...space travel of that kind is impossible because the Earth is flat and accelerates upwards at a rate of 9.8m/s^2...
If you are going to say things like this, please don't say things like "The fact is," in front of them. Because the ACTUAL fact is that the Earth is round and a little force called "gravity" pulls things to the spherical center of the Earth at a rate of 9.82m/s^2. And sure, those scientists did believe that the Earth was flat... but as you said before, people are wrong sometimes. Not to mention, the number of scientists that believe the Earth is round DEFINITELY outweighs the number that think it's flat.
Well you just did exactly what you told me not to do! Either we're both allowed to call what we are saying fact, or neither of us are. Since we are engaged in a fairly typical dialectic in which two sides wish to make different fact-claims, I think the answer is that we are both allowed to do that. By claiming anything, I am basically asserting its truth anyway. Reiterating that truth-claim isn't really any different.
Yes, the number of scientists now who think that the Earth is round outweighs the number who think it is flat. Why? Because biochemists, paleontologists, marine biologists and so on, who have no reason to actually investigate the shape of the Earth, grew up in a globularist society. "Scientists" is too broad a term. How about "Physicists"?
In the 19th Century, before Zeteticism was brutally surpressed by the Conspiracy, there was a very large number of English physicists who believed the Earth was flat. Now, there are not so many, because their voice was silenced during that time, by socio-political forces, not by any relation to truth or falsehood.
And please, answer my question about the compass.
Sorry, I just missed it. Compasses work just fine. There is an iron core to the Earth, the North Pole is the centre of the Earth, and the South Pole is all around the outside. If you go North, you are going closer to the Earth's center. If you go South, you are going further from it. If you go East or West, you are going in a broad circular locus around the North Pole.