Facts Matter: View of Chicago skyline across lake doesn't prove flat Earth
A photo showing the Chicago skyline, taken at the Indiana Dunes State Park on the other side of Lake Michigan, was posted on social media as proof that the world is flat.
"If the earth was really a globe, the Chicago skyline from Indiana would be hidden by 1,473 ft. of Earth Curve," read a Nov. 6 Instagram post.
But that post is not accurate, according to USA Today. The photo actually proves the world is round.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Rona Oran told USA Today, based on the distance the photo was taken from, nearly 500 feet at the bottom of Willis Tower would not be visible because of the curve of the planet.
"The image actually demonstrates that the Earth is round," she said. "(The bottom) parts of the buildings are actually obscured because the Earth is curved."
University of Nevada Las Vegas associate professor Jason Steffen told USA Today the "1,473 ft. of Earth Curve" calculation in the post doesn't add up.
"The claim that there is 1,400 feet of elevation that is in the way is not correct," he said. "When I do the calculation, I get (approximately) 500 feet. So, any building taller than 500 feet should be visible."
Tweet from Biden's DIL is fake
Recent tweets shared on social media claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election appear to have come from Hallie Biden, widow of Beau Biden, the deceased son of President Joe Biden.
"President Trump won that election and my entire family knows it," read one tweet, while another claims Jill Biden called "state legislators and the people who tabulate the vote" to stop the count and "rush in fake ballots."
But those posts are fake, according to The Associated Press. It wouldn't be possible for the president's daughter-in-law to send those tweets.
"Ms. Hallie Biden does not have a Twitter account," the Beau Biden Foundation told the AP. "Any account bearing her name is fraudulent."
Hallie Biden chairs the Beau Biden Foundation, which honors the mission of the president's son who died in 2015.
The false Twitter posts, which were shared as screenshots on Facebook and Instagram, came from the account @HallieBiden, which had been suspended a few months ago for violating the platform's rules on impersonation.
Other posts from that account included several false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. There is no evidence to support that claim.
Altered videos deliver false message
A couple of videos recently offered on social media include some interesting clips.
One video shows First Lady Jill Biden during a speech in February in which she relaunched President Joe Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" plan, designed to use federal resources to aid cancer research. Joe Biden introduced the plan in 2016 when he was vice president.
In the video of the speech, the first lady says, "Certain words have the power to make time stop," and then a child can be heard screaming, "Shut the (expletive) up."
A separate video involves former President Donald Trump, following his dinner with entertainer Ye (formerly known as Kanye West). Ye has been criticized recently for antisemitic remarks.
In the video, it appears Trump said, "Kanye has said some stuff recently that people don't agree with, but I just can't be upset with the man who made 'Graduation.'" "Graduation" is a 2007 album by West.
But both of these videos have been altered, according to PolitiFact.
In the original video of Jill Biden's speech, after she talked about words that make time stop, she goes on to list those words, "Malignant. Aggressive. Terminal. Cancer." And no one interrupts her.
The audio of the child yelling comes from a YouTube video titled "Kid tells teacher to shut up." It has also appeared in other altered videos.
The original video of Trump comes from a 2017 NBC News interview the former president did with anchor Lester Holt.
In the altered version, the audio has been changed and text of the fake message is superimposed over Trump's face. But, even with the type on the screen, it can be seen that the movement of Trump's mouth doesn't sync with the audio.
During the original NBC interview, Trump and Holt didn't discuss Ye. That clip has previously been used with fake audio on other social media posts.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.