Far-sight

[MX21]

From where I am toward the east side of California, I can usually see the coastal range across the valley, which is about 90 to 100 miles. But that's at 2500 feet altitude on my side and around 4000 feet on the coastal side.

[AaronMB]

Cuba's highest elevation is 6400ft. That ought to help things out if one is standing at sea level in the Florida Keys.

If the weather conditions were good enough it wouldn't surprise me. 90 miles isn't really that far.

BUT (edit) the magical of Google tells me that at the 90 mile point the elevation of Cuba is only about 345ft. Gotta get several miles closer, it seems.

[ErebusBass]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

If you want a good laugh while simultaneously shaking your head, check these people out:

http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

That link just cost me two hours of my life.

[TolerancEJ]

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

That link just cost me two hours of my life.

Well, have they convinced you?

There are universities/colleges where this is a regular debate topic: Prove the earth is round or flat.

[ErebusBass]

Originally Posted by TolerancEJ

Well, have they convinced you?

There are universities/colleges where this is a regular debate topic: Prove the earth is round or flat.

I just can't believe how preposterous some of the things I'm reading are.

This one guy said that he can't feel the earth spinning, so it must not be spinning. After all, if you can't trust your senses, what can you trust? This guy is a freaking admin.

What is this place? It's scary and I want to leave but I just can't stop staring at it.

[Bloodhammer]

Originally Posted by LarryO

That was not Cuba. That was a mobile sea going alien base being manned by ghosts, bigfoot and jesus Nostradamus

The History Channel hath spoken.

[jasper383]

There is a very rare mirage effect that is possible over water that can make distant objects appear close.

There have been several documented occasions where people in Cleveland have clearly seen the Canadian shore 80 miles away.

http://www.examiner.com/article/very...ppen-cleveland

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

I just can't believe how preposterous some of the things I'm reading are.

This one guy said that he can't feel the earth spinning, so it must not be spinning. After all, if you can't trust your senses, what can you trust? This guy is a freaking admin.

What is this place? It's scary and I want to leave but I just can't stop staring at it.

When I first discovered them, I remember reading some thread where someone posited some theory that the world was flat because of how whales' sonor operated for long distances or something like that. Umm...yeah.

Interesting tidbit - the founder of the Flat Earth Society originally accepted that the world was round. Then he got all butthurt when people didn't get all excited over his idea to have an airship service where the craft remained stationary in the air and then moved passengers and freight by the Earth moving underneath. Of course, he reached the most logical conclusion of why nobody was gung-ho about this commercial venture: The Earth is actually flat and all of the scientists, government officials, and airplane pilots in the world are part of a vast conspiracy to make the public think the world is round!

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

I just can't believe how preposterous some of the things I'm reading are.

This one guy said that he can't feel the earth spinning, so it must not be spinning. After all, if you can't trust your senses, what can you trust? This guy is a freaking admin.

What is this place? It's scary and I want to leave but I just can't stop staring at it.

This guy is a what? Admin at a college? He's an idiot who doesn't understand the science behind it. Probably has a liberal arts background.

Someone needs to explain to him that he wouldn't feel it because neither he nor the Earth are accelerating, relative to the other. Does he think a car isn't moving when he's in it, even though he can see everything that it drives past? What about the night sky- does he not see different star, planet and constellation positions as time passes?

[1958Bassman]

If someone "sees" Cuba from that distance, it wouldn't be from seal level, viewing sea level or any other low elevation unless the light was diffracted by distortion due to convection.

[AaronMB]

Originally Posted by 1958Bassman

Probably has a liberal arts background.

What's the best bass for stereotyping?

The guy is just an idiot. They come from all backgrounds.

[agent77]

When I was 12 my family went to Florida on vacation. We spent a day in Key West and took a tourist train ride to the southern most point of the United States. The guide pointed out Cuba, which even the old people with bad eyesight could see. Your co-worker is telling the truth.

As for how far can the human eye see. Astronauts say they can see the earth from the moon. Which makes sense cause you can see the moon from earth.

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by AaronMB

What's the best bass for stereotyping?

The guy is just an idiot. They come from all backgrounds.

+1...especially considering that no mention was made about the admin's educational background. He's an admin on a forum - just like how TB have admins/moderators. Nobody said he was a college administrator. He could be some crank who dropped out of school in the 10th grade or have a doctorate in mechanical engineering for all we know. Erebus was just quoting a post that talked about this as being a discussion on university campuses (and my guess is it's discussed more as an intellectual exercise than an actual debate about the validity of the Earth being round). Bassman needs to have some basic reading comp skills before criticizing other people's education.

For the record, I know plenty of people with liberal arts/humanities degress, and they'd find the idea of the Earth being flat simply absurd on its face.

[Gazman]

I hate myself for adding this...but you could see Cuba, from Florida, if you we're riding in a space elevator.

[bluesblaster]

Of Course !!! the good 'ol space elevator

[tastybasslines]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I do, but its broken. I looked at the moon with it once, and I saw two gentlemen sitting down for tea.

Did they have scones or crumpets also?

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

If you want a good laugh while simultaneously shaking your head, check these people out:

http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

It's very insensitive to mock other people's sincerely held beliefs.

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by bassybill

It's very insensitive to mock other people's sincerely held beliefs.

I guess they're "informed skeptics" then, huh?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Gazman

I hate myself for adding this...but you could see Cuba, from Florida, if you we're riding in a space elevator.

That particular joke may never get old.


As for seeing something from over a great distance over water while standing on a shore, the engineer in me would say that the conditions would have to be absolutely perfect.

The math is for it, but the optical physics pretty much against it in the real world.

Any difference in the air/water temperature along that distance, or any air turbulence for that matter, would either make it possible by a mirage or impossible by the scattering of the light.

Over a land-mass that's roughly the same temperature as the air above, more likely possible.

Regards
Sam

[Scott1]

Originally Posted by agent77

When I was 12 my family went to Florida on vacation. We spent a day in Key West and took a tourist train ride to the southern most point of the United States. The guide pointed out Cuba, which even the old people with bad eyesight could see. Your co-worker is telling the truth.

As for how far can the human eye see. Astronauts say they can see the earth from the moon. Which makes sense cause you can see the moon from earth.

And a paid tour guide would never make something up to make the tourists happy?

Science fact: An average height individual standing on the seashore, un-aided, can see just under three miles out before they hit the horizon (the earth curves away from your line of sight).
Seeing Cuba from Florida is not possible.

In ancient times they knew the earth was round by the fact that the masts of approaching ships would appear on the horizon before the rest of the ship.