Slashdot Mirror
'Space Vikings' Spark (Unfounded) NASA Waste Inquiry
sciencehabit writes "For Ved Chirayath, a graduate student and amateur fashion photographer, a photo project that involved NASA researchers dressed as Vikings was just a creative way to promote space science. 'I started this project hoping maybe one day some kid will look at it and say, 'I want to work for NASA,' ' says Chirayath, a student at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, who also works nearby at NASA's Ames Research Center. He never suspected that his fanciful image would put him in the crosshairs of a government waste investigation triggered by a senior U.S. senator."
The project was funded by an outside art grant. The best part: the investigation into the non-existent waste probably cost more than the "waste" would have were it funded by NASA in the first place.
heck might as well get alex baldwin too...
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Who else thought of Viking Space Program? I can't be the only one.
This money could be better used for banker bonuses like our bailout money was.
No problems parsing the headline. However, my twisted mental faculties imagined things much more entertaining than what eventually played out.....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Remember folks its all about Bread and Circuses. Seriously I wonder why we bother to pretend that society still exists.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
The best part: the investigation into the non-existent waste probably cost more than the "waste" would have were it funded by NASA in the first place.
What kind of logic is that? Does the OP have knowledge of the future?
Doesn't have to, you can look at previous investigations and extrapolate. You'd be suprised how much 'simple' paperwork cost the government where investigations are involved. I used to be a Government contractor, seeing my taxes wasted first hand made each paycheck withholding sting a little more.
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
They probably all already had their own costumes, so they didn't have to spend anything there.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
FYI: If you check TFA, you'll find the Slashdot headline is merely a slight variation on the original, so please take it up with the folks over at Science Insider.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
"This year [2008], the government-watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste named Grassley the fourth biggest GOP earmarker. The senator has proven himself a champion spender of other people’s money." http://spectator.org/archives/2008/06/10/chuck-grassley-king-of-pork
I got no beef with the financial side of this because I have no reason to doubt the claim that no taxpayer money was used.
But is the stereotypical image of a viking really the one we want to present to the rest of the universe? Do we really want to frighten them by basically saying that we are going to invade their planets, kill whatever mostly resembles males, rape whatever mostly resembles females, and burn whatever mostly resembels crops?
I for one propose that we take a more humble and peaceful tone with alien brethen. Perhaps Space Mimes? Who could find that threatening? Or maybe Space Teletubbies? No, wait, NASA couldn't afford to use that trademark, especially not with this kind of heat from Senator Grumpypants (of the Iowa Grumpypants).
Space Kittens? I think that pretty much sums up a lot of people on Earth. Space Muppets? Was there already a Muppets in Space movie?
It's pointless to criticize if you don't offer an alternative. How about "Space Vikings Spark Unfounded Accusation of Wasteful Spending at NASA"
I heard a PR talk of NASA-funded 100 Starship Project earlier this year. before I heard the talk I thought it might be a good idea to plan for the next century, but now I am not sure. It seemed very emphemeral. They commission annual conferences and give talks to school kids. The technologies seemed way too hypotheticlal.
A little fun can boost moral and increase efficiency far more than the loss of time. You will notice that most companies with knowledge workers take time for parties, outings etc.
The real waste in large organizations isn't from spending on photos, silly movies, or conferences in nice locations. The big waste is from spending on unneeded projects, or in starting large projects that are then canceled.
Wow NASA probably spent hundreds of dollars funding this extravagant photo-op. Yes, considering how small NASA's budget is, you can confidently say NASA spent the majority of its funding on this photo shoot.
Claiming that the waste investigation costs more than the loss from the waste is meaningless. In order to see if the cost is worth it, you can't compare the waste that was caught to the cost of the investigation. You have to compare the waste that there would be without any investigation, to the cost of the investigation. As investigation discourages waste, the latter number is larger than the former number.
In light of the IRS making Star Trek training videos I really don't see any problem with digging into all Government entities searching for waste. Glad they didn't find it here, but I'm also glad the checked.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
I think they are just checking that NASA isn't wasnting money like the IRS did. The IRS used govemerment funds to create Star Trek videos with upper managment in them.
Senators should be spending their time creating work-around laws to the Constitution, rather than waste it with this nonsense.
If you want to go fishing for corruption, why not go look in more obvious place like where 24% of the budget gets spent? That would be a much better payoff if you want to clean up corrupt funding. Otherwise, I would file this under "because, space geeks" and stop spending money on the witch hunt.
[*] http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_budget_actual
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
*sigh*
'Space Vikings' Spark (Unfounded) NASA Waste Inquiry
{Adjectival Noun + Noun} | Verb | {(Adjective) + Adjectival Noun + Adjectival Noun + Noun}
Subject | Verb | Object
I can tell the US education system has gone to shit when I'm reduced to defending Slashdot editors' word choices by diagramming sentences for dunderheads who were allowed to sleep all the way through 8th grade.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Grassley has a history of sending drooling stupid letters full of dipshit questions to NASA administrators. Here he's character-assinating the director of the Ames Research Center. Here he's making shit up about NASA and Google doing something nefarious. Here is an account of him badgering them about procurement practices.
