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NASA's Skylab $400 Littering Fine Paid By DJ
astroengine writes "Space Disco speaks with a Californian radio DJ about his role in raising, and paying, NASA's 30-year old littering fine levied by a Western Australian town. Skylab parts fell on Esperance in 1979, but the space agency's refusal to pay $400 has resulted in an entertaining annual grudge. Now the Barstow radio DJ is guest of honor at this weekend's 30th anniversary celebrations in Oz and the two small towns at opposite ends of the Pacific will be twinned... all because Skylab had a messy re-entry..."
If you don't want America's garbage raining down on you, you are going to have to defeat us on the field of battle.
What's that? You haven't printed trillions of dollars to build up an absurdly capable military?
I suggest you grab a helmet and dig yourself a bunker, mate.
This story reads like a Simpsons' episode.
Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
Alternatively, they may purchase from me, carbon emission credits for the total of Euro 1,000,000,000 .
You've been printing your own credits too?
NASA needs DJs to raise $400 for a littering fine applied 30 years ago.
I have been to Barstow, a hot hot hot overgrown truck stop in the middle of California's central valley.
This genius found a way to escape to australia for a bit, kudos to him.
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Do they also give fines for littering to people who wreck their cars and leave debris on the side of the road? I don't mean the whole car, but stuff like smashed headlights and windows.
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If they think that Skylab was bad, just wait until NASA crashes the ISS into the middle of Sydney!
âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Looks like they are using it as a decorattive piece of art... not abandonded trash.
Just wait till they DeOrbit ISS in 2016. I think I know where the "miscalculated" orbit might end up.
I expect the headline "Small New Zealand town vaporized as a result of Kilometer-Mile error made computing the ISS re-entry trajectory."
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Being from Fresno, CA, I completely agree. Also, Barstow isn't in the central valley. Central valley ends out near Bakersfield, and Barstow is a bit more southeast from there towards Vegas.
What about the accrued interest on the fine? I also wonder, if they had not dropped the fine, could there have been some sort of arrest warrant, and who would've been the one to arrest?
I had to comment, just because it's pretty damn rare for my hometown to get a mention anywhere, let along on Slashdot :P
This was a pretty big event at the time - Nasa had a team of people on the ground and were aksing for bits of debris to be bought in for analysis. My mother took a few pieces in and forgot about it, several months later they sent them back mounted on a nice wall plaque identifying which part of the space station it was from :)
Gotta love government bureaucracy. I guarantee you it was supposed to be approved by some middle manager who left/got transferred before getting around to doing it - and no one ever bothered to check after that.
Aren't Bakersfield and Barstow known as the armpits of California?
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the number of posters to this story who don't realize that the fine was a joke.
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Pretty sure Fresno's on that list, too. All hellholes.
Foreign governments don't pay their parking tics in NYC or Washington either mainly because they don't have to. Diplomatic immunity bars local gov from messing with them. Also It would be interesting to send a FOIA request to NASA to see if the town ever went through proper diplomatic channels to make a claim against the US gov.
"If you want to know what happens to you when you die, go look at some dead stuff."
I bet the town could have sold the Skylab debris for more than $400.
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I prefer to think of them as a little taste of West Virginia three hours from the coast.
That's pretty good budget management when you get someone else to pay.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Also It would be interesting to send a FOIA request to NASA to see if the town ever went through proper diplomatic channels to make a claim against the US gov.
I don't seem to remember Skylab spending any time in Australian customs and excise, or being reviewed by an inspector, before entering Australian territory, either.
Your post is silly.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
USA hasn't been in a war since the civil war.
Of course, USA has sent soldiers across the ocean, many of them have even died. There have been some financial consequences about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. And in the world wars there were even consequences to the society as a whole as women had to go to the factories, etc... USA has participated in wars, yeah. But not been in one in centuries.
When American soldiers were in the world war they didn't need to fear that their homes would be bombed down. When they are in Iraq they don't need to fear that advancing enemy soldiers would rape, imprison or mutilate their families and they don't have to fear that their hometown has been bombed when they get back. And I'm not talking about some two towers crashing but actually entire cities in ruins. It's not nearly the same thing.
As such, USA hasn't taken precautions in case war would some day hit them. There aren't much bunkers around and so on. There are some, of course, and some people have private bunkers but even still.
I live in a country that was bombed during the world wars and it can be seen in many little things. Most importantly, all apartment buildings here have bunkers large enough to house everyone in the building and strong enough to endure the whole building's weight falling on them (even though that would be impossible to happen).
So I started to read the article and immediately thought "oh yeah, I remember when that came down". Then I read the part about the 30yr Anniversary. Damn I am getting old.
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The US is behind on payments to the U.N. and terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.
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In space, no one can hear you sue.
Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.
"two small towns at opposite ends of the Pacific"? Esperance is 3000+km from the Pacific.
How much money has that town made off of that particular bit of random fame?
I'll bet it is a helluva lot more than the fine.
(How much did they spend on pursuing the claim... *g*)
Humans are, for the most part, fucking idiots.
(I have karma to burn, so go ahead and mod me down if you feel you have to. Ask me if I care, fools.)
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
"By agreeing to pay the $400 fine, you also agree to pickup the fallen debris."
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I hope there wasn't any fresh fruit left on Skylab by the last crew. If so there is going to be trouble.
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So he goes to Western Australia, a hot hot hot overgrown truck (road train) stop on the edge of Australia.
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Being a foreigner, I have no clue where Barstow is exactly, but 'somewhere near Barstow' is on the edge of the desert. Definitely. And it's full of bats.
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They probably did, but local councils like to maximise their revenue opportunities.
Read this as an example. The fine was a joke. Jimmy Carter called the local roadhouse to apologise. They probably had the whole population of Balladonia around the phone.
Some of us are from the west coast (of the US), where stunts like this are applied very seriously as a means of protest. Usually by bored ex-hippies who are now rich white folks with a bug up their ass.
Berkeley is always trying to fine someone for violating their Nuclear-free Zone ordinance. Or coerce a city contractor to sign some sort of agreement that they will immediately cease any use of any nuclear technology.