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Science and Technology Medals Awarded
An anonymous reader writes "The Boston Globe is reporting that President Bush awarded science and technology achievement medals today to 15 laureates. The list of medal winners includes those who have done work that has 'revolutionized organ transplants, led to development of global positioning systems, and helped feed millions around the world.' "
And since he's so up on the "spirit of discovery" being a part of American culture, he surely wouldn't cut funds for schools...
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
Damn you, inconveniently timed State of the Union address! DAMN YOU!
Ah, well, no matter. I shall simply toil in obscurity a little while longer -- and then when the day comes, let the planet tremble at my name! You laughed at me! You called me mad! I'll show you! I'LL SHOW YOU ALL!
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Seems that they're REALLY filtering the science news for the masses these days...
An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
He handed a medal to Kenneth J. Arrow, Nobel prize winner for "general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory", and to Robert N. Clayton for his chemical analyses describing solar system evolution. Economic equilibrium, welfare and evolution - none of which Bush seems interested in the rest of the year.
Maybe he thinks he's at the Olympics, and these medalists need his help to get corporate sponsors for some advertising dollars to, you know, kind of catapult the propaganda.
--
make install -not war
I think the whole article is flamebait
No doubt. Please also post later tomorrow so you can link to an article showing how those scientists have refused the awards and recognition, etc.
Skipping to tomorrow: <crickets chirping>
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Before he awards any Science awards he should fire all the ignorant political appointees he placed to oversee real scientists. He should fire anybody who is as incompetent and unqualified as "You are doing a heck of a job Brownie."
No prize money, just the medal. This is a U.S. government thing. There's no way any significant prize would be approved by Congress. http://www.technology.gov/medal/
I'd like to know more about the science. I don't really if an individual poster likes or dislikes Bush.
From TFA: "--Robert N. Clayton, The University of Chicago, for his contributions to geochemistry and cosmochemistry that provided insight into the evolution of the solar system."
Blasphemy! God created the heavens in six days, it was intelligently designed (TM) from the start! Blasphemy!
Those awards are an asset to the researchers' CV. And that is what they need when they apply for a grant (real money).
... the 2004 medals of science. Why do the 2004 medals get announced by the President in November 2005, and presented in 2006? Is this a tradition, or a reflection of current priorities...?
This is...
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And the math department's decent, surprisingly. Good in geometry; for instance, Stony Brook is responsible for FIST (Fast Industrial Strength Triangulation), which was commissioned by Sun for the standard Java library. (Triangulation is basically separating a polygon into a set of triangles.)
In case you were wondering, here's Dr. Sullivan's website: http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~dennis/
So Ray Kroc got one?
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Glad to hear that Industrial Light and Magic, a movie special effects company founded by George Lucas, is one of the recipients of this award. Obviously this piece of news was drowned out by the sound of one certain shotgun blast in Texas.
_ Magic)
A trivia about ILM -- John Lasseter (director of Toy Story) worked for ILM in the early 1980s as a computer animator. The computer graphics department, now known as Pixar, was eventually sold to Steve Jobs, which went on to create the first CG animated feature with Toy Story. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Light_and
Sun and Fun
It's not that bad. Think of it this way:
If a Democrat had presented the awards, it would just have gone to show that Democrats are all elitist university-educated intellectuals who think they know better than the rest of us. So their career in politics would be over.
If a non-neocon Republican had presented the awards, they would have had to resign to spend more time with their families like all of the other non-neocons. So their career in politics would be over too.
If a political independent had presented the awards, nobody would care and the ability of the scientists to get adequate funding would be as low as ever. And the political independent's career in politics would already be over, by definition.
But because Bush presented the awards, there are more than the normal amount of headlines due to the irony of the awards being presented by an anti-science imbecile--and that's actually good for the scientists' ability to get adequate funding. And Bush's career in politics might be over due to the sweet merciful relief of the 22nd Amendment, should the Constitution still be around for two more years.
So, you know, look at the bright side.
Am I the only one who finds it odd that there are no climatologists on the list? There has been a lot of research in the area lately, with many significant results. Or perhaps that's the problem...
I hope these medals were presented on the basis of some sort of reasonable criteria. Hopefully these awards will be what the Nobel prizes used to be before they became a political joke.
Bush isn't the intellectual featherweight people seem to think he is and his writings show it. He had a good run as President from '89-'93.
Oh wait... You mean Bush Jr?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
You must be new to the politicial scene. If you'd be paying the slightest bit of attention you'd see that lower level positions are routinely given to lower level underlings in almost every administration. This goes for Clinton, Carter, Kennedy (brother for Attorney General anyone), and all the Republicans of the 20th century. What you should realize is that little political games (the Reno Justice department refusing to enforce laws it didn't like for example) are played all the time irrespective of who is currently in the white house. So save your indignation for a noble field, you won't find much to love here.
FTA: Ralph H. Baer, For creating Pong! WOOT!!!!
Laugh all you want but the idea of bringing technology to the masses sometimes makes all the difference. Look at Carl Sagan, the man didn't do much for the progress of science but rather the promotion of science. How many kids do you think were spurred on by Mister Wizard?
The video game may not be meaningful in the long run but it did bring the potential use of technology to the masses and I'll bet a lot of people on Slashdot, in part, owe something to this small step forward.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Yea, I kinda agree with what you said... BUT, are you going to be that guy who blows off the President?
Getting a Presidential award looks good for you, for the people you work for, and the people they work for.
Taking a 'principled' stand and deciding to decline the honor might be a quick way to lose your job and any funding that goes with it.
Science has its share of politics too.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Viewers were momentarily startled by the appearance of flying pigs in the background, apparently rising out of a hole in the ground leading up from a frozen hell.
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
no pioneers in intelligent design?
sulli
RTFJ.
Actually, it would have been really nice to see some of the people being given the awards decline them to show that the scientific community is not to be taken for granted, censored, or strangled by religious doctrine.
You know, just to give Bush a good shove in the right direction and remind him that he needs science, not the other way around.
--Robert N. Clayton, The University of Chicago, for his contributions to geochemistry and cosmochemistry that provided insight into the evolution of the solar system.
I believe that's a typo - should read "insight into the intelligent design of the solar system."
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
Better Military Recruiters than gang recruiters. At least they can go to college when they are out of the military. If they join a gang instead, they'll just end up in a different institution, for a longer term, at the same government expense.
You're forgetting the cost of mental and medical treatment after they get back from whatever war is being fought this week.
I'm not trying to troll. The treatment of veterens costs a lot and lasts the life of the patient. It is certainly important that we support our veterans who have made such sacrifices but it sure would be nice if we didn't need to produce quite so many of them.
Also, I think providing options besides wars in the streets or wars in the desert would serve everyone better.
Norman E. Borlaug is my hero, and he should be yours, too.
There was a great episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! that covered Dr. Borlaug's work. I highly recommend it for a watch, if you have the chance.
From Wikiquote, a quote by Penn Jillette about Norman Borlaug:
I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.