Famed rapper insists world is flat

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I lived under the assumption that the Golden Gate Bridge was flat.

One day, I drove along it and suddenly realized that parts of it are uphill. Yes, it`s curvy.

Atlanta-based rapper and producer B.o.B has had the reverse realization. Once he believed the world was curvy. Now he`s convinced it`s flat.

In a series of tweets posted on Sunday and Monday, B.o.B presented his thesis with words and pictures. He offered drawings and even intimated that the moon landings weren`t all that.

In one tweet, for example, he suggested it was strange that the New York City skyline was visible from Bear Mountain in Harriman State Park, 60 miles away.

He wrote: "If Earth were a ball 25,000 miles in circumference, viewing from Bear Mountain`s 1,283 foot summit, the Pythagorean Theorem determining distance to the horizon being 1.23 times the square root of the height in feet, the NYC skyline should be invisible behind 170 feet of curved Earth."

Naturally, his flat-Earthism made some tweeters rise up. To his Manhattan tweet, astrophysicist and frequent tweeter Neil deGrasse Tyson mused: "Earth`s curve indeed blocks 150 (not 170) ft of Manhattan. But most buildings in midtown are waaay taller than that."

B.o.B was undeterred. He tweeted at Tyson and NASA: "Since we now have household telescopes that can see the surface of the moon, fly to the moon and let us all see it."

He also wondered why there seemed to be wind blowing the American flag in pictures of Moon landings.

Flat Earthers are serious people. Many believe the Earth is a flat disc that`s protected by a barrier -- one that`s invisible, of course -- called the firmament.

They speak of the Earth as we know it as merely a "Globe Model." (See video below.) They say that people have believed for centuries that the world is round because there was a globe in every classroom. They say that the military colluded with the authorities when they suddenly discovered that the world wasn`t round -- round about 1958.

But back to B.o.B. Has the 27-year-old, who created great songs such as "So Good" and "Bombs Away," been chastened by the criticism that`s come his way?

Not at all. He`s flat out in his insistence.

On Monday evening, he tweeted, "Once you go flat, you never go back."

And in another tweet, he smote his doubters with these words: "No I`m not crazy, Yes I`m feeling fine, no I`m not doing anything stronger than weed, am I doing this to promote my music... No."

He says that. But he`s just released a new track called "Flatline featuring Neil Tyson."

He`s kept going. To wit: "here n america, you can be anything, worship anything, & believe anything... EXCEPT the Earth not being round... they`ll hang u 4 that 1."

Oh, I`m not sure America`s happy about you worshiping just anything, B.o.B.

B.o.B is serious. The world is flat. B.o.B has 2.3 million Twitter followers. I`m sure they`re unbending. -CNET