Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!quintus!ok
From: ok@quintus.uucp (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.wanted
Subject: Re: WANTED: disassembled copy of internet virus
Message-ID: <694@quintus.UUCP>
Date: 17 Nov 88 04:58:49 GMT
References: <1927@nunki.usc.edu>
Sender: news@quintus.UUCP
Reply-To: ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Inc.
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In article <1927@nunki.usc.edu> wdao@castor.usc.edu (Walter Dao) writes:
>There was once a time called the middle ages.  Roman catholicism was the 
>ruling order. One of the ideas flying aroung was that the earth was flat and
>was the center of the universe.
>Of course astronomers who said that it was not so had their books burned.
>And often they were judged to be heretics.

Get your facts straight before posting.
During the Middle Ages (which ended in about the 14th century),
the standard astronomical text was Ptolemy's, which
- said that the distance to the fixed stars was so great
  that the Earth could be regarded as a mathematical point
- did _NOT_ place the Earth at the centre of the Universe
  (near the centre, yes; at the centre, no).
- stated that the Earth was a sphere, and contained a figure
  for its diameter which was about 20% out.
Several people were judged to be heretics because they _were_
heretics:  Giordano Bruno was a practising magician, for example.

Koestler's "The Sleepwalkers" is a good introduction.