On Dec. 30, 1930, the first-ever photo of the Earth’s curvature was taken by Lieutenant Colonel Albert William Stevens, who was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps and an aerial photographer.

This photo is one Williams took over South Dakota in 1936 during a record-breaking balloon flight, which also shows Earth’s curvature.

(Image credit: National Geographic/Albert William Stevens 1930)

  • keepthepace@slrpnk.net
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    14 hours ago

    Awesome document! I never realized it was only so late, I guess there is a difference between balloons and “serious record-breaking ballons”!

    • pimento64@sopuli.xyz
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      3 hours ago

      I get that it’s satire, but that was an instant downvote the millisecond an acoustic guitar became visible.

    • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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      14 hours ago

      Satire only works if it’s outlandish enough not to reflect a widely held belief, even if it’s a stupid one.

      • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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        12 hours ago

        I don’t think the flat Earth idea is nearly as widely believed as it appears. I think most of the proponents are just trolls.

    • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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      15 hours ago

      here we are, in the the astronomy community, that should attract rather smarter people, but most of you are as lazy as average flat-earher and did not bother to even click the link before following in steps of the first downvoter. if that person jumped off the cliff, i am afraid most of you would follow, because it is easier than to use your own brain.

      i made myself sad on new year.

      (for the extra lazy ones who don’t have time to listen to the lyrics of his social commentary, he put that blackboard there with kepler’s 3rd law to give you hint he might not actually believe the earth is flat. but that would require using at least 10 of your brain cells. good luck next time when you complain about stupidity of the “other side”.

      columbus saw the ocean
      he sailed far and wide
      just to get a cup of spices
      from the other side
      he knew he would die for sure
      if he should reach the edge
      but that’s okay cause long before
      he’d starve to death instead

      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat

      earth’s an oblate spheroid
      revolving around the sun
      spinning on its axis
      which is tilted just for fun
      that explains the seasons there
      and the changing length of day
      but here’s an inconvinient truth
      you can’t explain that way

      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat

      trump won re-election
      he won it by a mile
      only to protect us
      from the socialist pedophiles
      but biden wants the mail and ballots
      counted and at what cost
      he is so out of touch
      he can’t admit when he has lost

      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat

      endless interventions
      never-ending war
      all to please the oligarchs
      and economic horse
      but lower taxes on the rich
      and do it really quick
      my ship is coming in soon
      and i don’t want to pay for it

      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat
      the world is flat

      • Soupbreaker@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        Just in the interest of cheering you up a bit, I’d like to point out that many people simply refuse to click on YouTube links. Personally, I have no desire to engage with video content, especially when it’s shared with little to no context. It’s not out of laziness, but more out of a conviction that far too many people have outsourced their thinking to random vloggers, and believe that posting a link to their favorite video essay lends credibility to their argument.

        • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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          15 hours ago

          believe that posting a link to their favorite video essay lends credibility to their argument.

          unfortunately that is definitely a trend. but then you also have the person who grabs one rhyme out of context and comments it aged like a milk, meaning they did open the video, listened to it and absolutely did not understood.

          i am also not going to watch every 60 minutes long video someone posts me in a discussion, but if i am invested in the discussion so much i care about answering or voting on something, i at least try to understand the concept of the video and what it is trying to say.

          the headline in this case did not help, but i rarely see such an example of crowd behaviour concentrated in such short time as was the case with this link.

      • very_well_lost@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        People aren’t lazy, we just all live in a social media landscape where, when someone posts a link with an intentionally provocative title, it’s rarely worth the effort to engage with it enough to find out if they’re being sarcastic or sincere.

        Sometimes this means that well-meaning people get downvoted. Oh well. Learn to read the room.

      • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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        16 hours ago

        and from the native speakers, i’d like an opinion - is he singing oblate spheroid at the beginning of 3rd paragraph? or is he singing old blade, which is what i hear, and is it some strange poetic phrase?

    • azimir@lemmy.ml
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      17 hours ago

      Would you like some sulfur to go with your pseudoscience, fascism, and stupidity?

    • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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      17 hours ago

      joke and sarcasm is unfortunately lost on dumbasses who can’t read more than 4 words of headline 🤷‍♂️

        • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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          16 hours ago

          well that’s the right burn, now you got me. because everyone knows there are no words in youtube videos, especially in song texts. 🤦‍♂️

            • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
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              15 hours ago

              the fact you probably truly believe you are delivering some burn is the sad part here.

              as per your request, let me read the video to you (if you have trouble reading, you can always listen to itm but it still requires turning on your brain):

              columbus saw the ocean
              he sailed far and wide
              just to get a cup of spices
              from the other side
              he knew he would die for sure
              if he should reach the edge
              but that’s okay cause long before
              he’d starve to death instead

              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat

              earth’s an oblate spheroid
              revolving around the sun
              spinning on its axis
              which is tilted just for fun
              that explains the seasons there
              and the changing length of day
              but here’s an inconvinient truth
              you can’t explain that way

              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat

              trump won re-election
              he won it by a mile
              only to protect us
              from the socialist pedophiles
              but biden wants the mail and ballots
              counted and at what cost
              he is so out of touch
              he can’t admit when he has lost

              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat

              endless interventions
              never-ending war
              all to please the oligarchs
              and economic horse
              but lower taxes on the rich
              and do it really quick
              my ship is coming in soon
              and i don’t want to pay for it

              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat
              the world is flat