Save Arecibo

[KoRo]

The Arecibo radio telescope is the single biggest telescope in the world. It has been used for decades to further our understanding of the Universe, so of course its funding is threatened. This telescope has been used in countless milestones for astronomy including the discovery of the first extrasolar planet and twin pulsar. Arecibo is also involved in the distributed computing project SETI@Home. It was also featured in everybody's favorite movie: CONTACT.

This bill opened on the Senate floor on my birthday: April 15th, 2008. You can read more about it here, or you can jump straight to the case and spam--I mean, kindly petition your local representatives of Congress to vote for the passing of this bill, here....

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/arecibo_letter.php



If you're outside the U.S., then....uh....send letters, I guess. Someone can give you an address.

[Lidge Farkley]

I thought it was from GoldenEye...

Btw.. save it?
What exactly is happening?
I'm not going to SPAM until I know why.

Peace!

[KoRo]

Without financial support from the government/NSA, the telescope stops running. If that happens, we stop seeing as far as we do into the universe. We stop tracking as many asteroids as we do, and we stop learning as much about the Earth and the cosmos as we do now.

[RedneckNoob]

Do I get a cookie if I do this?

[KoRo]

Yes. You like chocolate chip?

[RedneckNoob]

I love all cookies as long as there's no raisins.

[Corona]

So that's what that thing is in the Tribes map "Arecibo"..... neat.

[Arf]

so you want to save a telescope?

i can only question the ridiculous, ludicrous, stupidity in even spending money on something like this when there are so many other problems that need attention.

if we save this thing,
how many homeless will it house?
how many hungry will it feed?
how many feet will it shoe?
how many sick will it cure?

who gives a rats ass what is out in space when there are so many other problems here to solve?

[12Stones]

Arf, there are many many more useless things that could be sacrificed to solve problems like people being homeless, going hungry, or being sick..  go whine elsewhere because unsavory womaning about it here will never change anything. (as if it will ever change anyways)

[KoRo]

The reason the "let's fix here first" argument gets panned by me is, the money we spend on astronomy (NOT on LGMs) is small compared to that spent on the military, road maintenance, public works, etc. And that's just in government.

Very few people are complaining about the construction of new sports stadiums on the basis of it not helping our little mudball. Hollywood spends billions of dollars every year on half baked entertainment, which isn't really helping out those in homeless shelters or anything. People spend so much piece on crap like Q-Ray bracelets, teeth whitening programs, Starbucks coffee, three-ply toilet paper, double Big Macs, booze, drugs, detoxifying foot bathes, church, luxury food, oversized cars, business degrees, and psychic hotlines, but rarely put a single dime towards something that doesn't help them spend $1.99 a call to vote for someone they've never met or heard of off of season 94 of their favorite reality TV show or make their coffee taste slightly less freeze dried and chemically treated. And they're happy to call it a "waste".

I don't buy it. Neither does Ut.

[Kyrie]

double Big Macs

Tell me where you found this.

[KoRo]

# The Mega Mac - four 1.6 oz (45.4 g) beef patties and an extra slice of cheese. Available in Ireland, Japan and Malaysia,[1]. Discontinued in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, limited availability in the United States and Canada (where it is commonly marketed under the name Double Big Mac).
# Monster Mac - eight 1.6 oz (45.4 g) beef patties and extra cheese. Discontinued in Germany.

[okaygo]

KoRo: I like your argument, and agree with you.

[Arf]

doubt any of you have ever been homeless, without shoes, clothes, or even something simple like decent food or water, so yeah you can tell me to quit my whining cause you probably have never seen past the silver spoon you got stuck up your ass...  

Arf, there are many many more useless things that could be sacrificed to solve problems like people being homeless, going hungry, or being sick.. go whine elsewhere because unsavory womaning about it here will never change anything. (as if it will ever change anyways)

i agree that the pork barrel spending and reckless abandon that our leaders enjoy could be curbed and a majority of the problems could be eliminated, but then that would take a miracle in itself to change the hearts and minds of people like you , you think that if you ignore it, it will go away?  

and unsavory womanin about it is not all I do, I am a member of a Christian Contemporary Rock Group that recycles household goods for the homeless, raises money for the shelters in our area to house, clothe and feed the needy...  so we see it first hand, dirty little faces with no hope but the meager things we can provide.  so yeah just sit in your ivory tower and smoke your crack and cast your judgements... i am busy doing something about it here where we live.

[Kyrie]

The homeless in America are a hell of a lot better off than the homeless in dozens of other countries.

The world will ALWAYS have a portion of the population with less than others, until there is a SIGNIFICANT change in social and mental attitude. And that's not the sort of change that will come about by throwing money at it.

I don't think we should spend more money on this particular telescope; scientific funding would be, I think, better spent in other places, developing new and better systems.
It may be a nice piece of our astronomical history, but don't let that stand in the way of progress.