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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Astrologer to sue NASA over comet plans |
| 2005-05-07 |
| A Russian court has ruled that an astrologer can proceed with a lawsuit against the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its plans to bombard a comet. The astrologer claims the destruction of the comet would "disrupt the natural balance of the universe." Marina Bai's case was thrown out of a lower court because Russia has no jurisdiction over NASA, but the ruling was overturned when her lawyer, Alexandra Molokhova, was able to show that the agency's office in the US Embassy in Moscow does fall under Russian jurisdiction. Ms Bai seeks a ruling that will restrict NASA in its plans to annihilate a section of the Tempel 1 comet, in a project that has been dubbed Deep Impact, as well as punitive damages of $US300 million. "My client believes that the NASA project infringes upon her spiritual and life values as well as the natural life of the cosmos and would disrupt the natural balance of forces in the universe," her lawyer said. The lawyer says Tempel 1 has sentimental value to Ms Bai because her grandparents met when her grandfather pointed the comet out to his future wife. In a $US279 million project, NASA in January launched the Deep Impact spacecraft. It will travel to the comet and release an impactor - a 370-kilogram self-guided mass - on July 4, which is expected to create a crater that could be as large as a football stadium. Scientists believe that the exposed material from the resulting crater will yield clues to the formation of the solar system and provide important information on altering the course of comets or asteroids on a collision course with earth. Effects of the collision will be visible from earth with an amateur telescope. |
| Posted by:Glaque Wheting5231 |
| #12 My spam trap collects advertisements for Virgos. I think that's how it's spelled. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-05-07 23:14 |
| #11 I've got three kids yet I'm a Virgo - should I sue? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-07 19:23 |
| #10 Hey you can't get a court to rule Astrology as a hoax. I won't be able to con fools out of money doing their charts any more! |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-05-07 19:13 |
| #9 I've brought out the big guns - my pink crystals - and surrounded myself with them. All you non-believers prepare yourselves... it's nosebleeds, headaches, and odd facial ticks for the lot of you! |
| Posted by: .Ms Cosmic Vibe 2005-05-07 18:11 |
| #8 If you want to see what some of the off-balance types are saying about the Cassini mission, go to Hoagland's site, where he's talking about the possibility that NASA is covering up the discovery that Iapetus is a giant space station made out of buckeyballs whose geometry gives indications of the lost art of hyperdimensional physics... There were also ecological types who opposed the launch of Cassini in the first place. The scariest thing about Hoagland, is that even with all the oddball beliefs, he might STILL have turned out to be a better NASA administrator than some holders of that office. So he believes in pyramids on Mars; at least he really wants to go there. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-05-07 17:27 |
| #7 I guess it's nice in a strange sort of way to see that all the nut cases don't live in the USA. I'm surprised the same folks didn't raise hell over the Titan lander. Maybe we could send them there to see if it disturbed the "chi" of the palce. |
| Posted by: Weird Al 2005-05-07 16:32 |
| #6 That must be the only sentence ever uttered by Lerach without a profanity. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-05-07 15:17 |
| #5 You laugh now, but when the bird-flu-hemmoragic-fever laden Planet X ends its 12,000 year orbit and rams the Earth in December 2012 and brings about the end of time, the melting of the first hundred miles of the Earth's crust, and possibly the start of a higher consciousness for the human race, you'll wish you'd left Tempel 1 alone! The Templars made that comet for a reason! |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-05-07 14:56 |
| #4 It's 'lawsuits' like this that lead me to believe that one sure fire way to reduce their number is to institute 'loser pays' - the opponent's legal fees, that is. I'd also like to see an abolition of contingency fees; CPA's, for instance, can't charge on that basis (the AICPA forbids it), but lawyers can. Haven't given much thought to class-action lawsuits, but a quote from Bill learch, the Class Action King, will always stick out in my mind (paraphrasing a bit): "I love them because I have no clients." |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-05-07 14:14 |
| #3 I doubt there will be a defence beyond a diplomatic note explaining to the Astrology is protected by the first Amendment. They're irrational wackos, so it qualifies as religion. It's speech. The press makes money off it. Don't mess with astrology. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-05-07 14:09 |
| #2 Well, I certainly hope the State Dept. does the work of defending this suit. I'd hate to have NASA's money wasted on legal fees. It's bad enough when our local greenies loot developers and businesses that way. OTOP, I'd kind of like to see this taken to a US court and have a legal decision that Astrology is bunk. We have the science already, sure, but a court decision gives cover to police shutting them down as con-men. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-05-07 13:36 |
| #1 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *snort* *chortle* Oh, wait.... They're serious? ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-05-07 12:22 |