[FPSPACE] Looking for a vision

[Jens Kieffer-Olsen]

-----Original Message-----
From: E.P. Grondine [mailto:epgrondine at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 11:23 PM

> Hi Jens - Jens, I am sorry but as it appears that you
> are unable to understand the difference between
> Afghanistan and the "tribal" regions on its border
> with Pakistan, there is little point in my continuing
> discussion with you on this. I along with all
> Americans and US troops are sickened by the loss of
> innocent lives, and always have been.

 I don't think fpspace is the right forum for us to
 sort out our differences on world politics in general.

 Suffice to say, Afghanistan is nothing but 'tribal'
 groups kept together by councils such as Loya Jirga.

 Pashtuns form the largest group and border on Pakistan,
 so I presume you have mixed up the Pakistani border
 region with the Afghan one in your above comment? 

 And as far as the loss of innocent lives is concerned,
 the definition of 'innocent' appears sometimes as
 narrow as the eye of a needle. Do you believe the 1968
 My Lai incident was a unique occurrence, or just the
 top of an iceberg?

> Michael Griffin's understanding of the impact hazard
> was zero, and his failure to carry out the instructions
> of the Congress to deal with it was a firing offense.
> I am hoping that those who encouraged and/or enabled
> him to do this will be leaving NASA shortly.

 Yes, people who should have known better, misuse or
 misinterpret the statistics involved. What we should 
 keep in mind is that the risk of an extinction level
 event is one to a billion PER HOUR! And that the
 smaller the damage the higher the risk, since the
 cumulative risk is divided evenly across the entire
 range in NEO size.

 This last fact makes it hard for outsiders to come to
 grips with the risk, because they cannot get a precise
 picture of the scenario we conjure up. Sometimes we
 talk Tunguska-like impacts, sometimes country killers,
 and sometimes ELEs. They are equally relevant to
 discuss, but as you and I know offhand their relative
 frequency is inversely proportional to the damage they
 cause upon impact.     

--
Jens Kieffer-Olsen
Slagelse, Denmark