Ten stupid academic studies funded by the federal government
Campus Reform last week posted a list of ten academic studies funded by federal government that any sane person would not only consider stupid, but an utter waste of money.
Number 1 on the list was a grant of almost a half million dollars to researchers at Reed College in Oregon to study the gambling habits of pigeons. The researchers claimed the study would shed light on human gambling behaviors, but if you believe that then you would likely also fork over your life savings to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.
Of the ten studies listed, the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded four each, while the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Cancer Institute funded one each.
National Cancer Institute’s study is surely going to help cure cancer, as it gave $7 million to the con artists faking as researchers at Stanford University to build an AI toilet equipped with cameras to scan the user’s waste and backside.
The studies were done at a range of other major universities, including Cornell, the University of California, the University of Illinois, and the University of Connecticut. Most are publicly funded institutions.
This list demonstrates clearly the bankruptcy of the government agencies involved and justifies any effort to slash their budgets by significant amounts. It does more however. It shows us the bankruptcy of the academic community as well. If scientists at major universities think this drivel is valid research, then we know they are teaching their students garbage as well. The public funding to these colleges should be slashed also.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Campus Reform last week posted a list of ten academic studies funded by federal government that any sane person would not only consider stupid, but an utter waste of money.
Number 1 on the list was a grant of almost a half million dollars to researchers at Reed College in Oregon to study the gambling habits of pigeons. The researchers claimed the study would shed light on human gambling behaviors, but if you believe that then you would likely also fork over your life savings to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.
Of the ten studies listed, the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded four each, while the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Cancer Institute funded one each.
National Cancer Institute’s study is surely going to help cure cancer, as it gave $7 million to the con artists faking as researchers at Stanford University to build an AI toilet equipped with cameras to scan the user’s waste and backside.
The studies were done at a range of other major universities, including Cornell, the University of California, the University of Illinois, and the University of Connecticut. Most are publicly funded institutions.
This list demonstrates clearly the bankruptcy of the government agencies involved and justifies any effort to slash their budgets by significant amounts. It does more however. It shows us the bankruptcy of the academic community as well. If scientists at major universities think this drivel is valid research, then we know they are teaching their students garbage as well. The public funding to these colleges should be slashed also.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
reference Gambling Habits of Pigeons.
Have a background in (the Human Services application of…) Skinnerian Behaviorism, we pretty much invented studying how pigeons & rats respond to reinforcement schedules, whether in nature or completely contrived, and under all sorts of psychoactive drugs & their counterparts. (and “gambling.”)
I’d be willing to say practically, there isn’t a Behavioral Pigeon Study that hasn’t been done before., and this goes back to before BF Skinner worked to develop Pigeon guided weapons in WW2.
It’s all just sickening.
Money wasted. Time wasted. Taxpayers on the hook. Faculty and students with no usable new knowledge.
Then too, the proto Vivek–Bobby Jindal, talked about “something called volcano monitoring.”
That was also a howler (for folks around Lassen, St. Helens, etc.)
Number two is throwing poo.
I don’t want to brag, but I’m kinda intelligent too.
From the profile of the author: Emily is ….. studying political science and journalism. She is an active and has vowed to fight…
She is an active what?
She is an activist?
She is in collage.
Hmm, I can imagine that a lot of that money was spent taking a few pigeons to Las Vegas! There are MANY random, sometimes weird, thoughts that ramble through my mind. I can HONESTLY say that I’ve never considered whether pigeons gamble! And, unlike Hunter Biden, I’ve never fathomed a notion about whether cocaine makes Japanese quail more promiscuous!
I HAVE wondered about something I read a long time ago about Lawyers! Know what happens when a lawyer takes viagra? They get taller! Now THAT would be at least a multi-million, multi-year study! No offense to anyone out there who is a decent, caring lawyer!
THIS is the kind of WASTE that needs to be identified and eliminated. I’ve worked hard since I was 14 (bagged groceries at an open air curb market for $.40 per hour) and retired as a Controller at a manufacturing plant. In my 50 years of working and paying taxes, I might have contributed $500-$600 THOUSAND in Federal Taxes. Imagine a LIFETIME of TAXES going up in smoke on pigeons and cocaine for foreign quail!!
To be fair–non-goal directed research can have interesting results.
There have been times where something silly turned critical.
Probably apocryphal, but I have heard some type of cetacean oil was used in Apollo.