Even better: I read 4chan
If you traveled at 99.99999999 percent the speed of light relative to earth’s frame of reference then the earth would appear flat. Einsteins theory of relativity, seriously. It is an accepted physical fact.
I’d become a flat-earther if someone paid me US$8000 to travel the world find the end of the flat earth for a month.
The guy is not a flat earther, just wanted some dosh to build his rocket.
how exactly do flat-earthers explain time zones again? if the earth is flat, why does the US need that many time zones, or have daylight saving time?
Your problem is that you have to rationalize everything…
Now he just has to get back down! Always bring a bb gun
The guy is trying to rationalize his flat-earth belief by shooting himself into oblivion strapped to a homemade rocket. I’m simply wondering if he went through several easier thought exercises that could probably get him to the same realization without killing himself in the process.
If you read the article again it’s pointing towards the reverse; the guy is rationalizing his desire to shoot himself into oblivion by claiming the earth is flat.
Not sure which one is more bonkers though.
Sounds like natural selection is about to do its thing.
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He has all my support.
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Ancient astronomers like Hipparchus and Ptolemy already knew the earth was round. So flat earthers are 2000 years behind the times.
Yes, some flat earthers are serious. Many are religious fundamentalists who take the Bible literally when it says, for instance, that there are four corners of the earth. Others (or more often, the same ones) are conspiracy minded, and also believe in 12 equally daft but unrelated things. Yes, there are trolls, and opportunists seeking to get attention, or make money from the ignorant–our rocket guy here is most likely one of these–but I’m inclined to give the rappers and athletes the benefit of the doubt and politely assume that they’re just dumber than rocks. And now, thanks to the internet, these guys can encourage one another, and reach out to a snickering public.
Although this is not really the same subculture, some Tibetan lamas have believed in a flat earth because it’s what they were taught. (The Hare Krishna founder accepted the round earth, but had some, shall we say, traditional cosmological beliefs that meant that the moon landings could not have happened.)
The gentleman likes firing himself up into space in homemade rockets, and makes money off the back of it. This time he’s figured out another way to finance an expensive hobby.
Why does he need to go up with the rocket? Why can’t he just send cameras… Otherwise it seems like a suicide attempt.
I guess if you were a four-dimensional being, the earth would in fact be flat.
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His complaint was not that interplanetary travel is impossible. It was just that Armstrong & pals were not spiritually advanced enough to do it. 
You mean Prabhupada? Yeah, he conceived of the sun and moon as celestial palaces for the gods. Also, the sun is in between the earth and moon:
http://www.harekrsna.org/moon-landing.htm
Come on, who are you gonna believe–a bunch of atheistic scientists who change their minds all the time(*), or the words of omniscient Lord Krishna, passed down from guru to disciple in an accredited lineage?
One of Prabhupada’s books is called Easy Journey to Other Planets. So yeah, interplanetary travel is possible.
(*) Although to be fair, Prabhupada’s views on the moon seem also to have evolved somewhat.
“There are two ways to be fooled.
One is to believe what isn’t true;
The other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
― Søren Kierkegaard