Flat Earther Now Wants To Launch His Homemade Rocket From a Balloon (themaineedge.com) 314
A Maine alternative newsweekly just interviewed self-taught rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes, who still believes that the earth is a flat, Frisbee-shaped disc. ("Think about this. Australia -- which is supposedly on the other side of the planet -- is upside down yet they're holding the waters in the ocean. Now how is that happening?") And Mike's got a new way to prove it after his aborted launch attempt in November. An anonymous reader writes:
"One thing I want to clarify is that this rocket was never supposed to prove that the Earth is flat," Hughes tells an interviewer. "I was never going to go high enough to do that." But he will prove it's flat -- with an even riskier stunt. "I have a plan to go 62 miles up to the edge of space. It's going to cost $1.8 million and that could happen within 10 months."
"I'm going to have a balloon built at about $250,000 with $100,000 worth of hydrogen in it. It will lift me up about 20 miles... If I'm unconscious, they can use the controls to bring the balloon back." But if he's still conscious? "Then I'll fire a rocket through the balloon that will pull me up by my shoulders through a truss for 42 miles at 1.5 g's."
It's an awesome plan "if I don't burn up coming back through the atmosphere."
The interviewer asks Hughes a reasonable question. "Wouldn't it be cheaper and less deadly to just try to drill through the Earth to the other side to prove your point?"
"You can't," Hughes answers. "That's another fallacy. The deepest hole ever drilled is seven-and-a-half miles and it was done in Russia. It took 12 years. You cannot drill through this planet. It dulls every drill bit. All the stuff that you learned in school -- that the core is molten nickel -- it's all lies. No one knows what's in the center of the Earth or how deep it is. I'm no expert at anything, but I know that's a fact."
"I'm going to have a balloon built at about $250,000 with $100,000 worth of hydrogen in it. It will lift me up about 20 miles... If I'm unconscious, they can use the controls to bring the balloon back." But if he's still conscious? "Then I'll fire a rocket through the balloon that will pull me up by my shoulders through a truss for 42 miles at 1.5 g's."
It's an awesome plan "if I don't burn up coming back through the atmosphere."
The interviewer asks Hughes a reasonable question. "Wouldn't it be cheaper and less deadly to just try to drill through the Earth to the other side to prove your point?"
"You can't," Hughes answers. "That's another fallacy. The deepest hole ever drilled is seven-and-a-half miles and it was done in Russia. It took 12 years. You cannot drill through this planet. It dulls every drill bit. All the stuff that you learned in school -- that the core is molten nickel -- it's all lies. No one knows what's in the center of the Earth or how deep it is. I'm no expert at anything, but I know that's a fact."
It might be even cooler... (Score:3)
Re:It might be even cooler... (Score:4, Funny)
Telescopes. We can all share in this.
Wait, what? (Score:5, Funny)
Something tells me this guy may not be true believer.
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If he had said atmofrustum would anyone have understood what he meant?
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've noticed that the flat earthers have no explanation for what keeps the atmofrustrum from falling off the sides of the disc. The ice wall that keeps the oceans from falling off is supposedly only around 150ft ASL, which is nothing in terms of keeping air in.
Maybe there's another wall beyond the ice wall, hundreds of thousands of feet tall, made of the same indestructible stuff that makes it impossible to drill through the earth...but then they'd have to explain why this wall doesn't block any view of the stars near the horizon.
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Maybe there's another wall beyond the ice wall
Believe it or not, that is one very prevalent theory among flat earthers. They think the first ice wall is to prevent us from seeing the world on the other side of the wall that they're secretly trying to keep us from getting to. I'm not sure who "they" are, of course.
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" the same indestructible stuff that makes it impossible to drill through the earth."
It's just elephants and a turtle down there anyway.
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm convinced that 90% of flat earthers are just trolls who don't actually believe what they say, but love seeing the consternation of people trying to convince them they're wrong. Or maybe some of them just enjoy the intellectual challenge of trying to invent counter-arguments to scientific reality. The other 10% are just gullible saps who have been taken in by the former group.
There are many thousands of logical fallacies to the flat earth theory. You'll go crazy if you try to argue logically with these people. You can't argue with trolls or stupid.
This guy.... (Score:5, Insightful)
...is just a world-class troll. Nothing more.
This guy is a grifter (Score:5, Insightful)
He does not believe the earth is flat. What he believes is that a bunch of stupid people either DO think the earth is flat, or would just be willing to pay to see him die. He is just trying to swindle some cash.
Stop feeding the troll people...
