Reader Psyberdave sent me a note about a website he found. I usually don’t blog about such things, but geez, sometimes it’s best to air stuff like this out. Cabotia.com is one of those crackpot websites that when you read it, you can’t really make yourself believe it’s for real.
He’s a geocentrist.
No, really.
Now, to be honest, like I said he might be joking. I can’t tell if the guy is seriously a geocentrist or not. Can you?
He describes his take on how lunar and solar eclipses work using heliocentrism, and it’s, well, it’s classic crackpottery:
In the heliocentric system it is IMPOSSIBLE to have phases of the moon without having a major solar and lunar eclipse at least twice every month. The spinning earth can’t save them this time because the shadow would just move with the turning earth and more people could view this spectacular heavenly display twice a month.
Well, he’s got me there. There’s no way I could explain that without resorting to having the Moon’s orbit tilted with respect to the Earth’s by about 5 degrees. No way at all.
Sigh. Well, if you can keep from clawing your eyes out, go ahead and give that site a go. But I warned ya!
July 28th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
YOW! turn down your speakers before you go to that wacky site!
July 28th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Hmmm…John Cabot is the obvious focus. It looks non-satirical. I don’t think astronomy, theology, and Viking history are its strong points.
It would be interesting to learn the motive behind it.
Interesting site, but it is Friday.
July 28th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
We should ‘teach the controversy’ regarding heliocentrism vs geocentrism in schools. Our students are not getting a full view of this debate. This site is right- Einstein’s theories were a Jesuitical plot to obfuscate the obvious results of the Michelson Morley expt. that the speed of light is constant in all directions because we’re at the center of the universe.
Nurse! can I have another crayon?- I broke this one.
July 28th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
So he apparently claims that there’s no proof besides the Encyclopedia Britannica that the Earth revolves around the Sun, yet he keeps quoting the Bible to get his point of a geocentric system to the reader?
I’d say we add rethoric to his list of weak points
Apparently the only books he read are his holy book and the Encyclopedia Britannica …
July 28th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
All those years of grad school wasted when all I really needed was a copy of Encyclopedia Britannica. Why didn’t anyone tell me it was the Final Authority on all scientific matters??? I bet it offers no proof of gravity either, but just states it as DOGMA.
July 28th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
I’m sure this is a wind-up, because he refers to Martin Luther as “Saint Martin”. No true follower of Luther would ever do this.
Nevertheless, a lot of work went into this website…
July 28th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
You should see the rest of the stuff he has on there. This guy is 100% Grade-A USDA-Choice Loony Tunes.
Moon landing was faked, nukes were used to bring down the World Trade Towers, says that the Indonesia tsunami was caused by a nuke, 6k year old world.
And those are just a handful of the stuff the guy rants on about. Most of it connected to the Bible and John Cabot.
Guy must have a Cabot fetish…
July 28th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
I checked to see if cabotia was listed on http://www.crank.net (fun site to browse). Cranky sites are listed by category and ranked: cranky, crankier, crankiest, and illucid. They list:
Geocentricity http://www.geocentricity.com “crankiest”
Geocentric Universe http://www.midclyth.supanet.com “cranky”
I’m sure they’ll be happy to add one more to the list.
July 28th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Finally, someone has revealed the great Irish conspiracy of which I’m part of. Bow down to the Irish- for we are preparing for world domination! We’re going to get back those Lucky Charms at any price.
From:
http://www.cabotia.com/irish_famine.html
“Rome is completely dependant on the Irish Hierarchy to make America and the world Roman Catholic. They are the majority at the State Department and the Pentagon. One of the most prominent families in this conspiracy is the Kennedy family.”
I’ve already said too much!
July 28th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Ok, so in one of the guy’s articles he insists that there is no evidence of non-geocentrism. In another article he sings the praises of Sir Isaac Newton (for being a devout believer). I gather that he’s never read or followed the body of Newton’s work. (*chuckle*)
July 28th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Wow! There’s even a “fake moon landing” page:
http://www.cabotia.com/general-groves.html
July 28th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Funny, I missed the Moon hoax stuff. I have never heard of anyone quoting the Bible that the heavens are for God as a way to deny the Moon landings. Wow.
July 28th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Here’s some more:
http://www.geocentricity.com/
The part about geosychronous satellites is delicious.
July 28th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
And there’s even a ‘B.A.’ geocentric newsletter- where in this case B.A. stands for ‘The Biblical Astronomer.’
http://www.geocentricity.com/ba1/
July 28th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
…Well… It HAS to be a joke. I mean, in this day and age, it’s pretty evident. Who would doubt heliocentrism and the Sun spinning around the galaxy, etc etc?
…Then there’s people that don’t know the Moon revolves around the Earth.
…Help! I’m scared!
July 28th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
“On his birthday, Chuck Norris randomly selects one lucky child to be thrown into the sun.”
That above fact is all the proof I need, that we are spinning around the sun.
July 28th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
If the site is a joke, then someone has *waayyy* too much time on his hands.
If this person actually believes the stuff he’s posted, he’s out where the freakin’ busses don’t run.
July 28th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
At least this other B.A. also defends our going to the Moon. The html link is broken, but in the pdf version
http://www.geocentricity.com/ba1/no90/090.pdf
they do a pretty good debunking of all the “evidence” of a fake moon landing.
As for the other stuff, it makes my brain hurt.
July 29th, 2006 at 12:25 am
Flyboy said:
“…he’s out where the freakin’ busses don’t run.”
I like your turn of phrase. Here’s a synonym: he’s two vouchers short of a toaster.
I don’t think I’ll visit the site, in case my head explodes in a fit of incredulity.
However, maybe we should tell him about the retrograde motion of the outer planets – it might make his brain (well, his equivalent organ, anyway) melt and dribble out through his ears.
July 29th, 2006 at 12:41 am
I want to commit ‘Cabotage’
July 29th, 2006 at 2:56 am
From crank.com: tired light, with a special recommendation from the BA on the front page!
July 29th, 2006 at 4:58 am
Point of information:
There’s a village in Swaledale to the east of Gunnerside in north Yorkshire (that’s in England), called CRACKPOT.
In 1298 the place was called Crakepot and its name derives from the Old English word, ‘Kraka’, meaning crow, and the Viking word, ‘Pot’.
A ‘pot’ usually refers to a deep hole (pothole) often in the bed of a river, but in Crackpot’s case, it refers to a swallet, or swallowhole eroded through the limestone.
Oh, and thanks for the laugh, Phil!
–
July 29th, 2006 at 5:19 am
That web page made my brain hurt. I get a headache just trying to think down to that level.
July 29th, 2006 at 6:34 am
The author of cabotia.com says the beauty of Biblical Geocentrism is that it’s “WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get”, by which he means that the world is exactly how it appears at first glance, i.e., the Moon, Sun, planets & stars are all traveling concentrically about Earth.
Ok. If WYSIWYG is an absolutely reliable principle, then it surely must be that I am the immovable center of all things. The Cosmos is obviously Martincentric. Don’t even bother trying to convince me otherwise.
July 29th, 2006 at 7:06 am
Stand still then Mark Martin, I’m getting dizzy when you move around like that
July 29th, 2006 at 7:18 am
But I *am* standing still. I am the immovable center of all!!!
July 29th, 2006 at 7:19 am
Everything is about me.
July 29th, 2006 at 11:25 am
It really bothers me when crackpots say that there’s no proof that the Earth rotates. I guess the Foucault Pendulum isn’t good enough for them.
July 29th, 2006 at 11:33 am
TB,
On the site the author makes a pre-emptive strike against the Foucalt experiment, categorically accusing it of having been rigged ahead of time to yield fraudulent results.
Of course this is still just more crankism. The author fails to take into account the power of reproducibility. The pendulum experiment can be replicated by anyone, and in fact has. The accusation of fraud on the part of Foucalt is a moot point.
July 29th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
It’s been said “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
A lot can be worse but ignorance can flat out KILL you,,,”
So, I guess Gravity is also a myth? If it isn’t, it ought to be. Gee, I’m going to put my cape on now and fly out the 20 th floor window, just as soon as I can get the door open to my padded room,,,
Gary 7
July 29th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
My favorite quote comes from his section on Foucault’s Pendulum:
“The Jesuits were getting DESPERATE because without a rotating earth the theory of evolution falls flat on its face.”
That has to be the first time I’ve ever heard the rotation of the Earth refered to as the theory of evolution. Also, I wonder if the “falls flat” comment was a subtle reference to the flat earth society (actually, there’s no way he’s that witty.) I really love it when geocentrists refer to flat-earthers and say “Now don’t get us confused with THOSE wackoes!” It’s like when all the UFOlogists called the “Heaven’s Gate” cult a fraud and not representative of “true UFO science.”
Kudos to http://www.geocentricity.com/ for being up front and honest about its mission.
“This site is devoted to the historical relationship between the Bible and astronomy. It assumes that whenever the two are at variance, it is always astronomy—that is, our “reading” of the “Book of Nature,” not our reading of the Holy Bible—that is wrong. History bears consistent witness to the truth of that stance.”
July 29th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
[...] Hat tip to Bad Astronomy [...]
July 29th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
The ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia actually has a Foucault pendulum in its lobby. I guess that makes them major players in the round-earth conspiracy, eh?
July 29th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Yes, I’m back again .. I loved the bit about the ether-drift experiments, well, actually I loved that he left out the ether-drift completely and just stated that “the famous Michelson-Morley experiment [..] found no movement of the earth relative to the surrounding space” – wicked!
July 29th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
“The ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia actually has a Foucault pendulum in its lobby. I guess that makes them major players in the round-earth [centric] conspiracy, eh?”
Yes. Them, and everyone else on this list of partners in crime:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum#List_of_Foucault_Pendula
They must be heathen Jesuits all!
And I suppose I’m also in on it. I have a modest one in my living room, though admittedly the cats introduce a large amibiguity to the results.
July 30th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Tried to access this site. Got an Active X warning box. Tried both with and without adding AX content and it closed explorer. Maybe your initial attitude of ignoring this site was wise. As for the comments of folks who can read this, God never intended that we should not seek the truth, but seeking it in the wrong places yields interesting results.
July 30th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
I’ve just exchanged some e-mails with Leon Kilkenny, the author of cabotia.com. I inquired as to his opinion of Isaac Newton’s research on mechanics & gravity, and their implications regarding the geometry of the solar & planetary trajectories.
Whereas on his website Kilkenny praises Newton as a model for us all, having been confronted with the fact that Newton was a true believer in both God and non-geocentrism, Kilkenny says now to me that Newton is “overrated”, and that his best work was in optics. Not a word was offered me, by the way, to actually refute the reliability of Newtonian principles.
I expect at least one more letter back. It could be interesting.
July 30th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Sometimes it just makes me so sad that people like this guy exist…
July 30th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
How would a geocentric solar system solve this problem anyway? If the Earth’s orbit shares a plane with the Moon’s orbit, then there will be an eclipse SOMEWHERE every time the Moon gets in between the Earth and the Sun, whether the Sun is revolving around the Earth or the other way around.
No?
July 31st, 2006 at 1:53 am
Well, my *ahem* first time… er… was with this… http://www.fixedearth.com/ *blush*
July 31st, 2006 at 8:06 am
Frank,
You’re right, geocentrism doesn’t solve the elcipse problem any better. From what I’ve read, the guy’s approach leans heavily toward claiming that the “antagonist” cosmology is flawed- therefore his cosmology is correct.
It’s similar to his fixation with the historical figure John Cabot. According to Kilkenny, Cabot was the first European to plant a flag on the North American continent- therefore, the continent rightfully should be refered to as “Cabotia”. This stands in contradiction to the fact that people call things by whatever names they want or find communicative. By his reasoning modern people should be calling the continent by who-knows-how-many names for it that may have been used by the pre-European natives. The name simply is what people call it amongst themselves.
