NSF Waste...

[lupinus]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/26/senate-report-finds-billions-waste-science-foundation-studies/

I draw your attention to the tail end of paragraph one in particular...

Seriously? Farmville studies for relationships? Slow towel folding robots? SHRIMP ON TREADMILLS???

[bedlamite]

And Jell-O wrestling too.

[dm1333]

Well, obesity amongst shrimp is approaching epidemic levels!   

[longeyes]

Perfect metaphor for men under socialism.

[Fly320s]

Well, obesity amongst shrimp is approaching epidemic levels!   

Don't touch my jumbo shrimp!

[longeyes]

What matters is it creates jobs, and isn't that what government is for?

(That the real jobs are for shrimps is irrelevant.)

In the last days of an empire Comedy takes over.

[makattak]

What matters is it creates jobs, and isn't that what government is for?

(That the real jobs are for shrimps is irrelevant.)

In the last days of an empire Comedy takes over.

Caligula made his horse a senator.

We've got Al Franken. We're at least pretty close.

[longeyes]

Unfortunately, Obama's Praetorian Guard is the U.S. media.

I see Mr O. is in Deauville--nice spot--promising billions in American taxpayer money, via the G8, for Muslim economies.  That's the subject of another thread--anyone?  We need billions to restore America along the Mississippi and in Tornado Alley, but instead we're giving money to people who hate us.  It's enough to drive a good man mad, frankly.

And, oh yeah, there's that sagebrush lizard the EPA is thinking of making an endangered species.  They say that would kill the oil industry in W. Texas.  But not to worry, it's only 20 per cent of our domestic output.

[charby]

Seriously? Farmville studies for relationships? Slow towel folding robots? SHRIMP ON TREADMILLS???

Farm raising shrimp is big money globally and has a lot of potential is the warmer states, I looked at the picture of the shrimp on the treadmill and I can see how that is scientific. Labs can't have big shrimp tanks, so they use little tanks with a moving floor to exercise the shrimp and they can test the shrimp for disease, stress, etc. There aren't enough shrimp in the wild to sustain the world's demands so they need to be farmed.

Also disease can wipe out a entire shrimp pond, economically that is bad for the producer. The Univesity I work is doing research on vaccines for shrimping industry.

[PTK]

How DARE you know more than a sensationalized article intended to cast the worst light possible on the NSF. Charby, you jerk!

[lupinus]

Farm raising shrimp is big money globally and has a lot of potential is the warmer states, I looked at the picture of the shrimp on the treadmill and I can see how that is scientific. Labs can't have big shrimp tanks, so they use little tanks with a moving floor to exercise the shrimp and they can test the shrimp for disease, stress, etc. There aren't enough shrimp in the wild to sustain the world's demands so they need to be farmed.

Also disease can wipe out a entire shrimp pond, economically that is bad for the producer. The Univesity I work is doing research on vaccines for shrimping industry.

Well...when you put it like that.

Got anything for the Farmville relationship study?

[longeyes]

You mean shrimp farming is vitally important yet shrimp farmers couldn't pull together the money needed to conduct a private study?  It's always the same b.s.

[PTK]

China, Vietnam, et al, are using government funds to compete in these areas of science (shrimp), add to that the lack of regulations there, and we either stop farming US shrimp entirely and accept shrimp that are toxic, raised in horrible environments and contain all sorts of great stuff, and so forth, OR, we go ahead and use NSF research for things that would actually help out the USA economy by encouraging consumers to buy USA raised shrimp at comparable prices (prices which are possible only thanks to research from the NSF, etc.).

[charby]

You mean shrimp farming is vitally important yet shrimp farmers couldn't pull together the money needed to conduct a private study?  It's always the same b.s.

One of the reasons Land Grant Universities were started by law back in 1862. Research is done there and passed down to the Agriculture, Manufacturing and Business areas. This may perhaps why the US is still superior in generation of new technologies.

Regards to Farmville, probably a study on how interpersonal relationships happen in a different medium. If you need to share information you need to know how to communicate to you audience.

[longeyes]

Of course in 1862 we didn't owe the kind of money we do today either.

[Jamisjockey]

As useful as it might be, the Constitution doesn't give the Federal government the power or the right to put shrimp on treadmills, nor pay for it.

[MicroBalrog]

Caligula made his horse a senator.

The Roman Empire outlasted Caligula by 4-8 centuries, depending on the count. If Obama is Caligula, I think we're pretty well off.

[charby]

As useful as it might be, the Constitution doesn't give the Federal government the power or the right to put shrimp on treadmills, nor pay for it.

but the US Constitution allows the legislative branch to write the laws, the president to execute the laws and the supreme court to interpret the laws.

[makattak]

but the US Constitution allows the legislative branch to write the laws, the president to execute the laws and the supreme court to interpret the laws...

... but only within very specific areas, as prescribed by the Constitution.

The rights of Congress/President/Supreme Court to write, execute and interpret were meant to be limited. This was once well understood:

I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.

From Grover Cleveland.

[longeyes]

The Roman Empire outlasted Caligula by 4-8 centuries, depending on the count. If Obama is Caligula, I think we're pretty well off.

If Obama is Caligula, are we the Jews in the first century Roman Empire?  Let's hope not.

[TommyGunn]

The Roman Empire outlasted Caligula by 4-8 centuries, depending on the count. If Obama is Caligula, I think we're pretty well off.

Yeah ... things happen faster now. We have the internet.  And I think the "jet age" started around 1960, if not earlier.  I'd rather have a horse in the white house than the jack ass we have.

[charby]

If it wasn't for Government throwing money at Science and Industry we would be without a lot of things we take for granted.

Lets see....

The computer, duct tape, velcro, freeze dried food, M&M's, Internet, Nylon, Polyester, Kevlar, Carbon Fiber, etc.

[makattak]

If it wasn't for Government throwing money at Science and Industry we would without a lot of things we take for granted.

Lets see....

The computer, duct tape, velcro, freeze dried food, M&M's, Internet, Nylon, Polyester, Kevlar, Carbon Fiber, etc.

I very much doubt that.

[charby]

I very much doubt that.

Almost all of those items came directly from Governement funded Military or Space Research

[makattak]

Almost all of those items came directly from Governement funded Military or Space Research

Yes. But you claim they would never have been invented had the government not funded them. That's a counterfactual that cannot be proven (and that I very much doubt.)