BlueDog9

dbn

Thank you for the new Kate

oxalys

Thank you Kate

BlueDog9

dbn

So who's gonna bring the randomness

BlueDog9

Anyone who wants to

dbn

Oxalys will volunteer

oxalys

Okay, here's one...People never believed that the Earth was flat, not even in the middle ages

Here for example an illustration from the 15th century from the book “On the Properties of Things” by Bartholomeus Anglicus.



The myth that people in the middle ages thought the Earth was flat appears to date from the 17th century as part of a campaign by Protestants against Catholic teachings. It gained currency in the 19th century, in the context of opposition between atheists and religious authorities, in order to develop the idea that science and religion are incompatible.

BlueDog9

dbn

Cool

BlueDog9

We're educational here

dbn

For sure

oxalys

And we're proud of it

So the myth about Christopher Colombus figuring out the Earth was round by observing the sunset, fighting against bigoted Spanish authorities to get his travel financed and struggling to find sailors because they were afraid to reach the end of the Earth and fall into the void ? Never happened It comes from a romanticized biography of Colombus written in the 19th century.

In true, Colombus' observations were about calculating the size of the Earth and the reluctance of Spanish sovereigns to finance his expedition was because they thought he was wrong in his calculation and was widely underestimating the distance with the Asian coasts. Which they were right about, he calculated it should be about 3000 miles when in fact it's...over 12,000

BlueDog9

So in short: He was stupid.

dbn

Or just optimistic