ya, I was guessing.... but think about it.. even though the FDA process would cost the same, the research would cost much less since the cost of setting up and maintaining infrastructure is much less, and the salaries of the scientists is just a fraction... I'm sure that over time, it represents a significant cost saving. Still, just a guess, but I think it's a reasonable one.
When a post about outsourcing to India comes up, there's the inevitable discussion about the workplace in India being a sweatshop and how they are poorly paid. I've posted a few comments about this in earlier discussions, but right now I'm in a better position to comment on it since I have had first-hand exposure to the workplace out here. (I'm an Indian studying in the US, currently vacationing in India) What I have to say is both good and bad.
I have plenty of former classmates and friends who are working in Bangalore and a list of the companies they work in are pretty impressive - from GE to Texas Instruments and all the outsourcing contractors such as Wipro and Infosys. I also had a friend working in a Dell call center.
About the work they do: Bangalore is not just about call centers and code monkeys. My friend works in GE and she works on PET scan machines and cyclotrons and their workplace is just as impressive as the best labs I've seen in the US. Her supervisor is a guy in his late twenties who already holds four patents and is expecting a fifth one soon. I already mentioned the friend in the call center, so the point I'm trying to make is that the work being done in Bangalore ranges from the inane call handling to the super techy fundamental research. (And yes, there are those amazing pharma companies who are making new drugs which are ultra cheap compared to the American ones due to.. I'm assuming this.. the low cost of research).
Now that that's out of the way, let's look at the amount of money they make. Most of the slashdotters are right - they don't make much. My friend who has been working in Wipro for exactly a year now gets just over $250 a month after all the deductions for numerous stuff. Now if you take into account purchasing power parity (PPP), 1USD ~= Rs. 8 (compared to the exchange rate of 1USD ~= Rs 50). So let's multiply $250 by 6 to get a closer approximation of the real worth in terms of purchasing power - that gies us $1500 a month which is no big shakes. That of course, is not the case with everyone - if you makes something like Rs. 50,000 a month (which many of them with a few years of experience do), it's the equivalent of $1000 (in current exchange rate terms) and $6000 per month in real purchasing power terms. Which is a very comfortable amount - a little does go a very long way in India. Then there are the guys who work in India, but come to the US for onsite projects lasting a couple of years. They don't spend much in the US, and since they are paid by the client, most contractors (like Tata) give them their usual pay in India - that's like getting paid in India and the US, so when the return home, they go back with something like $15,000 in savings(which is a large sum in rupees) and they have a years worth of salary waitinf ror them. Of course, it doesn't happen to everyone, but these guys (I know one person who's a VLSI engineer who can come to the US pretty often) have the best of both worlds.
Lastly, about work conditions : Most good companies have excellent work conditions which I've seen - posh offices, gyms, every facility you can think of. Contractors such as Wipro and Infosys have campuses to die for. The work hours are killers though. My friends go to work at around 8 and rarely ever come back before 9 even though the official work hours are from 8-5. On top of that they go to work on weekends so that project deadlines can be kept. However, if I was running a company, I'd be happy to get employees who are willing to work their asses off to get the work done compared to employees who stick to the clock.
All in all, work hours are extremely long, workplaces are good, pay is low, and the work ranges from the inane to extremely high tech.
Also, they have decided to ban the cars companies like GM, ford and other US companies like Mcdonalds, Pepsi,coke and Hoolywod movies etc. from selling in India
Stop this FUD. FM, Ford, McDonalds, Pepsi, Coke and a zillion other multinationals exist in India and are welcomed by the government. No one is losing jobs in India because of these companies - people are GETTING jobs. Please use an idiocy filter before you post.
Just this is insulting - as if we can't learn how to pronounce or recognize the name of someone from a different culture than ours? It's just a sign of not understanding the needs and/or culture of the clients.
Really? can Americans really learn to pronounce/recognize names from people of different cultures? during the interval of a helpdesk conversation?
Experience tells me otherwise. I have a short name and it can be pronounced very easily, but everytime I go to Starbucks, they write the name wrong on the glass (no, I don't speak unintelligibly - I speak english as comfortably as my first language). Finally I decided to either use a common name like Jack, or just say "write A". It's a fact, people (all over the world - this has nothing to do with Americans) cannot easily say/remember names from other cultures unless they're extremely used to similar names.