Note that all of them contain demands for detailed histories, rationales and future plans, all to be delivered with two weeks.
Maybe this grandstanding fucktard should start writing similar letters to the Secretary of Defense. I hear they get a slightly larger portion of the budget pie than NASA does.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Funny thing, I didn't even have to read TFA to know it was a Republican congresscritter.
Correct response to Grassley: (in baby talk) "who's a braying ass? YOU're a braying ass, yes you are!
Here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20728
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
It is not just NASA, but extends to other science work under federal grants. When I was an undergraduate and working for free for a project to get some experience, I spent some downtime creating a much nicer website and some literature for non-science types to understand the project. The head of the project was scared to put any of it up, as the grant didn't allow for outreach and he thought it looked like it was too well done or too much time was spent on it. So they stuck with a minimalistic website that didn't have much more than a publication list and staff listing. I've also since then see others warned of what they do on their free time if too associated with a project (not warned as in reprimanded and/or having their job threatened, but warned as in "You don't want to get into the drama that can produce.") Not all projects are like that, as some have outreach efforts, with slight funding or just completely based on volunteer work.
I know what you mean, I guessed it was a Republican who was complaining about waste. The only time Republicans complain about waste is when a Democrat has the Office of President, otherwise they are the largest wasters if money around.
Most headlines not matter where it is, are very rarely complete sentences. It would be like bitch about a title to a book because it is not a complete sentence.
FTA:
Last year, Chirayath began working at ARC, where he helps develop small, compact research satellites known as “CubeSats.” The technology, developed in part at Stanford, reminded him of Viking explorers who, from the eighth through 11th centuries, “travelled farther and saw more in much smaller ships than had been used before their time.”
mission is to try to send a rocket to heaven and find Jesus.
You mean to say that they've been eradicated, and the few survivors marooned on a few shitty planets and hedge all their hopes on annoying teenagers?
It is like a general from the pentagon making a special flight to Okinawa to see if PFC Perkins pilfered a stapler.
The inquiry will easily cost more than the photos would have if NASA had paid for them.
Of course the senator has been called the king of pork on more than one occasion. He probably would have been fione with it as long as they had the photos developed in Iowa.
And they do a lot of fucking.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Why would you presume that a government investigation has documentation that exactly details the costs? More likely, the investigators were paid via salary, as is the original senator, and other overhead such as electricity and gas for travel are lumped into general budgets. Thus, while the investigation certainly had a cost, much of it is obfuscated.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
You, good gentleperson, have won one (1) internets. Please spend wisely.
Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
I'm guessing the moderator was also moderating Slashdot, presumably a non-work activity, during working hours.
Touchy!
"Hey, lets shed our nerdy image by cosplaying!"
Table-ized A.I.
Sure, the government (and its employees) sometimes blow money on amazingly stupid stuff. Sometimes the amounts of money involved seem mind-boggling to thee and me. But take a step back and look at things in perspective; compared to the real gross abuses going on (corruption from post-facto bribes and regulatory capture, the implementation of secret programs of all stripes, idiotic policies, and poor implemention) 'waste' isn't anywhere near being one of the U.S. Federal Government's more serious problems.
Ah, the old "one side is as bad as the other" fallacy.
Have you been listening to Bobby "something called volcano-monitoring" Jindal again? Been sucking up the far right's climate denial campaign?
Drill baby drill - on Mars
I suppose I'm the only one who misread "unfounded" in the headline as "unfunded", given the general topic. Here it would work even nicer.
Ezekiel 23:20
I'll disagree somewhat. We have constant campaigns against 'Fraud, Waste, and Abuse'. An earmark that actually results in a bridge(that will be used) being built would be Abuse, not waste.
Fraud: Selling/buying counterfeit Chinese parts rather than the real ones that will actually last through use.
Waste: Contracting construction of a building, screwing up the work document such that they end up tearing it down due to safety concerns.
Abuse: Claiming porn/alcohol/pay per view on your travel voucher.
I don't read AC A human right
This reminds me of the CDC's Zombie preparedness memo.
Some people bitched about the 'waste of funds' and such. The CDC pointed out that from their metrics it was viewed OVER 100X as much as their normal releases, for approximately equal preparation cost. Plus, well, if you're prepared for zombies, you're prepared about as well as you can be for many natural and unnatural disasters. The advice in the release was still standard disease/disaster prep stuff.
I don't read AC A human right
Clearly they have violated Standard NASA Ames Procedures for dealing with this sort of thing.
They failed to fill out a both the DARC-820AD -- 'Identifying a Barbarian Attack' and FF-1066AD -- 'Report of Viking Raid' forms.
I'm going to print myself a bumper sticker that says "Fund NASA, not NSA".
