Windblown Block

 

If you believed the Earth was flat – if you were convinced that absolutely everyone since Pythagoras was wrong – how would you go about proving it? On Saturday, February 20, 2020, “Mad” Mike Hughes launched himself in a homemade rocket over the desert near Barstow, California in an attempt to prove his theory. This was actually Mike’s second attempt. In March of the previous year, he’d reached an altitude of 1,870 feet before deploying parachutes and landing hard. This time he hoped to achieve 5,000 feet. Instead, the rocket crashed shortly after takeoff, killing its flat-earther pilot. I’m scratching my head over this: that a man smart enough to build rockets in his backyard was dumb enough to strap himself into them. Twice. You’ll see a lot of stories on the Internet today that are nothing short of hogwash. I can’t tell you if this one is funny, bizarre or just plain sad. But it’s the unvarnished truth.