The flaw in your argument is the assumption that the market exists only in the United States. One important effect of outsourcing is the growth in the outsourcing economies - the new market will exist all over the world. Money doesn't disapppear - the new money created will be spread in a different region, but they'll spend it too, won't they? No company will go down for want of customers due to outsourcing.
a lot of pollution comes from Third World countries that have no pollution laws, or don't enforce the ones they have..
Sure... didn't you know that the biggest polluter is the United States? I wont bore u with the stats, but guess which country releases the most amount of carbon dioxide? And guess if it is the third world countries which send their polluting ships to be broken down in third world countries....
Check out this discussion in slashdot, 1999 about custom CDs - some of the comments actually suggest creation of an online store and make the (dire) prediction that the RIAA would not like it, and that it would take an exceptional salesperson to talk to them about it.
third, china is so dependent upon the US trade for an in flux of capital and hard currency. anything more than sabre rattling, and we shut that off, they take a shit. they are fscked.
Reallly?
last time I checked, if China took a shit, there wouldn't be any replacement production industry in the US to produce the same kind of goods at a price even close to current ones. Is there any other producer in the world where they make such mass goods at the same cost? Not to my knowledge. South Korea, India, Japan are all manufacturing nations, but no one has either the scale or cost advantage of China. In short, the US would be well fscked - it's the resulting overall economic debacle which 1. prevents China from going to war with Taiwan, 2. gives Taiwan the confidence to do some sabre-rattling with China and 3. makes the US try so hard to calm them both down.
I can understand the deterrent factor w.r.t. sex offenders, but missing children? If a missing kid turned up for algebra class, wouldn't his classmates and teacher know that he/she has returned? That was probably an afterthought for the school.. or maybe as you said, something to please the PTA (which probably is funding the whole thing)
What, exactly, are you worried that the government might do with a photo of you?
I don't know.. which is precisely why I said 'for god knows what'.:-) In any case, I value my privacy.
Well, sorry to break the news to them, but it DOES NOT EXIST! I'm familiar with a lot of research that takes place in my university and I know how imperfect the best systems are. (unless the military developed something amazing and decided to share it with the company that sold this school their system.. methinks that's balderdash). Just being able to get a proper face from a crowd is a big deal right now - even with faces aligned properly w.r.t the camera, face recognition is pretty crappy at the moment.
But of course, even if the system doesn't work, I'd be very concerned if my face was scanned into some government computer that is accessible to umpteen departments and might end up being used for god knows what!
The government should try to solve that problem rather than make cryogenic rockets, in my opinion.
Rather than? Why not tackle both problems? do you think that in a country this big, with such a high pool of capable people, there'd be enough people only to tackle one problem at a time? Get down from your high chair - when the united states was preparing for their moon mission, they had enough social and economic problems of their own - you do not tackle problems one at a time - that way, you'd get to a decent level only after a million years.
I'll stick with a player that has replaceable batteries
If you look at past ipod articles on slashdot, or just search google/froogle, not only will you find replacement batteries for the ipod, but also detailed instructions on how to open the ipod and fit a new battery in. There'll be ignoramuses who'll tell you that once the battery is gone, you have to dump the ipod, or send it to apple to get the battery replaced, but a little research on the Internet will tell you otherwise. Let that not be a deciding factor for you.
"Work smarter, not harder" in programming jobs is not an empty motto, it's the very essense of using your time effectively.
You're probably right about that, and I do agree that if you just throw manpower at problems, you'll get solutions that work, but are not elegant, or the most efficient ones. I used to program before I threw myself full time into engineering, and it pisses me off to see badly written code. The industry is such that so-and-so project has to be done in such-and-such time within so-much cost, so they put people who have been trained to use so-and-so language and do the job. These are not programmers the way I would define them i.e., these are not people who love programming, or think about solutions the way real programmers do - these are just people who know how to get certain jobs done using code.
