from the good-afternoon,-good-evening,-and-good-night dept.
Multiple Soylentils have written in to let us know about the death of Mike Hughes:
"Mad" Mike Hughes Dies in Rocket Crash
Michael 'Mad Mike' Hughes, staunch flat Earth conspiracy theorist, launched himself into the skies above Barstow in San Bernardino county Saturday, February 22nd.
He was attempting to reach an altitude of ~5000 feet (1,500 meters). Unfortunately his parachute did not open during descent causing him to plummet to his death.
This wasn't Hughes' first rodeo, as the self-taught engineer had made two other attempts, the latest of which was supposed to launch in August 2019. That attempt was grounded by bad weather. Before that, the rocketeer had a successful (albeit bumpy) launch in March 2018, when his homemade rocket reached 1,875 feet (572 m) in altitude over Amboy, California. During that launch, Hughes had to deploy two parachutes to save himself from smashing into the desert. Even so he plummeted back to Earth at 350 mph (563 km/h). He got out of that one with just a sore back, he said at the time.
This launch was only a stepping stone to the eventual goal to proving the Earth was flat.
Would flat-Earth-believer Hughes have been able to see our planet's sphere at 5,000 feet (1,524 m)? Nope. And he knew that, saying he would need to soar past the so-called Kármán line — where the sky ends and space begins, or roughly 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth — to see the curvature with his own eyes.
Two other amateur rocket teams are also attempting to reach the 100 KM point.
DAREDEVIL 'MAD' MIKE HUGHES DEAD AT 64 ... Fatal Rocket Crash Landing
TMZ, though probably at many other venues shortly., I, for one, offer prayers for Mad Mike, and may Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthys judge him with mercy.
'Mad' Mike Hughes is believed to possibly be dead after launching himself in the air with a self-made rocket that crash-landed -- and it was captured on camera.
The well-known daredevil and amateur rocket-engineer was doing a rocket launch Saturday in what appears to be near Barstow, CA -- where a reporter says Mike propelled himself into the air with a "self-made steam-powered rocket" and then crash-landed into the ground.
Not confirmed? Does not matter whether the earth be flat, or just a very large sphere, when you slam into it at speed.
Much more tragic, Mike seemed pretty stoked for the launch this weekend. He posted a video describing his rocket, where it would go down and what he was aiming to achieve. BTW, he was a big flat-earth believer -- and a doc was even made about him trying to prove it.
We've reached out to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Dept. for comment ... so far, no word back. However, we were told by a dispatcher at the Victor Valley Sheriff's Station that a call for service had been placed Saturday out of Barstow -- the nature of which is unclear.
Flat Earther 'Mad' Mike Hughes died when his homemade rocket crashed
Daredevil "Mad" Mike Hughes died Saturday when a homemade rocket he was attached to launched but quickly dove to earth in the California desert.
The stunt was apparently part of a forthcoming television show, "Homemade Astronauts," that was scheduled to debut later this year on Discovery Inc.'s Science Channel. Discovery confirmed the 64-year-old's death in a statement.
"It was always his dream to do this launch, and Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey," the company said.
Also at
LA Times, Space, NBC News, and CNN
Previous Coverage:
Flat Earther Manages to Travel One Third of a Mile Into the Sky Using a Steam-Powered Rocket (Takyon)
Federal Government Denies Permission for Flat Earth Researcher's Rocket Launch (Anonymous Coward)
Flat Earther Plans Manned Steam-Powered Rocket Launch (MichaelDavidCrawford)
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
Related Stories
"Mad" Mike Hughes plans to ascend to 1800 feet in a $20,000 steam-powered rocket.
He has flown in rockets before, mostly successfully, but was injured by the acceleration.
Despite that he claims "science is science fiction", he used documented engineering formulas because they are known to work, despite that the science behind them is bogus.
It will be live-streamed on Hughes' YouTube channel, possibly also on Pay-Per-View.
According to Southern California Public Radio,
"Mad" Mike Hughes, limousine driver and self-proclaimed flat-Earther, announced that he had to delay his plan to launch himself 1,800 feet high in a rocket of his own making. The launch, which he has billed as a crucial first step toward ultimately photographing our disc-world from space, had been scheduled for Saturday — before the Bureau of Land Management got wind of the plan and barred him from using public land in Amboy, Calif.
Also, the rocket launcher he had built out of a used motor home "broke down in the driveway" on Wednesday, according to Hughes. He said in a YouTube announcement that they'd eventually gotten the launcher fixed — but the small matter of federal permission proved a more serious stumbling block (for now).
Related: Flat Earther Plans Manned Steam-Powered Rocket Launch.
Self-taught rocket scientist finally blasts off into California sky
"Mad" Mike Hughes, the rocket man who believes the Earth is flat, propelled himself about 1,875 feet into the air Saturday before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert. He told The Associated Press that outside of an aching back he's fine after the launch near Amboy, California.
"Relieved," he said after being checked out by paramedics. "I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket. I'm tired of that stuff. I manned up and did it."
The launch in the desert town — about 200 miles east of Los Angeles — was originally scheduled in November. It was scrubbed several times due to logistical issues with the Bureau of Land Management and mechanical problems that kept popping up.
Previously: Flat Earther Plans Manned Steam-Powered Rocket Launch
Federal Government Denies Permission for Flat Earth Researcher's Rocket Launch
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @04:24AM (13 children)
He died for what he believed in. Truly, Mike Hughes was a better man than Elon Musk.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:04AM (12 children)
He died because of what he believed in, which was wrong. He did not die "for" anything, since his death contributes nothing to anything he believed. In Nam, if you were KIA, we called you "wasted", having died for nothing.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:18AM (7 children)
One could well have ended up saying the same of the Wright Brothers had their early experiments with flight ended in tragedy (as many before had). And indeed there would have been people mocking such a tragedy, for what sort of fool would think humans could fly like the birds? Let alone when those fools were just bike boys anyhow - not a lick of formal scientific training between the two of them.
