Mad Andrew (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} madandrew) wrote,@ 2004-03-29 16:21:00 |
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Less Geekery, more Moral Indignation...
The American Physical Society occasionally brings things to my attention. I've been a member (if I count, I am after all MERELY a graduate student), for two or three years now, and a lot of what they send my way is fairly useless (conferences on things I'm not involved in, in places I can't afford to go to, discounts on journals that I either don't read, or can't afford to buy etc.). Some are interesting however, and as an interested party in the 'Forum on Physics and Society', I get pointed to their publication, which I believe is quarterly. I therefore direct you to the PDF file from this month:
http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletter
which you may or may not be interested in. However, one little tidbit from the 'FYI: From the American Institute of Physics', did indeed get the old vitriol pumping...
From FYI, this month Dec 2003:
An OSTP (Office of Science and Technology Policy) official reported that the Bush Administration was strongly supportive of fusion energy. The same official warned that calling for balance in the federal research budget [presumably between physical and biological/medical sciences] is "divisive" and is "...just not going to help."
Hm. Lets just break that down. Support but not pay for. Equality breeds divisiveness. Yep, definitely from the Bush Administration.
Now I don't mean to IMPLY that the old men in charge of the country want to put more money into trying to extend their lifespans than in investing in our country's technological future. I mean to say it OUTRIGHT. To imply that it is divisive to attempt to equalize in some way the amount of money spent on the physical sciences with the biological sciences? Does this make sense to anyone out there?
The American Physical Society occasionally brings things to my attention. I've been a member (if I count, I am after all MERELY a graduate student), for two or three years now, and a lot of what they send my way is fairly useless (conferences on things I'm not involved in, in places I can't afford to go to, discounts on journals that I either don't read, or can't afford to buy etc.). Some are interesting however, and as an interested party in the 'Forum on Physics and Society', I get pointed to their publication, which I believe is quarterly. I therefore direct you to the PDF file from this month:
http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletter
which you may or may not be interested in. However, one little tidbit from the 'FYI: From the American Institute of Physics', did indeed get the old vitriol pumping...
From FYI, this month Dec 2003:
An OSTP (Office of Science and Technology Policy) official reported that the Bush Administration was strongly supportive of fusion energy. The same official warned that calling for balance in the federal research budget [presumably between physical and biological/medical sciences] is "divisive" and is "...just not going to help."
Hm. Lets just break that down. Support but not pay for. Equality breeds divisiveness. Yep, definitely from the Bush Administration.
Now I don't mean to IMPLY that the old men in charge of the country want to put more money into trying to extend their lifespans than in investing in our country's technological future. I mean to say it OUTRIGHT. To imply that it is divisive to attempt to equalize in some way the amount of money spent on the physical sciences with the biological sciences? Does this make sense to anyone out there?
