From a 3Com advertisement in the latest InformationWeek magazine:
People told Columbus the world was flat.
No. No, they didn’t. That was never the problem with getting funding for his little expedition. Sheesh. From the great Wikipedia, I quote:
The widespread notion that Columbus encountered opposition based on the idea that the Earth was flat is a literary myth created by Washington Irving. Educated people in Columbus’s time agreed that the earth was round; anyone familiar with seafaring certainly knew it, since the roundness of the Earth forms the basis of celestial navigation. The main debate was over whether a ship could circumnavigate the planet without running out of food or getting stuck in windless regions.
Argh. Maybe I shouldn’t get so worked up about this sort of thing, or perhaps I’ve watched too much of James Burke’s “The Day The Universe Changed” lately. (His presentation of the Columbus story is among the best you’ll find anywhere. Truly.) Still, shouldn’t we work to stamp out misinformation when and where we find it?
Of course, in a society where “Intelligent Design” can be taken seriously, there’s a whole lot of stamping to be done…
Comments
4 responses to “I used to think the world was flat.”
Go Go Gadget Boots!
Ya know, I seem to learn more stuff from you then I do anywhere else. I am not sure if that is something to boast about though. *runs and ducks for cover*
Thank you for pointing out the facts, mon ami! You, apparently have better luck than I in doing so, partly because your site has better readers than mine, I think. 🙂 I, too, tend to learn from your site and I like it! That’s why I Blogrolled you in the first place.
Thanks!
Oh, and I forgot to point out: I live in Atlanta, GA, home of Cobb County, one of the dumbest counties in the USA! They are the ones who put stickers in all textbooks informing students that Evolution was just an unproven theory.
ARGH! (Yes, we plan to move as soon as we get enough equity in this house!)