Self-styled rocket man falls flat
Think the world is flat? A 61-year-old limo driver named Mike Hughes surely does, enough to put flat-earth-society cash and his own life on the line to prove a point. We’ve been lied to. The ruse goes as far back as Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle and Archimedes, to name a few of those self-serving spherical theorists. (To what purpose did these men lie? That’s the question!)
And about those modern satellites and space launches showing a round earth – fuggetabout it. All fakes. Don’t exist. And Photoshop existed to edit photos of a flat earth long before Photoshop existed. Got it?
The unproven theories of the flat earth adherents abound, but why? A quest for the truth? A hobby? An earlier attempt to appear hip and counter-culture?
Whatever the reasoning, the International Flat Earth Research Society was formed back in 1956 by Dover, England sign writer Mr. Samuel Shenton to fight against those theories that contradicted his own. “Shenton constructed a cosmology, based partly on his interpretation of Genesis,” Wikipedia states, “that the earth was a flat disk centered on the North Pole with the zetetic notion of the South Pole being an impenetrable wall of ice, that marked the edge of the pit that is the earth in the endless flat plane forming the universe.”
So there’s a tradition here: Making things up, while deriding others based on personal theories and endless conjecture. Not science. No facts.
To that end, “‘Mad’ Mike Hughes, the rocket man who believes the Earth is flat,” NBC News reports, “propelled himself about 1,875 feet into the air Saturday before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert. He told The Associated Press that outside of an aching back he’s fine after the launch near Amboy, California.”
It wasn’t at Elton John’s zero hour, 9 a.m., but just after 3 p.m. PDT that Mad Mike’s real quest began. The garage-build ship powered into a beautifully blue California sky, higher than a kite at a monitored height of 1,875 ft, but only for approximately three to four minutes before the pilot pulled his chute.
Wow. “Amazing” is the word, at least according to onlooker and property owner Albert Okura who was in attendance with the small group dubbed Rocket Town by Hughes. Check out the launch and fail of this wacky adventure in the clip below:
[jwplayer srqbZNGU]
And if your back hurts just watching the aftermath, you may want to ask yourself what would lead an otherwise seemingly functioning adult to venture forth on such a waste of good time and money. The following clip might fill you in on a fringe segment of society that isn’t as well advertised as, say, your average snowflake or nasty woman.
Check. It. Out:
[jwplayer AfyVHzci]
Gravity is just an illusion? Dark energy? Now that’s a wow. But it takes all kinds, and they’re out there, folks!
Cold case warms up
“It happened in the 90 seconds it took her younger sister to dash home and back,” according to Newser. “Where Mikelle Biggs had last been seen riding her bike, waiting for an ice cream truck to arrive, her sister found only a discarded bike and a sprinkling of quarters.”
Abductions happen. Not by aliens, but by human beings preying upon others, often the weakest and most vulnerable. And there are sometimes, sadly, no answers. No clues. Just nothing.
But a graffiti-covered dollar bill may lend some solace to a grieving family – a clue, at the very least. It’s been nearly 20 years since the 11-year-old disappeared, but the note is clear. “My name is Mikel (sic) Biggs kidnapped From Mesa AZ I’m Alive,” per the Arizona Republic.
The misspelling of the child’s name – written in childish penmanship – could prove the clue is a sick joke, but authorities aren’t dismissing it.
“We always follow up on [tips]” and “hope that might be the one that breaks the case,” a detective tells the Republic. And thank goodness. The following video clip shows that not all cold cases go unsolved:
[jwplayer RGut7V52]
So, while some may give up hope, the truth sometimes will out.
College as trade school?
Hold the pickles and onions – better yet, forget the History, the English …
Have it your way. And no, we’re not talking Burger King, but college and the dwindling menu to meet demand.
But nobody’s interested in English or History or Philosophy anymore – can’t help but wonder why – so why teach it? That’s the University of Wisconsin’s brilliant response to budget woes and a lack of verve in previously popular majors.
Check out the following clip to get the skinny on this fandabulous idea that transforms college to a vocational/trade school. And while there’s nothing wrong with learning a trade (History and Philosophy teach the wisdom of picking one up and sticking with it), it’s those who make a study of trading in education for what’s expedient that need an education:
[jwplayer FUFo0Pzj]
So, if you want a brilliant computer scientist who can’t think or write clearly or understand concepts beyond a silicon chip, maybe the University of Wisconsin is for you!
Good grief.
Chicken vs. cobra
On the lighter side, take a peek at the following face-off of one cocky rooster and a cobra snake just trying to slide by unnoticed:
[jwplayer sioWYnVX]
Ah, the simple joys of nature in action. Hold the conspiracy theories or the truly painful truth of situations forced upon us, whether we believe them or not. …
