Comment Re:a perennial problem in bibliometrics (Score 1) 219
Or calculate **PageRank** on journals:
http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.DL/0601030,
on articles:
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0604130,
and finally:
http://www.eigenfactor.org/
Fleischmann to Work on Commercial Fusion Heater 245
deeptrace writes "California company D2Fusion has announced they are hiring Dr. Martin Fleischmann (of 'Pons and Fleischmann' fame). The company belives that they can produce a commercial fusion based home heating prototype within a year. They are also looking at other applications, such as using it as a heat source for a commercially available Stirling electrical generator."
Comment Re:Fair-Weather Libertarians (Score 1) 175
I don't get the point. If something is truly worth having, indeed, let's have it. This is about a society deciding to make certain public services an essential part of its infrastructure.
I personally belief that informing and educating the public is so essential that it can not be made dependent on the ebb and flow of donations by "well-heeled" supporters, nor the interests of commercial radio and television.
There's a parallel to funding basic science here. Our society has decided this is a crucial element of our national infrastructure and it is being funded at levels that match that commitment (or lack thereof). Your argument is similar to claiming a bunch of rich people will get together to take care of funding basis research; have our national laboratories organize yearly fund-raisers so that their rich, liberal defenders could be made to pay for their own science.
In fact, I would now go a little further and argue that if you are willing to make that point, it is equivalent to saying you care but not really mean it. Sure, we care about science, but why should we be in the business of funding it?
I personally belief that informing and educating the public is so essential that it can not be made dependent on the ebb and flow of donations by "well-heeled" supporters, nor the interests of commercial radio and television.
There's a parallel to funding basic science here. Our society has decided this is a crucial element of our national infrastructure and it is being funded at levels that match that commitment (or lack thereof). Your argument is similar to claiming a bunch of rich people will get together to take care of funding basis research; have our national laboratories organize yearly fund-raisers so that their rich, liberal defenders could be made to pay for their own science.
In fact, I would now go a little further and argue that if you are willing to make that point, it is equivalent to saying you care but not really mean it. Sure, we care about science, but why should we be in the business of funding it?
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