Posted on 05/02/2004 10:11:06 AM PDT by justme346
ping
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 Cosmic Winter
by Victor Clube
and Bill NapierThe Cosmic Serpent
by Victor Clube
and Bill Napier
The Origin of Comets
by M.E. Bailey,
et al
with Clube and Napier
paperbackCatastrophes and Comets:
The Destroyers of Cosmic Faith
(World Scientific Series
in Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Vol 3)
by Victor Clube
and Bill Napier
dang, with enough cats and some siamese recipes, you have an almost inexhaustable supply of protein!
Note: this topic was posted 5/2/2004.This is breathtakingly stupid.
While surfing on the internet back on March 22nd, I happened to come across a message board in which one poster revealed that they had an insider in NASA who... revealed that by mid to late May and going on through 2005, the earth's orbit is potentially going to go through the tail of several comets and afterward be inundated by meteors causing worldwide calamity from not only the vapor, but the impact/s... that the ISS was going to make an excuse to return to earth and that America's homeland security would be going to red (from its current orange) and eventually red. He even said that something significant would be revealed on April 16th that would put things into motion. Remember, these comments were made on March 22nd. He even revealed that is seems even congress is preparing to go underground.This was posted in May of 2004, and warns of a big reveal on April 16th (bupkis). The homeland security going from orange to red, and eventually to red (it really does say that). The ISS -- International Space Station -- was going to "make an excuse to return to Earth". Congress was preparing to go underground. I felt I couldn't read the whole thing without shaving more IQ points, but I'd venture to guess that this is somehow related to the Sitchin-Nibiru-Annunaki nonsense and paranoia.
This topic was posted , thanks justme346.
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