But eventually, most industries don't care about how elegant the solution is as long as it works. Now if the code was being written for a new chip, or for something being used in a spacecraft (yes, I'm giving extreme examples, but you get the point), the code WOULD have to be efficient and elegant - you need real programmers for that. If I just need something to run my database and work behind a regular webpage, elegance can go to hell as long as it works without being buggy.
do not convert rupees to dollars - use the PPP(Purchasing Power Parity) according to which 1$ ~=Rs 8 instead of Rs 50 according to the conversion rate. Going by the current cost of living in india, an entry level engineer who is paid Rs. 25,000 ($500) is a comfortable sum), comparable to being paid $50k p.a. in the U.S. And if you are smart enough, you can rise up to P.L. or higher in a couple of years, and your salary goes up tremendously.
There is one difference though - no one keeps to 40hr weeks - your work schedule depends on the project. I've known my friends back home to work even on weekends when a project deadline is near. It may sound bad, but for young 21-25 year olds, it's not a big pain. It also creates the kind of productivity that took Japan to the top - societies can afford to have comfortable 40 hr. weeks after they have advanced enough (and then see their jobs being taken away by other places where THEY are willing to work 60 hr. weeks)
That's a pretty bad solution IMHO. Even the most average computer users I've known in my life have had to install/uninstall programs at some point. Like, say, a new Instant Messenger, or drivers for a new webcam/printer, whatever.. Even as a geek, I find it frustrating to do the above at times. It might be possible to sell a nice dumbed down flashy computer to a novice user, but he/she won't be a very happy user after a few months. Not a good way to make Linux popular.
umm.. just wondering.. if you cannot work in any field that competes with them for at least 2 years, then how do you switch jobs? Maybe I do not understand this well, but when you switch jobs (which usually happens every few years in the tech industry), u still work in your domain of expertise, so won't there be a conflict of interest with your previous employer?
"Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Second Target Station"... I mean, *what is that*?
Umm.. that's the code name for Windows 2025 - the solar system will be running windows then:-)..
"Damn Microsoft.. this is the third time pluto has crashed into uranus this month!"
It's heartening to note that the report gives so much importance to fundamental research unlike most of the research that happens today which is so geared towards creating marketable products or intellectual property. While the latter is also good for all, science will stagnate in the absence of fundamental research . This 20 year outlook is definitely a pat in the back for schools all around the country.
Here's the article: Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Announces Department of Energy 20-Year Science Facility Plan Sets Priorities for 28 New, Major Science Research Facilities WASHINGTON, DC - In a speech at the National Press Club today, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham outlined the Department of Energy's Office of Science 20-year science facility plan, a roadmap for future scientific facilities to support the department's basic science and research missions. The plan prioritizes new, major scientific facilities and upgrades to current facilities.
The 28 facilities cover the range of science supported by the DOE's Office of Science, including fusion energy, materials science, biological and environmental science, high energy physics, nuclear physics and advanced scientific computation.
"This plan will be the cornerstone for the future of critical fields of science in America. These facilities will revolutionize science - and society," said Abraham. "With this plan our goal is to keep the United States at the scientific forefront.
"These facilities are needed to extend the frontiers of science, to pursue opportunities of enormous importance, and to maintain U.S. science primacy in the world. Investment in these facilities will yield extraordinary scientific breakthroughs - and vital societal and economic benefits."
The Office of Science priority list for new facilities will help the department plan its potential future scientific investments. The list identifies 12 facilities as near-term priorities. Priority one is ITER, an international collaboration to build the first fusion science experiment capable of producing a self-sustaining fusion reaction, called a "burning plasma." Priority two is an UltraScale Scientific Computing Capability, to be located at multiple sites, that would increase by a factor of 100 the computing capability available to support open scientific research.
Four facilities tied for Priority three: the Joint Dark Energy Mission, a space-based probe, being considered in partnership with NASA, designed to understand "dark energy" which makes up more than 70 percent of the universe; the Linac Coherent Light Source that would provide laser-like radiation 10 billion times greater in power and brightness than any existing x-ray light source; a Protein Production and Tags Facility that would mass produce and characterize tens of thousands of proteins per year; and the Rare Isotope Accelerator that would be the world's most powerful research facility dedicated to producing and exploring new rare isotopes not found naturally on earth.
