What is Digg?82 Comments
- RobotCitizen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+58Clinton was busy doing his own supercolliding.
- SoCalDissident, on 10/12/2007, -3/+49You must be thinking of Hubble, the only telescope big enough to see it
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -8/+30Clinton's legacy of infamy was secured when he axed programs such as these, thus balancing the budget...uh, I mean, he really messed up the economy by raising taxes, thus creating a period of unseasonable prosperity while the rest of the world was in a downturn...uh, I mean, he abused the presidential veto more than any previous president, thus preventing the kind of Republican pillaging and rapine we see today...uh...are you sure he can't run again?
- dilivion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21It is really a shame they stopped constructing the SSC. The LHC at CERN will be the next superconducting supercollider but it will start operating almost 20 years after the planned date for SSC and at three quarters of the energy. Still it should be able to find the Higgs ...(if it's there that is)
- myFriendDerrik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17The project was moved to Black Mesa however it was closed to due to an unfortunate resonance cascade.
- raid17, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Is understanding how the Universe was created and how everything in it came to be? I'd say so yes.
- funkpucker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Is experimenting with the government of entire countries in the faint hope of seeing laissez-faire capitalism succeed worth 200 billion dollars? Is Microsoft really worth 240 billion dollars?
I think we can spare 8 billion to understand the nature of the universe, including the true nature of energy, matter, gravity, light, etc... Actually, I think we should appropriate 300 million of Bill's 900 million shares of MSFT to make the SSC. We could even be nice and name it after him. Think of it... The Bill Gates Superconducting SuperCollider. Now that would be a cool legacy to leave the world with. What does he spend his money on instead? AIDS? DAMN! - thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18Were you referring to Clinton pissing on physics, or President Bush pissing on biology?
- elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12That's not really a problem with Democracy, true democracy wouldn't see changes in administrations. It's just a problem with OUR democracy.
- aitala, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Having been part of the project, it was a serious loss and has hindered research in the US...
Well, is 8 billion US$ spent within the USA better or worse than sending the money over to Swiss at CERN? Plus whatever technical knowledge is gained? Or the millions that was spent in closing down the SSC? HEP has not stopped, its just moved to Europe and thats where the money is going...
Money spent on research is not a waste - people argue against the space program, but its not like we are shooting wads of cash into outer space. It goes all over the country to all sorts of people... - spartan777, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13sad 8 years for science.
- TimHasAnAfro, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17That is damn interesting. Too bad it was cancelled by Clinton.
- elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -8/+18This is probably one of the underlying reasons why America is slowing down in scientific progress. Capitalism is getting out of hand.
- Teelie, on 10/12/2007, -9/+17Yes, because the Republicans are so supportive of scientific advancement. Site stem cell research, global warming research, alternative fuel research, etc. Government itself is just plain unsupportive regardless of the party.
- Pimptastic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Fermi Lab has some fun toys. kinda makes me wonder what they are doing there. you should haveseen the amount of 4 leaf clovers that grew in the neiborhood.
- betterth, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15Not to stay Political -- but if you think anything economical is Bush's fault from the first two years of his taking office, you're a fool. A President's impact on the economy reaches far longer than his term.
I think what you meant was "If planes hadn't decimated buildings" it would have been resurrected. - R4wBon3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Uhm.. correction, you mean microscope I think. A telescope would insinuate that his penis was very far away, and since penises are normally attached it would also mean his penis was probably at a planetary magnitude which would also mean that it would not fit into the vacant collider.
God, even the spankers are knobs here. - jguy584, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7They should have spent the $8 billion on this a ditched the ISS later on. This certainly would have revolutionized many aspects of science, ALOT ALOT ALOT more then what the ISS has done.
- spiderland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Well, the Department of Energy has named Fermilab as its preferred site for building the 20 mile International Linear Collider. Let's hope it happens here.
- blhack, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7soggy:
planes hitting buildings DOES have an effect on economics. Maybe YOU should retake it. The american populus paniced after the attack on the trade towers and the pentagon, and stopped spending money as much as they had been doing before. Guess what happens when people stop going out of their houses because they're afraid?