I think we should appreciate the dogged and *real* pursuit of scientific work - regardless of whether what was being pursued panned out or not. If he genuinely felt the Earth was flat, he could have spent his years goofing off in the special olympics that is internet "debate." Instead he tried to personally test his views and gain evidence, one way or the other. I suspect that evidence does not exist, because his view was wrong - but that is completely irrelevant. A human willing to go through extensive effort and risk his life to verify his beliefs, in a way where he stands to hurt nobody except himself, is something remarkable.
Reminds me of the comments when there was footage [youtube.com] shared of some guy in the Congo developing 'chukudus' - basically a wooden bike. Wow, amazing. No, but it really is. It's always this sort of attitude of creating things and testing things that has helped humanity constantly evolve. Whether it's a good idea or not, old or new, is irrelevant. The whole point is take 8 billion people. Imagine we were all pursuing our own ideas, can you even begin to think of how absurdly fast the human species would be developing and evolving? That's exactly how we got from being glorified apes to where we are today in such a markedly short period of time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @09:43AM (6 children)
The Wright Brothers were dealing with an engineering problem within the scope of known science.
Mike Hughes was trying to disprove settled science.
If he was the first person trying to build a rocket, then his death would have had meaning, but that problem was settled almost a century ago as well.
He was just a guy with a particularly dangerous hobby who managed to get himself killed doing it.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 24 2020, @01:22PM (5 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:14PM
because they all knew that birds were lighter than air...?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @03:05PM (3 children)
What again does that have to do with the present story? Did someone die trying to prove that heavier than air flight was impossible?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @04:00PM (1 child)
after aircraft had been around for a long time
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @04:03PM
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 24 2020, @05:19PM
Read for comprehension next time, please.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 24 2020, @03:17PM (1 child)
Well, it wasn't his belief in a flat earth that killed him; it was his belief that one could ride a steam powered rocket built a garage that killed him.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:10PM
Or more specifically, his belief that he got the engineering right on the parachutes. He had no problems riding the rocket up, it was the parachute failure that ultimately killed him.
As far as the flat earth stuff goes, he was just using that as a fundraising effort. He didn't actually believe that the Earth is flat.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by RS3 on Monday February 24 2020, @05:20PM (1 child)
Hopefully someone can learn from Mike's death and use that knowledge for good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @05:53AM
If there's anything to learn, it's that being an Internet celeb is just as empty and sad as it sounds on the Internet.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ilPapa on Monday February 24 2020, @04:41AM (24 children)
It was hard not to root for this magnificent bastard. Part of me wanted him to actually prove the Earth was flat.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Username on Monday February 24 2020, @05:30AM (4 children)
Yeah, kinda sad there are so few self made scientists and engineers. Even if they're theories are wrong, I feel they're the type to make some huge breakthrough once one doesn't.
(Score: 4, Funny) by MostCynical on Monday February 24 2020, @05:37AM (3 children)
Steam powered rocket is hardly a break through.. well, except through the top layer of dirt.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 4, Funny) by Nuke on Monday February 24 2020, @11:49AM
I think he meant that proving the earth was flat would have been a breakthrough. I guess we'll never know now whether it is flat or not, unless another Mad Mike steps forward.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Monday February 24 2020, @02:39PM
Clean Coal powered rocket could save an entire industry that is threatened by the nuisance of better technology.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @07:43AM
Oh oh I got one. What was the last thing that went through Mike's mind? A steam powered engine.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:43AM (1 child)
Parachute tore off, backups didn't deploy.
How can we be sure it wasn't sabotage by round-earth nutters?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @07:45AM
They're all nutters. Concave Earth theory, that's the truth they don't want you to hear.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mendax on Monday February 24 2020, @06:06AM (2 children)
The man was a looney. He was missing some screws. He was nuts. I suspect this year's Darwin Awards will feature him.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 24 2020, @02:41PM (1 child)
If only someone could have supplied him with a supply of spare screws, and some tools for tightening them.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @06:04AM
Screw theory is BOGUS that's why.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @09:27AM (2 children)
Like Aldous Gajic [fandom.com]?
The big difference is that Gajic sought something that couldn't be found or proven, while Hughes sought proof of something already thoroughly disproven.
Does that make Hughes less of a true seeker? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 24 2020, @03:20PM (1 child)
When it comes to rocketry: No boom today. Boom tomorrow, always boom tomorrow.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:29PM
Thanks.
Somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here. Boom. Sooner or later. Boom!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Dr Spin on Monday February 24 2020, @09:30AM (9 children)
That the earth is round is obvious to anyone who has climbed to the top of the mast of a tall ship.
Furthermore, if you take a sextant up eith you, you can take a load of measurements with which to determine the
circumference pretty accurately by measuring the angle to various landmarks along the coast. The actual
circumference has been known since the time of Alexander the Great with reasonable accuracy.
However, despite this being taught in naval officer training school i the time of Columbus, it was not taught to hedge fund managers .