Six other facilities complete the near-term priorities. Eight facilities are identified as midterm priorities and eight as far-term priorities.
"This list of 28 facilities outlines to an important extent the future of science in America - and indeed the world," Abraham said. "These facilities cover the critical areas where discoveries can transform our energy future, boost economic productivity, transform our understanding of biology, and provide revolutionary new tools to deal with disease.
"They can make major and necessary contributions to national security - and give us the ability to understand matter at its most fundamental level."
"At each stage along the process of discovery, America's economy grows stronger, with new tools to improve human health, generate new industries, improve our everyday lives, or boost efficiency - the things that help give our nation its competitive edge," he added. "And we need science to maintain that competitive edge - especially in high technology, which every day becomes more central to our economy."
DOE's Office of Science prepared the list over the last year with input from the scientific community, DOE laboratories and advisory committees. In brief, Office of Science program managers first identified 46 facilities they believed are required for world scientific leadership over the next 20 years. Six independent advisory committees re
I can testify to that. I used to rave about the iPod after reading reviews online (this was before the new iPod came out), so when my friend had her CD car stereo stolen, she went out and bought an iPod to hook up to her standard cassette deck. I had the iPod in my hand for 10 minutes and there was no going back for me. I resisted the temptation for two months before the new one came out and then I couldn't stop myself. I bought one. (May I rot in hell for not resisting temptation).
You should see the reaction of people when they see the iPod.. and even more when they play with it for 5 minutes. I've yet to see any piece of consumer electronics which has the capacity to shock and amaze people like this.
and I suppose, you will not complain when the quality websites which need money to create good content and reliable serivice disappear.
Without banners, you will probably not be able to use slashdot either - do you think they pay for the awesome bandwidth and storage they have using magic?
Slashdot Mirror
ya, I was guessing.... but think about it.. even though the FDA process would cost the same, the research would cost much less since the cost of setting up and maintaining infrastructure is much less, and the salaries of the scientists is just a fraction... I'm sure that over time, it represents a significant cost saving. Still, just a guess, but I think it's a reasonable one.
When a post about outsourcing to India comes up, there's the inevitable discussion about the workplace in India being a sweatshop and how they are poorly paid. I've posted a few comments about this in earlier discussions, but right now I'm in a better position to comment on it since I have had first-hand exposure to the workplace out here. (I'm an Indian studying in the US, currently vacationing in India) What I have to say is both good and bad.
I have plenty of former classmates and friends who are working in Bangalore and a list of the companies they work in are pretty impressive - from GE to Texas Instruments and all the outsourcing contractors such as Wipro and Infosys. I also had a friend working in a Dell call center.
About the work they do: Bangalore is not just about call centers and code monkeys. My friend works in GE and she works on PET scan machines and cyclotrons and their workplace is just as impressive as the best labs I've seen in the US. Her supervisor is a guy in his late twenties who already holds four patents and is expecting a fifth one soon. I already mentioned the friend in the call center, so the point I'm trying to make is that the work being done in Bangalore ranges from the inane call handling to the super techy fundamental research. (And yes, there are those amazing pharma companies who are making new drugs which are ultra cheap compared to the American ones due to.. I'm assuming this.. the low cost of research).
Now that that's out of the way, let's look at the amount of money they make. Most of the slashdotters are right - they don't make much. My friend who has been working in Wipro for exactly a year now gets just over $250 a month after all the deductions for numerous stuff. Now if you take into account purchasing power parity (PPP), 1USD ~= Rs. 8 (compared to the exchange rate of 1USD ~= Rs 50). So let's multiply $250 by 6 to get a closer approximation of the real worth in terms of purchasing power - that gies us $1500 a month which is no big shakes.
