Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
Two neuroscience bloggers team up for one chimeric blog, and world domination of course.
Shelley Batts is a Neuroscience PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. She studies hair cell regeneration in the cochlea, and is trying to finish that quixotic quest called 'thesis.' She lies awake at night pondering how science intersects with politics, culture, policy, money, medicine, and religion in an attempt to be more than just a niche scientist sitting in the oh-so-lovely ivory tower. Follow me and my parrot, Pepper, on our quest to finish my PhD, land a post-doc, and stay sane.
The Omnibrain is a psychology graduate student at an online university. He hopes that the three weeks and $29.95 that he is spending on his Ph.D. will get him a job at a Tier 1 research university. Do online universities have postdocs? Ok...just kidding, he is really a Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology studying high level vision. You know... stuff like scene & object perception.
While not an official contributer to 'Of Two Minds,' Shelley's sidekick is an African Grey parrot named Pepper. His heros are Irene Pepperberg, Alex, and Rachel Carson. He spends his time learning Mandarin and writing the Great American novel.
"Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life." ~Rachel Carson
We love constructive comments! However, we reserve the right to delete comments that abuse this forum. Voicing your opinions is great, just be respectful.
« Obama doesn't hate the Special Olympics he hates retarded people | Main | Grad students on spring break »
Category: Popular Culture
Posted on: March 20, 2009 1:34 PM, by The Omnibrain
Straight from XKCD...
I had this exact same reaction.
Now that we're on the topic. I don't like federal money going to pay bonuses but seriously... this money was promised long ago and it's already been given out. Using the tax code to take it back? Wow this is seriously a real cluster @#$!
PoliticsTrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/103515
casaubon's book 02.13.2012
denialism blog 02.13.2012
respectful insolence 02.13.2012
evolutionblog 02.12.2012
starts with a bang! 02.11.2012
Comments
Ah, but it also helps to remember that $165 million is 3,300 times the annual median income in the United States. ($50,233 as of 2007). That may have an awful lot to do with the outrage as well.
I'm mixed on the tax myself. It appears to be drafted broadly enough to avoiding the constitutional issues, and I agree with the overall sentiment that these individuals have done absolutely nothing deserving of those bonuses.
But as folks say, it's a drop in the bucket. I seriously wonder if there is any real way to stop our massively over-leveraged economy from collapsing like a kicked souffle.
Posted by: Left_Wing_Fox | March 20, 2009 5:22 PM
I understand numbers and the bonus payments still pissed me off. Just because something is a drop in the bucket doesn't mean it's not a waste. 165 million is a big number no matter how you look at it.
Posted by: Katherine Moore | March 20, 2009 8:47 PM
This XKCD comic is correct, but misses the point completely. It would be like saying that killing 30,000 people is "okay", since it is only taking away ~0.1% of the population. It is like saying that shoplifting from WalMart is okay, since you can't take away more than 0.1% of the corporation's profits.
This misses the point of the public outrage, while merely pointing out the rather small quibble point of billion vs million. Far below-par for XKCD's normal insights. Seriously, they are normally quite smart and telling. This one reads more like a person with a pet peeve not letting them see the larger picture leading to this moral outrage.
Posted by: mercurianferret | March 21, 2009 12:49 PM
I think that Left_Wing_Fox really hit the nail on the head. That's a lot of money to give away as a bonus.
I normally really like XKCD though!
Posted by: Anna | March 21, 2009 1:51 PM