Rather than give them answers that they'll probably just ignore I would ask them what the point of tricking people into thinking the earth is curved would be. Or feign ignorance on the matter and ask them why it even matters whether the earth is round or flat. And then pick apart their responses the dumbest ways possible to give them a taste of their own medicine.
LOL that’s awesome. I like your style.
Thanks everyone. I think I've gotten what I needed. I appreciate the help! Happy new year (almost!)
-M.
Actually lurker was pretty close. I had the responsibility of automating hundreds of triangulation observations from that period when NGS was building the framework for NAD 83 in the late 70s - early 80s. The reason is that the theodolites used by Coast Survey/USC&GS had dual micrometers on the horizontal plate, one read by the observer the other by the recorder. It was common practice to simply add the seconds observations in the field records and let the field or office computer do the math. Later instruments were also dual mics but the recording format was
changed so that the recorder computed the correct values in the field. All of the observations described in the Transcontinental Arc of Triangulation along with thousands of others were automated and participated in the original adjustment of NAD 83 in 1986.