That of course, is not the case with everyone - if you makes something like Rs. 50,000 a month (which many of them with a few years of experience do), it's the equivalent of $1000 (in current exchange rate terms) and $6000 per month in real purchasing power terms. Which is a very comfortable amount - a little does go a very long way in India. Then there are the guys who work in India, but come to the US for onsite projects lasting a couple of years. They don't spend much in the US, and since they are paid by the client, most contractors (like Tata) give them their usual pay in India - that's like getting paid in India and the US, so when the return home, they go back with something like $15,000 in savings(which is a large sum in rupees) and they have a years worth of salary waitinf ror them. Of course, it doesn't happen to everyone, but these guys (I know one person who's a VLSI engineer who can come to the US pretty often) have the best of both worlds.
Lastly, about work conditions : Most good companies have excellent work conditions which I've seen - posh offices, gyms, every facility you can think of. Contractors such as Wipro and Infosys have campuses to die for. The work hours are killers though. My friends go to work at around 8 and rarely ever come back before 9 even though the official work hours are from 8-5. On top of that they go to work on weekends so that project deadlines can be kept. However, if I was running a company, I'd be happy to get employees who are willing to work their asses off to get the work done compared to employees who stick to the clock.
All in all, work hours are extremely long, workplaces are good, pay is low, and the work ranges from the inane to extremely high tech.
Also, they have decided to ban the cars companies like GM, ford and other US companies like Mcdonalds, Pepsi,coke and Hoolywod movies etc. from selling in India
Stop this FUD. FM, Ford, McDonalds, Pepsi, Coke and a zillion other multinationals exist in India and are welcomed by the government. No one is losing jobs in India because of these companies - people are GETTING jobs. Please use an idiocy filter before you post.
Just this is insulting - as if we can't learn how to pronounce or recognize the name of someone from a different culture than ours? It's just a sign of not understanding the needs and/or culture of the clients.
Really? can Americans really learn to pronounce/recognize names from people of different cultures? during the interval of a helpdesk conversation?
Experience tells me otherwise. I have a short name and it can be pronounced very easily, but everytime I go to Starbucks, they write the name wrong on the glass (no, I don't speak unintelligibly - I speak english as comfortably as my first language). Finally I decided to either use a common name like Jack, or just say "write A". It's a fact, people (all over the world - this has nothing to do with Americans) cannot easily say/remember names from other cultures unless they're extremely used to similar names.
The flaw in your argument is the assumption that the market exists only in the United States. One important effect of outsourcing is the growth in the outsourcing economies - the new market will exist all over the world. Money doesn't disapppear - the new money created will be spread in a different region, but they'll spend it too, won't they? No company will go down for want of customers due to outsourcing.
a lot of pollution comes from Third World countries that have no pollution laws, or don't enforce the ones they have..
Sure... didn't you know that the biggest polluter is the United States? I wont bore u with the stats, but guess which country releases the most amount of carbon dioxide? And guess if it is the third world countries which send their polluting ships to be broken down in third world countries....
Check out this discussion in slashdot, 1999 about custom CDs - some of the comments actually suggest creation of an online store and make the (dire) prediction that the RIAA would not like it, and that it would take an exceptional salesperson to talk to them about it.
Here's the article
Looks like the 'exceptional salesperson' was Steve Jobs. Wonder if anyone imagined back then that the RIAA would turn out to be so vindictive!
third, china is so dependent upon the US trade for an in flux of capital and hard currency. anything more than sabre rattling, and we shut that off, they take a shit. they are fscked.
Reallly? last time I checked, if China took a shit, there wouldn't be any replacement production industry in the US to produce the same kind of goods at a price even close to current ones. Is there any other producer in the world where they make such mass goods at the same cost? Not to my knowledge. South Korea, India, Japan are all manufacturing nations, but no one has either the scale or cost advantage of China. In short, the US would be well fscked - it's the resulting overall economic debacle which 1. prevents China from going to war with Taiwan, 2. gives Taiwan the confidence to do some sabre-rattling with China and 3. makes the US try so hard to calm them both down.
I can understand the deterrent factor w.r.t. sex offenders, but missing children? If a missing kid turned up for algebra class, wouldn't his classmates and teacher know that he/she has returned? That was probably an afterthought for the school.. or maybe as you said, something to please the PTA (which probably is funding the whole thing)
What, exactly, are you worried that the government might do with a photo of you? :-) In any case, I value my privacy.
I don't know.. which is precisely why I said 'for god knows what'.
