On 11-11-16 10:43 AM, Joshua Cude wrote:
On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 9:16 AM, Marcello Vitale <mvit...@ucsbalum.net <mailto:mvit...@ucsbalum.net>> wrote:To the hard-core skeptics, two questions: - did man actually set foot on the moon? Compare and contrast level of proof.I agree, the moon-landing requires some trust, because there is no way for us to witness it directly.
True, but not much. Among other things, we can look at the photographs which were taken. Some of them, particularly the slides which are still on file at NASA and which can be accessed by anyone with a good reason, and which have been scanned and are available online for the rest of us, would have been incredibly hard to fake with technology of that time. Frankly, I find it easier to understand how they could have physically gone to the Moon than to understand how they could have put that perfectly distorted reflection on the visor of the astronaut standing on the Moon's surface using the analog technology that was available to them. Do *that* using physical lenses in a darkroom?? Good luck!
The best bit is the image of the Earth reflected in the visor. It's not even visible in the published versions of the picture (like, in Life magazine, for instance) but it's there in the original. And it's in the right place in the reflected sky. Some trick! Carving the backs of the gargoyles on Notre Dame is nothing compared to *that* level of attention to detail!
The videos are pretty interesting, also, even though the online versions are rather low resolution. Note, for instance, how the dust falls all wrong when they race around on the little scooter. Faking that would have been a challenge, to say the least, and it's not clear anyone would have noticed if they hadn't bothered with that little detail. Again, if it's a fake, that's like carving the backs of the gargoyles, raised to the tenth power.
Or, for another clue, look at BLP and how their wonderful, long, elaborate, hollywoodian story, in which no product has ever been marketed, and in which promises have been repeatedly unfulfilled, has nevertheless earned them about $60M in investment.
Now, I'd agree that believing in BLP requires a certain level of trust....
