Itâs always the fun stuff that gets shutdownâŚ
And for those that are shut down (no pay) but expected to work⌠well sometimes that fun getâs passed on to others.
(click for the image)
âOne concrete casualty could be the governmentâs ability to recruit and retain the next generation of scientistsâ
For the GOP thatâs a feature, not a bug.
Will someone shut down this paper hanging son of a bitch.
I have known several scientists over the years. If the conference was truly important they would attend on their own dollar regardless of the shutdown. They sure as hell wouldnât sit at home watching the View. The would be doing science. I am sorry but this would seem to be a silly propaganda piece.
You should try to Patton thatâŚ
Lol what.
Attending a conference is expensive. Thatâs several thousands of dollars at the very least.
They would attend if it was important, but they still have to allocate thousands of dollars they were expecting to save up for retirement or their kids college or a vacation with the family.
Add to that they just lost half a monthâs salary, with no idea how much more they would lose your position seems unreasonable to say the least.
I know of no wealthy or even âwell offâ biologists among my university and government scientist friends. Football coaches and University chief administrators; wellâŚ
They might even face legal trouble if they attended on their own hook, unless they carefully scrubbed most mention of their status a government researchers from the presentations and public appearances. The Anti-Deficiency Act, AFAIK, still forbids the works who arenât classified as âessentialâ from working for free. (And there are good reasons for that in a sane world.)
If that were accurate, you would know most scientists spend more time they want to on grant writing, which funds them and lets them hire people, and that there are rules governing travel and the like, especially on anything federally funded. Instructing scientists to âpay for it themselvesâ would be more effective if you had the funds on hand to reimburse them, because theyâre getting into debt and cannot reimburse themselves, per various funding rules.
We are talking about government employed scientists. And I said if the conference was truly important. My company sends lots of people to annual conferences that are little more than marketing meetings with workshops thrown it to attract customers. I suspect this conference is one of those.
No Biggie. Republicans hate science. This wonât move even one of them to act until someone crashes a plane or some other major catastrophe happens. And then, all weâll get is âthoughts and prayersâ as usual from them. Not much else.
Nothing motivates those assholes, least of all the Turtle still hiding in his shell pretending this is all about the Pissidentâs prerogative. Co-equal branch of government means nothing to him. His slavish devotion to tRump is whatâs literally gonna get people killed at this point. So a big FUCK YOU to tRumpâs bitch, Mitch McConnell.
Just one more assault on science by this anti-science, pro-ignorance maladministration.
THE WORLD-WIDE ASSHOLE really doesnât care. Heâs really not interested in true border security. What heâs interested in is keeping everybodyâs attention away from anything and everything that Muellerâs looking into. This âshutdownâ is just yet another distraction, and THE WORLD-WIDE ASSHOLE doesnât care if all of Appalachia doesnât get their food stamps. Let them eat their clean coalâŚor is that cake? Sometimes itâs so hard to keep straight, unless itâs written down on a reminder list along with suggestions to show empathy and relatability.
The GOP doesnât understand science, so they donât care
why china landed on the moon this year - and we still are fixated on âthe wheel and the wallâ
General-ly speaking, you donât have to patent quotes
What? Do you think PhDs make a lot of money? Scientific conferences are the lifeblood of science. Itâs the place where you see unpublished data and find potential partners who collectively, but not separately, can innovate. Itâs where ideas are exchanged. Plus, presenting at conferences is an honor and boosts oneâs c.v. I donât think you know scientists because if you did you wouldnât suggest that they âdo scienceâ or watch The View. No doubt they are in their labs or offices but not sharing or benefitting from otherâs knowledge during this shutdown. And many are not getting paid on top of it. It can cost thousands to attend a conferenceâairfare, hotel, food, registration feesâso they should pay with no pay?. Jesus, what is your issue?
Commercial âconferencesâ are actually trade shows. These arenât trade shows. No one is selling anything.
Iâm an actual astronomer, have attended the winter American Astronomical Society many times, and am friends with Kevin Marvel (yes, really), so let me add some facts into the discussion.
First, as someone who actually has multiple friends who work as government scientists, I know for a fact they are all sitting around and forced to do nothing unless they are considered essential. Basically all of my friends are not, and they are not allowed, under the law, to even check their email. They canât undertake any official duties, canât visit the office to check their mail, canât even go in to check on their equipment (except in certain emergency cases). The ones that are working are basically there to make sure things that would fail donât, things that need care get it, and thatâs about all they have time for. And, of course, none of them is being paid for their time, or knows when they will be paid againâŚand there is no guarantee that they will get their back pay if Trump and the Republicans decide to block it.
Second, they are legally not allowed to go to the conferences. Again, they canât do anything as a government person, and their entire trip is paid for by the government. They canât just cross out their institution off their badge and call it good, no matter what they are a representative of their government lab. And, these things cost moneyâŚitâs probably already been paid for (so taxpayers are eating all of those missed meetings), so they canât pay out of their own pocket, and even if they could a lot of them couldnât afford that, especially with the uncertainty of when they will get paid again. I have a friend with a newborn, her and her husband are furloughed, and the idea that they should drop a few thousand bucks to go to the conference is insane. Government scientists really donât make a lot of money folks, despite what Republican propaganda would make you believe. Even the senior managers that really could probably afford it arenât allowed to goâŚvery senior NASA and NSF people are skipping out on critical events at the meeting because of this.
Third, this isnât some trade showâŚthis meeting is the most important astronomy meeting of the year. Something like 30% of the astronomy community is there, major conversations happen where scientists get to talk to government representatives about priorities for national funding and observatories, and young people have their first chance to talk with more senior people not at their university. Two of these meetings lead to me getting jobs I likely would not have without going. Itâs not some trade show masquerading as a boondoggle to party, it is a critical event in the year for astronomical science, where most people who go end up exhausted by the end of the week because they have been running from room to room to catch all of the talks they hoped to see.
And finally, the disrespect shown for scientists caught up in this mess is really frustrating. Not just from @ronbyers but from the conservative world in generalâŚscientists are the backbone of what makes America great and has for a while, and a significant fraction of those scientists are immigrants (including a ton of my friends). The idea that we arenât important parts of society, that we should just suck it up and deal with the shutdown of a major part of our field, shows a massive amount of ignorance towards what science does for this nation and how it is done. I donât know a scientist who wouldnât rather be working that furloughed, and working long hours at lower pay than in industry, with funding stretched to the absolute limit to pull off the sometimes-impossible they spent large amounts of time writing grants for. Stuff like this is going to push scientists to move to Europe and China, where this nonsense doesnât happen and scientists are dearly valued.
But hey, what would I know, Iâm one of those âexpertsâ without any experience in the âreal worldâ⌠