Adler Planetarium is getting a new projector.
They are not amused that the appropriation they got to upgrade their good ol' Zeiss Mark VI projector is being used as political bait
Adler is a very nice planetarium, really, I visited them during "Pale Blue Dot III", and they deserve a Universarium IX like the Hayden or Beijing planetariums.
It is a jolly nice projector and not to be proxmired. This was a very silly thing for McCain to do.
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But entirely in line with the "Republican War on Science" as Chris Mooney terms it.
Yeah, the notion that it promises to be a money maker (an investement at several levels), seems lost on people. The idea that top notch science educators should have top notch equipment is just so...Unamerican. Heheh. It IS the planetarium, people. What a bargain!
HJ
Yeah, the notion that it promises to be a money maker (an investement at several levels), seems lost on people. The idea that top notch science educators should have top notch equipment is just so...Unamerican. Heheh. It IS the planetarium, people. What a bargain!
HJ
Yes, Obama should have nailed McCain to the wall for this. McCain clearly is not in favor of producing the next generation of scientists who will invent technology that will lead to energy independence, increased security and economic development. Obama missed a great chance to pounce on McCain. I don't know why science blogs (esp. more influential bloggers like PZ, haven't nailed McCain on this more harshly)
I agree this should have been brought up more, especially since McCain has (now) explicitly slammed this projector expense 3 times now, which does put it as `anti-science education', rather than some one-off gaffe. A high quality projector (that Adler would need, obviously) does cost a lot of money! We just had a ~1/2 million dollar [no, not an earmark :)] projector installed 3 years back (for a smaller planetarium!), and you get a beautiful, very realistic view of what a *dark* sky can look like, which is great for many people in an urban area who do not get the chance very often to see a truly dark sky.
I must admit I was kinda wondering what a 3 million dollar overhead projector would look like...encrusted with diamonds and sapphires. Oy
Bad Astronomy and Cosmic Variance both blogged it.
For an alternate view on the value of science education, here's clips from John McCain's responses at Sciencedebate 2008