On Fri, 23 Aug 2002, Russell McMahon wrote: >> ............... based on the well known fact that the earth is >> a flat disk. After all billions of people thought that for thousands of >> years, all over this planet, no ? > >No. Or at least, not essentially so. >The knowledge that the earth was a sphere and the proof of it and the >measurement of the size was made well before Christ's time. And the >measurement was reasonably accurate. Refusal to apply available knowledge >for reasons of special interest was, as it often is now, a major part of the >problem. Oh, but finding the truth is no reason for not dropping it and forgetting it and go looking for it elsewhere. Peter -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu