In sports, we call that a "forfeit." It means, "you loose."

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"Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold- bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief." - James Russell Lowell

"You lose" is not the same as "I win", and definitely not the same as "I beat you into a small quivering pile of dirt even though I was a lot smaller".

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‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

...feathering their nests, so they never have to work again, if they don't want to.

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Suggested by the BA (Comedy, bosons, and art -- in the Bad Astronomy Blog in its luxurious new home, Discover Magazine), Gia's Blog:
Science, CERN and Art:

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 ...

Mmm. But it's also okay to think grammar is pointless and to not actually know anything about the arts, either. "I think reading is boring" is something one hears an awful lot, after all. It's simply becoming fashionable in some circles to be ignorant altogether.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

It's a start!

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*

Being in the Cabinet is still different than being a politician that needs to be elected.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Almost every scientist I've heard speak on public policy has been sure that a massive increase in funding for more research into whatever it is he researches would be the best thing that could happen for the country.

BTW, wasn't President Carter a former nuclear engineer? Or doesn't that count as having a science background? Anyways, make of that what you will.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Sort of. He was an officer in the US Navy's nuclear submarine fleet. As such, he received extensive training on nuclear reactors and nuclear principles.

Heya,

Please, save us from people like Bill Frist. He may be a doctor but he isn't a friend to science. For example, Frist voices support for ‘intelligent design’. Just because your a doctor doesn't mean that you are a good scientist. This is just one area where he exhibits none of the signs of being a scientist at all.

Dee

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It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom. The universe as a whole is also weird, with laws of nature that make it hospitable to the growth of mind. I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension. ~ Freeman Dyson

He wasn't that good of a doctor, either. He let many of his certs lapse, and he weighed in on the Teri Shiavo case without examining her.

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04 K.I.L.L. S.M.U.R.F.S.
Tuckers! Automotive Oddities! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast Save the planet, by leaving it! "To be second in space is to be second in everything," LBJ.

I found this paragraph very relevant:

Not everyone agrees with that assessment. Sherwood L. Boehlert, the upstate New York Republican who until last year was chairman of the House Science Committee, said that what citizens should expect from their elected representatives is not knowledge of science per se, but rather “an ability to reach out to experts in any given field and then do what is oftentimes hard for elected officials to do, listen instead of talk.”

What we need is not people who are necessarily educated in all fields, but someone who understands science in general: understands how it works, how to analyze evidence, how to think critically, and how to listen to people who are experts in areas where they are not.

Most people in Congress are of a businessman type. They don't care about the right answer, they care about what answer will increase their approval rating and get the re-elected.

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"In the end the aggressors always destroy themselves, making way for others who know how to cooperate and get along. Life is much less a competitive struggle for survival than a triumph of cooperation and creativity."- Fritjof Capra

www.gonzoscience.com

So we are going to have intelligent people try to run the government?

Naw, it will never work.

Especially if you are the type that believes that anyone smart enough to run a government is too smart to want to.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Heya,

I think this is part of the problem. The people who don't want to but would take it as a necessary civil responsibility don't take the jobs. Instead we leave the job to people who are in it for the power and prestige.

Dee

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It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom. The universe as a whole is also weird, with laws of nature that make it hospitable to the growth of mind. I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension. ~ Freeman Dyson

Or at least, we tell ourselves that it's universally true. Certain obvious examples excepted, I really do believe that most public servants are in the field to serve the public. The problem comes because, among other things, compromise is a necessary part of our system. No one can get everything they want in government, but a lot of voters expect their guy to do so. We know that our government is set up to give as many people as possible a say, and it's okay with us--so long as we're getting our say.

I want people in government who want to be in government. I think they'll do a better job than draftees. However, I want those people to know how to utilize other people's education, so that experts in science will help make decisions about science, experts in education will help make decisions about education, experts about finances will help make decisions about the economy, and so forth. I think distrusting all civil servants is a bad way to go about helping that process.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

The current German head of government:
link Also check out "Selected published works"

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"A Paradox may be Paradoctored"
Robert Anson Heinlein, All You Zombies, 1958

Most people are convinced they are intelligent, and are convinced that stupidity or malevolence are the only reasons anyone could ever disagree with them. Just look at how many people at this board think they're intelligent.

He received a B.S. in Science from the US Naval Academy. While Carter trained to be a nuclear engineer, and was accepted into the fledgling nuclear navy under Rickover, he resigned his commission in 1953 when his father died, two years before the 1955 launch of the USS Nautilus.

As president, however, he created two cabinet-level positions: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

Personally, I'm not convinced either one has lived up to expectations.

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"Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold- bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief." - James Russell Lowell

Welcome aboard. You might want to read the rules, including the one about civility.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Regardless, this is an excellent point.

Sometimes I wonder if we should elect actual mentally-retarded people to office, like Rumsfeld mumbled, they know what they know and they know that there are things they don't know. That might be good for delegation of science to scientific advisors. PLus, a lot of the mentally disabled people I've met are genuinely good individuals, unlike some elected officials who merely act like they are mentally disabled.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

They are going to do it. There is a documentary from the future that fell through a crack in spacetime.

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"A Paradox may be Paradoctored"
Robert Anson Heinlein, All You Zombies, 1958