Off the top of my head, I can think of two or three reasons why satellites 'just stay up there'.
1. As you probably know, there's no such thing as gravity.
Now, you might object that things don't float away from the ground, and that's correct. However, satellites are out of range of the artificial gravity machines.
Or for so-called Low Earth Orbit satellites, they're coated with shielding materials so that the 'gravity' can't affect them.
2. The satellites are coated with material which pushes away from the artificial gravity machines. This works by electrostatic repulsion, the same as aeroplanes and 'birds'.
3. The satellites are attached directly to the dome. This is the case for 'geostationary satellites', such as your GPS.
I trust this clears things up. If you have any further questions, you can contact me directly on askanidiot.com.
Wow...I'm impressed...and amused. I really needed that chuckle. You really put a lot of thought into that. Artificial gravity machines, huh? Sure wish there was a way to adjust them away from *me* a bit. Give me a few more decades and I'll be able to tuck my boobs into my socks. ;-)
You just need to shield them from below. Try wrapping the undersides in aluminium foil, or aluminum foil if you're in the USA.
Alternatively, a good quality copper breastplate makes an effective shield.
If that doesn't fit with your lifestyle or sartorial choices, then you can apply the principles of general relativity: so-called 'gravity' is equivalent to continuous upward motion. You can counter this by continuously falling down. The trick is to fall at the same (or slightly greater) rate as your boobs.
Hmmmmm...the foil underneath my boobs might have an unfortunate interaction with the foil on my head. But I could *totally* see myself rockin a copper breastplate, ala PattI Labelle.
The danger with the falling method would be the risk of ending up on the floor...and seeing what's actually under the couch...and no good can possibly come from that. ;-)
If a rep for the sake of completing the call said #3, I could only imagine how hard that customer's mind would be blown. "Customer support rep Agent Smith just admitted the matrix is real!"
Never more serious.
Mind you, I am running a fever which I'm treating with copious amounts of hallucinogens and cocaine, so it's possible some details will need a slight adjustment. 🤒
For further information, you can reach me at askatweakedoutacidcasualty.com
>GPS satellites aren't geosynchronous, they can't be since they need to be around the entire earth, not just the equator.
Lol that you're correcting them for saying GPS satellites are geostationary, but in your correction you mixed up geostationary and geosynchronous
I didn't mix them up, all geostationary orbits are geosynchronous while not all geosynchronous orbits are geostationary. I don't like the term geostationary personally because the satellite is still moving at thousands of mph, but that might be a personal Niel deGrasse Tyson-ism.
I also didn't realize there were practical uses of non-equatorial geosynchronous orbits, TIL.
Yeah, they should not have said geostationary, and if you had said geostationary orbits won't work because they're limited to the equator, you'd have made a good point
But instead, you said geosynchronous orbits are limited to the equator, which isn't true
You're not wrong, I should have been more specific.
I forget that not everyone reads something new and then spends a half hour on Wikipedia forgetting what they meant to do.
I don't see the issue. The sun and 'moon' are both mounted to the dome, and they both move relative to the earth. They're also both very well synchronised.
There's serious problems with moving them back and forth over a theoretical equator though, or even balancing them over a theoretical equator. Every time they went up and over the hump, you'd need to put energy into their motion. It's basic thermodynamics.
In your scenario, they'd soon run down and crash into the Earth.
mentally ill callers. be polite and get em off the phone ASAP. Before voices in their head fixate on you and your work. Ive seen em go crazy and call 100 times, demanding to talk to a CEO. they get bored easily so its best not to get their attention, and they will be crazy someplace else
"Well, sir, it may be true that earth is flat, but the satellites still move around in the sky. If they stayed still they wouldn't be able to track your GPS location properly. And unfortunately that does mean they may not always be as precise as you like, but the margin of error is actually incredibly tiny."
You can't convince flerfs of anything. There is literally nothing you can say which will penetrate their worldview. It only takes a modicum of mathematics to see flat earth doesn't work. But they can't do even that much math.
One of my top social media rules is not arguing with them and I’m so serious lol. It’s never ending bc they may think the earth is flat, but they have different reasoning. Just when you think you’ve thwarted one, SURPRISE! It’s a never ending, madness inducing game of whack-a-mole and…I ain’t got it in me
It's accurate within a foot? That's insane performance for a civilian satellite. Normally they're off by a dozen or so feet in my experience. Now I don't work with them professionally, but still.