Well, sorry to break the news to them, but it DOES NOT EXIST! I'm familiar with a lot of research that takes place in my university and I know how imperfect the best systems are. (unless the military developed something amazing and decided to share it with the company that sold this school their system.. methinks that's balderdash). Just being able to get a proper face from a crowd is a big deal right now - even with faces aligned properly w.r.t the camera, face recognition is pretty crappy at the moment.
But of course, even if the system doesn't work, I'd be very concerned if my face was scanned into some government computer that is accessible to umpteen departments and might end up being used for god knows what!
The government should try to solve that problem rather than make cryogenic rockets, in my opinion.
Rather than? Why not tackle both problems? do you think that in a country this big, with such a high pool of capable people, there'd be enough people only to tackle one problem at a time? Get down from your high chair - when the united states was preparing for their moon mission, they had enough social and economic problems of their own - you do not tackle problems one at a time - that way, you'd get to a decent level only after a million years.
I'll stick with a player that has replaceable batteries
If you look at past ipod articles on slashdot, or just search google/froogle, not only will you find replacement batteries for the ipod, but also detailed instructions on how to open the ipod and fit a new battery in. There'll be ignoramuses who'll tell you that once the battery is gone, you have to dump the ipod, or send it to apple to get the battery replaced, but a little research on the Internet will tell you otherwise. Let that not be a deciding factor for you.
Its just a white box No comments.
"Work smarter, not harder" in programming jobs is not an empty motto, it's the very essense of using your time effectively.
You're probably right about that, and I do agree that if you just throw manpower at problems, you'll get solutions that work, but are not elegant, or the most efficient ones. I used to program before I threw myself full time into engineering, and it pisses me off to see badly written code. The industry is such that so-and-so project has to be done in such-and-such time within so-much cost, so they put people who have been trained to use so-and-so language and do the job. These are not programmers the way I would define them i.e., these are not people who love programming, or think about solutions the way real programmers do - these are just people who know how to get certain jobs done using code.
But eventually, most industries don't care about how elegant the solution is as long as it works. Now if the code was being written for a new chip, or for something being used in a spacecraft (yes, I'm giving extreme examples, but you get the point), the code WOULD have to be efficient and elegant - you need real programmers for that. If I just need something to run my database and work behind a regular webpage, elegance can go to hell as long as it works without being buggy.
do not convert rupees to dollars - use the PPP(Purchasing Power Parity) according to which 1$ ~=Rs 8 instead of Rs 50 according to the conversion rate. Going by the current cost of living in india, an entry level engineer who is paid Rs. 25,000 ($500) is a comfortable sum), comparable to being paid $50k p.a. in the U.S. And if you are smart enough, you can rise up to P.L. or higher in a couple of years, and your salary goes up tremendously.
There is one difference though - no one keeps to 40hr weeks - your work schedule depends on the project. I've known my friends back home to work even on weekends when a project deadline is near. It may sound bad, but for young 21-25 year olds, it's not a big pain. It also creates the kind of productivity that took Japan to the top - societies can afford to have comfortable 40 hr. weeks after they have advanced enough (and then see their jobs being taken away by other places where THEY are willing to work 60 hr. weeks)
That's a pretty bad solution IMHO. Even the most average computer users I've known in my life have had to install/uninstall programs at some point. Like, say, a new Instant Messenger, or drivers for a new webcam/printer, whatever.. Even as a geek, I find it frustrating to do the above at times. It might be possible to sell a nice dumbed down flashy computer to a novice user, but he/she won't be a very happy user after a few months. Not a good way to make Linux popular.
umm.. just wondering.. if you cannot work in any field that competes with them for at least 2 years, then how do you switch jobs? Maybe I do not understand this well, but when you switch jobs (which usually happens every few years in the tech industry), u still work in your domain of expertise, so won't there be a conflict of interest with your previous employer?
then how do I play songs on my iPod?
movie 1 movie 1 movie 1 movie 1 movie 1 movie 1 movie 1 movie 1
movie 2 movie 2 movie 2 movie 2 movie 2 movie 2 movie 2 movie 2
movie 3 movie 3 movie 3 movie 3
"Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Second Target Station"... I mean, *what is that*? :-)..
