If you get skin cancer....

[Arnock]

... You'll know who to sue.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/span ... rship-sun/

Woman wants to slap fee on everyone who uses the sun

MADRID — After billions of years the Sun finally has an owner -- a woman from Spain's soggy region of Galicia said Friday she had registered the star at a local notary public as being her property.

Angeles Duran, 49, told the online edition of daily El Mundo she took the step in September after reading about an American man who had registered himself as the owner of the moon and most planets in our Solar System.

There is an international agreement which states that no country may claim ownership of a planet or star, but it says nothing about individuals, she added.

"There was no snag, I backed my claim legally, I am not stupid, I know the law. I did it but anyone else could have done it, it simply occurred to me first."

The document issued by the notary public declares Duran to be the "owner of the Sun, a star of spectral type G2, located in the center of the solar system, located at an average distance from Earth of about 149,600,000 kilometers."

Duran, who lives in the town of Salvaterra do Mino, said she now wants to slap a fee on everyone who uses the sun and give half of the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20 percent to the nation's pension fund.

She would dedicate another 10 percent to research, another 10 percent to ending world hunger -- and would keep the remaining 10 percent herself.

"It is time to start doing things the right way, if there is an idea for how to generate income and improve the economy and people's well-being, why not do it?" she asked.

[Fridmarr]

Duran, who lives in the town of Salvaterra do Mino, said she now wants to slap a fee on everyone who uses the sun and give half of the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20 percent to the nation's pension fund.

She would dedicate another 10 percent to research, another 10 percent to ending world hunger -- and would keep the remaining 10 percent herself.

LOL. I'm always amazed about the ways people think of money. I mean her plan is to take a chunk of everyone's money, siphon 10% off for herself, then dole it back out and expect it to solve problems that are mostly related to a lack of money in the first place.

[Arnock]

Kinda curious as to how she plans on fining the entire population of the world.

[Chicken]

Duran, who lives in the town of Salvaterra do Mino, said she now wants to slap a fee on everyone who uses the sun and give half of the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20 percent to the nation's pension fund.

She would dedicate another 10 percent to research, another 10 percent to ending world hunger -- and would keep the remaining 10 percent herself.

LOL. I'm always amazed about the ways people think of money. I mean her plan is to take a chunk of everyone's money, siphon 10% off for herself, then dole it back out and expect it to solve problems that are mostly related to a lack of money in the first place.

I'm certain the starving and impoverished people in Africa are happy to pay for their sun only to get 10% back as food; they should by all rights be paying more than those of us living farther from the equator too, they get far more time with the sun than we do!

[Lightbeard]

I'm declaring myself King of Mars in that case.

Anyone that looks at Mars via map, telescope, television, or talks about mars in anyway is required to pay me a fine. I'm going to be getting a hefty paycheck from Futurama.

So sayeth the King of Mars!

[Fetzie]

I wish to inform you that I am now the sole owner of every Black hole (past, present and future) and their contents. I will therefore potentially be the owner of a new universe, should this universe collapse into a black hole and cause a new Big Bang and will wish to be dubbed supreme ruler of the universe.

Only a matter of time

[isiz]

I declare ownership of all the space between planets and stars and stuff. When you look into the sky, you owe me money. That lady that owns the Sun owes me money, because she uses my space to transport her sunlight. Everyone that owns a planet or other object in space owes me money for having their property moving through my space. In the future when everyone has spaceships, they will all owe me money for traveling between planets.

Now...PAY UP!

[Fivelives]

This isn't exactly new - people have been selling stars and property on the moon for quite some time now. I think even I own a star, and one square meter of moon real-estate from birthdays while I was growing up.

I'm not sure that people can charge for the usage of their stars/moonspace though.

[Korola]

Laugh if you want -

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/ ... 533169.stm

From his office in Nevada, entrepreneur Dennis Hope has spawned a multi-million-dollar property business selling plots of lunar real estate at $20 (£10) an acre.

Mr Hope exploited a loophole in the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and he has been claiming ownership of the Earth's Moon - and seven planets and their moons - for more than 20 years.

These are "truly unowned lands", he says. "We're doing exactly what our forefathers did when they came to the New World from the European continent."

Hope says he has so far sold more than 400 million acres (1.6 million sq km), leaving a further eight billion acres still up for grabs.

Buyers include Hollywood stars, large corporations - including the Hilton and Marriot hotel chains - and even former US presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. George W Bush is also said to be a stake holder.

Mr Hope claims to be selling 1,500 lunar properties a day. He allocates land by simply closing his eyes and pointing to a map of the Moon.

No government has yet recognised the lunar sales as legally binding

"It's not very scientific but it's kinda fun," he says. It is fun that has already made him $9m (£4.5m).

The next race to exploit the Moon was started by President George Bush in January 2004, when he committed the US to returning to the Moon by as early as 2017.

He said the US aimed to establish a long-term lunar base by about 2020.

"We're talking about not just going there to stay three days," says Nasa rocket engineer Dr John Connolly. This time, he says, "we're talking about the idea of learning to live there."

[isiz]

As far as the use of the sunlight goes, that woman can't really charge for it. It's the same as having a river on your property that continues onto someone else's property, you can't fine them for using a resource that naturally travels from one property to another.

[Fivelives]

I think this merits a /moonlanding.jpg.

[Blackharon]

Dear Angeles Duran,

I do not wish to pay for your sunlight service. Please stop providing it at once.

[Kelaan]

It's surprising that there's no requirement that she physically stake a claim ...

[Braundo]

Good thing I visited my own local notary public, Gary, just prior to this and registered the Earth as being my property. Gary is a very smart man and ensures me that this is all above board and enforceable. I trust Gary, because he dog-sat for me one time, and lent me his Big Lebowski DVD which I have yet to return. So I believe my claim to be legitimate.

I will expect a check from this woman within the week, or else I will begin formal legal proceedings.