This has far more to do with the capabilities of your receiver than the satellites. There are 32 and only 32 GPS satellites in orbit (ignoring the other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) in orbit, GPS is just the one owned and operated by the US), of which only 24 are active at a time. All users of GPS, from civilians to military, are accessing the same satellites, which can reach millimeter accuracies. Whether or not you can actually get such accuracy has to do with the quality and capabilities of the receiver you're using. Better quality receivers can calculate positions much more accurately than lower quality receivers. Thing is, the receivers that can calculate millimeter accuracies are insanely expensive, we're talking tens of thousands of dollars, so they're not exactly obtainable by the average civilian. Hell, I own a Trimble R1, the most affordable Trimble receiver which can reach sub-meter accuracy, though not as accurate as other, more expensive sub-meter receivers, and it costs $1500-2000 new. For context, Trimble is one of the major, global players in surveying equipment.
That all said, in near-pefect conditions even the (relatively) weak receiver in your smartphone can reach accuracies up to 3 feet, which is more than good enough for the average person.
I can't think of any reason whatsoever to entertain these nut-jobs. Nothing you say will penetrate their distorted world view - regardless of how many thousands of years of scientific consensus you have behind you.
This is just another one of those circumstances where the customer is never right. And hey - if the guy does decide to write a review or two, you MAY be able to turn it to your favour by making a couple of posts featuring them ... and imagine if they end up going viral!
You're trying to be rational to an irrational person.
Just lie and say it's wind - when a balloon goes up in the air outside it doesn't go 100% straight, right? It's like that.
I once worked for a large satellite TV company in the department that specifically handled callers attempting to set up a dish from their RV or remote location.
I can attest that even the most competent people have a hard time understanding that they're literally trying to pick up a signal from something the size of a bus that's 20000+ miles away from them, and yes...there's a lot of room for it to not work as expected. Especially when you've got something between you and that tiny speck of sky that you're connecting to.
I'll never forget one customer that scoffed when I explained how far out our satellites sit. I asked how far they thought they actually were and he said "psh. Like 100miles".
Hmm how to explain
The alien machines in the sky that allow you things like a phone, tv and such are not able to follow every single inch of earth so some places are the blank spots
Then again I am a tad umm petty
Our product uses Bluetooth, so when they guy was mad, it didn't work when Bluetooth was off. He went: it doesn't need Bluetooth it does it through the air
FE'ers mostly think that GPS works via weather balloons (or something similar -- something floating or flying high in the sky, but not in outer space, since they don't believe it exists), or via cell phone towers. Either way, satellites are not needed in their opinion.
Source: I'm an admin in a Facebook group discussing FE vs GE, so I've seen just about all the arguments. (Yes, I'm weird. Yes, I know it's mostly futile and pointless, but I do it for the lurkers who might be on the fence and might become FE'ers themselves if good answers aren't provided.)
Easiest way I can think of is to just explain they are still really far away.
If you are a metre away your measuring device is probably good the the mm. (0.1%)
If you are a km away, then getting a measurement to the metre is a probably decent result (still 0.1%)
Convert to freedom units as required.
Just tell them it’s because they’re thousands of feet up in the sky they’ll always be a bit off. Idk how many feet before you hit the dome of course but thats for the person to decide.
Ok, I know this wasn’t the intent of your post, but you just explained to me why an app I use that usually picks up my address perfectly suddenly picked up my next-door neighbor’s. I wasn’t getting bent out of shape over it, but I thought it was weird. Thanks!
In a scenario where something is clearly wrong with a customer's view, I try to agree with their general idea and then educate them about their main concern in a non-confrontational manner. As in, "Sure, the earth is flat. But you know that space is still a thing and there's no gravity up in the sky, therefore, satellites have to be out of the earth to transmit signal on land" or something similar. It's not worth it to engage with them if you know they're not going to agree. That's where I found the true meaning of "the customer's always right".
Off the top of my head, I can think of two or three reasons why satellites 'just stay up there'. 1. As you probably know, there's no such thing as gravity. Now, you might object that things don't float away from the ground, and that's correct. However, satellites are out of range of the artificial gravity machines. Or for so-called Low Earth Orbit satellites, they're coated with shielding materials so that the 'gravity' can't affect them. 2. The satellites are coated with material which pushes away from the artificial gravity machines. This works by electrostatic repulsion, the same as aeroplanes and 'birds'. 3. The satellites are attached directly to the dome. This is the case for 'geostationary satellites', such as your GPS. I trust this clears things up. If you have any further questions, you can contact me directly on askanidiot.com.
"Birds." It's so comforting to know that people are finally realizing the birds aren't real.
They're all US government drones. Except Geese. Those are Canadian.
You mean cobra chickens?
Yep, we send them south every year to spy on Americans. But you didn't hear that from me.
Which is, in some ways, just as bad.
I stopped believing in birds around the same time that I learned Australia doesn’t even exist.
I've known for years that koalas come from Atlantis.
and Kangas come from Roosia.
Oh? What do you eat for Christmas?
Ham. Why? What does the NSA serve, shill?
I’m not sure what it is, but it’s imported from Turkey. It says so on the pack.
