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Comment by edgarvaldes | Hacker News Reader

Love the comments in the original article, talking about a Flat Earth.

But the answers with calculations are interesting. Is there a simulator online to calculate the distance you should be able to see from a given point (and altitude), with and without refraction?

There is: http://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=NRXM7WAC

You can toggle flat/curved Earth as well as the refraction and even the height of the photographer above the ground level :)

I can't work out how to do any of the things you said you can do. Is there more interface to this that I'm not seeing?

EDIT: Never mind, it's the "Parameters" text. This is cool :)

I went back to the article and read the comments after seeing your comment. Thanks!

I appreciate the calm responses trying to explain refraction to those folks, but some people just won't be convinced...

How many of the flat-earthers really believe it, vs. the ones that have fun trolling?

Is there a way to make a correct distinction?

Not in an anonymous forum where they can't even lose reputation.

I believe that a significant number are true believers, judging from conversations I've had with them in the past.

The conversations I've had with them have lead me to the opposite conclusion -- they are so good at their presentation, I figure they may be working on their acting or debate skills. A true test of how good someone is at debate, is if they can win arguing for the opposite of what they believe.

I believe that's essentially how the Flat Earth Society started, and then spiralled out of control as people actually started believing it.

I like to believe most of them are trolls, but you can never be too sure. Some of those comments actually do ask decent questions regarding refraction and line-of-sight calculations.

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