Comments on: That Darn Overhead Projector!

By: Apparently Astronomy is Un-American | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:23:42 +0000

[…] Sure, earmarks are dumb, and it would be nice to have a rational way to decide how best to prioritize federal spending. But don’t deny the obvious: when Republicans hear “science,” they think “something to be mocked in the service of burnishing our just-folks credentials.” Ask Bobby Jindal. Or, for that matter, John McCain. […]

By: Overhead and down below « In the Dark

Overhead and down below « In the Dark — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:46:07 +0000

[…] has extended over several posts concerns John McCain’s complaints about the cost of an “overhead projector” (about $3M) at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Of course this is no ordinary OHP, but a […]

By: Neil B. ?

Neil B. ? — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:24:28 +0000

Here’s some revenge on McCain and his GOP supporters, by a political columnist using real physics (more or less) as a metaphor for their prattlings about “real American” and such:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mccaina_quantum_physics_breakt.php

By: Claire C Smith

Claire C Smith — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:24:33 +0000

When I visited the South Downs Planetarium, hosted by Dr John Mason (BBC The Sky at Night), in West Sussex, early this year, I was asking him just as much about the projector, as the effect it creaTED on the under side of the dome, because it was a work of incredible machinery in its own right. I was in awe of the projector and how he got together its working parts.

There is a circular (logic…) brick wall araound the projector, as well, as far as the McCain’s comments go…

..if they stop money for a planetarium, the next generation of kids becoming inspired by astronomy and science could become extinct by its closing. If so, at some point, that very kid to be scientist, could have predicted the next massive meteor hitting Earth. Of course though, we wouldn’t know, we wouldn’t have any Earth, any McCain.

Claire

By: The Gist

The Gist — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:48:32 +0000

[…] by the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Sky and Telescope, Wired Science, Bad Astronomy, Cosmic Variance, Boing Boing, and Gizmodo, among […]

By: Shyam Gouri Suresh

Shyam Gouri Suresh — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:03:43 +0000

The economic rationale for using federal dollars rather than paying for the projector privately: positive externalities that will be realized in the future due to the development of an interest in science (particularly among children).

In other words, I am all for private funding when the benefits accrued are private. However, public funding is ok, when the benefits are society-wide.

Children who visit the Adler planetarium and are inspired to become scientists will not neccessarily live in Chicago once they grow up - more importantly the jobs that these children will create as scientists and the research they will do will help the country at large, not just the children themselves, or residents of Chicago.

The exact cost benefit calculations after considering externalities are far from trivial. However the stock libertarian response demonstrates an insufficient understanding of the economic principles involved.

By: At last, the last debate! « The Liquid Thinker

At last, the last debate! « The Liquid Thinker — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:48:23 +0000

[…] Obama put earmarks in their proper perspective. I’m also not sure what McCain has got against planetariums. I almost thought he was going to go after the bears again. One may argue whether or not […]

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:01:19 +0000

Mari Womack, Ph.D -

You may be a scientist but you are also a troll with the whole “above Chirst” stuff. I also find you to be incredibly disingenuous.

One - The three wise men were astronomers? First we’ll assume Christianity is more than just myth but actual truth. If we accept as a fact that the three wise men followed a star it makes them as much an astronomer as every astrologer out there, and you know that is a bit of a stretch.

Second - A planetarium has as much to do with teaching astronomy as a television special on “A Brief History of Time”. Although at least that program is more than just pretty pictures.

Third - Chicago has 2.8 million residents as of 2005 (US Census approximation). Why couldn’t they manage to raise the money instead of asking for it from the federal government. Oh they could, but its hard to get elected when your setting aside 3 million from a city budget for a planetarium.

By: McCain's Projector Comment and Scientific Earmarks [Pure Pedantry]

McCain's Projector Comment and Scientific Earmarks [Pure Pedantry] — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:32:18 +0000

[…] of Chicago professor, Andrey Kravstov, responded in a comment on the NYTimes website (Hat-tip: Cosmic Variance): The way Sen. McCain has phrased it suggests that Sen. Obama approved spending $3 million on an […]

By: McCain versus the Universe « The Musings of Chris Samuel

McCain versus the Universe « The Musings of Chris Samuel — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:51:40 +0000

[…] is all down to his repeated denigration of a request for US$3M federal funding from the Adler Planetarium in Chicago (which has bipartisan […]