Vote! Vote! Vote! February 4, 2008
Posted by gordonwatts in politics.1 comment so far
This Tuesday is Super Tuesday. Whomever you are voting for — vote!! It doesn’t matter if they look like a shoe-in in your state — get the numbers up as high as possible. Whomever wins in your state should win because a large fraction of the state is backing them!
When Bush was elected in 2000 I remember thinking “oh well… it isn’t as if one guy can really change the direction of the USA. The USA is like a super-tanker; takes years to turn it!” I did vote, but I didn’t really care that much about the out-come. I was totally wrong! With a some tragic help, he has managed to really change things. Agree or not - we need to get as many people out there voting.
And, speaking to the scientists out there, please vote your agenda. I’ve always looked as candidates from the social and economic angle - Roe v Wade support, free trade support, etc. But the recent science funding debacle tells me that we have to start yelling “science” a little bit louder this year. As I posted a bit earlier, the link to the AIP site. Read it (for example, Clinton and McCain are the only ones to talk about the roll a science advisor would play in their administration so far). If you vote other people’s agenda, then their agenda will get taken care of, not yours. Do what you can to make others around you understand that science is important and should factor into their voting decisions!
But most of all — vote!!!
What’s New to Move To Another Dimension? February 3, 2008
Posted by gordonwatts in politics, science.6 comments
I’ve been reading What’s New on-and-off for years. This is written by Bob Park and is a sarcastic take on the non-science crap that goes down (usually) in Washington. Sadly, the first entry of this week’s issue was:
1. FURLOUGH: WHAT’S NEW WILL HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK.
It will start next week. Issues of support need to be resolved. Except for the week the tree fell, it will be the first break WN has taken in 25 years. We’ll be back when we can. I appreciate all 1274 opportunities I’ve had to share my concerns with you - there is much to be concerned about.
I’ll definitely miss you Bob — I hope the support issue is worked out. And he temporarily exits the room with a bang (i.e. typical style):
2. OTHER DIMENSIONS: THE GOVERNMENT’S UFO COVERUP.
I was invited this week to join a panel of “experts” on “It’s Your Call with Lynn Doyle,” an Emmy Award-winning, viewer-interactive news talk show on the Comcast Cable Television Network. The subject was “Are we alone?”
The object was to increase advertising revenue by pandering to a public that lives in a mythical world. I was the token scientist; Ted Schick, a philosophy professor from Muhlenberg, was the other rationalist. Then there was a delusional M.D. who saw lights she couldn’t explain over Phoenix, and the delusional head of the Paradigm Research Group, devoted to exposing the imaginary UFO cover-up. But the “experts” hardly mattered; the stars were the callers, with tales of strange lights and space aliens who can walk through walls. Is that really possible? “Of course it is,” a caller explained, “quantum physics has proven it.” The aliens, another cautioned, may be in another dimension - “there are eleven you know.” What have we done?
I’ll miss the weekly dose of plain-text depressing science humor. Hope you are back soon!
Trouble Posting February 3, 2008
Posted by gordonwatts in blog.1 comment so far
I’m having some technical difficulties posting (I use a bit of local software to make my posts). More posts as soon as I can get that working again.
