End of a Scientific Legend?

pacopico writes to mention the sorry state of the well-known Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sixty years ago, it was at the forefront of the race for the Atomic bomb. Nowadays, "smugness can breed complacency, and complacency carelessness. In recent years the laboratory has been in the news not for its successes but its failures.The result is a change of management, which the story goes on to discuss in great detail. It begs the question - can Los Alamos hang on as a prestigious place or is it too late for the supercomputing powerhouse and weapons lab?"

and...

[preppypoof]

smugness can also breed the urge to smell your own farts!

Nothing?

[gardyloo]

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

      It's nice to see that their secrecy is still in effect.

Yoda sez

[ch-chuck]

smugness can breed complacency, complacency leads to carelessness. Carelessness leads to ... suffering

Re:Pet peeve: "Beg the question"

[Lisandro]

For example, you could say "Only idiots would go to Wal-Mart," and "prove" it by saying "Everyone in Wal-Mart is an idiot".

    Both statements are true. I don't know where you're going with this...

Re:Pet peeve: "Beg the question"

[Itninja]

How about "no one goes to that resturant because it's always so crowded."
I'll show myself out.

Nowadays...

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

>Sixty years ago, it was at the forefront of the race for the Atomic bomb. Nowadays,

Anyone can build that kind of stuff in their garage.

Re:Beg your pardon?

[rumblin'rabbit]

I can prove that the phrase "to beg the question" is beging misued:

1. I only refuse to use those phrases whose usages are incorrect .

2. I refuse to use "to beg the question" in the aforementioned manner.

Therefore:

3. To use "to beg the question" in this manner is incorrect.

Q.E.D. (Latin for "so there")

Re:It didn't jump; it was pushed

[Kadin2048]

How does Wen Ho Lee say anything about Bush? He was an issue in 1996, under Clinton.

It doesn't, but why let facts stand in the way of a little Bush-bashing?

Re:It's more Management /Researcher IQ divide

[Banner]

Because I know they read slashdot and I don't want to get them pissed at me :-)

Would -you- want a genius pissed at -you-?

Re:begs the question?

[John Harrison]

That's tyranny you moron. Yes, I'm talking about myself here.

Re:begs the question?

[script_daddy]

I am probably one of the few people left who agrees with you, and this raises the question: isn't the meaning of a phrase determined in large part by its usage. If the majority of people use "beg the question" to mean "raise the question" then who are we to say it doesn't mean that. We don't need the phrase "it begs the question" anyways; you can always say "the argument is circular".

Your post begs a couple of question-marks..

Re: begs the question?

[Black Parrot]

> Oh great, another one of you "living language" morons, who try and use the evolution of language as an excuse for illiteracy and general laziness.

I notice that you didn't write your response in Middle English.

Re:illustration with the story

[geekoid]

Well, now I'll go read the article!
or look at the pictures.

Re:It didn't jump; it was pushed

[Vlad2.0]

I don't recall exactly when, but shortly after GWB came to office I had to move and get a new job. I was forced from my coosh, parentally funded domicile into the small confines of a shared apartment room. I didn't think about it at the time, but ever since I've been forced to take really long exams, work to pay my rent, and even take out loans to pay for school from the Bush Administration! In the end I was left with a degree and an assload of debt. It's clearly Bush's fault.

Anyone else remember anything along these lines?

Hilarious.... oh wait.

[el_jake]

I for a moment thougth, that the title was refering to the /. story of Bill Gates stepdown from Microsoft.