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He does not believe the earth is flat. What he believes is that a bunch of stupid people either DO think the earth is flat, or would just be willing to pay to see him die. He is just trying to swindle some cash.
Stop feeding the troll people...
That makes sense. Maybe he saw the election and went, "Hey, if people are that stupid, there must be a market here."
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You say grifter... (Score:2)
...I say performance artists. There's no way the majority of money he is getting come from people who really think the earth is flat; instead they come from people who REALLY want to see a guy fire a rocket with himself strapped in via shoulder harness...
My only real concern with his plan is that he's made sure his beneficiaries get a great percentage of the video rights.
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He is just trying to swindle some cash.
I guess he at least understands the economic component [thomaslfriedman.com] of his argument.
He's going to go 60 miles up... (Score:5, Funny)
The flat Earth lie.... (Score:3)
Do not believe this idiot, his ideas will lead you down a path of folly and ruin.
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The Earth is not flat. This is a lie spread by fools and idiots. If the earth was flat, the water would run off the edge.
No, more importantly, if the earth was flat the cats of the world would have pushed everything over the edge by now just for shits and grins.
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It is CLEARLY bowl shaped, as this is the only shape that would retain water over time.
The Earth is a sphere: but we're actually living on the INSIDE of a sphere.
Why else do you think storms go the other way round on the other side of the earth? It's becaue they're above us so it only LOOKS the other way round.
WAKE UP SHEEPLE
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Bowl shaped? BOWL SHAPED? If it were bowl shaped, the rain would eventually FILL IT UP and we would ALL DROWN!
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Cheaper alternative. (Score:5, Informative)
Would be cheaper to call some friend that he had in a different time zone, wait for sunrise and ask if the sun is rising there now. If answer is no, try to explain that with a flat earth.
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Look, that's completely obvious - reality doesn't happen all at once. That would be overwhelming for the vast majority of people, It has to, you know, flow.
Otherwise it would be just too overwhelming.
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He doesn't believe in phone companies either.
--
Hey, you're that guy - TV Commercial
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You got me there ... friends? Time Zone?
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Would be cheaper to call some friend that he had in a different time zone, wait for sunrise and ask if the sun is rising there now. If answer is no, try to explain that with a flat earth.
Are you reading my comments? I've been saying this since B.O.B. released his instagram proof aka "Hey look over in the background of this picture.. do you see curvature? *micdrop* What now scientists" i mean how small do these people think the earth is.. they know we're not living on King Kai's planet from Dragon Ball Z right?
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i mean how small do these people think the earth is.. they know we're not living on King Kai's planet from Dragon Ball Z right?
(Rolls eyes) Well, obviously. It's an established fact that King Kai's world was blown up by Perfect Cell.
Anyway, a little consideration for us upside-down Australians who have to hold the ocean up every day!
Well, this guy is good for one thing (Score:2)
Proving that the ignorance you can find in one person is really unlimited. I fear, though, that he is not that much more ignorant than the average person, just more stubborn.
Fifteen more minutes (Score:2)
Can we stop covering this asshole? (Score:2)
slip of the tongue (Score:2)
No one knows what's in the center of the Earth
If he doesn't believe the earth is round, why does he believe it has a center?
Because, on a flat earth the center would be, going by their maps, the north pole. Only a sphere has a 'center' that you theoretically could reach by drilling.
If this were his own words, then i think this dude knows darn well the earth is round. He's just seeking publicity. And just unmasked himself by this slip of the tongue.
The rocket is superfluous. (Score:5, Informative)
He'd be better off letting the balloon go higher with a lighter payload. A steam rocket with its massive pressure vessel is going to take more off your maximum altitude than it contributes.
The first humans to see the curvature of the Earth were US Army captains Albert Stevens and Orvil Anderson, who achieved an altitude of 22km in the Helium-filled Explorer II balloon on November 11, 1935. This would be the way to go. The record for a hot-air balloon ascent is 21 km, which would be sufficient to detect the curvature of the Earth if your gondola sported a porthole with a sufficiently wide field of view.
But the easiest and cheapest sensory evidence you can get is from a camera lofted into the stratosphere by a weather balloon. For under $150 you can buy a ballon with a burst height of over 35 km. You could probably rig the entire mission for under $1000.
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My highest flight altitude was 13km, and you can clearly see from there that the earth is a sphere.
This is not about flat earth (Score:2)
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Can't trust cameras. How do you know the picture you get back from it hasn't been tampered with by The Conspiracy?