Umm.. that's the code name for Windows 2025 - the solar system will be running windows then
"Damn Microsoft.. this is the third time pluto has crashed into uranus this month!"
It's heartening to note that the report gives so much importance to fundamental research unlike most of the research that happens today which is so geared towards creating marketable products or intellectual property. While the latter is also good for all, science will stagnate in the absence of fundamental research . This 20 year outlook is definitely a pat in the back for schools all around the country.
Here's the article:
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Announces Department of Energy 20-Year Science Facility Plan
Sets Priorities for 28 New, Major Science Research Facilities
WASHINGTON, DC - In a speech at the National Press Club today, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham outlined the Department of Energy's Office of Science 20-year science facility plan, a roadmap for future scientific facilities to support the department's basic science and research missions. The plan prioritizes new, major scientific facilities and upgrades to current facilities.
The 28 facilities cover the range of science supported by the DOE's Office of Science, including fusion energy, materials science, biological and environmental science, high energy physics, nuclear physics and advanced scientific computation.
"This plan will be the cornerstone for the future of critical fields of science in America. These facilities will revolutionize science - and society," said Abraham. "With this plan our goal is to keep the United States at the scientific forefront.
"These facilities are needed to extend the frontiers of science, to pursue opportunities of enormous importance, and to maintain U.S. science primacy in the world. Investment in these facilities will yield extraordinary scientific breakthroughs - and vital societal and economic benefits."
The Office of Science priority list for new facilities will help the department plan its potential future scientific investments. The list identifies 12 facilities as near-term priorities. Priority one is ITER, an international collaboration to build the first fusion science experiment capable of producing a self-sustaining fusion reaction, called a "burning plasma." Priority two is an UltraScale Scientific Computing Capability, to be located at multiple sites, that would increase by a factor of 100 the computing capability available to support open scientific research.
Four facilities tied for Priority three: the Joint Dark Energy Mission, a space-based probe, being considered in partnership with NASA, designed to understand "dark energy" which makes up more than 70 percent of the universe; the Linac Coherent Light Source that would provide laser-like radiation 10 billion times greater in power and brightness than any existing x-ray light source; a Protein Production and Tags Facility that would mass produce and characterize tens of thousands of proteins per year; and the Rare Isotope Accelerator that would be the world's most powerful research facility dedicated to producing and exploring new rare isotopes not found naturally on earth.
Six other facilities complete the near-term priorities. Eight facilities are identified as midterm priorities and eight as far-term priorities.
"This list of 28 facilities outlines to an important extent the future of science in America - and indeed the world," Abraham said. "These facilities cover the critical areas where discoveries can transform our energy future, boost economic productivity, transform our understanding of biology, and provide revolutionary new tools to deal with disease.
"They can make major and necessary contributions to national security - and give us the ability to understand matter at its most fundamental level."
"At each stage along the process of discovery, America's economy grows stronger, with new tools to improve human health, generate new industries, improve our everyday lives, or boost efficiency - the things that help give our nation its competitive edge," he added. "And we need science to maintain that competitive edge - especially in high technology, which every day becomes more central to our economy."
DOE's Office of Science prepared the list over the last year with input from the scientific community, DOE laboratories and advisory committees. In brief, Office of Science program managers first identified 46 facilities they believed are required for world scientific leadership over the next 20 years. Six independent advisory committees re
I can testify to that.
I used to rave about the iPod after reading reviews online (this was before the new iPod came out), so when my friend had her CD car stereo stolen, she went out and bought an iPod to hook up to her standard cassette deck. I had the iPod in my hand for 10 minutes and there was no going back for me. I resisted the temptation for two months before the new one came out and then I couldn't stop myself. I bought one. (May I rot in hell for not resisting temptation).
You should see the reaction of people when they see the iPod.. and even more when they play with it for 5 minutes. I've yet to see any piece of consumer electronics which has the capacity to shock and amaze people like this.
and I suppose, you will not complain when the quality websites which need money to create good content and reliable serivice disappear.
Without banners, you will probably not be able to use slashdot either - do you think they pay for the awesome bandwidth and storage they have using magic?