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Monday February 24 2020, @01:43PM (8 children)
I seem to remember standing on the terrace at the top of /Torni/ hotel in Helsinki, looking down south, and seeing the illuminated spire of /Oleviste/ church in Tallinn on a clear dark night. Not tall buildings by modern standards (although one was the tallest building in the world at one point), but a demonstration that should have punctured all flatulent flat-earth blow-hards since the former (because it was the latter of the two) was opened in the 1930s. If it was true. I may have been rather drunk at the time. (70m and 125m, so it's just about possible.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Informative) by ikanreed on Monday February 24 2020, @03:02PM (7 children)
These kinds of arguments aren't particularly effective at stopping flat earthers though. If you've ever argued with anyone on the internet you know why. When cornered and shown compelling evidence, they simply change the subject. It's not moving the goalposts, because there was never any kind of evidence they would accept in the first place.
What they want: to feel smarter and wiser and more insightful than you.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @03:20PM (1 child)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday February 24 2020, @06:55PM
Yes, of coarse, khallow! But, seriously, what did you intend to say? Do we not always investigation our observings?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 24 2020, @05:15PM (4 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday February 24 2020, @05:29PM (3 children)
If there's one thing america is still exporting globally, it's dumb shit no one should ever believe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:46PM (2 children)
--Peter Medawar
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:21PM (1 child)
Met some 20something german dude who tried to convince me the earth is flat. The US is home to some serious stupid, but just sayin' it isn't the only place that is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @06:07AM
I've heard there's even places where they believe in trickle down economics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:00PM
He proved himself flat instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:06AM (2 children)
That the Earth was flat, but now he is.
Part of a dream is better than none, eh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:14AM
If he's now flat, then the earth is flat.. in a localized manner of speaking, otherwise he would be round?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Nuke on Monday February 24 2020, @11:52AM
It was round before, but his impact has flattened it. QED
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:04AM (21 children)
It's easy to mock his death, but many (if not most) of the greatest minds in invention and development worldwide have been completely self taught. For instance the Wright brothers who near single-handedly revolutionized airflight in America had the amazing expertise of being bake repair/manufacturing guys. Neither had any education beyond high school which one of them did not finish even there. Incidentally their first projects borrowed quite heavily from bicycles!
Another less well known name (in America) is Tsiolkovsky. He is the founding father of rocketry who both discovered and solved nearly all fundamental factors related to rocketry and rocketry design. He died in 1935 thinking most of his work was theoretical and would probably never be implemented. Development of the first orbital class rocket, the R-7, began in 1953. It was first in 1957 and would finally put the first satellite into orbit in 1958. Tsiolkovsky had 0 formal education. He was not admitted to school because of a hearing problem and was completely home schooled. He was also mostly reclusive which led to him being initially labeled as a bit bonkers.
And there are countless other names that could be listed. The whole point of this though is that the people who achieve real things tend to do so by their own grit. And so even when it ends in disaster (and even when their beliefs may be somewhat absurd) I think they deserve nothing but respect. Because these are the people that push humanity forward for all of us.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Monday February 24 2020, @07:20AM
In some ways, persistence can be more powerful than genius, but paired together they can be near miraculous.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:14AM (7 children)
really? you're comparing people who were stumbling through the unknown with a guy who refused to accept well-established facts?
his death is just sad, because it was a misguided and failed attempt to achieve something that many other people have already achieved.
misguided because the ultimate goal was stupid.
if you really want to compare him with someone, compare him with columbus. who also went against established fact (he came up with a smaller value for the diameter of the Earth), put a lot of money into a doomed attempt to go from Europe directly to India, and was incredibly lucky to encounter the Americas along the way.
part of me does agree with the sentiment that we shouldn't mock him.
but maybe we should mock him.
if only to shock other idiots into actually processing what happened.
just in case it wasn't clear: yes, I believe columbus was also a misguided idiot, and that expedition should never have been funded.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:44AM (6 children)
Humans had been trying to fly for literally thousands of years. Do you know how many countless thousands of unnamed people died trying to create 'flying machines'? Even the ancient tale of Daedalus and Icarus is a metaphorical warning against such lofty aspirations. Look up history prior to the Wright Brothers and you'll find plenty of names like Otto Lilienthal [wikipedia.org] or Percy Pilcher [wikipedia.org]. They made 'flying machines', then they died in them. The Wright Brothers, a couple of uneducated bike building brothers, were of the mentality that they could somehow revolutionize human flight. If you laid odds when they first started the trek here, it'd be pretty much a LDO 'yip they're gonna die' bet - because that is precisely what "well-established fact" said of human flight. But that's not how it turned out, so now we view what happened as equally inevitable - which is absurd.
I don't see how people do not understand the notion of revolutionary scientific progress. This entails, practically by definition, means going against 'well-established facts.'
Your comment itself is also illogical. Why in the world would you want to prevent "idiots" (I suspect you would be incapable of achieving even a fraction of what our 'Mad Mike' did, so what does "idiot" mean?) from actually testing their own views? If they die in the process so long as they're not hurting anybody else (who's not also voluntarily involved), so what? Humanity doesn't evolve by adopting some sort of groupthink - it dies by it. Revolutionary change comes precisely by challenging well-established facts. And most of the time the people that do challenge these facts are wrong. But the times they are right easily make up for a million failures along the way.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @09:09AM (1 child)
I'd add that this is also the exact problem with entrepreneurship.
You have to be 'insane' to get into entrepreneurship when you don't come from significant wealth. Yet, lo and behold, the vast majority of entrepreneurs don't come from significant wealth. Old money generally produces idiots complacent to sit on gramp's achievements. I remember my mother in law's comments when I was first starting my own business. I'd made a little bit of cash - around $3000, but it was quite a lot for a boy from a poor background to have untied to any other obligation (like rent). "You should take that out [of your business account], and go buy yourself something nice while you can."
It wasn't meant in any way whatsoever to be mean spirited. She thought it was wise advice and just didn't have the mindset or ambition to see bigger. And if I ran my life enough I probably would have ended up losing it all a good chunk of the time. Doesn't matter, because I would restart from scratch and go again. What's the point of life otherwise? It's precisely this worldview that leads me to have 0 empathy for this man's views, but every desire in the world to defend his decision to try to prove -or at least test- those views. Believe what makes sense to you. Take into consideration what other people say, but in the end it doesn't matter if every person you talk to thinks you're wrong. Reality isn't built by consensus. So, what you ultimately believe or choose to do is a decision that one not only should, but must, make for themselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @06:11AM
Almost modded you troll but the end is just... true. One day you might look back and realize all the people around you are scoundrels and backstabbers. You'll regret you didn't listen to yourself sooner. But.... this guy.... fuck.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @09:17AM (2 children)
The dude is not an idiot for trying to fly some rocket of his. That was foolish. The man is an idiot for discounting all the other proof that Earth is actually fucking ROUND-ish. You don't even need to fly anywhere to prove earth is a sphere! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes#Measurement_of_the_Earth's_circumference [wikipedia.org]
Comparing him to Wright brothers is also stupid. Ignoring the facts that they were not the first people to actually fly a heavier than air aircraft,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_firsts_in_aviation#Heavier_than_air [wikipedia.org]
Wright brothers were just a stepping stone in the long journey of creating a plane. Similar to rocketry, it was not made by one person. "Standing on shoulder's of giants" is kind of how science works, ALWAYS. Einstein, Newton would have been nobodies if it wasn't for the people that did the work that was used to create their own body of innovation.
This dude has nothing to do with Wright brothers or other people that were pushing boundaries of technology. This guy is just pushing boundaries of his delusions. Sorry.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:40PM (1 child)
Look at your own list. The people he was preceded by was a person who *claimed* to have flown a glider with a boy, and another guy who died trying to get gliders to work. The Wright Brothers, uneducated bike boys, were walking into a field many thought literally impossible. The one *and only* reason you retrofit the failures of the past to be "stepping stones" is because the outcome was correct. Obviously the Earth is spherical, and I suspect Mike also knew this - but in the case were it not people would now list this one of those "stepping stones." It's rewriting history based upon hindsight analysis of results, rather than any sort of glorified pattern of progress.
I think people not realizing this is playing a big part in why we, as a people, have become so pathetically inertial. We now have computing power magnitudes greater than used to put a man on the moon, and we use it primarily for text messaging one another. Each house now has more electric "freely" (so to speak) available than those of times past could have imagined. Aside from powering our text messages, it's potential has sat mostly dormant. And of course speaking of putting a man on the moon. In 1972 we put a man on the moon, in 2020 we.. are trying to figure out how to get a man to the moon. We are becoming stupid, inertial, and lazy. And I think this nonsense view of an 'inevitability' interpretation of history is if not a cause then at least a consequence of these things. No, nothing is inevitable. It's entirely possible, were reality slightly less kind, that human flight would have remained a fairytale - exactly as most people, including the "great minds", thought.
The one and only way we improve our society, our species, is by more people actually starting to DO stuff. Or we can sit by mocking China (and those who do try, and fail, domestically) and resting on our half century old laurels until such laurels grow as rotted and decayed as our personal initiatives.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:15PM
We know how to put a man on the moon. What we're trying to do now is to do it cost-effectively.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @03:50PM
I've worked with a not-for-profit group [jpaerospace.com] which has sent unmanned balloons up to 100k feet/30 km routinely for more than three decades. This guy could have sponsored (or run his own) missions to measure the curvature of the Earth at a much higher altitude than he could reach in a steam-thrust rocket - quite a few for the cost of that rocket!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Nuke on Monday February 24 2020, @11:41AM
Mad Mike was doing something (rocketry) that has been done in far better ways for a long time, and supposedly trying to discover something (the shape of Earth) for which far better methods have existed for a long time, a discovery which was made a long time ago anyway.
There is no comparison with the Wright brothers. Mad Mike was doing this for showmanship.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 24 2020, @03:31PM (9 children)
I have never understood this mentality in the USA that people without an education are somehow nobler than those that have one.
The cult of ignorance.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @04:52PM (4 children)
That was not the point of the comment at all. This was about personal drive generally mattering more than education. A who's who list of tech would certainly include names such as Zuckerburg, Paul Allen, Gates, Dell, Jobs, Wozniak, Larry Ellison, and so on. Every single one of them dropped out of college to pursue their dreams. And they dropped out when college actually meant something as opposed to today where universities are increasingly just turning into pay-to-win diploma printing businesses.
Beyond that formal education has become less relevant than ever today. Want to receive an education in physics from one of the world's leading experts? Here [youtube.com] you go. Literally hundreds of hours of video from Leonard Susskind going from classical mechanics to advance quantum physics and modern puzzles. You can find supplemental discussion, coursework, etc as well as interactive assistance at places like physics forums [physicsforums.com]. I've actually had Leonard also respond to a personal inquiry, but that's probably not something that'd scale so well! And you can find similar resources for self education on damn near any topic. We live effectively in a utopia of self-education.
We should, as a species, be accomplishing so much more than we are. And on this front, I admire 'Mad' Mike Hughes. Because he took the resources we have today and tried to make something of them. And like was a regular occurrence in times past, he died in the process of it. I think a part of the reason we aren't making this sort of progress is because we're building up barriers where none actually exist. I am not anti-education. I have a degree from a top ten, and I don't regret it in any way. However, I think our increasingly active appeals to authority are working as a collective demotivator.
People don't look for reasons why they CAN do things, but for reasons why they CANNOT. It's like some sort of collective victim complex. No idea what started this, but it's been horrible for society. And things like this play into that. I mean 'ha ha - look he thought he could make a rocket, so he died.' No, he *did* make a rocket. And previously he had successful launches and 'safe' returns. He died because his chute and backups somehow failed, not because he couldn't make a rocket. Very well could have simply been a freak outcome. Accidents happen in any field with real life involved. NASA had 3 astronauts burn to death during a labeled "non-hazardous" test just to ensure the cabin's internal systems would function when detached from umbilical electricity. A spark, a fire, 3 dead astronauts.
---
So ultimately obviously the Earth is spherical. I strongly suspect Mike also knew this. Regardless, I couldn't care less about his motivations. The fact that a single man took the initiative to create his own rockets with the goal of launching himself into space is really just the inspirational and bad ass thing I've seen in quite a long time. Imagine - seriously just try to imagine, how absurdly fast humanity would be progressing if everybody had the same sort of motivation and personal will power. It makes me wonder in our times of competing scientists racing for progress, competing against one another.. Is it really that science changed, that things have become more difficult? Or is it that WE have changed? Perhaps it may be that the joys of endless porn, endless entertainment, and a life with relatively few *real* worries has reshaped our thoughts on life and progress in a way that's not really conducive to self improvement. So I tip my hat to Mike. And you know, if he had any choice - I'm certain he'd have rather gone out this way than enfeebled with a slowly failing body and mind a couple of decades later of 'natural causes.'
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:27PM (3 children)
"We should, as a species, be accomplishing so much more than we are. And on this front, I admire 'Mad' Mike Hughes. Because he took the resources we have today and tried to make something of them."
I won't clue you in as to why so many people are stuck not doing amazing things, but I will pop your bubble about his accomplishments. He was a hobbyist, he was not inventing anything new or creating technology that would be useful in any way. He was an amazing hobbyist, props to him for building such an ambitious project, but his work did nothing to add to humanity's accomplishments.
In fact he is rightly mocked for his flat-earth beliefs. Especially once gaining national attention such stupidity is actively harmful to humanity's progress. That mentality is why we have staunch deniers of climate change, promoters of eugenics, probably a flat-earther or two around here that won't make themselves a target, anti-vaxxers bringing back diseases, and probably a few other anti-intellectual bullshit ideas.
That is not how humanity has progressed throughout history. In fact, the stubborn anti-intellectuals have routinely been the oppressors of progress. But ok, up is down and right is wrong. Blame all of the world's corruption and problems on those damn university intellectuals!! We have enough problems without creating some paranoid boogey man out of academics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:00PM (2 children)
If you're going to respond to something, it's often a good idea to at least read it to completion. That, or your reading comprehension is as poor as your logic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:38PM (1 child)
I didn't call you a flat earther, and I didn't insult you for the opinions you stated which I think are harmful nonsense promoted by the "personal responsibility" types who use "education is available everywhere" like a cudgel to smear society. Nothing you said is new, people have been bitching about such things since the dawn of time. A few people like Mike actually go out and try to do something.
I particularly loved the "universities are diploma mills" followed by "I attended a top ten and regret nothing." Which is it? Should everyone submit an application for your approval about what they should study? I mean if it isn't a useful degree with good career options we should excise that facet of human knowledge right?
Be triggered somewhere else, a flat earther building a steam rocket is only admirable for his tenacity. Though you could argue that his attempts at fame kinda override his "amazing achievement." I'd be a lot more motivated to build some stupid shit if I had offers from TV networks to pay me for it. Maybe he'd have kept going, maybe he'd have stopped. Hell, you even hypothesized that he knew the Earth is round, which then makes him a con artist trying to sell his hobby to suckers.
I'm gonna give you some free advice, be less emotional and before you make sweeping judgments about humanity you might want to exercise some critical thinking instead of making sweeping tough-guy posts like
Now git off muh lawn!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:42PM
My comments are not sweeping generalizations. They are backed by substantial data. For instance in many (and it may well be all) developed nations, IQs are literally declining. [wikipedia.org] This started sometime in the 90s and is unprecedented. The decline is also quite rapid. A point or two per decade does not sound like much until you realize that 86 IQ is considered borderline mentally retarded.
And it goes without saying that American educational performance is becoming more and more abysmal. The PISA results [wikipedia.org] are amazingly awful. We spend more (public funding that is - this is not a proxy for absurd private spending) on education than most countries in the world. We're 37/78 in the world in math... As a matter of fact you don't have a single country from the anglosphere in the top 5 anymore except Estonia.
Yes, it is a trope - but it is unfortunately also quite literally true: Americans are becoming *literally* more stupid. The only question is why, and on this we can only speculate. But I mean I think people's waistlines are already a tell tale sign. People's inability to eat the point of literally gross excess is a sign of reduced self control or impulse management. And it seems difficult to imagine in today's era of, again, "endless porn, endless entertainment, and a life with relatively few *real* worries" is reshaping many people's entire mental state.
So people breaking out of this trap and doing things on their own in a unique and innovative way is something I will always applaud. In this case building human capable rockets is something few have done, let alone actually successfully fly in one. That took immense self determination and motivation, intelligence, and substantial bravery on top of it all.
---
This is also the reason for the dichotomy between my view on my experience of education and education in general.
