# Is it illegal to carve your name in the moon with a big ass laser? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262 "2000-04-21T16:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/21 "2000-04-21T20:50:00Z")
“Mucal invader! Is there no end to your oozing?” ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/22 "2000-04-21T22:12:00Z")
Well, its not illegal to write your name in the snow… ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/23 "2000-04-21T22:35:00Z")
Thanks for giving Madison Avenue the idea, Breckinshire! I’m sure we’ll be seeing the Nike Swoosh up there any day now. * * * Give me immortality, or give me death! ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/24 "2000-04-21T22:36:00Z")
Last year Pizza Hut was considering beaming (not carving) a laser image of their logo on the moon. I would imagine there were objections to this, but I don’t know if the issue of legality came up. They had to rethink their plans when they realized that, to be visible from earth, the image would have to be roughly the size of Texas, and they put their logo on a rocket ship instead. * * * …ebius sig. This is a moebius sig. This is a mo… (sig line courtesy of WallyM7) ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/25 "2000-04-21T22:43:00Z")
Nothing substantive to add. I just wanted to say that while I’ve come across some very funny posts, this is the first time I just about fell out my chair laughing over a thread title. Thanks and congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/26 "2000-04-21T23:50:00Z")
You could write you name on the moon, but no one could read it. Reminds me of batman & his flashlighting of the symbol on buildings. Try that, now that could be a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Breckinshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Breckinshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breckinshire)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/27 "2000-04-22T01:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Cabbage: > \*\*…and they put their logo on a rocket ship instead. > \*\* Wow, really? Do you have any more info on this? * * * - Blessed are the Fundamentalists, for they shall inhibit the earth. \* ---
**Author:** ![Breckinshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Breckinshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breckinshire)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/28 "2000-04-22T01:20:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by divemaster: > **…Thanks and congratulations!** I’ve been at SDMB for two months, and it’s my very first bona fide compliment! You made my day! * * * - Blessed are the Fundamentalists, for they shall inhibit the earth. \* ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/29 "2000-04-22T01:42:00Z")
I was beaten to the punch at congratulating you, Breckinshire for a funny thread line, but you guys!! \*\* The Looney Tune Defense! \*\* StrTrkr777?? While I’m pretty sure that Roger Rabbit went down trying to use the \*LTD \*, you made me nearly fall off my chair! And Mr. Cynical’s ‘upgraded version’ I instantly pictured Bill Gates doing commercials for this product!! Ya’ll made my day! 😃 * * * “I never saw so many words compressed into so small an idea.” Abraham Lincoln ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/30 "2000-04-22T02:05:00Z")
Yeah, here’s some more info on [Pizza in Space](http://www.pizzahut.com/corpstuff/pressreleases/1999/092999_LogoLaunch.htm). I like this quote: > [@](#): > > **First Pizza Party in Space** > > Pizza Hut will hold the first pizza party in space when a Soyuz rocket makes a second voyage bringing one Astronaut and two Cosmonauts to live on the Service Module. Food tastes differently in space so Pizza Hut will be working with a “space chef” to create a new space-age pizza. “Pizza is the most popular food on earth – now Pizza Hut pizza will become the most popular food in space,” said Rawlings. Space Chef! I love it! * * * …ebius sig. This is a moebius sig. This is a mo… (sig line courtesy of WallyM7) ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/31 "2000-04-22T02:19:00Z")
And here’s a [link](http://www.reporternews.com/1999/biz/pizza1001.html) mentioning the abandoned idea to put the Pizza Hut logo on the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/32 "2000-04-22T02:32:00Z")
My memory is quite fogged here but, Did Nikoli Tesla have something to do with the originality of that concept? I cannot remember. ANy of you Straight dopers know? * * * Oh your from Wales?? Do you know a fella named Jonah?? He used to live in whales for a while. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/33 "2000-04-22T02:51:00Z")
The lunar missions were not military. Neil Armstrong was a civilian and NASA is a civilian agency. Fighter pilots just made darn good astronauts when the major requirement was flying a new spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/34 "2000-04-22T02:56:00Z")
P.S. It doesn’t matter if it is illegal to carve your name on the moon with a big assed laser. If someone comes after you for it, you have a big assed laser to zap them and their army with. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/35 "2000-04-22T15:39:00Z")
Ah, ha, except you forgot something. If you made a laser that could do it & you aimed it at the moon, what’s to keep it from not slicing up a few hundred satellites orbiting the earth too? ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/36 "2000-06-09T15:39:45Z")
It’s getting closer to reality. [http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/06/07/anti.rocket.laser/](http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/06/07/anti.rocket.laser/) ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/37 "2000-06-09T15:59:46Z")
Is anyone else picturing Dr. Evil doing that quote thing with his hands and saying “LAS-er?” ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/38 "2000-06-09T16:04:36Z")
“Spine… WORK WITH ME” by the Tick or “CANT…DO…PLAID” the Human Chameleon ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/39 "2000-06-09T16:05:32Z")
I suggest, from this post on, the weapon in question should be referred to as Big Ass Laser ™, or BAL. A product of World Wide Pants, of course. ---
**Author:** ![winky99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71c47a/32.png) [@winky99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winky99)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262/40 "2000-06-09T16:54:10Z")
I say carve away. You can be the legal precedent upon which all future interstellar vandalism is compared. While the OP of this thread is damn funny, some comments that have been made bring up an interesting question. Cheese Head: > [@](#): > > **I wouldn’t think that any country has jurisdiction on the moon.** Who (or what?) will govern space once we start using it in a commercial sense? I know that I’ve read some rumblings about a “space hotel” and “space tours” (I’m sorry I don’t have any cites right now, I’ll try to dig some up). I know this seems distant, but I’m curious. What do the millions think? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-carve-your-name-in-the-moon-with-a-big-ass-laser/16262.md?page=3)