Since Kola and Oldtimer don't want to defend the Duck Penis study verses the future of Air Traffic Controllers, maybe they would like to defend Obama spending money on these projects verses cutting government spending and restoring the US triple A credit rating? :?
No name calling Kola just pick one and defend it against the dropping US credit rating!!! :wink:
And here is one just for you Oldtimer :wink:
Do they really need to spend that much money on a study Oldtimer I'm guessing with all you know about consumption of booze, you could answer all their questions and I doubt you would charge them much more than a drink or two. :wink:
Despite having no plans to reopen a shuttered visitor center at Mount St. Helens in Washington state,
the U.S. Forest Service is spending more than $554,000 to replace its windows.
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte received more than $750,000 in stimulus funds to help
develop a computerized choreography program that its creators believe could lead to a YouTube-like
“Dance Tube” online application. The grant says UNC-Charlotte will “define an evolving system that
assists in the design and production of interactive dance performances with real-time audience
interaction.”11
The California Academy of Sciences is receiving nearly $2 million to
send researchers to the Southwest Indian Ocean Islands and east
Africa, to capture, photograph, and analyze thousands of exotic ants.
Once considered ahead of its time, the Fitchburg Furnace in Kentucky was abandoned after just five
years in service—it then sat unused for nearly 140 more. Now it is getting a $357,710 makeover to repair
stonework on the old structure and allow historians to conduct research. Much of the damage to the
structure occurred more than half a century ago when a local moonshiner loaded the structure with
dynamite and tried to blow it up. In 2004, however, the federal government provided $661,000 for
restoration of the building, though “much of which was lost” due to “bad stewardship of money,”
according to Skip Johnson, current treasurer of the Friends of Fitchburg.
People around Boynton, Oklahoma were left scratching their heads after the town was awarded nearly
$90,000 to replace a quarter-mile stretch of sidewalk that was replaced only five years ago.
One longtime resident of Boynton, Ray
Allen, said the project “had been the talk
of the town recently, and none of it
positive,” because it is “100 percent a
waste of money.” Another resident,
Mike Lance, noted that “the best
indication of the absurdity of the project is
what the contractor did with a section of
sidewalk at the north end of town – one
that fronts no homes or businesses, and
leads directly into a ditch.” Officials
with the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation defended the project as
necessary to bring the sidewalk into
conformity with federal guidelines.
A Georgia Tech assistant professor of music will receive $762,372 to study improvised music. The
project will apparently involve the professor jamming with “world-renowned musicians” to “hopefully
also create satisfying works of art.”
While much is known about how humans respond to inequity and injustice, researchers at Georgia State
University are using almost $700,000 in stimulus funds to study why monkeys respond negatively to
inequity and fairness.
Researchers at Wake Forest University think that, in at least one case, it is good to monkey around with
stimulus dollars. The Department of Health and Human Services has sent $71,623 to the Winston-Salem
college to see how monkeys react under the influence of cocaine.
Winter Haven Area Transit (WHAT) buses carry two to
three riders per hour, according to the City Commission’s
liaison to the Transit authority. While that may be a bit of
an undercount according to the Transit Authority, City
Commissioner Jamie Beckett is “not convinced we need 40-
foot buses for two or three riders an hour.” All the same,
the town is getting five new buses for its fleet, thanks to
more than $2.38 million stimulus dollars.
Scientist Attempts to Create Joke Machine (Evanston, IL) - $712,883
Conan O’Brien vs. Jay Leno was nothing. Competition among late night television hosts is about to get
very interesting. That’s because researchers at Northwestern University are using stimulus money to
develop “machine-generated humor.
North Carolina State University and Georgia Institute of Technology research scientists received
$770,856 and $427,824, respectively, in stimulus grants from the National Science Foundation for
collaborative research into how video games, such as Nintendo Wii’s Boom Blox, can help improve
mental health for the elderly. “Results will aid designers who currently have little knowledge of the
interface and game-play needs of older players.” According to the overseers of the study, “One of our
main goals is to produce guidelines for producing games for older adults.”
The Capital City Band enjoys playing its Thursday night concerts at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Helena,
Montana, but of late, it has found itself frustrated by subpar acoustics in the band shell.
Unfortunately, the park’s budget would not cover the costs of a structural engineer and installation of
the tiles. Nevertheless, the Helena Parks and Recreation Department decided to use $18,500 in
stimulus funding to commission a new mural for the band shell interior, for which only “exterior paint”
may be used “to minimize affecting the structural and historical integrity of the bandshell.”
State Department officials took full advantage of their stimulus dollars and stocked up on 14 flat screen
televisions. Ranging in size from 42 inches to 55 inches, the department paid Allied Contract nearly
$37,000 for the Toshiba sets, along with wall mounts to hang them neatly in the office. A quick price
check, however, raises serious questions about whether they got such a good deal.
If you want to experience art in Los Angeles, look no further than the local bus stop. That’s because
transit agencies have been purchasing art for bus stops and train stations and for construction fences to
“create[ ] a sense of place and engage transit riders. Now the transit authority will use a portion of
the just over $ 1 million of stimulus funds to purchase art for 19 bus stations along the Harbor and El
Monte transit way “to enhance the customer experience,” and to incorporate “unique artworks…designed
to make transit a more attractive alternative.
The Meteorite Hunters of Antarctica (Cleveland, OH) - $600,001
In some parts of the country you have a better chance of seeing a meteor shower than getting a job. Case
Western Reserve University received economic stimulus money to search Antarctica for space rocks
through its Antarctic Search for Meteorites Program (ANSMET
This past spring, nine students from Montana State University (MSU) were given a six-week, all expense
paid trip to China, funded by the National Science Foundation. MSU received a grant to send
students to work with researchers at the Natural History Museum in Hangzhou studying various
dinosaur eggs and other fossils
No name calling Kola just pick one and defend it against the dropping US credit rating!!! :wink:
And here is one just for you Oldtimer :wink:
Researchers at San Diego State University
plan to spend almost half a
million dollars to research whether better
nutritional and alcohol content labeling will
affect consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Do they really need to spend that much money on a study Oldtimer I'm guessing with all you know about consumption of booze, you could answer all their questions and I doubt you would charge them much more than a drink or two. :wink: