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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
(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.