“Mad Mike” Hughes is dead. He launched himself skyward in a steam-powered rocket yesterday in an effort to prove to himself that the earth is flat. He had to see for himself. Most of the rest of us have accepted that we live on a sphere-shaped planet which orbits the sun. We’ve seen lunar eclipses. We’ve watched ships seemingly sink out of sight on the horizon. We’ve taken elevators to the top of high buildings and noticed we can see further into the distance. I’ve just taken an airplane through many timezones and am experiencing jet-lag as a result.

Tragically, none of this was good enough for Mad Mike. Unfortunately, as stubborn as he was, he wasn’t capable of constructing a rocket which would return him safely to terra firma. Maybe he had no intention of coming home to the uncertainty of life on Earth. Likely, he was knocked unconscious on lift-off, and never got to see for himself how sadly wrong he really was.