Police in Brockville, Ont. say they have arrested and released a man who was wanted on a mischief charge after a family dispute over the shape of the Earth.
The 56-year-old was arrested on Wednesday in connection with an incident that occurred at a park earlier in the week. The man is accused of throwing several objects into a bonfire, including a propane tank, after a heated argument with his son's girlfriend. The woman had asserted that the Earth is flat, while the frustrated man stood up for an overwhelming body of scientific evidence in maintaining that the Earth is round.
On Wednesday, police said the man "admitted the fight was pretty dumb in its origin."
Several officers apparently voiced their support for the man's point of view, although not for his actions. "Officers tried to make him feel better by agreeing with his position that the Earth was round," police said in a statement.
The man is awaiting a future court date, police said.
The Greek philosopher Pythagoras was one of the first to deduce that the Earth is round, and many philosophers, mathematicians, explorers, physicists and astronauts with cameras have repeatedly confirmed it as a fact over the last two-and-a-half millennia. The concept has been widely accepted around (not across) the planet for many centuries, although a few conspiracy theories based around shaky science continue to make the rounds online.
