Tarantula
While I was deciding the name for this, I started thinking about how the earth is curved and I was reminded of the Flat Earth Society. For anyone unfamiliar with this whole thing, there is a group of people who seriously believe not just that the earth is flat, but that there's an international conspiracy involving governments, media, the scientific establishment, educational institutions and airlines to fool us into believing the earth is a sphere. Despite over 2000 years of scientific consensus on the matter, not to mention countless sources of physical evidence and scientific measurements, flat earth societies began to form around the mid-twentieth century. The internet era has seen a resurgence of these beliefs, with platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter making it easy for individuals to spread disinformation and attract others to their ideas.
I find it staggering that people in the 21st century can be so scientifically uneducated and so easily persuaded. One might argue that it's all harmless, but the flat earthers claimed their first victim in February 2020 when Mike Hughes, an American limousine driver, daredevil and professed flat-earther, plunged to his death from several hundred feet while piloting his self-built steam-powered rocket. It was to be his last of several attempts to prove the earth was flat, but it went tragically wrong when the return parachute deployed prematurely and separated from the rocket. Utter madness!
Well I have digressed a little π
This is, of course, the Lady Chapel at York Minster. The Minster is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. After several centuries of building, it was completed and consecrated in 1472. The east end of the cathedral, including the Lady Chapel, was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style.
Tarantula
While I was deciding the name for this, I started thinking about how the earth is curved and I was reminded of the Flat Earth Society. For anyone unfamiliar with this whole thing, there is a group of people who seriously believe not just that the earth is flat, but that there's an international conspiracy involving governments, media, the scientific establishment, educational institutions and airlines to fool us into believing the earth is a sphere. Despite over 2000 years of scientific consensus on the matter, not to mention countless sources of physical evidence and scientific measurements, flat earth societies began to form around the mid-twentieth century. The internet era has seen a resurgence of these beliefs, with platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter making it easy for individuals to spread disinformation and attract others to their ideas.
I find it staggering that people in the 21st century can be so scientifically uneducated and so easily persuaded. One might argue that it's all harmless, but the flat earthers claimed their first victim in February 2020 when Mike Hughes, an American limousine driver, daredevil and professed flat-earther, plunged to his death from several hundred feet while piloting his self-built steam-powered rocket. It was to be his last of several attempts to prove the earth was flat, but it went tragically wrong when the return parachute deployed prematurely and separated from the rocket. Utter madness!
Well I have digressed a little π
This is, of course, the Lady Chapel at York Minster. The Minster is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. After several centuries of building, it was completed and consecrated in 1472. The east end of the cathedral, including the Lady Chapel, was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style.