If you fly up 60 miles, how do you know the memory you have in your brain hasn't been tampered with by The Conspiracy.
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Well, you can use an analog camera.
Now what flat Earthers will actually tell you about weather balloon pictures is that they're actually the result of the fisheye lens effect. And here's the thing: they're mostly right about that! The dramatic curvature you see on balloon videos is a result of using a wide-angle lens.
However the fisheye effect doesn't affect the center of the image, where you can see the curvature. It's subtle. It's also missing in some shots. That's because the curvature as seen from
Burn up in atmosphere (Score:5, Informative)
It's an awesome plan "if I don't burn up coming back through the atmosphere."
Altitude has nothing to do with burning up in the atmosphere. He will merely reach terminal velocity speeds (which will vary with the density of the atmosphere) but there is no risk of burning up. Objects that are in orbit burn up because they are at orbital velocity, not because of their altitude.
Center of something flat ? (Score:2)
Is he proposing a cubic planet ?
Either way, being able to reach east west destinations via polar paths should be all the proof anyone needs.
Where's the end/edges? (Score:2)
I still am waiting for them to tell me where the edges of the Earth are
Launch from the South Pole (Score:2)
Why is this idiot newsworthy? (Score:2)
A Maine alternative newsweekly just interviewed self-taught rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes...
Why is anyone giving this lunatic the time of day? More specific to here, how exactly is this news for nerds or stuff that matters? If this lunatic wants to become a Darwin Award recipient, let him and spare us the details. All the media are doing is giving a lunatic a bullhorn to infect other idiots with his stupidity. He's not even an entertaining species of lunatic.
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Plenty of news sites/publications have an "on the lighter side" section. These are stories that are generally of little importance but people often find them amusing. In this case, many find it amusing to see the lengths a flat earther will take their beliefs and for those of us with any science education it's seeing the 101 glaring problems with his plan. It's an amusing distraction.
As an example: http://www.bbc.com/news/also_i... [bbc.com]
If you don't get it that's fine, feel free to be outraged. That's what it's d
Feeding the trolls (Score:2)
Plenty of news sites/publications have an "on the lighter side" section.
So what? This still isn't news even of the lighter variety. This is either an idiot or a troll. Either way he should be ignored.
In this case, many find it amusing to see the lengths a flat earther will take their beliefs and for those of us with any science education it's seeing the 101 glaring problems with his plan. It's an amusing distraction.
Maybe if you have a truly perverse sense of humor. I don't see anything funny about this. We're already dealing with a presidency that is more anti-science than any in my lifetime. We don't need to be giving the lunatics the microphone. I'm not outraged but his 15 minutes of fame should be in the rear view mirror except jackasses keep giving him the attention he desires.
If you don't get it that's fine, feel free to be outraged.
Ther
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He isn't. Can we can the Pseudoscience bullshit please? Just for a week are so.
evidence-based rocket science (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the quote of 2017.
And all of you haters and losers making fun of this guy, why do you hate diverse viewpoints in science? It's about time we had more Trump-supporting scientists.
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The laws of physics aren't for or against anyone. They just exist. It's our job to figure out how they work, and then how they can be used to help the world.
Ignoring mountains of existing, thoroughly peer-reviewed evidence would be like saying the $1,000 on your bank statement actually means $100 million, then going to the bank to ask for a full withdrawl. The world doesn't work like that.
Litany of wrong (Score:2)
"Then I’ll fire a rocket through the balloon that will pull me up by my shoulders through a truss for 42 miles at 1.5 g’s
Better have a hella long line between him and the rocket exhaust.
"Everything will be controlled remotely. Even if I’m unconscious, they can use the controls to bring the balloon back. That is the plan. That is if I don’t burn up coming back through the
What is this? (Score:2)
Frisbee-shaped disc (Score:2)
Frisbee-shaped disc
As opposed to... what? A non-Frisbee-shaped disc?
dang (Score:2)
Reporter Just as Stupid (Score:3)
That's a reasonable question?
Knock yourself out (Score:2)
This guy gets (Score:2)
5 minutes of publicity why?
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He had the brilliant idea of mixing con artist with magic trick:
1. Tell the world you're going to build a contraption and do a stunt, get five minutes of fame.
2. Declare you can't launch said first contraption because reason X, get another five minutes of fame.
3. Then tell the world you're going to build a much bigger contraption and do a much more dangerous stunt, get another five minutes of fame.
4. A bit later, announce that you can't afford to build the much bigger contraption on your own and you need pe
Who did he vote for? (Score:5, Funny)
Do we know who he voted for?