I do think top tier education in the US is still reasonable. But of course the vast majority of people will not receive a top tier education. They will go to Shit U and get a Shit degree and then blame society when their cognitive dissonance comes crashing down and they're $120k in debt but can only get a Shit job. 'How could this be!? I just knew that degree in underwater basket weaving would pay off! Ahhh!!! It's everybody else's fault!' Even without the cost, the system remains broken as the institutions are clearly exploiting rather than benefiting society.
It's part of the problem with trying to engineer progress in society instead of pushing for freedom and letting progress happen organically. Reality has a way of constantly screwing you with unforeseen consequences. Newton probably never realized his 3rd law most certainly was not simply relegated to physics!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:58PM
As opposed the cult of arrogance in Academia.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Monday February 24 2020, @10:00PM
I do. It's because education was something traditionally restricted to the upper classes, and men in particular. Your family had to be able to afford to let you go to school. So many made the choice to work on the farm and continue feeding their families. So those with a high value education either came from rich families, were sponsored by rich families, or had luck on their side. Sometimes, when a kid was especially bright, (hint: one of our Presidents in pre-Death America), he fought past all these limitations to succeed and make a name for themselves.
IMO, the nobility comes from people without a formal education and resources, who also set out to meet their goals and did. It wasn't the circumstances of their life that defined them, but their perseverance, tenacity, etc. There are plenty of good examples of this. Our understanding of magnetism was greatly enhanced by somebody with no formal education (IIRC), especially mathematics.
It still applies today. We find nobility in people who start from the bottom and make it. We have much less respect for rich elite fuckwads who think they're better than everyone else, even though they got jumpstarted by old family money, nepotism, and corruption.
What it isn't, is a celebration of ignorance. Best example of that I can come up with off the top of my head, Dave Thomas [wikipedia.org]. No formal education. High school dropout. Yet, very hard working and quite a huge success. Ultimately, he did obtain an education for precisely the reason to send a good message to children. It's not unreasonable to find nobility in this man.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Monday February 24 2020, @11:32PM
Don't equate the lack formal education with ignorance. I'm a licensed PE with a BS in engineering. My father never graduated from high school. He spent his career on the factory assembly line. Most of my P.E. colleagues wouldn't have faired very well against him in a contest of intelligence.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @07:52AM
A lot of people who get an education are idiots. And douche bags. And people know this. That's why your MA doesn't buy you any friends in the real world. We all know it's 1/2 shit. At work you get a pay bump and think you're hot shit. Douche bag. Cult of status worship.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @06:53PM
A guy from my home town flew earlier and to save having to re-write the text books, NASA gave us a used capsule from one of the early rockets to park on the campus of the grade school named after him, then basically told us to shut up about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_Gilmore [wikipedia.org]
Yes, I am _mostly_ kidding and _mostly_ don't believe he actually flew first, but I thought it was double ironic that this could be put in a story about flat-earthers.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday February 24 2020, @09:22AM (8 children)
Instinctively I align myself with the commenters who respect him but I have two further considerations.
Genius picks the better route, in this case it would be leasing a plane, and checking the distortion of the glass beforehand.
Lol I am kidding , the best method is getting two distant enough friends and ask them at what angle the sun shines. A flat Earth will make the actual height of the sun impossible to triangulate. High school math.
Finally, the kind of determination we admire in this guy is not qualitatively different from the visions of Hitler or pol pot or the guys in charge 9f the money. They do not hesitate to put lives on the line to achieve their objectives. This guy sacrificed his, which is fair, but equivalent.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Booga1 on Monday February 24 2020, @01:39PM
No, no, no... a plane ride wouldn't get him any attention.
Plus, trying to use a home-made rocket of any kind to get you up to the elevation of a commercial plane ride would be a monumental feat. It would be smarter, safer, and easier to just stick a camera on it that has no lens distortion so you know you're getting an unbiased image of the horizon.
Besides, you don't need any elevation at all to watch a ship on the ocean disappear over the horizon. If the ship didn't sink, and the waves aren't taller than the ship, that should tell you something about the shape of the earth.
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Monday February 24 2020, @02:18PM (1 child)
I'm under the impression he just wanted to see it with his own eyes, that nothing else would ever convince him.
Also possible he just really wanted to fly in a rocket but was too crazy to ever get into it as a profession.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:01AM
I'm under the impression he wanted to get a TV interview and possibly a late night radio show with George Noorey. He just needed to pack his parachutes correctly and he'd be living the dream.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:52PM (2 children)
I doubt he thought the Earth was flat. The dude built a home-made rocket and previously brought himself thousands of feet into the air and 'safely' landed. When you're on that level of mental ability + initiative, he could have verified the spherical nature of the Earth in a few thousand different ways with 0 risk. I expect he was using the flat earth stuff as a means for fund raising, promotion, fun, and to give a positive message of rocketry and self initiative to society. I mean how crazy is it that we have the technology today that it's even remotely within the realm of possibility for a man to launch himself into space using a homemade rocket?
It's a damn shame people aren't doing what he did left and right because think of all of the monumental discoveries we could be making. Instead people are inertial and rely on the geniuses at NASA who have destroyed half billion dollar probes because they failed to convert SI to metric, can't get hammers working on probes, and of course ended up killing dozens of folks in the process of this all. Keep in mind I'm not belittling NASA. They are great and there are some brilliant folks working there. But they're human, like everybody else. And relying on a handful of humans when we have a planet of 8 billion is about the dumbest possible thing we could ever do.