But I digress a little. Getting back to more physical issues, in my short dialogue with Kilkenny, his idea of discrediting Newton’s discoveries about gravity & mechanics is to say that Newton is overrated, that those discoveries were not Newton’s greatest work, and furthermore, that Newton’s personal character pales in comparison to that of Michael Faraday. This consists of irrelevant opinions on the relative importance of Newton’s work and the relative merits of his personality, but no demonstration is shown that Newton’s work itself is unreliable to the extent that’s required to discredit non-geocentrsism.
This is basically consistent with many of the articles Kilkenny has on his site. His strategy for falsifying Foucault’s pendulum experiment is to ramble on about unsubstantiated (and empirically irrelevant) claims that he was in on a plot to deceive people into buying into the master plan of false non-geocentrism. The list goes on.
I think Kilkenny just doesn’t even have all that much actual understanding of how scientists have come to demonstrate the validity & reliability of the modern cosmology. For exmaple, as Phil pointed out at the top, the guy doesn’t seem to even be aware of the Moon’s orbital inclination to the plane of the ecliptic. Over on http://www.geocentricity.com one author makes the same kind of straw-anthropoid argument about geosynchronous orbits, staying that a GS satellite with even a slight discrepancy in its velocity will wander away from an ideal, stationary position over a hemisphere. Well- this is right. And as it turns out many GS sats do, in fact, wander around the sky due to the slight imperfections in their orbits. So the author of that article did nothing more than to point out something that actually occurs.
These authors are making the same kinds of mistakes as typical conspiracy theorists, especially Apollo Hoax theorists: they think of the world in oversimplified terms.
July 31st, 2006 at 8:19 am
http://www.fixedearth.com
The first page is already funny. It starts off with one of those suspended-globe desk toys:
[Levitating Globe
"An electromagnet and computerized sensor hidden in its
display stand cause the Earth to levitate motionlessly in the air."
Could God have engineered something like that for the real Earth?]
Now let’s look at this. The desk toy is designed to hold the globe in equilibrium against gravity. Is there a force of gravity tending to accelerate Earth “downward”?
Well yes, there is. Earth is accelerating toward the Earth/Sun barycenter, and the planet’s radial distance is being maintained by its orbital velocity. The authors of these sites have just no idea what the stuff they say implies.
August 1st, 2006 at 7:20 am
Wow! I can only say wow to this site. It has to be real. No one would go to the length this guy did and not believe this spew.
August 1st, 2006 at 11:27 am
“Wow! I can only say wow to this site. It has to be real. No one would go to the length this guy did and not believe this spew.”
Check out this site. It’s funny as all… hell.
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/
December 20th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
In case there remains any doubt as to the sincerity of the “views” espoused on http://www.geocenticity.com, I received a hand-delivered pamphlet — beautifully printed on cardstock — in my mail today advertising the website. In fact, it was this pamphlet, and the mirthful curiosity it engendered, that led me to the site, and thence to B.A.
The pamphlet advertises the third edition of “The Geocentric Bible”, and claims that there are over 57,000 copies in print. It also claims that “The Geocentric Bible” has been “distributed” to more than 57,000 churches. It is notable that these two numbers are the same.
If you wish to a receive a copy of “the Geocentric Bible”, at no cost, mail a request to
The Geocentric Bible Foundation, Inc.
911 S. Van Burn St.
Hugoton, KS 67951-2303.
In summary, if this is a hoax, it’s a rather extreme one. I live a LONG way from Kansas.
December 28th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Actually, Leon Kilkenny is right–heliocentrism IS false.
We need to stop being sheeple and just accepting everything we’re told without questioning.
Leon’s site is one of my favorites and I consider him to be a friend of mine!
February 20th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Where do you live, Shane? I got one of those brochures, too, and I’m wondering how widespread the distribution is, what it costs, and, most of all, who is paying for it.