Any guesses?
Same as all the rest (Score:2)
No matter what you believe today, you’ll find a healthy group of people on the internet with the same beliefs, and lots of data to back them up.
And they vote.
Howto: disprove flat earth theory at home <$100 (Score:2)
Not literally at home, you'll have to go outside, but with very basic tools.
What you need:
1. A place with a very long expanse of "flat" (spoilers: follows the curvature of the earth) ground and a tall structure (a runway with control tower or flat expanse of desert with a nearby tall cliff or plateau could work)
2. A large equilateral triangle frame with a plumb weight hanging from one corner. This is your highly sensitive angle measuring tool. Mark the level position on the face opposite from where the weig
Wow (Score:2)
It would be cheaper.. (Score:2)
Not An Expert (Score:2)
Doesn't that just sum up the world in general?
He's no expert (Score:2)
but he's 100% positive the Earth is flat. /boggle
Hydrogen filled, I hope (Score:2)
Let's help the guy out.
The best response to this I've heard is... (Score:5, Funny)
..."that's easy! Show me where the edge of the Earth is! That'd be the coolest place ever! Heck, I'll build a house right at the edge of the world!"
Personally, my favorite corollary is that the presence of cats is disproof of a flat Earth. If the Earth were flat, there would be an edge somewhere. Which is where all the cats would be, knocking things off the edge, rather than piddling around with us mere humans.
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What a stupid retard this guy is, my self of steam is so high knowing I'm smarter than at least some one
Yes. I know the Earth isn't flat. I had to walk up a hill the other day.
Re:HAHA (Score:5, Funny)
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My first thought as well. There must be some place in the Trump administration for this man!
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There must be some place in the Trump administration for this man!
Who do you think came up with the idea to ban the CDC [slashdot.org] from using words such as "science-based" in official papers?
This guy should be Person of the Year (Score:2)
"Mad" Mike Hughes is truly the Einstein of the Trump era! (oops, I meant error!).
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My first thought as well. There must be some place in the Trump administration for this man!
Minister of truthiness.
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Nancy was the true evil one. Reagan was a weak person surrounded by evil people. Remember Cheney was part of his administration at one point.
To Reagan's credit he did volunteer for WWII. But that was before he met Nancy and switched sides.
John Wayne was perfectly healthy but didn't volunteer. Instead of being a Marine he played one in the movies. He was a yellow bellied coward.
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Of course, we have no idea if that's true or not, or if branes actually exist either. But even if the source of the universe is 2d, that doesn't mean the earth is "flat" in our perception of the universe.
So... (Score:2)
I've seen a hypothesis that our universe is a 3d hologram essentially projected from a 2d source on a brane, (Yes, I spelled "brane" correctly, go look it up.) Of course, we have no idea if that's true or not, or if branes actually exist either. But even if the source of the universe is 2d, that doesn't mean the earth is "flat" in our perception of the universe.
The rain in Spain
falls mainly on the brane?
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More to the point, even if the earth is a flat projection, anybody who still believes it isn't spherical in the context of our dimension probably qualifies as a p-brane. :-)
Sorry, science pun. Carry on.
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One of the saner ones, I'm afraid.
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Beware... commenting on a low digit ID is near guaranteed to summon the Elder Gods of slashdot. There's still a few three's that troll this realm.
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On certain issues I would be considered "right wing" on others sane and sensible :) Though while I used to say I would vote for the best candidate the Republicans have become so bizarre that I will probably never vote republican again.
Take this as a lesson:
On matters of drug legalization the libertarian part of the Republican party is actually in agreement the liberal wing of the democratic party on the issue of drug legalization.
So it is not all black or white.
Really want to mod this one "Insane" (Score:3)
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Is there some infinite supply of water in the middle of the disc? A wall? Why aren't there any pictures of the edge?
Geolocation. The cameras on phones are disabled when you get that far out.
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> > A wall? Why aren't there any pictures of the edge?
> Geolocation. The cameras on phones are disabled when you get that far out.
No it's because the government kills anyone who gets that far. Why do you thik so many polar explorers have died??
WAKE UP SHEEPLE
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Trump will soon be recruiting this loser to run NASA.
he can build a rocket.. might be too qualified.
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Yeah, slashdot has really gone downhill since the good old days.
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Who built a rocket that rivals North Korea's efforts?
Mike Hughes hasn't launched anything, North Korea has launched rockets out of the atmosphere.
Not surprising from someone who doesn't believe in GPS or aeroplanes. You know, things that require a spherical earth to do what they do every day.
