Politics
-
STFC Endgame
Thanks to Dave for pointing out that the final results of the STFC programmatic review sweepstakes popularity contest consultation exercise have been released. Following on from the recommendations, which grouped all projects into five projects, the STFC Council has decided where and how the money will flow. The best news overall is that only the…
-
STFC Consultation results
No time for a full blog post, but I wanted to point out the results of the STFC Consultation, now available. Some of my favorite projects like AstroGrid seem to have not fared too well (the consultation panel rated it highly, but PPAN, responsible for the final ranks, disagreed). Nonetheless, Imperial Astrophysics projects like Planck,…
-
Euphemisation
·
From the New York Times. Pick one: Bush “overstated evidence” “exaggerated available intelligence” “systematically painted a more dire picture… than was justified” lied about Iraq before the invasion. Bonus points for what that implies about Tony Blair and the UK Government.
-
IUSS vs STFC
Today’s obligatory pointer to the latest on the ongoing UK physics-funding crisis: the “Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills” committee has released a pretty scathing report, mostly slamming STFC’s handling of the situation (and refuting most of its arguments for how it got us into this mess to begin with). The BBC’s Today show had interviews…
-
STFC on Newsnight
I’ve been distracted from preparing a presentation trying to make the sure the UK (and, yes, our group at Imperial in particular) gets its fair share of the dwindling UK astrophysics budget: Newsnight has a pretty extensive package, filmed over the last few weeks, discussing the ongoing astrophysics funding issues. Most impressive was the strong…
-
Curb her Enthusiasm
·
Larry David (!) on Hillary Clinton: “Does anyone want this nut answering the phone?” How is it that she became the one who’s perceived as more equipped to answer that 3 a.m. call?
-
Super Tuesday Night and Wednesday Morning
·
I only managed to make it to halftime of the Superbowl, but I’m going to try to last through at least a few Super-Tuesday results. (So if you follow this blog to read my opinions on subjects about which I actually know anything, you’ll just have to wait until a future post. And/or you can…
-
UK Gemini telescope bid rejected
Many others have been doing their best to disseminate information on the UK Physics funding crisis (especially Sheffield Prof Paul Crowther) but it’s probably worth pointing out the latest repercussion (which has already been picked up by the BBC): despite a bid to remain involved at a reduced level, it looks like the UK will…
-
Do you see the flaw in this argument?
·
“It won’t be hypothetical if and when it occurs.” —UK Home Secretary Jaqui Smith, arguing on the BBC Today show for legislation to be able to hold suspects for up to 42 days.
-
Campaign 2008: Rock My Vote
·
Living abroad, I’ve been following the American Presidential campaign (podcasts of This Week and Meet The Press help). But I’ve got this far without making a choice. I still vote in California, in one of the most liberal (i.e., American parlance for left-wing) parts of the country: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi‘s district, smack…
Search
Recent Posts
Categories
- Academia (64)
- Art (57)
- Blog (1)
- Miscellanea (101)
- Music (71)
- Net (63)
- News (28)
- Politics (110)
- Science (332)
- Uncategorized (4)