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Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread
sajman99:
Sheesh, birds surely can be a destructive force of nature--just ask US Airways pilot "Sully" Sullenberger who landed an airliner in the Hudson River after a double bird strike.
And to think I was only worried about my car's windshield. ;D
Stoic Joker:
Well gee folks, sorry I woke-up in a good mood and thought I'd lead with a bit of levity ... I hadn't intended to set off the erudition squads philistine alert.
Carol Haynes:
I don't mind the levity of the original post/poster ( :down: :up: :down: :up: :down: :up:). There is something humerous and ironic that such a hi-tec bit of kit (understatement) can be destroyed by a piece of bread!!! What I do object to is the assumption that all scientists do is waste public money on stupid research - plus the idea that it is always US money that is wasted.
I have just started working my way through the Carl Sagan series Cosmos again and one of the things I love (and often brings me to tears) is the sheer beauty of the Cosmos and the research that goes into exposing how it works. The great shame is that Carl Sagan hasn't seen the fruits of some of his work that have really only started to emerge since his death.
It is very hard to understand why scientists are labelled geeks, boffins and nerds whereas people who read Dickens or the Bible are classed by many to be more intelligent (which is why we now have universities full of people studying literature and media studies and a huge lack of people interested in pursuing 'hard science') - I'm afraid I'm left scratching my head in wonder at how attitudes have managed to deteriorate to this point.
You only have to look at education in the UK in recent decades to see how science (and maths) have been dumbed down to the point that it is difficult to get to a point where undergraduate study is possible in many universities without extensive remedial work to get students up to scratch in the first year.
Stoic Joker:
I don't mind the levity of the original post/poster ( :down: :up: :down: :up: :down: :up:). There is something humerous and ironic that such a hi-tec bit of kit (understatement) can be destroyed by a piece of bread!!! What I do object to is the assumption that all scientists do is waste public money on stupid research - plus the idea that it is always US money that is wasted.-Carol Haynes (November 10, 2009, 04:24 PM)
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I was actually coming from more of a global community angle (which the internet has made us), as in "we" the tax payers of any and all countries ... that have to pay for billion dollar projects that end up going awry in some unique way. And I have no problem with science, I've actually always thought it a much better "investment" than theology... ;)
It is very hard to understand why scientists are labelled geeks, boffins and nerds whereas people who read Dickens or the Bible are classed by many to be more intelligent (which is why we now have universities full of people studying literature and media studies and a huge lack of people interested in pursuing 'hard science') - I'm afraid I'm left scratching my head in wonder at how attitudes have managed to deteriorate to this point.
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Literature is easy to pontificate on (image is everything these days, ya know...) ... Read a book and then rattle off some long winded explanation of what you think it meant in a forceful manner and the crowd will generally all nod because they all want to fit in. Science on the other hand requires that you actually really do know something it depth as guess work tends to be fatal. Hence it requires a bit more driven and dedicated type of participant.
You only have to look at education in the UK in recent decades to see how science (and maths) have been dumbed down to the point that it is difficult to get to a point where undergraduate study is possible in many universities without extensive remedial work to get students up to scratch in the first year.
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At least most of your students can still read, ours can hardly form sentences half the time.
Carol Haynes:
At least most of your students can still read, ours can hardly form sentences half the time.
-Stoic Joker (November 10, 2009, 11:13 PM)
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That seems to be the biggest complaint from universities and employers of graduates in the UK too.
Given that the majority now do Arts subjects where they have to write essays how do they get in to university in the first place and how do they pass exams?
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