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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: -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.
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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.
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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!