I think there's a role here for us as individuals to reach out to our friends and family. Maybe for those of us celebrating, this Thanksgiving would be a good chance to say, 'I'm thankful we live in a country that can afford to fund basic scientific research, and here's why...'. My immediate family is well educated but I'm not sure what they would have to say about this topic, or, on a scarier note, if the McCain/Palin messages are actually getting through to them. Also, many of us have public outreach as some component of our jobs - can we work harder to promote the importance of basic research via this outlet? Until our educational system improves regarding science, I think that we as science professionals need to help take up the slack.
As an aside (I think this has been brought up before), it's easier to follow messages on a given thread if the subject line doesn't change (particularly for Gmail users, but probably for others as well). On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 11:15 AM, David Bryant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > On Oct 29, 2008, at 9:36 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote: > > The fact of the matter is that basic research must be in place before >> applied research can utilize that information. Until American society >> as a whole understands what research is and why it is important, these >> kind of simple-minded attacks will continued. >> > > "To the electron, may it never be of any use to anybody" > > A toast by JJ Thomson, following his discovery of the electron. > > > > David M Bryant PhD > Fangorn Productions llc > 11 Dix Rd > Ipswich, MA 01938 > > 978-697-6123 >
