[jsanders2001]

Sorta reminds me of people who would dared to claim they could sail around the world without falling off the edge and were scorned and ridiculed and threatened with jail or even worse like death pre 1400’s

[Olog-hai]

Or people who claim that you can make Guam tip over, on the opposite side of the fence . . . ?

[SAJ]

In the 1960s, Allan Sherman had a great deal of fun with this viewpoint, in a song called "Good Advice":

"Christopher Columbus was a seaman second class
"When I told him that the Indies could be found,
"By sailing to the West instead of sailing to the East.
"I advised him that I thought the world was round (I really thought so).
"Then I sent him down to ask good Queen Isabella
"To pawn her jewels for all they were worth.
"Next month, he set sail, and as everyone knows
"He fell off the edge of the earth."

[Mad Dawg]

Oh for goodness sake.

You ARE joking, right? The educated Catholics knew the earth was round. They also had a pretty decent idea of its size. And so they knew that the westward route to “the Indies” would be very long indeed.