I’m intrigued by the recent death of this daredevil guy who’s been in the news. I hadn’t heard of him until yesterday. His name was Mike Hughes and he proclaimed himself to be the world’s biggest daredevil. He was also known as “Rocket Man.” Intrigued may be the wrong word. Confounded, perhaps, is better.
Anyway, on Saturday, Feb. 22, he attempted to launch a homemade rocket. He’s done it before and he was doing it again. The event took place out in the desert near Barstow, California. It was a steam-powered contraption, and right after it shot off, the safety parachute ripped away. The rocket sped high in the air, reached its apex, and then came crashing back to earth.
There’s a video of it on Twitter, posted by a reporter/freelance writer named Justin Chapman if you want to see the incident.
At any rate, he devoted his life to this notion of launching himself high into the air. And to what end?
He was driven by his belief that the earth is flat, and he was hell-bent on proving this notion. So he tried to thrust himself 5,000 feet in the air to have a look. A plane ticket would have been a lot cheaper, safer, and they’ll take you all the way up to 38,000 feet.
He had been working toward on an attempt to reach the spot where the Earth’s atmosphere meets outer space. That’s about 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. And if you carry the three and add the eight, that’s about 327,360 feet up in the air. Mike Hughes wasn’t very good at this, if we tell the truth. For a previous launch in 2018, he had reached about 1,900 feet.
“Mad Mike” told the Associated Press that he wanted to do these launches because he believed the Earth was flat. “Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is,” he said. “Do I know for sure? No. That’s why I want to go up in space.”
Since his death, his “press agent” is saying he didn’t really believe the earth was flat, but he’d sure been espousing that idea for a lot of years. Either way, these rocket launches killed him. But I guess if that is what made him happy, he died a happy death. I’m truly sorry though, for him, and his family.
Here is the thing. I grow tired of the misinformation. It sometimes makes me frustrated, that people are so willing to listen to lies. There are a lot of people in the world who gather their “knowledge” from very limited sources. Like FOX News, or Facebook. Neither of which has proven to be reliable. The earth is not flat.
The rest of the world reads a variety of sources, accredited sources, from all over the world, and in all forms. As we have seen throughout history — lies, misinformation, and propaganda are dangerous. That’s all there is to it. Look what happened to six million Jews.
It worries me more than anything. People believe what they are told, and these days, they are being encouraged to react with anger. Anger toward people who think differently than they do. Inclusiveness is a better way. Understanding. Communication. Collaboration.
But sometimes, it goes on a crazy path. Like flying their rockets into the ground.
I think I’ll just try to keep my feet firmly planted on our big blue ball. And see where that takes me.
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“Common sense is not so common.”
― Voltaire
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There are some things money cannot buy, like morals, manners, and common sense.
— Unknown
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The enemy of truth is blind acceptance.
— Matthew Arnold
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