Peakah's Provocations...

I'm a bit of an Astronomy nut myself, so the story about the Deep Impact mission has me pretty fascinated.

I think it is quite triumphant in fact that we have the ability to create a spacecraft adept enough to pimp slap a flying iceball that's moving a gazillion miles an hour.

Consider me impressed.

Personally, I think there's a lot to learn

Of course there are others who aren't so impressed...

I came upon this story on Drudge:

MOSCOW (AP) - NASA's mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust - it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer.

Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said.

Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet's orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth.

The probe's comet crash sent up a cloud of debris that scientists hope to examine to learn how the solar system was formed.

Bai is seeking damages totaling $300 million - the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost - for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope."

NASA representatives in Russia could not be reached for comment on the case.

'natural balance of forces in the universe' eh?

Uhh, forgive my novice opinion but the Universe seems pretty freaking chaotic to me, at least as far as the flying iceballs zooming around at gazillion miles an hour go.

How about this 'moral suffering' baloney? If she can sue for moral suffering from what happens to an iceball hurtling through essentially emptiness at gazillions of miles an hour, man, I can't wait to sue for all the good cereal that the kids eat when they wake up before I do. You know how much suffering that causes each morning that occurs? '$300 million doesn't even touch it!

If deformation of a horoscope becomes available for litigation and settlements, just imagine the suit I can bring when I sue my kids for deformation of a father's anticipation of mouwing down a big bowl processed air balls! I'll be rich!

From Mosnews.com:

Bai is not the only astrologist worried about messing with the Universe.

“Imagine leaving Moscow, then returning to find everything’s changed,” says Vladimir Portnov, a physicist and a professional astrologist. “Of course, everyday people will feel the implications of destroying a comet.”

According to Portnov, even something as “minor” as comets play a role in creating humanity’s psychic environment. By wantonly destroying a comet, NASA will inevitably disrupt that environment — with the most likely result being mass anxiety.

What in the world are they putting in the Vodka over there? Apparently the disasterous effects of Chernobyl are still affecting the population.