVATURE OR START PECKING AROUND ANTARCTICA. NOTE BILL NYE'S EVASIVE MANEUVER ON JUST SUCH A QUESTION. IF YOU'RE THIS FAR INTO THE ARTICLE I DON'T NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT PICTURES FROM SPACE. CHECK OUT JAPAN'S MOON PHOTOS! 

Do you love Science? Do you love video games? If so you'll have to checkout Play Noggin which is an excellent combination of the two. Julian recently explored the idea of MIND CONTROL. CHECK IT OUT!. ​

NINTH REBUTTAL: NOTE THIS OMINOUSLY APPROPRIATE VIDEO GAME ADVERTISEMENT FOR MIND CONTROL THAT'S TAGGED ONTO THE END OF THIS FLAT EARTH DEBUNK VIDEO BY LIFE NOGGIN. 

"If the colander our protagonist puts on his head allows him to hack into the minds of his less intellectual friends then in theory he could exercise control over their actions. At a basic level it doesn't sound too complicated. In order to control a particular area of the brain you have to stimulate it with energy."