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Darwin Awards Thread

It's never the fall; it's that sudden realization that you've been a freaking imbecile as the Earth rushes up to meet you at terminal velocity...
 
It turns out that he wasn't a rocket scientist.

It's a tad like cargo-culter rocket. It "looks" like a rocket and it's sort of got all the bits and pieces but he seems not to understand the why of the bits and pieces of an actual rocket.
 
It's a tad like cargo-culter rocket. It "looks" like a rocket and it's sort of got all the bits and pieces but he seems not to understand the why of the bits and pieces of an actual rocket.

It's a slightly more advanced version of a cargo cult for sure- but not by much...
Screenshot-from-2020-02-23-23-12-11.png

https://ultraculture.org/blog/2014/03/27/cargo-cult-south-pacific/

(hey at least his got off the ground... sorta..)
(admittedly he could have gotten higher just by getting a joyride in a Cessna- hell I've gone higher than that in my 172!!!)
 
It took off, didn't it? Real rocket. Catastrophic recovery system failure.

Will any blame fall on the Science Channel for encouraging the attempt? Should any?

RIP, Mad Engineer Guy who puts the parachute on the outside of the rocket.
 
What I can't quite understand (even with trying to understand the idiocy of flat earth and all that) is that the intended range of the rocket, had it worked perfectly, was well below the normal height of commercial aircraft. I mean, even if this guy was enough of a nutter to assume that space flight is a hoax, what the hell did he think happened to the thousands of people who step into airplanes every day? What could he possibly have hoped to discover at a height lower than that from which we can sit in a seat, drink our coffee, and look out the window?
 
What I can't quite understand (even with trying to understand the idiocy of flat earth and all that) is that the intended range of the rocket, had it worked perfectly, was well below the normal height of commercial aircraft. I mean, even if this guy was enough of a nutter to assume that space flight is a hoax, what the hell did he think happened to the thousands of people who step into airplanes every day? What could he possibly have hoped to discover at a height lower than that from which we can sit in a seat, drink our coffee, and look out the window?
My thought is that he wasn't a flearther at all. He just wanted to build a rocket and found some isiots to support hin.
 
My thought is that he wasn't a flearther at all. He just wanted to build a rocket and found some isiots to support hin.

If you're relying on idiots in support of your building a rocket, you're doing it wrong.
 
What I can't quite understand (even with trying to understand the idiocy of flat earth and all that) is that the intended range of the rocket, had it worked perfectly, was well below the normal height of commercial aircraft. I mean, even if this guy was enough of a nutter to assume that space flight is a hoax, what the hell did he think happened to the thousands of people who step into airplanes every day? What could he possibly have hoped to discover at a height lower than that from which we can sit in a seat, drink our coffee, and look out the window?

Don't you know airlines lie to you about the height they are flying at? Can you really trust what you see thru the window in the age of flat screens and HR? If you fly in your own rocket at least you can be sure all is real. :D
 
If you're relying on idiots in support of your building a rocket, you're doing it wrong.


Most advertising involves relying on idiots to get money. There's nothing at all unusual about it. It seems to be a very successful method.

Just because the idiots he tapped into happened to be flat earthers doesn't change that equation. As far as accumulating funds it seems to have worked.
 
My thought is that he wasn't a flearther at all. He just wanted to build a rocket and found some isiots to support hin.
I believe that is true. But, Hughes also followed his own instincts instead of consulting experts and building on the experience of others. That's not a good way to design a manned rocket.
 
I believe that is true. But, Hughes also followed his own instincts instead of consulting experts and building on the experience of others. That's not a good way to design a manned rocket.

No, but to build a functioning rocket (at least it went up) is still pretty impressive. I couldn't do it.
 
"The Flat Earthist realized as he flew through the skies
The curve of the horizon as he fell
He saw the world was round, just before he hit the ground
And gravity called out to close the deal"

- The Drive By Truckers "Thoughts and Prayers"
 

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