I talk about oceans and rivers and you all answer with capillaries, siphons, and toilets as if that disproves that oceans are flat and level and water does not travel uphill. And you think that flat earth people are crazy.
--Dave
Well, a lot of them really are crazy but that certainly isn't the point I was trying to make.
Everyone knows that, generally speaking, rivers flow downhill. Everyone also knows that rivers occasionally encounter a section along their path that is somewhat uphill and that it flows over it anyway because, even though it is uphill, it is the path of least resistance. This can happen when the river bank is high and the flow has sufficient energy. The river's own kinetic energy forces the water up and over rather than around.
Further, Earth's gravity isn't the only force involved. There are tidal forces as well (i.e. the gravity of the Sun and Moon). Tidal forces cause large bodies of water to flow uphill every single day, twice a day. Anyone who lives near the coast of any large body of water will tell you that tributaries flow in one direction and then in the opposite direction, twice a day, every single day, day in and day out. Water very simply does not always flow downhill. It flows in the direction of least resistance - period.