HOW BAD IS THE RACE GAP? The Bluegrass Institute's Dick Innes is on at 10am. He's been crunching the numbers on the latest test scores for Kentucky schools and when you hear what he's discovered about the race gap, you will be SHOCKED. SHOCKED I tell you. And in related news....
A RALLY TO EXPRESS DISSATISFACTION Will happen at 5pm Monday right before the school board meeting. Pastor Jerry will be in at 10:30 to tell you how you can participate.
WHAT ELSE COULD THEY ORDER BASED ON "PUBLIC HEALTH"? An
Appeals Court has ruled the Bullitt County Health Department could arbitrarily institute a smoking ban without the support of any legislative body. Let's put our heads together and come up with other edicts they could pass in the name of "public health".
FASHION KNOWS WE ARE LAZY Did you know that "pajama wear" is now showing on the runway? This article tries to justify how people just don't care about their personal presentation for a variety of stupid reasons. What I see here is that people have just given up and it no longer matters. Which is a sad commentary on where our society is right now.
RESEARCH MISCONDUCT...NO BIG WHOOP This is a very interesting follow up to the story of the UK researcher who lied about his research. Why is this interesting? Because apparently you can lie on a grant to get thousands of taxpayer dollars and not face any criminal charges. I am guessing that there is reluctance to charge these scientists because it would indicate another failure of government to pick the right winners. Another fun fact: three quarters of retractions of scientific research were because of fraud. And people wonder why I question science sometimes. Kind of makes this passage from Eisenhower's military industrial complex speech seem rather prescient:
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more
formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for,
by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by
task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same
fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and
scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research.
Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes
virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard
there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment,
project allocations, and the power of money is ever present
- and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should,
we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could
itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these
and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system --
ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.
Gravely regarded, indeed.
