Tag: evidence
Madame Pele Breezes Back In
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Allow me to set the scene: bugger-all was going on at Kilauea Volcano. Madame Pele had shut up shop in May and taken a luana iki (little rest). Perhaps she paid a visit to Iceland’s bouncing baby shield volcano. She may have stopped by La Palma to give her cousin some encouragement.
Back at Kilauea, there were a few rumbles in late August, with an intrusion of magma to the summit. But after that delivery, nothing much happened for most of September. It seemed to many that Pele’s luana iki might turn in to a long winter’s nap.
Madame had no such plans.
Timelapse showing the onset of the eruption. Watch the lower right tip of the island at the beginning – that frame is looped so you can see the uplift right before the vent opens. Click here for a full-size image. Credit: USGS
Behind the Curve: A Trip Down the Flat-Earth Rabbit Hole
From time to time, I like to have a snerk at the flat earth crowd. People who refuse to believe thousands of years’ worth of collected evidence, including ships dipping below horizons and airplane flight paths, fascinate and amuse me. It’s amazing to watch grown human beings flatly* deny that the planet is a globe, when there are many simple experiments they could do their own selves to prove that their flat earth hypothesis is pining for the fjords.
We’ve learned from Alfred Russell Wallace that you shouldn’t try to wager with a flat earth fanatic, because they’ll never accept plain scientific evidence. We watched a flat earth enthusiast attempt to prove the world is a pancake by launching himself in a steam-powered rocket ship. And we read a surprisingly good book on the history of flat earth beliefs.
So of course, when the documentary Behind the Curve popped up on Netflix, I had to watch it. That title! That subject matter! I’d heard it went too easy on flat earth beliefs, but I wanted to give it a fair chance.
I’m glad that I did. And if you want to see a master course in subtle digs, I commend it to your attention. I promise you’ll never see a green button the same way again after watching this documentary.
If you want to come at the experience fresh, put this review down and go watch Behind the Curve on Netflix right now (you can also rent or buy it on Amazon Prime if you haven’t got Netflix). If you’re okay with spoilers, proceed!