I looked for the documentary…it is called “Rocketman”?…all I found was this:
…and I was like “Oh my! Elton John is was killed in that rocket crash??!!” …turns out it is a different film.
More to your point about
The guy was a limo driver. For that you need the proper driver’s license; nothing more.
He was not a trained engineer. Had he been a trained engineer–had he gone through the education, training and discipline it takes to become an actual engineer–he would not have spouted nonsense about the world being flat. He would have been exposed to real science.
My Bachelor’s degree is in Mechanic al Engineering. I have a Masters in Science in Information Technology and a Masters of Arts kin National Strategy. Aside from a paper I had to write on the Wars of German Unification (wish I knew @Aginor back then) I can easily say that engineering the hardest curriculum I have studied. Thus “self trained engineer” means nothing to me. No training=no professionalism=no discipline=…well, we saw what happens.
Regarding the whole Flat Earth thing…In the Rocketman trailer (not the one about Elton John), one of his team says something like, “This is America. You can believer anything you want.” That is true, but as I used to say to my ex-wife, on way to many occasions, “Just because you believer something, doesn’t make it true.”
So I’ve managed to mention Elton John, the Wars of German Unification and my ex-wife in a single Mudspike post…I’d say my work is done here.
So, by your definition, it is safe to say I am not an Engineer! Probably a good thing actually. I’m also a limo driver of sorts, but at least I know the Earth isn’t flat. I found another way to get up there to take a look .
The documentary is on Prime .
Given how simple the steam rocket is , it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to construct . The rocket essentially consisted of a pressure vessel , a gate valve , a ball valve and a nozzle . He actually achieved (more or less) his performance goals with that rocket .
It wasn’t the math that killed him , it was the lack of discipline and common sense . Yeah , he was on a shoestring budget , but all you need for a checklist is a pencil and paper , and some thoughtfulness .
This rocket was built only for publicity flights , to secure the funding for his space flight .
Any reasonably competent tech , with a disciplined approach incorporating safety protocols , could have succeeded .
Having said all that , it should be noted that it takes all kinds to make this world go 'round , and any 64 yr-old expressing a passion is to be congratulated . Good on him .
Depressingly enough, I know of trained (and licensed) engineers, many with YEARS of experience, who believe things that are even crazier and better refuted by science than the idea of a flat Earth (and I know of one who believes that too. The sad truth is, with the plethora of peer-reviewed, open source information readily available at our fingertips, people in modern society (at least in the States, based on studies I’ve read) are more prone to use that resource to find things that confirm their own biases, not try to be convinced of facts that may kill their existing beliefs.
Darkest possible timeline, and all that stuff.
LOL…I think that there were a couple of engineers that helped design and built your “limo”
I was (poorly) trying to make that point. A more structured, sciece-based education, might have installed the discipline and common sense that you rightly pointed out was lacking?
…but even a liberal arts education can help…as Moltke the elder said
Honestly, I think many of our biggest problems today stems from how much focus is placed on STEM, to the exclusion (and minimizing) of the benefits of studying liberal arts, the humanities, and the arts in general, and that both angers and worries me. A creative mind is more agile, more able to adapt to challenges that haven’t been (or couldn’t be) conceived, and is able to think through more implications of decisions and plans.
It’s all well and good to be able to design a creative solution to a problem, but what about asking the “why?” behind where the problem came from, as well as analyzing the situations and factors that played into causing it, and thinking through who will be affected by the solution, and in what ways. Not to mention having an understanding of what parts of this have happened before, and (hopefully, but let’s be honest, probably not) avoiding repeating past mistakes.
Or as the famous Swedish downhill skiing legend, Ingemar Stenmark replied to a journalist, who claimed Ingemar got lucky in the race.
”All I know is that the more I’m training, the luckier I get”
When I think about Galileo, he didn’t want to be right. It killed him (literally) to be right. He was a christian, his work defied his common sense. it brought him to the abyss of the unknown he wasn’t trying to provee he was right Science is beautiful. That thing, whatever it was, was not.
Hard to respect that. Courage, ill applied, is called idiocy.
With respect , Galileo died of (very) old age , albeit under house arrest for many years . He was allowed to have visitors , however , among them John Donne , who wrote of him .
As to not wanting to be right , he was famous for his debating skills , in which he absolutely destroyed his opponents , causing much resentment among them . His “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina” (available online) best summarizes his view of the relationship between the Church and Science .
Apologies for the pendancy , but this was a subject of considerable research for a chapter of my book (available at fine bookstores nowhere) , so i couldn’t let it go .
You are quite right in that he was a Christian , and a devout one at that .
Cool to know. Not pedantic at all. still as deep as we can get into it, I still think the point is valid. In fact if we put conspiracy theories on the same mythological pathos as religion I guess the Letter to Christina could prove very useful to our self taught engineer.
Probably a good thing actually. I’m also a limo driver of sorts, but at least I know the Earth isn’t flat. I found another way to get up there to take a look 
.