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE!
Thats right, you see, in order for an economy to GROW instead of decline, people need to SPEND their money on domestic products. When they stop doing this. Bad things happen. - dextroz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9short-term thinking republican redneck retard - most things you are seeing today are the fruits of labor from 100s of years ago of 'non-practical' research. there is a difference between scientific research and engineering research (what you are talking about).
- colinnwn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@ Narrator
Like the + 1 TRILLION dollars some prominent economists are estimating the "total cost of ownership" to the US of the Iraq war doesn't reek of diminishing marginal returns?
The US is mortgaging its scientific and economic prowess by not investing in more basic and applied sciences. These kind of investments take decades to pay off. Its too late to staunch waning advantage by the time you realize you are falling behind. And recovering leadership will take decades and hundreds of billions more than just maintaining it. - cephelotron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7My highschool chemistry/physics teacher was really miffed about this. Just mention it and you were pretty much guaranteed at least a 20 min. rant. From what I remember, another of the big snafus was that they couldn't find any contractors outside of Texas that could produce the gigunjumous magnets it needed. There was a company in Texas that already could build the magnets and had actually made some of them, but the politicos had already given too many contracts to Texas companies, so they had to give the magnet contract to someone else, but couldn't find anyone else who could.
- tedc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I knew some astronomy grad students who had been down there and told me construction setbacks were mostly due to bugs in the system, and they meant that literally. Apparently, fire ants had been overrunning the place! I was never there in person, so I can't vouch for those accounts.
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9That is certainly one reason. It is also an unfortunate weakness of Democracy itself. One adminstration plans one thing, the next comes in and scraps it in favor of its own plans. Put that together with white collar crime and corporate lobbying and you've got a serious problem that is going to continue to get worse. The corporate (and foreign) lobbying being a major reason why.
I can assure you, you haven't seen the worst of it yet with these Enrons, Halliburtons, Jack ***** and Microsofts. Quite a few things are going to come out of the woodwork after Bush is gone. That is if the next administration doesn't cover them up the way Clinton did for Gunray-Bush Sr. There are certain things neither party are willing to disclose, you know, for "national security" reasons. LOL. More like the security of their ill-gotten fortunes. You pathetic serfs can't handle the truth, it's best you just keep paying, before you get hurt. - R4wBon3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think we need a grid-republic or a distributed democracy.
.............
e.g. (in the U.S.) all universities and top education campuses would house their own cabinets and representatives (scientists, philosophers, geologosts, sociologists, etc.) Each university would have an equal stake in the over-all policy decisions by administered by the high court. Each state could have more sway by having more qualified education institutions each decided by student populations. Obviously this idea can go on and on, but I think you get my drift. Would that not be sweet? - cair0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Living in Texas, I can say it's annoying to see all the Road signs they built that have Waxahachie written on them as if there was something there. Here's to hoping we will see some movement on this in the years to come, it'd be nice if we could attempt to keep our lead in technology in anything other than DARPA related projects.
- purpleplatyduck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Growing up in Dallas, I remember the grand plans for the Supercollider well. A close family friend worked on it, at least until they ditched the project, and thus, those involved in it.
- Pimptastic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Fermi lab isn't closed, they had some big discovery a few months ago blowing some sub atomic particles up.
- marcoiks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Damn I lived in that town and people are still bitter about the project.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+11Okay bush boy, here's yer chance to get the project started again.... .... .... OMG crickets.
- spiderland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Tell him he's wrong. If he was right, I'd be looking for a new job now.
- zirtbow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Despite its enormous cost this would have been nice to have. I wonder if they will wait until the LHC starts showing results of any kind before someone goes "Hey we got one of dem thingies in the USA somewhat done. Maybe we should finish it!"
- Loto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, I know people studying there currently. It is not closed.
