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Flat Earther's Homemade Rocket Launcher Breaks Down in His Driveway (desertsun.com)
The Desert Sun has an update on the progress of 61-year-old self-taught rocket scientist 'Mad' Mike Hughes:
A man who believes Earth is flat, and was ready to launch himself from a rocket in California on Saturday afternoon to prove it, has canceled his plans. At least for now. Not having the required federal permits plus mechanical problems with his "motorhome/rocket launcher" forced self-taught rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes to put his experiment on hold. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management "told me they would not allow me to do the event ... at least not at that location," Hughes said in a YouTube announcement, amid international attention over his plans to launch into the "atmosflat."
"It's been very disappointing," he said... "My feeling is that one of the top executives at the Bureau of Land Management called Needles, California, saying... 'What's going on? Who permitted this?'" Hughes said. Plus, as he and his team were preparing to leave Wednesday, the motorhome/rocket launcher broke down in his driveway, he said... His plan is to try again next week.
"It's been very disappointing," he said... "My feeling is that one of the top executives at the Bureau of Land Management called Needles, California, saying... 'What's going on? Who permitted this?'" Hughes said. Plus, as he and his team were preparing to leave Wednesday, the motorhome/rocket launcher broke down in his driveway, he said... His plan is to try again next week.
Bonus points- you can't see curvature of the earth from that low.
Why do you have to see the curvature for proof?
Pick a direction and keep flying that way, he'll either
A. Circumnavigate the earth and come back to where he started, proving Flat Earth wrong.
B. Eventually come to the end of the Flat Earth, and will be able to get photographic proof (that no Flat Earther has yet ever managed to provide)
C. Keep going and end up in strange lands not on any map.
But then again, watching some deluded twat do his best Wile E Coyote impression into a rock face is more entertaining.
I'm not convinced this guy is really a "flat earther." Apparently, he only started "believing" in it within the last year or so, and after his first failed Kickstarted didn't generate enough backers. Suddenly, he starts advertising his Flat Earth chops and his follow up Kickstarter gets the attention needed for proper funding.
Sounds more like a marketing tactic to me...
Anyway, I'm not trying to call the guy out as some kind of Flat Earth Wannabe or anything, but the media seems really committed to playing right into his hand.
There is no reason to level disdain and malice toward this man.
He has his own sort of courage and intellect, let him be.
Alas, no. His "courage and intellect" are not helpful. His motivation is not the kind of good-faith naïveté that seeks to discover new things. It is the kind of stubborn blindness that seeks to affirm rigid beliefs that are not supported by evidence.
Let him be? Perhaps. But let's not celebrate his ignorance.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
The point is the man has spirit and that is the result of delicate culture, something that is being systematically destroyed.
He has LIFE, more than these twisted freaks who get pleasure from making fun of him. He has POTENTIAL. With real education his drive to create could be very valuable.
What we have instead of education is psychological lobotomization and programming. The banks which control our government, economy, and most everything else, do not want competitors. They want brainless, soulless drones who can do linear tasks. They don't want people who will test barriers and live on their own terms. Guess which sort actually benefits everyone but the bankers?
The argument "don't cause trouble, just lay down and take it" is not one which will lead to survival.