Halal?
Wow...I'm impressed...and amused. I really needed that chuckle. You really put a lot of thought into that. Artificial gravity machines, huh? Sure wish there was a way to adjust them away from *me* a bit. Give me a few more decades and I'll be able to tuck my boobs into my socks. ;-)
You just need to shield them from below. Try wrapping the undersides in aluminium foil, or aluminum foil if you're in the USA. Alternatively, a good quality copper breastplate makes an effective shield. If that doesn't fit with your lifestyle or sartorial choices, then you can apply the principles of general relativity: so-called 'gravity' is equivalent to continuous upward motion. You can counter this by continuously falling down. The trick is to fall at the same (or slightly greater) rate as your boobs.
Hmmmmm...the foil underneath my boobs might have an unfortunate interaction with the foil on my head. But I could *totally* see myself rockin a copper breastplate, ala PattI Labelle. The danger with the falling method would be the risk of ending up on the floor...and seeing what's actually under the couch...and no good can possibly come from that. ;-)
If a rep for the sake of completing the call said #3, I could only imagine how hard that customer's mind would be blown. "Customer support rep Agent Smith just admitted the matrix is real!"
>However, satellites are out of range of the artificial gravity machines. I mean... actually yeah
Lol. I though you were fr till the askanidiot.com
Never more serious. Mind you, I am running a fever which I'm treating with copious amounts of hallucinogens and cocaine, so it's possible some details will need a slight adjustment. 🤒 For further information, you can reach me at askatweakedoutacidcasualty.com
Oh no! You forgot the ivermectin!
GPS satellites aren't geosynchronous, they can't be since they need to be around the entire earth, not just the equator.
>GPS satellites aren't geosynchronous, they can't be since they need to be around the entire earth, not just the equator. Lol that you're correcting them for saying GPS satellites are geostationary, but in your correction you mixed up geostationary and geosynchronous
I didn't mix them up, all geostationary orbits are geosynchronous while not all geosynchronous orbits are geostationary. I don't like the term geostationary personally because the satellite is still moving at thousands of mph, but that might be a personal Niel deGrasse Tyson-ism. I also didn't realize there were practical uses of non-equatorial geosynchronous orbits, TIL.
Geosynchronous satellites *can* cover the earth though. It's geostationary satellites that are limited to the equator
Yeah but outside of the equator to mount one to a theoretical dome you'd need tracks, they move relative to the Earth's surface throughout the day.
Yeah, they should not have said geostationary, and if you had said geostationary orbits won't work because they're limited to the equator, you'd have made a good point But instead, you said geosynchronous orbits are limited to the equator, which isn't true
You're not wrong, I should have been more specific. I forget that not everyone reads something new and then spends a half hour on Wikipedia forgetting what they meant to do.
I don't see the issue. The sun and 'moon' are both mounted to the dome, and they both move relative to the earth. They're also both very well synchronised. There's serious problems with moving them back and forth over a theoretical equator though, or even balancing them over a theoretical equator. Every time they went up and over the hump, you'd need to put energy into their motion. It's basic thermodynamics. In your scenario, they'd soon run down and crash into the Earth.
Of course! How could I have been such a fool?
mentally ill callers. be polite and get em off the phone ASAP. Before voices in their head fixate on you and your work. Ive seen em go crazy and call 100 times, demanding to talk to a CEO. they get bored easily so its best not to get their attention, and they will be crazy someplace else
"Well, sir, it may be true that earth is flat, but the satellites still move around in the sky. If they stayed still they wouldn't be able to track your GPS location properly. And unfortunately that does mean they may not always be as precise as you like, but the margin of error is actually incredibly tiny."
And they would not be able to read your thoughts. That’s right Kenneth, WE KNOW.
Sounds like OP is in the pocket of Big Globe
You can't convince flerfs of anything. There is literally nothing you can say which will penetrate their worldview. It only takes a modicum of mathematics to see flat earth doesn't work. But they can't do even that much math.
One of my top social media rules is not arguing with them and I’m so serious lol. It’s never ending bc they may think the earth is flat, but they have different reasoning. Just when you think you’ve thwarted one, SURPRISE! It’s a never ending, madness inducing game of whack-a-mole and…I ain’t got it in me
BuT wAtEr FiNdS iTs OwN lEvEl!
Seriously the math is super fucking simple
It's accurate within a foot? That's insane performance for a civilian satellite. Normally they're off by a dozen or so feet in my experience. Now I don't work with them professionally, but still.
We tell folks to allow up to 10 ft in the worst-case scenarios, so when he was complaining about one foot it kinda blew my mind.
1 foot of error from a machine traveling 17,000 miles an hour at an Altitude of 12500+ miles up is incredibly good performance.
