We are a group of concerned scientists, engineers and supporters of science who are campaigning to prevent destructive levels of cuts to science funding in the UK.
Category Archives: Politics
The Case Against Pennies
aka the disgusting bacteria-ridden disks of suck that fail to facilitate commerce
You only have to get rid of the penny for cash transactions — you could still track it for electronic ones. You’d just round up or down on the whole transaction.
UPDATE: Those statistics are out of date. In 2009, it cost 1.6 cents to make a penny and 6.1 cents to make a nickel; the US Mint lost 22 million on penny and nickel production, not the 70 million they lost in 2008. (This is because the recession has made zinc and nickel cheaper.)
Game Over, Man, Game Over
Game over for British science?
According to the panel, cuts would cause many top-flight researchers who currently work in the UK to leave, attracted by increased science funding abroad, while overseas researchers would no longer be attracted to work in UK institutions. The quality of university teaching would suffer, and children would be put off pursuing careers in science. “What kind of signal does it send if they see other countries increasing their expenditure while there are cuts here?” asks Lord Rees.
Science funding already tends to be less than 1% of GDP in many countries (0.5% of GDP in the UK), and yet it affects innovation and future economic development. And if you let programs wither and die, it’s very, very hard to re-establish them owing to diffusion of knowledge and people.
One Step Closer to World Domination
Another atomic physicist, of the cold-atom variety — Carl Wieman — is named to join the Obama administration. Mwuhahahaha.
Increasingly, The Answer is "No"
“There is really no debate about climate change in China,” said Peggy Liu, chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, a nonprofit group working to accelerate the greening of China. “China’s leaders are mostly engineers and scientists, so they don’t waste time questioning scientific data.” The push for green in China, she added, “is a practical discussion on health and wealth. There is no need to emphasize future consequences when people already see, eat and breathe pollution every day.”
And because runaway pollution in China means wasted lives, air, water, ecosystems and money — and wasted money means fewer jobs and more political instability — China’s leaders would never go a year (like we will) without energy legislation mandating new ways to do more with less. It’s a three-for-one shot for them. By becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P., China saves money, takes the lead in the next great global industry and earns credit with the world for mitigating climate change.
I don’t understand our hesitancy to go down the path of alternative energy. It seems like a no-brainer (making it a good match for many of our politicians) — we can become less dependent on foreign sources of energy, can create jobs here, and reduce CO2 emissions. Even if the bought-and-paid-for-by-big-oil politicians don’t like the last one, surely spending money domestically instead of sending it overseas has to be good for the economy. Waiting to act only makes things worse.
Update: Related: The Brothers Koch and AB 32
Can the Republicans be the pro-business party when we need them to be the pro-business party?
Full of Win
In case you haven’t heard already, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert have announced a march in Washington, DC on October 30th. It’s not the “restore truthiness” theme (officially) I had mentioned a few days ago, being pushed by reddit. Instead it’s the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive. I plan on going, and if any readers show up, you can’t miss me — I’ll be the guy wearing a shirt.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. The DonorsChoose donations have just surpassed $250,000, with a new goal of half a million by October 1st.
Legislating Reality
There are certainly ample political reasons to sometimes ignore science. Fine. Say that. But discounting or demonizing science for political ends needs to stop. Science is not subject to legislation. It’s one thing to make the case that we cannot afford to deal with greenhouse gasses right now. It’s another entirely to claim greenhouse gasses are not putting us at risk.
Restore Truthiness, Enhance Teachiness
Any of you who watch The Colbert Report might have seen a snippet last week, in which Colbert mentioned a reddit-led push to have him hold a “Restore Truthiness” rally, as a rebuttal to Glenn Beck’s recent trip to the Lincoln Memorial. Well, since online petitions are easy, they are trying to show sincerity by putting their money where there mouth is, via a cause that is supported by several of us in the physics/science blogging community..
See, anyone can join a reddit or Facebook group or sign a petition. It takes, like, one minute and doesn’t demonstrate much effort. So the rally movement has been looking for ways to show that they’re serious, that they’re willing to lift a finger to make this happen. And an idea has just been hatched: pony up some cash to one of Stephen’s favorite charities.
Stephen Colbert is a board member of a non-profit called DonorsChoose.org. It’s a place where schoolteachers can make a request for the supplies they need and aren’t getting. As the name suggests, donors get to choose which specific teacher they want to support (lazy donors can just let the charity decide). If “Restore Truthiness” can raise a large sum of money, it will be a fantastic show of strength. And even if it fails as a publicity stunt, it’ll still make a difference in our world.
Restoring Truthiness Giving Page
(More than 2,000 donors and $80,000 raised as of writing this. Wow.)
Update: 3300 donors, and over $135k at ~1730 EDT, obliterating their goal of $101,010 by 10/10/10. In a day. Holy crap.
Update II: Colbert responds
I almost had a pregnant when I saw what you had done at DonorsChoose.org for classrooms around the country. I am humbled and honored (a rare combination for me), and find myself wishing there was a Look of Approval.
Faith Somewhat Restored
New Survey Reveals Why Jon Stewart is the Biggest Long Term Threat to Fox News
The newest Pew Research Center’s survey of where and how people get their news has been released, and while Fox News is still polling the oldest viewership, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are pulling the youngest. As Stewart educates his young viewers in the ways of FNC on a nightly basis, it is clear that he is the biggest long term media threat to Fox News.
9/11
Sigh.
It’s hard to think about what happened on that terrible day and then look around and see what’s happening today and not think that we are utterly frikkin’ nowhere. The controversy over the so-called Ground-Zero Mosque, the proposed burning of Korans. It’s depressing.
It’s depressing that so many people in the US don’t understand the Constitution, and treat it as optional. The first amendment protects speech we don’t like and religions we don’t follow. That’s how we know we are free to speak our mind and follow religions of our own choosing (or follow no religion at all) without the government contradicting us. You don’t get to ignore it just because something is unpopular — the point of having these rights enumerated is so that the majority can’t become a mob and bully the minority via government action. It’s reminiscent of Animal Farm (not that the ones who have read it would like the comparison with a satire of Soviet communism. Or read the book.) where the rules get changed — as if we woke up one morning and found that the first amendment suddenly read Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, unless any of these conflicts with the feelings of the majority …
What’s worse is when they drape themselves in the flag and declare themselves as true Americans.
And then there’s the Koran burning. That’s been put on hold, maybe — it’s not clear to me what’s going on. Pastor Jones has the right to do this, of course, as a free speech issue. And I hope all of those who encourage his actions remember this the next time the issue of flag burning as free speech comes up. But it’s still an issue of religious tolerance; what I don’t understand is all the rhetoric and posturing that seems designed to bring us down to the level of the fanatics — the burning, the “no mosque so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.” If they hate us for our freedom, I don’t think the solution is to get rid of our freedoms, or to become just as fanatical. Speaking of which, I read where one response to Pastor Jones’ plan was a protest in Pakistan during which the burned a flag, ’cause that’s the perfect way to calm things down. (Good to know we haven’t cornered the market on stupid just yet.)
I hope people recognize that by painting all Muslims as terrorists and equating Islam with Al Quaeda, we’re doing exactly what those Pakistani protesters were doing — blaming all Americans for the actions of a few fanatics. Why can’t we band together the way we did for a short time after 9/11? Show our enemies that we’re better than they are, because we support diversity and tolerance; that we have freedoms that they don’t and this makes us strong and not weak.