Comments on: Congressional funding disaster

By: TheBlackCat

TheBlackCat — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:57:46 +0000

Well, I would neither call the U.S. “great” nor an “empire”, but that’s just me.

By: MaDeR

MaDeR — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:24:44 +0000

Oh, USA will indeed fall. Not in year or decade. Great empires always fall either fast (like ZSRR) or in many hundred years, like Rome itself. And about other things: well, perpetual two-party duopol, legalized corruption (so-called lobbyism), trying to estabilish supersitious crap instead of science…

Nowadays, I consider USA as corrupted as China or Russia. Good luck with changing something – anything that happens with USA will affect entire world, including my place to live.

By: Joseph G

Joseph G — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:52:03 +0000

@43 Albert J Hock Jr.: At the risk of earning Phil’s ire for cluttering up his in-box, I think that comments like that would be more effectively e-mailed directly to him, especially on older threads like this that he is less likely to check, and which (in this case) are topically unrelated, anyway.

Dr. Plait’s e-mail address can be found on the right side of the page next to his picture (it’s spelled out in an odd way to avoid spambots, but you can figure it out). In my experience he’s very good about answering any inquiry (or at least those, like yours, that are highly relevant to his blog).

PS: I don’t suppose there are any references to that article online, are there? If so, you might want to include links in your query.
I wouldn’t mind ‘em, either

By: Albert J. Hoch Jr.

Albert J. Hoch Jr. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:14:42 +0000

Dear Mr. Plait,
My recent issue of “Sky and Telescope” shows an astonishing image of a “binary asteroid” as shadows cast by the light a single star. Can you comment on this interesting application of stellar occultation? How accurate is the resulting image? Since the light rays from a distant star are nearly parallel, the size of the shadow should just about match that of the asteroid! It would seem to me that the precision is almost entirely dependent on the astronomers clocks. (and, of course the number of observation locations) So we should be able to “see” any occulting object regardless of distance. Perhaps groups of stars could be used as a kind of “telescope”? Note: This last would require special camera software to assign timing to each star imaged on the camera chip! (A cute trick. Scanning won’t do it, well . . . maybe super fast scanning.)

Here’s a great opportunity for another organization of amateur and pro astronomers.

Sincerely
Albert J. Hoch Jr.

By: TheBlackCat

TheBlackCat — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:26:40 +0000

@40 MTU: I’d argue that the parallels are stronger than we might want to believe.
For instance, in ancient Rome, only wealthy property owners could vote.

That is how things were originally in the U.S., but it was later changed.

By: Joseph G

Joseph G — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:36:09 +0000

@40 MTU: I’d argue that the parallels are stronger than we might want to believe.
For instance, in ancient Rome, only wealthy property owners could vote. Technically, everyone in the US can vote, but something like 95% of the time, the candidate that gets the most money wins. That and this funding idiocy are pretty much proof that the rich and corporations run the whole damn country.

I could also point to how TV shows get more public and media attention then politics, or incidents of people going ape**** because (insert fast food chain) ran out of (insert junk food).
Bread and circuses, man! Bread and circuses.

/Scuze me, I need to go take my daily dose of Cynicol™.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:35:28 +0000

@ ^ To Seek : Wasn’t there a major hurricane that threatened New York and did quite a bit of damage further north than usual fairly recently – only a few months or so ago?

@38. ToSeek :

Someone asked, what’s wrong with the current climate service? Short answer: there isn’t one – the responsibility is spread across the organization. This just brings it together into a unified organization.

Thanks.

That was me and that now makes sense – the use of the word ‘new’ threw me as it implied there was already an ‘old’ one.

@ 36. JMW : “.. Your [USA's] society is exactly like that of Rome before its fall ..”

Exactly? [Looks around at the States for toga clad Emperors, gladiators and Christians being fed to the lions and an aqueduct building industry. ]

Hmm .. there may be just a few differences. No slavery, women can vote, chariots have come a long way etc ..

That Presidents get elected out by the voters not assassinated out by their bodyguards is possibly a good sign? Whether these differences are enough to make the USA’s fate a bit better and less likely to fall or not – who knows. I hope so.

Things cannot be sustained as they are and will have to change in a variety of ways. There’s a lot of serious economic social and environmental issues to address (HIRGO, social inequality and soon Peak Oil to name a few.) but there’s also a lot of highly intelligent, good people trying to work on them too. The same Science and Industry that got us into this situation still remains, in my view, our best means of getting out of it again. I hope the States can recover from the present mess and don’t think that’s impossible to imagine. At least not yet.

By: ToSeek

ToSeek — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:44:06 +0000

@22: “Hey, mr Phil Plait, quiz question: when has the last hurricane (cat 3 and above) landfall ocurred?
Answer: 2232 days and counting, and we will obviously surpass the record.”

Wrong. That’s the last cat. 3 to make US landfall. Are you really that parochial? I suggest you do some actual research and count the number of people (not just Americans) who died from Atlantic hurricanes during those 2232 days.

By: ToSeek

ToSeek — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:32:27 +0000

It should be noted that the press release was written by a Republican-controlled committee with a vested interest in appearing to be cost-conscious. Meanwhile, NOAA itself says ( http://www.noaa.gov/climateresources/resources/QA_ClimateService_Feb15.pdf ):

This is a reorganization of existing assets to coordinate and integrate NOAA’s existing climate capabilities for greater effectiveness, cohesiveness, and to improve service relevance and delivery. It will be accomplished through a zero sum realignment of funds within the current NOAA budget and will (1) neither increase or decrease the NOAA Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) or billet allocation, or require any relocation of employees, (2) not require any physical relocation of programs or labs, or require any new facilities to accommodate this reorganization, (3) result in a zero sum realignment of funds within the current NOAA budget, or (4) not increase the size of NOAA overhead. The Climate Service headquarters will be located in Silver Spring, MD, consistent with all other line offices.

Someone asked, what’s wrong with the current climate service? Short answer: there isn’t one – the responsibility is spread across the organization. This just brings it together into a unified organization.

By: Joseph G

Joseph G — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:43:26 +0000

@JMW: As an American who is (justifiably, I think) scared s**tless by all this, from where you’re standing, do you think that there’s anything we can do? Or are we just plain Doomed?