quote:
Originally posted by observer44:
...of course we should not be too surprised...while I am a big fan of good science...science also once told us with certainty that the world was flat.
44
.
Now, now
44...don't go jumping to conclusions. I was skeptical once myself, but no longer. You hear much about many things when you keep your ears open...and when big time folks come traipsing through you pay attention.
I bus dishes at the
Burp 'N Go Diner and ATM in Smith Center, KS on US Rt. 36 at the
stop and go light.
The Burp, as us locals call it, is a nice family style joint...great variety on the menu, open at 4:00am for breakfast, and real easy on the wallet.
Two or three times a week a
State of Kansas Dept.of Geophysics and Mole Control passenger van, enroute from Mankato to Phillipsburg, will pull into our lot and out will climb eight nerdy, but important looking, scientists. We always appreciate their stopping at
The Burp. They're an easy bunch to accommodate. Fried egg sandwiches and a cup of
Postum is all any of them ever order.
As I clear the nearby tables and wipe the oatmeal and ketchup from the banquettes and chairs I regularly overhear them discussing conversations they have had with their colleagues from elsewhere in the US and Canada. Always laughing at and putting those colleagues down for their silly beliefs that the earth is round...a sphere...instead of flat.
They are tremendously sure of themselves. Me? Well I had heard rumors for years that the earth was round, but after hearing their semi-weekly comments on the subject I became curious...wanted to find out once and for all the truth...round or flat?
Of course I researched it all at the Smith Center
Carnegie Library. I scoured all of the books, texts, and reference material in search of the answer. I found
Highlights For Children magazine to be the most helpful, comprehensive, and entertaining source on this topic.
Several issues, from the 45 or 50 years worth that I studied, actually discussed this very topic in the
Goofus and Gallant feature.
Gallant always ended up winning the exchange...convincingly proving the earth is indeed flat. Poor
Goofus...always mired in the past...scheming, but never coming down on the right side of any topic. Sad.
The
Timbertoes, in all of those issues, amazingly never broached the subject. In one episode,
Let's Have a Hoe-Down, Ma warns Tommy and Mabel "not to dance too close to the edge." This may have been a reference to the
edge of the earth, but I'm not certain. I may have been reading too much into the storyline. It was really late.
The
Timbertoes pages were always easy to find...always being dog-eared to the max. Although they didn't shed much light on my search for the truth I always headed for them first. Who wouldn't? My goodness, talk about riveting, gripping,
seat of your pants intrigue and adventure! Good golly!
Anyway...after weeks and months of diligent research and finding almost all of the
Hidden Items (the only items I never found were the
heart of a conservative and the
brain of a liberal) I came to the conclusion that those nerdy scientists were every bit entitled to be so c0cksure of themselves...the earth really is flat!
As I stand here on the edge of the recently striped macadam, snapping a picture of the view looking west towards Phillipsburg, I would have to think, like the nerdy scientists, that the earth is flat...no question. Those editors at
Highlights For Children really know their stuff...zeroing in on the truth issue after issue. I can only wish that they will become tempted to search out the best fried egg sandwich in Kansas...I'd like to sit down and share a cup of
Postum with them.
Can you see my toungue?...It's firmly in my cheek...
