Thursday
May262011
Coburn: $500K To Study Shrimp On Treadmills, $300k To Study 'Farmville', Gelatin Wrestling In Antarctica, WTF!?!
Stephanopoulos' intro laugh for this story is uncalled for and really pisses me off. It's not a freaking joke Georgie. We're broke - 43 cents of every dollar is borrowed and you're giggling like a 4 ft. school girl with a 7th grade crush.
You've probably heard of shrimp on the barbie, but what about shrimp on a treadmill? The National Science Foundation has, and it spent $500,000 of taxpayer money researching it. It's not entirely clear what this research hoped to establish. But it's one of a number of projects cited in a scathing new report from Sen. Tom Coburn.
May 26, 2011 at 1:31 PM
Reader Comments (24)
“If it is (a conflict of interest), then much of Washington is involved (in conflicts),” Frank told the Herald last night. “It is a common thing in Washington for members of Congress to have spouses work for the federal government. There is no rule against it at all.”
Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. "I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues," he allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2072613,00.html#ixzz1NUDSN7Tp
The catholic church is even more dangerous than bernanke...
I know people that work at NSF, and I know people who referee for the grant proposals. I promise you these are not the people that are a problem in America today, as much fun as I'm sure a science witch-hunt will be for tea partiers. If you're smart and you want to make money, you go into investment banking, consulting, etc., not academic science. Hell even doing engineering research for the army (million-dollar, 10 year, auto-renewed contracts...) is a lot more lucrative.
If you eliminate or downsize the NSF you will cripple the ability of the US to stay on top of research. We've already stopped attracting the smart Europeans, and soon the asians will also stay home. When we can't import brainpower anymore (because we don't train our own sufficiently), things will really go downhill.
I haven't heard Coburn complain about the tax money that flows to war-profiteering corporations such as Halibuton and Black Water.
The religious wackos are always against science---judeo-christians caused the Dark Ages---.but Robert Ingersoll explained it better than I can
"We have already compared the benefits of theology and science. When the theologian governed the world, it was covered with huts and hovels for the many, palaces and cathedrals for the few. To nearly all the children of men, reading and writing were unknown arts. The poor were clad in rags and skins -- they devoured crusts, and gnawed bones. The day of Science dawned, and the luxuries of a century ago are the necessities of to-day. Men in the middle ranks of life have more of the conveniences and elegancies than the princes and kings of the theological times. But above and over all this, is the development of mind. There is more of value in the brain of an average man of to-day -- of a master-mechanic, of a chemist, of a naturalist, of an inventor, than there was in the brain of the world four hundred years ago.
These blessings did not fall from the skies. These benefits did not drop from the outstretched hands of priests. They were not found in cathedrals or behind altars -- neither were they searched for with holy candles. They were not discovered by the closed eyes of prayer, nor did they come in answer to superstitious supplication. They are the children of freedom, the gifts of reason, observation and experience -- and for them all, man is indebted to man." Robert Ingersoll.
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but explain gelatin wrestling in antarctica...or studying farmville gamers for clues on relationships (complete nonsense)... or shrimp on a treadmill...lastly, science funding should continue of course, but not pet projects that don't further any purpose outside enlarging the resume and ego of the lead researcher...and from discussions i've had with one nsa chieftan, maybe 40% of all nsa projects fit this category...we must do a better job of weeding out the bullshit...
i do appreciate your thoughtful responses above...
DAMN! I enjoy TDB.
Any mob DB, any mob.
DB...about God...I am the one who quotes Nietzsche. You don't have to convince me that religion can be dangerous.
God bless.
This is who you need to worry about...the Consultive Group on International Economic and Monetary Affairs, Inc. They are the ones leading us into the new world order. Take a look into the Central Bank of China leader.
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." (Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965)
"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." (Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire, 1694-1778)
The $19 million in rent is a small amount of their total rent. That is just for one building, where no science is conducted. It is simply where the grants are prepared.
The video had one gaping error; it referred to the ridiculous waste as "being paid for by you." That isn't true, we are paying a small portion and borrowing the rest. Let it die. Let it all die.
All that said, I would love to see one tenth of the money spent on youth sports in this country spent on math and science. I made a deal with my kids that for every dollar spent on sports, one had to be spent on art/music or math/science. I hope it works (it's costing me a fortune.)
funny line z...well done...
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etm wrote...
