Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Good News for Science

Well, this is certainly good news. NSF's FY 2006 Budget Increases 3 Percent. I wonder how this happened without the usual ridicule of research project titles. Who decided that this year the transportation appropriations and the "bridge to nowhere" would be the scapegoat? And kudos to the NSF for quoting the appropriations bill without dumbing down the language and making me search for the original.

Language... hmmm... Can I just say I wish people would be more careful with words? To think clearly, to make a point, you have to think carefully about the meanings of words. Few things make me stop listening more quickly than cliches. Could we have a moratorium on the phrases "cut and run" and "stay the course" while people think through what they actually mean? Let's see: cut and run = stop shooting at people and being shot at. Stay the course = continue shooting at people and being shot at.
Fair enough?

Tags: Science, Language

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