Thanks as always to Pirate’s Cove and The Other McCain for the Rule Five links!
File this under both “Darwin Award Looking For A Place to Happen” and “Absolute Nut Goes Nuts.” Excerpt:
Seeking to prove that a conspiracy of astronauts fabricated the shape of Earth, a California man intends to launch himself 1,800 feet (549 metres) high on Saturday in a rocket he built from scrap metal.
Assuming the 500-mph (805-kmh), mile-long (1.6 km-long) flight through the Mojave Desert does not kill him, Mike Hughes told the Associated Press, his journey into the atmosflat will mark the first phase of his ambitious flat-Earth space program.
Hughes’s ultimate goal is a subsequent launch that puts him miles above Earth, where the 61-year-old limousine driver hopes to photograph proof of the disc we all live on.
“It’ll shut the door on this ball earth,” Hughes said in a fundraising interview with a flat-Earth group for Saturday’s flight.
Theories discussed during the interview included NASA being controlled by round-Earth Freemasons and Elon Musk making fake rockets from blimps.
Yes, True Believers, you read that right; Freemasons and Elon Musk are behind the “Round Earth Conspiracy.” But here are the real laugh lines:
That said, Hughes isn’t a totally unproven engineer. He set a Guinness World Record in 2002 for a limousine jump, according to Ars Technica, and has been building rockets for years, albeit with mixed results.
“Okay, Waldo. 3 . . . 2 . . . 1!” someone yells in a test fire video from 2012.
There’s a brief hiss of boiling water, then . . . nothing. So Hughes walks up to the engine and pokes it with a stick, at which point a thick cloud of steam belches out toward the camera.\
Yes, that’s right; he poked it. With a stick.
You just can’t make this stuff up. Also:
“John Glenn and Neil Armstrong are Freemasons,” Hughes agreed. “Once you understand that, you understand the roots of the deception.”
Uh huh.
Here’s my favorite:
He won’t be able to test the rocket before he climbs inside and attempts to steam himself at 500 mph (805 kmh) across a mile (1.6 km) of desert air. And even if it’s a success, he’s promised his backers an even riskier launch within the next year, into the space above the disc.
“It’s scary as hell,” Hughes told the AP. “But none of us are getting out of this world alive.”
Here’s my prediction Hughes won’t get out of that launch alive.
Now, some folks will be advocating for government interference with Hughes’ plan, to prevent him hurting himself. I’m not in favor of that. Not only should stupid people be conspicuous, I’m not particularly against allowing them to freedom to kill themselves, especially when it might be entertaining. As long as he doesn’t crash into a populated area, and from his plans he doesn’t seem to be going over too many of those – I say, he should feel free to knock himself out.
Literally.