I'll admit I haven't looked at the report yet, but I intend to. I've never heard of "consultants" getting funding before today, so I am definitely interested in that.
i misstated consultants when i meant contractors...here's the quote from the article..."The foundation notes that the project is the work of contractors, not agency employees."
and i agree with your thinking here but i don't know enough about coburn...He has that vindictive "superior christian intent on punishing all evil-doers"...i wish religion were left out of gov't completely...religion is for man and family not govt....
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and oberon...nice stuff i enjoyed it...your kids are going to be super athletes, super students and amazing communicators if they're anything like their mom and dad...
That one should be billed to the grant dealer's home address.
I dont evan see color. Matters nothing yr belife or religon, as long as you have my back if im in front of you........ I neaver try n hold a Grudge, everyone has a bad day now n then.
I neaver, "Neaver Forget" when someone hurts my feelings so deep my hart hurts, by cutting me down for something I belive in. Im "Very Eazy Going" but I have a long memory.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2072613,00.html#ixzz1NUDSN7Tp
Do you listen to Michael Savage? I think you would like his insights and how grounded he is in history and tradition.
There are a lot of prisoners who would have that back TDar. It matters what company you keep.
Okay, about spirituality, I have never been the type to get a spiritual erection watching Oprah. She is one big feminist handshake, well, just ask Obama and Michelle (hmmmm, joke, maybe).
Spiritualism, in philosophy, a characteristic of any system of thought that affirms the existence of immaterial reality imperceptible to the senses. So defined, spiritualism embraces a vast array of highly diversified philosophical views. Most patently, it applies to any philosophy accepting the notion of an infinite, personal God, the immortality of the soul, or the immateriality of the intellect and will. Less obviously, it includes belief in such ideas as finite cosmic forces or a universal mind, provided that they transcend the limits of gross Materialistic interpretation.
I just threw up in my mouth, sorry.
Hurt feelings result from a failure of empathy. TDar, empathy and memory are a lot alike. You could use that long memory to your advantage.
“Empathy connects us in our imagination to the experience of others; memory connects us in our imagination to antecedents in our own experiences.”
“In both memory and empathy we will tend to take our present state as a kind of hallmark against which our own past, and others’ presents, are judged.”
The problem is that memory and reality are two different things. We all paint our own picture.
“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.” Nietzsche
"DB, don't fall for it. etm is so far off base he/she isn't in the ball park. The NSF is one of the great money wasters of all time. Go look close. The money isn't spent on science or research, it is given, in the worst description of croneyism, in huge chunks to non-productive quasi-government units. Each time money is given, new people are hired. Each one of them insulates themselves from a job loss by hiring 2 more, and then justifying the need for additional grant monies to keep the beast alive. This is Madoff times 1000."
I'm not an NSF insider, but I do have some interaction with NSF as someone who has prepared an NSF proposal (it was not funded, as most applications are not, because it is an extremely competitive process). If you're going to malign the whole agency, please provide hard numbers. The mission of the NSF is to fund basic science (over 20% of everything done in the US), not conduct it themselves. This is not hard to understand and is actually much more efficient (in my opinion) than e.g., NASA. Your bit about hiring makes absolutely no sense and is not based on reality. If you were in academic science you would know that, so I have to assume you are either lying or being lied to.
has students that graduate from this high school as certified in several fields relating to health science.
getting this grant was not simple or easy.
A shrimp running on a treadmill is a perfect example. What's funnier than that? And what could make you angrier if you are concerned about wasteful spending, as we all are? But this is part of a serious, peer-reviewed research project supported, as noted, by the National Science Foundation.
In fact, the scientists are studying the impact on shrimp and other crustaceans of hypoxia, or reduced oxygen, caused by the responses of their immune systems to pollution associated with coastal development and other activities. This research, which is taking place at the College of Charleston, is very important not only for its environmental benefits but also for the state and local economies that depend on the multi-billion-dollar shellfish industries.
The treadmill is actually an ingenious contraption that permits researchers to simulate shrimps’ natural movements in a laboratory setting, which is essential to the research.
It is also worth noting, at a time when we are trying to encourage students to consider careers in the sciences and engineering, that undergraduates are participating fully in this research, and that part of the educational mission of this grant is to involve Upward Bound high school students, whose parents did not attend college but who have the potential to do so themselves, in communicating with the public about the research findings.
So, funny videos aside, there is serious science and education going on here, and it’s disappointing to see it mistakenly lumped into the category of wasteful government spending.
By the way, for more examples of funny science that have benefited society, see:
http://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=11982
and
http://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=11864
Barry Toiv
Association of American Universities
www.aau.edu