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Speaking of all this impact, let us inspect what has happened to "impact" the life of a kindly, old scientist, who possibly ( according to one Python skit )smells of berries...

The VERY last Word, on Aussie Bloke...from the REAL Dr. Gartrell...

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http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9767410%5E2682,00.html

Caught in a comet's tale

By SAMELA HARRIS

June 7, 2004

A RETIRED Adelaide physicist has been dragged into an Internet hysteria – about a comet hitting Earth – by an imposter who has cast him as a doomsayer.

The drama has been unfolding around the world for a month, but has only just come to the attention of an angry Dr Grant Gartrell, a victim of identity theft and, as a result, the man credited with the end-of-the-world predictions.

"I am very displeased to be caught up in a hoax," he said.

Dr Gartrell's name has been widely published on the Internet as the originator of a prediction that comets were heading for Earth.

The 60-year-old, who now runs a blueberry farm at Mt Compass, has written a thesis on comets, but says that's where the connection ends.

Returning on Saturday from a caving conference in Tasmania, he found his telephone message bank and his e-mail crammed with messages from overseas – including one from a US journalist keen to break the comet story.

The person posing as Dr Gartrell first posted messages on Internet sites from "Aussie Bloke". He then identified himself as Dr Gartrell.

According to the hoaxer, the world does not have long to go and, tomorrow ,"the first dust cloud reaches earth", with a "darkening of skies".

The first comet impact is supposedly scheduled for June 18-20, with second and third impacts a few days later. "I have no idea who is posing as me and making predictions of imminent cataclysmic cometary impacts," Dr Gartrell said.

"I am one of the authors of an article on meteors which appeared in the Australian Journal of Physics in 1975 but, although still interested in it, I have not actively worked in that field much since that time."

Hundreds of Internet pages have been devoted to claims that comets are approaching Earth. Some tell people to go to a remote place with supplies and wait for the end.

"There is more chance of winning the lottery than of a comet striking earth," Dr Gartrell said.

"There is always a finite possibility of the impact of space debris and I am certainly in favour of the work being done on early-warning systems, but I have no knowledge whatsoever of any ... imminent threat. I have never met any of the people who are making such claims on the Internet and, for my own part, I am planning travel arrangements for conferences I expect to attend in several years time."

The Advertiser

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See what happens when one pulls a practical joke of COSMIC proportions? Real people get hurt...

Richard