As you start to reach near the top of any field is that there are no super-humans - just people who work obsessively and tirelessly. And anyone of sufficient work ethic and motivation, given a baseline of reasonable intelligence, could also easily be near the top of the world in just about anything. The thing is, we don't have that work ethic or motivation - and it seems to be slipping ever faster in the era of endless porn, endless entertainment, endless games, and a media determined to try to frame regular people into demotivating super-geniuses which don't even exist.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday February 24 2020, @03:53PM
Do we? It was right in the summary, that by any objective measure he was nowhere remotely close to space.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:05AM
> destroyed half billion dollar probes because they failed to convert SI to metric
That's like criticizing the team that gets to the NBA finals but misses the 3 pointer in the last second of the game. Yaaaaah they can't throw 3-pointers for SHIT!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:12PM
A plane wouldn't get you high enough to see whether or not the Earth is curved as opposed to hitting a certain point where you warp to the other end.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Monday February 24 2020, @05:51PM
His rocket could go up 5000 feet, that's a little less than a mile. He could have taken a commercial airline and seen the curvature with his own eyes from eight times as high as his rocket. Both insane and stupid.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @10:50AM (20 children)
Mad Mike's life and death may be the purest possible metaphor for modern America:
A man with clear mental disease is exploited by "reality television" for money while nobody in a position of responsibility sees any reason to try to get him help. And half of the country cheers him on like he's some kind of a hero. His death is a harbinger for our collective fate in the hands of venal elite incompetence.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday February 24 2020, @03:50PM
Like what, involuntarily commit him to an asylum? Presumably he would've rejected any help that involved people trying to convince him the world *isn't* flat.
*Half* of the country? That can't be right. Right? That can't be right.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @03:55PM (5 children)
Help for what? What problem are you trying to fix and why do you think you have the tools to fix it?
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday February 24 2020, @11:05PM (3 children)
Moreover, what right do they have to fix a problem determined by them in the first place?
That's my problem with psychiatry, chemicals, and their bullshit expertise with them. Too often healing the patient is about bringing them inline with society again, a productive functioning unit, instead of healing within the patient. In contrast, psychology seems to be more about the mental well being of the patient, as determined by the patient.
I'm fully able to believe that this man was happy and was able to lead a life sufficient to explore his passions. He wasn't dropping his pants, shitting in the middle of a Bob's Big Boy, and then talking to us about the the MIB. Not that I know about.
So why should I want to force him into "treatment"? Simply because I disagree with his scientific views?
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:38AM (2 children)
Who said anything about force?
Offering support or health services though, that is the general idea of social workers. You could watch The Joker for an interesting take on mental health issues. I don't personally think Mike needed meds or therapy, just another dude who got pulled into a conspiracy theory and found inspiration in a hobby.
I do like your approach to meds and therapy, I've met multiple people who say they felt reprogrammed by meds and not always in a good way.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 25 2020, @07:27AM (1 child)
How do you treat someone who hasn't given you permission? By force.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:09AM
It's not force if you just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. Don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:54AM
Yeah! Why is no one trying to fix khallow? Why is insanity running amook in America!
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Monday February 24 2020, @04:22PM (5 children)
That comment and the moderation "may be the purest possible metaphor for modern" intellectualism. It consists of facile-but-often-wrong arguments that get a bunch of people to nod sagely in agreement.
Based on what? Is it a disease to be stubborn? The other day, that was called "cognitive bias" on SN. I listened to an interview [youtube.com] with Hughes and he seems like a guy who is a bit of an oddball but mostly wants to build stuff.
His youtube channel [youtube.com] has 66 subscribers. Given that the statement about "half the country" is wrong, I'm going to put your other statement about "clear mental disease" in that category too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:11PM (4 children)
Clearly you're a little worked up on the hyperbolic language and missing the forest for the trees. Being a flat-earther is beyond just wrong, and yes a good portion of the country did cheer him on because he was seen as fighting the "intellectuals" that dare tell them about reality.
It isn't a crime to be stubborn, but it isn't some trait to be worshipped. "My opinion is as good as your fact" somehow became accepted as true by a large portion of the country. Well, as long as your opinion jives with white american cultural values, otherwise it will be mocked as stupid and probably tied to someone's ancestry. We all know why this guy is getting a big fat pass.
Keep it classy Soylent News!
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Monday February 24 2020, @06:15PM (1 child)
Ah yes, a convenient excuse for being wrong by orders of magnitude is hyperbole. I would just call it "wrong". Next, back away from the initial claim of "clear mental disease" to something vague that "isn't some trait to be worshipped". But the original conclusion is still true, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:47PM
It is a bit hyperbolic, but also quite accurate. Or do you not pay attention to current affairs?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:08PM (1 child)
There was a time, like 99.9999% of our history, when we accepted people having differing, and yes this includes outright absurd, views.
I doubt many flat earthers are flat earthers. Rather it's an issue that brings out the absurdity of society today that you can make an overtly absurd statement and people just freak out. Man wanting to chop off his dick, put on a dress, and try to pretend to be a woman? Not only perfectly kosher, but even enforced and protected by laws in some regions. Man stating the earth is flat? Oh my god. Shut him down! He's insane! He's lost his mind! Won't anybody protect the children from such degeneracy!?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:49PM
"Oh my god. Shut him down! He's insane! He's lost his mind! Won't anybody protect the children from such degeneracy!?"
Nah, that is some Republican type reaction right there. I prefer to just tell it like it is and let people decide for themselves.
Don't go Full Nazi on me please, I haven't had enough coffee.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:00PM (6 children)
Thank you! I was going to make a similar post after seeing the over-zealous defenders.
There is a strange worship of anyone who perseveres against all odds and against scientific wisdom. Contrast that with the locust story of Somalia where you have some nob making a joke about cannibalizing all the humans to solve the problem. In fact compare with any story involving the accomplishments of darker skinned people where you can bank on more than a few racist slurs and a heaping of "so what."