Someone who bases his beliefs on "If the earth was round, Australia would be upside down and its oceans would fall to its sky"
Re:Thanks, America (Score:4, Interesting)
Ukranians designed and made the stuff, Russia gets the credit for theorists
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Confirmation bias (Score:3)
Flat-Earthers make me feel the way I'm sure I make climate alarmists feel, but I believe in science (the process), and I'm willing to put a few bucks towards an independent verification.
And who exactly do you think is qualified to perform your "independent verification"? You do realize that climate scientists actually have more to gain by proving the consensus wrong than they do in going along with it? They ARE the independent verification. Only people engaged in confirmation bias pretend otherwise.
In any case the science has already been done on this (both flat earth and climate change) and there is no need to rehash what is out there unless you want to either confirm an experiment you
Re: (Score:2)
I'll pitch in $10.
Flat-Earthers make me feel the way I'm sure I make climate alarmists feel, but I believe in science (the process), and I'm willing to put a few bucks towards an independent verification. And maybe a bigger factor is that if a schmuck like this can get to space, that can only mean the day is getting closer when I can too.
What does this guy have to do with science?
Back when he just wanted a rocket ride then his first test would have been a ride on a standard commercial hot-air balloon. Of course that wouldn't have been high enough as you apparently need to be about 10k up [stackexchange.com].
So now that he's apparently done the dedicated research of a 5 minute google search he's realized his rocket (which he backed out of) wouldn't get high enough, but instead of testing his hypothesis by sending up a camera for a few thousand he wants a couple
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The answer I've seen to this is quite clever (FSVO clever) - Light rays are heavy, so they "fall down" over distance, giving us the "illusion" of a round Earth.
Funny, the illusion gives a precisely equal circumference than all other indirect measurements...
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The answer I've seen to this is quite clever (FSVO clever) - Light rays are heavy, so they "fall down" over distance, giving us the "illusion" of a round Earth.
Funny, the illusion gives a precisely equal circumference than all other indirect measurements...
Hmm, that is a clever one. And technically kinda correct according to Einstein. Of course their physics break down pretty quickly and you'd probably see a visible distortion in mountains from the effect but that's not something you could easily communicate.
I'm not sure how to disprove that one. Maybe if you have a laser pointer set it up on land and point at the sail, showing that the laser point gets cut off part way, demonstrating that the curvature cuts off the beam, rather than the beam falling ever sho
Lowering the SNR (Score:2)
Dude, you are an intellectual flyweight who occasionally happens to be on the factual side of arguments. Mostly you just blather about things which you don't understand.
Case in point: when you find a hill on water, let us know.
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You go uphill and then vanish behind the hill ... is the earth now "flat" or a sphere? ... are you behind a hill on the water or is that indication for a sphere?
You ride a boat and vanish
So that means the earth is either round or there's hills of water. Ok, lets see if we can detect a hill of water. Take measurements from a few different locations on the shore, take measurements between two boats, etc, etc. Eventually you'll discover that there's a hill, precisely matching the supposed curvature of the earth, that always happens to be in exactly between your two observation points.
The only reason you wouldn't do that followup experiment is because you don't want to know the answer.
Sorry, calling other people dumb only makes yourself look dumb.
Actually
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He has a hypothesis and wants to test it. That's more "science" than anything the hockey team has been up to for the last 20 or 30 years
Since you REALLY want to take some shots at AGW research do you actually have a proposal for a better way they could test their hypothesis?
- and we give them billions of dollars taken at gunpoint from the unwilling.
Don't worry, we were already able to deduct your political affiliations.
What's a couple of bucks here and there given by volunteers? And if you aren't going to pitch in anyway, what do you care if his approach is sub-optimal?
Well if you want to give your money to something that is at best, worthless, and more likely a scam then go ahead.
But it's not that it's sub-optimal, it's that he's not interested in testing his flat-earth hypothesis at all. You could stick him on the ISS and he'd come up with some excuse about the w
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2 - If your hard drive is vibrating that badly, something is out of balance. The rest of your assumptions and innuendo in that section are not relevant.
3 - Your playing with gyroscopes isn't the same as a planet in orbit, or pretty much anything in orbit, but I'm not going to take the time to educate you on this especially since you put it in a section that supposed to be on eclipses.
4 - You've never been to a Solar
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1 - The sunlight DOES pass through more atmosphere in the summer. Take some geometry classes.
If you live on the northern hemisphere and talk about what northerners call summer, then no.
I suggest you take your own advice and take a geometry class.