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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.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @11:31AM (3 children)
( from a Southern California resident )
If he wants to go blow himself up in the desert, I think he's picked a great place. There's wide open spaces out there where he won't do much harm.
If he proves something to himself, fine, but I'd rather see a guy die doing what he wants to do, than live an unfulfilled life where he did not do what he felt he had to do.
Sports people do really risky things too, but if we call it "sport", its OK for people to do really risky things for the thrill of it... but if this guy wants to do this, we tell him he can't?
Just one meth lab in a residential tract will expose somebody to far more harm than what this guy is gonna try.
My take: Same as we had in High School where we had ambulances parked around the football field before a game. Supervise the guy so he will land in an open space, and maybe have someone with a 4WD chase vehicle standing by just in case Newton's law of gravitation ( which also causes the Earth to be spherical ) proves again to be correct.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:12PM (2 children)
You're completely misunderstanding the situation here.
Go and burn a forest, and see how much it will help you with the authorities if you call it a "sport".
They didn't tell him he can't launch his rocket, they told him he can't do something that destructive on public property. Apparently he managed to find a private property nearby, moved the rocket there, and now he's free to go.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @08:21PM (1 child)
Burn a forest in the desert?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday November 29 2017, @09:58PM
There is vegetation in the desert and when it burns it may take centuries or more for the climax vegetation to grow back. If you are ever in Las Vegas with time to kill, take a drive out to Red Rock Canyon where you can see the results of one such fire.