elevator or fountain?

Which do you think is going to happen first? Space elevator or space fountain? Why?

It is curious that you should mention the term "flatlanders", most of the reasearch I have done has lead me to believe the Earth is actually flat. The mechanism for "gravitation" is actually an upward acceleration of the (flat) Earth at 9.8 m/s^2. You can imagine the kind of velocity the Earth has built up over the 6,000 or so years of it existance, because of this fact, leaving the Earth would require such an immense amount of energy it is impossible to do so.