Slashdot Mirror
Arecibo Observatory Loses Funding
An anonymous reader noted that "The Arecibo Observatory funding was slashed. Cut to $8 million from $10.5 million, which will decrease the amount of time that the telescope is operational. "A quarter of its staff was laid off last year," and Arecibo, which is located in Puerto Rico, could possibly be completely closed in four years, according to the "National Science Foundation (NSF), which pays for the operation of the telescope." This comes after "a review panel for the foundation's astronomy division two years ago" suggested cutting Arecibo's financing by 25 percent as a way to pay for new facilities. There has been "[a]n outcry" in response to the "decision, particularly from planetary scientists" who argued that the panel "overlooked Arecibo's role in cataloging potential dangers from asteroids." The Times notes that in Arecibo's favor is the fact that it "may be much cheaper to keep...open" than dismantle, which "could cost hundreds of millions of dollars."" I've been considering a vacation to PR for a few years, and seeing this thing is on my list of awesome things to try to see. Guess I should hurry ;)
Why is it sad? My prayers have been answered. The government
should give that money to the churches which are in dismal financial
shape.
Science goes against the word of God Almighty.
Atheist astronomers lying to the world about looking back past
6000 years should be in mental hospitals, not spending taxpayers'
money on such nonsense.
All the answers you need are in God's writings: The Bible.
Read your bible, commit it to memory, live as an unquestioning
member of Jesus Christ's flock.
Dear Slashdot,
You liberals have always been complaining about lack of funding to these useless programs. What the fuck can you do with a telescope? Look at vacant planets? Liberals and scientific liberals want us to fund pointless stuff. We have been pumping nearly as much into NASA as our much more important defense and we have nothing to show for it. NOTHING! No flying cars, no vacations on foreign planets. What a waste of money! Also, liberals force us to go through Algebra and other useless math. I don't need to know math, we have fucking calculators! Doing math is like walking to the store: Pointless! Then we have all the liberals taking away my right to eat whatever food I want! What if I don't care about my weight?! Fuck you nanny-state liberals! I say we get rid of science, math, and English in high school. All we need is shop class and a class on why liberals suck. Academics is for people who can't. Also, why do we have to have a constitution that fucks up our country from having the best leader forever? Fuck FDR's amendment, I want Bush to serve as long as a judge! We need to extend into other countries so we can ensure our domination in oil pricing via petrodollar warfare. LOL, I don't even know what's over there. Africa and Canada are beside the U.K., right?
Very truly yours,
Republican from Alabama who hates Top Gear and loves Nascar
So the scientists say that their favorite toy is underfunded? Maybe they should help fund it a bit, then. That's the way everything else in the world works, isn't it? If you use it, you pay for it.
Yes, technically it is 'used' by everyone, so everyone should pay for it. But in reality only the scientists have any direct access to it, and we have to hope what they are doing is worthwhile.
Instead of funding the telescope, how about we fund the scientists that are doing things we want done, and THEY use their funding to rent the 'scope, funding it via projects that people find worthwhile.
I have a feeling this would actually mean that the 'scope gets less funding, showing just exactly how much these scientists value their toy.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
does nothing but foment hatred against the US?
So join the other half of the population that isn't hating.
I guess they could change their program to search for proof the Universe is 6,000 years old then do real science in a clandestined manner like it was done 800 years ago.
Care to show me where one nickle of tax money is going to prove ID?
This kind of bullshit only gets modded up because of a whole boatload of malcontents on here who think that any shift in funding is automatically done by the religious right. That's complete and total nonsense. Your little meme is old and untrue. If anything it should be modded down as -1 misinformation.
Tú mamón, qué otras facilidades quieres instalar en tu casa (in U.S.A.) en vez de Puerto Rico?
Quieres un alto secreto "Arecibo II" en "New Mexico" o en "Texas" o en "Death Valley, California"?
Tu sistema de pagar menos por este lujo es una porqueria.
Tú pagas poco ahora, pero mañana tendrás que pagar el precio x20 si quieres usar el viejo sistema.
La tierra de Puerto Rico no es la tierra de U.S.A. y habrá que renegociar de nuevo con trato muy diferente.
El mismo terreno donde está Arecibo podrá ser desmantelado si quiere pero el mismo terreno podrá ser vendido a otros extranjeros, sobretodo a europeos.
You mmammon, what another facilities want you to install in your home (in U.S.A.) instead of Puerto Rico?
Want you a top secret "Arecibo II" in "New Mexico" or in "Texas" or in "Death Valley, California"?
Your system to pay less by this luxury is a filth/dirt.
You pay little now, but tomorrow you will have to pay the price x20 if you want to use the old system.
The land of Puerto Rico is not the land of U.S.A. and it will have to re-business again with a deal very different.
The same terrain where is Arecibo will can be dismantled if he wants but the same terrain call be selled (for sale) to other foreigners, overall to europeans.
Firmado por puertoriqueño nativo que trabajó para Arecibo que no hay otro lugar de este mundo mejor que el de Arecibo.