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To: Claude Cormier who wrote (77745)	10/1/2001 3:04:01 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116758

Sept. 29, 2001 NASA preparing for biggest meteor storm in 35 years By Kelly Young FLORIDA TODAY CAPE CANAVERAL - If satellites could duck and cover, Nov. 18 might be the time to do it. That's when the worst meteor storm in 35 years is expected to hit. But from the ground, the storm will appear as beautiful streaks of light in the night sky, perhaps as many as 2,000 per hour. Under dark skies on a normal night, it is possible to see four to five meteors an hour, said Bryan Craven, an officer at the Brevard Astronomical Society. This year's Leonid meteor storm could be a treat for skywatchers, but there's a 1-in-1,000 chance that they could strike a satellite. The tiny meteors, the size of dust or grains of sand, are left over from the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle, which swings through the inner solar system every 33 years. When the dust burns up in the atmosphere, it leaves a light streak, or a shooting star. In the early morning of Nov. 18, North American skywatchers may see dust left over from when the comet swung by Earth in the 18th century. The riskiest aspect of the meteors isn't their size, but their potential for shorting out a satellite, said Bill Cooke at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. When a meteor zipping along at 40 miles per second hits an object, it creates a tiny cloud of ions, or charged particles. That charged cloud could interfere with a satellite's electronics, Cooke said. This was the case in 1993 during the Perseid meteor shower when the European Space Agency's Olympus communications satellite lost control. But many satellites probably will do nothing different. Turning a camera or other instruments off may do more harm than good. "It's always risky doing things with satellites," said Cooke, who analyzes the threat meteors pose to satellites. "Once it's up there, people like leaving them up there and doing their thing." Two of NASA's largest space assets, the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, will try to minimize damage by turning their rear ends into the incoming storm. NASA never launches a shuttle during a meteor storm. But since the Leonids only will last a day or two, it probably won't affect the scheduled Nov. 29 launch of space shuttle Endeavour. And the International Space Station should be safe because of its shielding, Cooke said. The Leonids, called so because the meteors appear to come out of the constellation Leo the Lion, produce a meteor shower every year. A meteor shower typically means one meteor every minute or so. But a meteor storm can mean thousands of meteors an hour. "It should be a pretty good show," said Bob Lunsford, visual coordinator for the American Meteor Society. floridatoday.com

To: Claude Cormier who wrote (77745)	10/1/2001 3:26:22 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116758

Well, you and I agree on that, but I didn't want to get hollered at by every sort of contingent. Also, having been converted long ago to Milton Friedman's monetarism, I expected much more inflation in the 1980s and 1990s than ever came along. What happened was a world-wide increase in production that more than matched the increasing money supplies. But it's hard to see how production can match what is now looking like a 25% annual increase in the U. S. money supply. The Swiss Franc may do better than gold, however, since it is not tied to the Euro and since, as usual, the Swiss are holding back on increasing their money supply.

To: Claude Cormier who wrote (77745)	10/1/2001 3:53:15 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116758

After posting my last message to you, it did occur to me that a sudden massive shift in spending habits by the American public might prevent inflation from occurring. I mean, saving and paying down debt as fast as possible. In that case, goods and commodities would suffer from a lack of demand and prices could fall. I am not saying that this WILL happen, but if it did, it could at least delay the onset of inflation. Because I find it hard to predict the future, I try not to be overweighted in any one area of investment or saving.