I’m intrigued by the news of the astronaut who went stark raving crazy over a love problem. Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, a NASA astronaut, drove 950 miles – dressed in an adult diaper so she wouldn’t have to stop for a bathroom break – and “attacked a rival for another astronaut’s affection,” according to reports.

In other words, she thought someone was stealing her love object, and the thought made her lose her mind. I feel quite sorry for her. The list of objects she brought with her says it all. She had a four-inch knife (ouch!), a BB gun (who flies into a rage and picks up a BB gun?) and – here’s where it gets me – a love letter. She drove 950 miles carting a love letter.

What’s so perfectly and universally tragic about the event is all that distance she traveled out into deep dark space. It turns out that we can fly 10,000 miles away, but we still carry these things called hearts. And they are problematic organs, given to insane fits of need and jealousy and lust and pride and about 1.5 million other maladies.

Maybe when we get done building the next space station, we can invent a cure for the human heart…