This guy builds a STEAM rocket to prove flat-earth theories and is being defended like a hero in here?
I'm not happy the guys is dead, and I'm sad he won't be making any more rockets cause that is a pretty badass hobby, but the level of stupid worship in here is too damn high! If this was anyone but a rather iconic "murrican" type of dude most of the defenders in here would be shitting on him for thinking he could home-build a rocket, let alone his flat earth beliefs. Is this just famous people worship? "Self-taught engineer" wins hearts as underdog?
Seriously, WTF?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:38PM (5 children)
Examples? Because I think what you're saying is pretty much bullshit and can provide some evidence to the contrary.
In particular I used to visit voat.co. That site was loaded with tons of pretty awful and literal racists. One story that got shared on there was about chukudus [youtube.com]. If you're not familiar with them, they're a Congolese invention. Basically - a wooden bicycle. It's really easy to mock this, but mostly the responses, even there, were ultra positive. Because instead of a people just seeking a handout, some foreign assistance, or be jammed into poorly fitting roles - they're actually going their own way and doing something that's improving their community, their people, and helping to improve their entire nation. And for anybody that's ever actually built anything with their hands, building an entire bike - wooden or not, takes a lot of skill and intelligence. Those guys building the Chukudus are doing a million times more for the Congolese than all the NGO handouts combined. Bravo to them!
Same thing was true when footage [youtube.com] was shared of some Mexican migrant, maybe even illegal - doesn't seem to speak a lick of English, being robbed by police for running his sausage stand without whatever license they wanted or regulation he broke. Happened at the UC:Berkeley campus, no less. Not a single person was mocking him or ranting about build the wall or whatever. Everybody cheers for the working man.
Same story here. Rocketry is supposed to be something barely possible for a multimillionaire to get into. Mike showed that a single man can build rockets and launch himself 'safely' on a shoestring budget. I mean that's just plain awesome. I couldn't care less about his motivation. I suspect the flat earth stuff was just for self promotion and to try to grab some funding. A guy with the intellect and personal drive to be able to build his own human capable of rockets is obviously capable of proving the Earth spherical in about a thousand different ways. I can only imagine the reason more people don't see this is because they live in echo chambers and so they create personas of other people instead of, you know, actually interacting with them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:56PM (3 children)
Just because voat was a haven for racists doesn't mean everyone was one. Also, racists quite often are impressed by the minor accomplishments of minorities partly because they see them as sub-human. I was specifically referring to this site where the occasional story has floated through of some small country achieving XYZ and the majority of comments are pissing on them and touting US supremacy or whatever.
Not my fault if you have selective attention and/or see no problem with racism. I find it ridiculous that this guy is getting so much praise while being an official flat-earther. Deny reality all you want, in this case it is trivial to see the bias in play.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:48PM (2 children)
I would really appreciate just a single link, because I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about. Let alone when you said literally the *majority* of comments as opposed to some one-off AC troll.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:29AM (1 child)
Sorry, SN search is shit and I'm not spending 30+ minutes scrolling through pages of old stories to try and find an example. They aren't every week or anything, but I've seen quite a few where users here pile on the negativity for no reason beyond racism and PC politics. Here we have legit Darwin Award material and he is being treated like a folk hero.
The trend is clear, white people doing something == brave freethinking hero
Women or minorities doing something == why are we talking about this? who cares? -- and that is the 'nice' commentary
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @11:51PM
For a different example check out the German car homicide article, most of the usual suspects already presuming it was an Islamic attack. The Venn diagram of those users and the ones who complain or attack any article about women and minorities is a big fat circle.
Maybe it is time for everyone around here to just admit that Aristarchus is so very very right about the alt-right infestation here. Constantly dragging the discussion to the right and promoting hateful ideologies under the guise of facts and freedom of speech, often trotting out their martyrdom before anyone says anything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:58AM
For some values of "safely". After all, took him three tries!
Now go back and git on yer lawn, Boomer!
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday February 24 2020, @11:32AM (3 children)
Did he manage to find out if the Earth was flat and have time to tell anyone anyone the answer? We were all agog to hear. Otherwise his life will have been wasted.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Monday February 24 2020, @11:55AM
if he realized the earth was round it would have been terrible news part 1/2, so I hope at least he died without knowing it.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:46PM (1 child)
No but news of his death has quickly spread around the globe.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday February 24 2020, @08:23PM
You are assuming that it's a globe.
(Score: 2) by progo on Monday February 24 2020, @03:19PM (4 children)
Has anything about rocketry changes, or is it still very failure prone for a small team with no budget to make a rocket that can bring a human rider above the Kaiman line?
I hope the TV show didn't pay these "Homemade Astronauts" and were just following a story that was going to happen whether the TV people were there or not.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @03:35PM (2 children)
He used compressed steam (as did Evel Knievel) because of massive govt red tape using solid ammonium perchlorate or the complexity of liquid propellants.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @01:01AM (1 child)
If only the God-Impeacherated Trump could sign and execution order to relieve Americans of this regulatory burden, so more intrepid would-be American Rocket Scientologists could splat into the earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @03:46PM
If we had this attitude 150 years ago it's entirely possible we wouldn't even have airplanes today. When the Wright Brothers, a couple of uneducated bike makers, decided to start trying to make planes the 'great shoulders' upon which they were building upon was one possibly fabricated claim, and another guy who killed himself using a half-functional glider.
It's critical that the government never take it upon itself to start protecting people from themselves. That's not the role of government - that's dystopia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @08:15AM
Mmmm something about "low budget rocketry" sounds so unappealing.