This is more a rant about the credulousness of our supposed “news” suppliers, but it’s this specific example that set me off today. To wit:
Why is the fucking Moller Skycar on the front page of BBC News today (and News 24, and hourly bulletins…), for what must be the three hundredth time? This fundamentally stupid bit of pointless arcana has been in development since the bleeding 1960s, and in all that time it has managed solely to hover a matter of feet from the ground, to which it was fucking tied. Moller has repeatedly overstated its capabilities, lied about its performance, and has even been prosecuted by the SEC for civil fraud relating to said claims.
So what’s “new”? Oh, that’s right, it’s going “on sale” soon. Right. This despite the fact that it’s not even certified, and Moller freely admits he doesn’t even know who will certify the deathtrap. Of course, he casts this as arising from the craft’s unique nature (“Is it a car? Is it a plane?”) rather than admitting that it’s simply because he has repeatedly failed to obtain FAA certification. Do the BBC make any attempt to investigate this? Is there even an ounce of scepticism at this man’s repeated outlandish claims? Is there bollocks. Lest anyone scoff at my scepticism (you filthy alliterants, you), here is a Moller brochure from 1974. Notice the similarites - and what’s this? Full-scale production to begin in 1976? Well I never.
I realise that our esteemed news organs feel obliged to spoon feed us this wacky science bullshit on a regular basis, presumably as the emulsifier for the insipid slurry of celebrity “news” we’re otherwise expected to devour, but is it too much to ask that they see if they’re just giving yet more publicity to some deluded schmuck whose sole talents lie in astounding morons? Is it really beyond the investigative powers of my beloved BBC to check that they’re not slavishly advertising some dickhead with a desk fan on a rope?
Apparently so.
See also: Kevin Warwick (also known as Captain Cyborg)
Oh, and if any fucker makes an “it fucks Mollers!?” joke, I will end you. With a spoon.