I've been politically aware since Carter was president and during that whole time the Democrats have been labeled the party of "tax and spend", the party without fiscal restraint. During that whole time I've also been witness to the utter hypocrisy of every Republican administration 1) expanding spending grotesquely, 2) expanding government employment, and 3) reducing revenues dramatically. Chart the federal deficit for the last half century and then come back and tell me which party has the most questionable judgement about spending. (Hint: there has only been one administration in a hundred years that ran a budget surplus.)
Much as I loathe the Democrats, the Republicans are even worse on every single issue that I can think of except the Second Amendment.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Then they're the only geeks who do.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
A "senior US Senator" can sense waste like Yoda sensed the death of billions. The odor of PORK draws those strong in the dark side and no one is stronger in the dark side than the dysfunctional losers who run for political office in this country
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Even if european colonists had been friendly, honest, fair and caring neighbors the native americans would have been largely wiped out by european diseases.
Wouldn't the indigenous (we won't call them "native" since they were merely the first to travel here) American peoples have killed all the European immigrants through their own diseases just the same? Aside from a handful of cases where they were sold products intentionally infected with Smallpox, your argument doesn't hold.
Well, as long as you have a replacement for your penis, nothing else really matters, does it?
Don't fool yourself, the Republicans and small government parted ways years ago. They also parted ways with government staying out of people's lives. DHS, and the TSA weren't invented and over-funded by a Democrat (to be fair they haven't been de-funded by a Democrat either). The trillion dollar bank bailouts and the needless trillion dollar war weren't started by a Democrat either (again, also not ended by one). We did have a balanced budget under Clinton. I guessed it was a Republican because the complaint was about NASA and there's a Democrat in office.
The conservatives who wanted a small government that stays out of people's lives have mostly given up on the neocon dominated Republican party now.
Wouldn't the indigenous (we won't call them "native" since they were merely the first to travel here) American peoples have killed all the European immigrants through their own diseases just the same?
They did. Syphilis is widely thought to have originated in the Americas, and the introduction of it to the rest of the world caused more deaths than diseases introduced to the Americas. It causes about 100,000 deaths a year now worldwide, and that is half the number of only 20 years ago.
Aside from a handful of cases where they were sold products intentionally infected with Smallpox, your argument doesn't hold.
There's not a huge amount of evidence showing deliberate infection. However, accidentally introduced disease caused devastation in the Americas - far, far more deaths than warfare.
Here [senate.gov] he's character-assinating the director of the Ames Research Center.
Heh, can't fool me again... I've clicked links like that on slashdot before. At least you didn't try to disguise it.
Just googled it, and it has a meaning, apparently. You live and learn.
LOL, I understand your trepidation entierly. Hadn't noticed that Freudian typo before, but now that you've enlightened me as to the Urban take on it, I'm gonna play it like I planned it that way.
I didn't say they were right about the Second Amendment, just that they are slightly less-wrong.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
No, he is stating the fact that most of the killing of the natives took place accidentally. It is the modern revisionist who calls the unintentional killing a genocide.
Did Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, think they were real Vikings?
Uh. Global warming/climate change is real. Intelligent design isn't. Teaching abstinence doesn't work. Faith in Jesus hasn't kept us from being the most gun-crazed, violent country (without a local war) on earth.
The republicans have made their policies on science quite clear for a long time. You need to watch something besides Fox "news" once in a while, and listen to someone besides Rush Limbaugh.
If I were a government employee it would be entirely appropriate for you to be concerned about whether I was using tax payer funds to post on slashdot. Since I'm not a government employee it's of no concern to you at all. Any interaction between you and my employer is entirely voluntary on your part and if my posting on slashdot raises the cost of the services my employer provides you are free to go to a competing company or even choose not to do any business at all. When I have those same choices with government agencies -- to not fund them if I so desire -- then I'll not care whether they are wasting money or not. But as long as it's an involuntary transaction I have no problem with a senator sending an email or making a phone call asking wtf?
My answer to that is to tell my superiors, "Too bad. Don't tell me what I can't do; tell me what the impedances are and I'll figure out how we're going to deal with them." If I have to spend a session putting boots in peoples' asses, I'll stomp all over someone's face no problem.
Sometimes shit is rough, and doing things right is uncomfortable. But I like the heat and I have two functional middle fingers to use in battle.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
Hunting with dogs, infecting with disease via blankets, and then a policy of the Federal Government awarding cash for killing injuns? Here's an actual letter from Col. Henrey Bouquet to Jeffrey Amherst:
P.S. I will try to inocculate the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's Method, and hunt them with English Dogs. Supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine.
Accidentally. Like how belladonna berries are poisonous, and eating them accidentally will kill you, so of course if I put them in your food that's not murder.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
If you think people don't need periodic training to maintain a professional atmosphere or move into a new professional atmosphere, you're an idiot. Are you the same kind of loser-generation retard that brags about having worked the same job for 37 years? "Oh I have so much experience Son, your mother and I have been on this planet far longer than you, she's been folding laundry since before you were born and I started out machining bolts for the auto plant but moved up to Foreman, so I know how the corporate life works!" No, no you don't you cock-choked moron. If you ever got another job you'd never survive.
Support my political activism on Patreon.