- spiderland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Pimptastic is correct. Fermilab isn't closed. It still currently holds the world's largest particle accelerator/collider (the Tevatron), and is considered the preferred location by the Department of Energy for the International Linear Collider (still up for grabs).
Blackumbrella: Source for your information regarding the funding? There is competition for Fermilab's contract, but that's irrelevant, since it's getting funded anyhow. - duality, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Probably an urban legend. Definitely sarcastic. This link will teach you a lot about the current American mindset, even if it is a couple of years old:
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/robinwilliams.html - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So if it was so important, why didn't bush reopen and refund the project?
It hadn't even been touched by the demolition crews yet, and everything was still intact when he took office.
I guess all the drilling and no oil might have something to do with it.
That heathen.
CAPTCHA BOT=2YHRC - wayhip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Sheer pork. The entire thing reeked of graft and political pay offs. IIRC, 2 days after Bush I was electged and Texas went for Bush, Texas got the SCSC. It was killed in '93 after it was apparent that the cost escalation was on an exponential growth curve. Good riddance.
- JohnboiWaltune, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm not sorry at all. 94% of sentient species inadvertently collapse their planet into a singularity whilst trying to detect the Higgs boson. Also, they billed the taxpayers $80,000 for booze and potted plants. Good riddance, says I.
- sremick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My aunt has patches of 4-leaf clovers all over her yard. Nothing special. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a super-collider buried there too.
- birdwatcher3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@R4wBon3
Yes but wouldn't you then have the same problem in all lower scales? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Democrats rather waste trillions on failed public schools that are guaranteed to keep failing. Or more welfare programs for the hopelessly lazy. Imagine how cutting edge America would be if we actually invested in our sciences instead of letting the dems squander it away on foreign aid. Reinvest that taxpayers money in America instead of giving it all to Israel (3 billion a year, wow we could have funded this super collider in just 3 years worth of Israel aid. Too bad the Zionist lobby has money and the science lobby has nothing to offer besides a better future for mankind)
- Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You could have easily chosen the Iraq war and Bush to criticise, but instead you had to attack Clinton. The cost of the Iraq war makes 8 billion a drop in the ocean. "Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and self-described opponent of the war, puts the final figure at a staggering $1 trillion to $2 trillion, including $500 billion for the war and occupation and up to $300 billion in future health care costs for wounded troops. Additional costs include a negative impact from the rising cost of oil and added interest on the national debt." The current administration could have resurrected the program easily.
Also, when you say, "Or more welfare programs for the hopelessly lazy", you aren't really being that honest with yourself, but spouting political bs rhetoric. You know about corporate welfare, don't you? The kind of welfare to support the company or industry to keep it afloat and extra incentive. - nasalexport, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8id rather have fire ants overrun the place than Bush...just for the more intelligence factor.
- betona, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2My dad (an engineer and a businessman) was an appointed Commissioner for the Texas SCSC and worked hard trying to keep it funded. Despite what some have said here, the people building it weren't out for pork. They were after the scientific advancement it could have delivered; as the article describes. I have a small sample piece of superconducting cable in my desk; if it had been perfected, it could've been put to use for power transmission lines and that's just a side spin-off. In the end, Clinton and especially Congress just wasn't interested.
- MrBabyMan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The empty space would make killer movie sound stages. Imagine this as the location for the next Bond villains' lair. Heck, they could shoot 'Half-Life' there and need virtually no set dressing!
- Terc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ blhack
well, planes bringing down buildings wouldnt have any "effect" on the economy, maybe an affect... If you're going to correct someone, at least use proper English.
Maybe you should just go back to school... - jbus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As a North Texan, I can tell you this was just pork barrel project to begin with. It was never meant to succeed.
The project served its purpose... Several Texas companies got a windfall of government cash thanks to their political ties. End of story. - foolishge0rge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I was taking a class from one of the leading physicists of this projects when it got canceled and she came into class and canceled class in tears.
And this appropriation I believe was not something that Clinton could have kept alive. it was cut by the legislators and presented to him in a bill that he could not veto. -
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