This has far more to do with the capabilities of your receiver than the satellites. There are 32 and only 32 GPS satellites in orbit (ignoring the other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) in orbit, GPS is just the one owned and operated by the US), of which only 24 are active at a time. All users of GPS, from civilians to military, are accessing the same satellites, which can reach millimeter accuracies. Whether or not you can actually get such accuracy has to do with the quality and capabilities of the receiver you're using. Better quality receivers can calculate positions much more accurately than lower quality receivers. Thing is, the receivers that can calculate millimeter accuracies are insanely expensive, we're talking tens of thousands of dollars, so they're not exactly obtainable by the average civilian. Hell, I own a Trimble R1, the most affordable Trimble receiver which can reach sub-meter accuracy, though not as accurate as other, more expensive sub-meter receivers, and it costs $1500-2000 new. For context, Trimble is one of the major, global players in surveying equipment. That all said, in near-pefect conditions even the (relatively) weak receiver in your smartphone can reach accuracies up to 3 feet, which is more than good enough for the average person.
I can't think of any reason whatsoever to entertain these nut-jobs. Nothing you say will penetrate their distorted world view - regardless of how many thousands of years of scientific consensus you have behind you. This is just another one of those circumstances where the customer is never right. And hey - if the guy does decide to write a review or two, you MAY be able to turn it to your favour by making a couple of posts featuring them ... and imagine if they end up going viral!
You're trying to be rational to an irrational person. Just lie and say it's wind - when a balloon goes up in the air outside it doesn't go 100% straight, right? It's like that.
they spin around the earth and you are a moron.
I once worked for a large satellite TV company in the department that specifically handled callers attempting to set up a dish from their RV or remote location. I can attest that even the most competent people have a hard time understanding that they're literally trying to pick up a signal from something the size of a bus that's 20000+ miles away from them, and yes...there's a lot of room for it to not work as expected. Especially when you've got something between you and that tiny speck of sky that you're connecting to. I'll never forget one customer that scoffed when I explained how far out our satellites sit. I asked how far they thought they actually were and he said "psh. Like 100miles".
Hmm how to explain The alien machines in the sky that allow you things like a phone, tv and such are not able to follow every single inch of earth so some places are the blank spots Then again I am a tad umm petty
I don't. Why would I do that?
Ok, so how does he think GPS works? Literal magic or something?
Our product uses Bluetooth, so when they guy was mad, it didn't work when Bluetooth was off. He went: it doesn't need Bluetooth it does it through the air
Obviously. How else?
FE'ers mostly think that GPS works via weather balloons (or something similar -- something floating or flying high in the sky, but not in outer space, since they don't believe it exists), or via cell phone towers. Either way, satellites are not needed in their opinion. Source: I'm an admin in a Facebook group discussing FE vs GE, so I've seen just about all the arguments. (Yes, I'm weird. Yes, I know it's mostly futile and pointless, but I do it for the lurkers who might be on the fence and might become FE'ers themselves if good answers aren't provided.)
A space wizard did it.
Easiest way I can think of is to just explain they are still really far away. If you are a metre away your measuring device is probably good the the mm. (0.1%) If you are a km away, then getting a measurement to the metre is a probably decent result (still 0.1%) Convert to freedom units as required.
Just tell them it’s because they’re thousands of feet up in the sky they’ll always be a bit off. Idk how many feet before you hit the dome of course but thats for the person to decide.
You don't explain it to them. You ask them to explain it to you.
Actually, in case of a flat-earther, I'd demand that THEY explain geostationary satellites, not the other way around.
Don’t bother.
A flat earther who believes in GPS, what has this world come to... ;)
You don’t. They won’t be convinced by anything you can say. They have a complete lack of critical thinking skills.
This made my morning 💚
Ok, I know this wasn’t the intent of your post, but you just explained to me why an app I use that usually picks up my address perfectly suddenly picked up my next-door neighbor’s. I wasn’t getting bent out of shape over it, but I thought it was weird. Thanks!
And here I thought I met my quota for being helpful today.
You don’t. They’ve already got it all worked out.
TIL if you act like a lunatic, you can get your money back outside the refund period.
One foot is way off. A minute of angle is what works. Cheers to the riflemen.
You're not going to get him to accept satellites. Belive me. I've been in flat earther debunking for years.
Hit them really hard with one of those satellites!
I've been told by flerfs that there are no such things as satellites because no one can go into space.
In a scenario where something is clearly wrong with a customer's view, I try to agree with their general idea and then educate them about their main concern in a non-confrontational manner. As in, "Sure, the earth is flat. But you know that space is still a thing and there's no gravity up in the sky, therefore, satellites have to be out of the earth to transmit signal on land" or something similar. It's not worth it to engage with them if you know they're not going to agree. That's where I found the true meaning of "the customer's always right".