NASA's new mission: public relations w/ the "Muslim world"

[Coito ergo sum]

Deserving of a great big, "are you fucking kidding me!!!!!??????" new NASA administrator Bolden has announced that one of NASA's foremost missions now is....

The Moon! -- no, of course not....

Mars! -- no, of course not....

Developing a new, groundbreaking propulsion system! -- no, of course not...

A space plane? nope, try again....

To reach out to the so-called "Muslim World" and to improve relations, as well as make Muslims "feel good" about their contributions toward science?

YES!!!! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! You win a prize!

Bolden is QUOTED as saying:

"When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview."

http://www.blacklistednews.com/?news_id=9544


Oh, for fuck's sake.....

[Bella Fortuna]

Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no logic has gone before.

[Coito ergo sum]

I just don't get it.

What the fuck?

Even the first thing he said, about inspiring children - that's a byproduct of NASA, not a "mission." If NASA does something good, then it will inspire people. It's not a public relations entity!

But, in the name of everything that is right and good, it should be no part of a scientific organization to help make Muslims feel good about their historic contributions to science! What....the.....fuh....?

[AshtonBlack]

NASA? Eh?

CES... I think I'll join you in a WTF moment.

I thought that job was for the Foreign Office (erm... the US equiv, you know the one Hilary Clinton runs.)

I thought NASA did science and exploration?

[Coito ergo sum]

NASA? Eh?

CES... I think I'll join you in a WTF moment.

I thought that job was for the Foreign Office (erm... the US equiv, you know the one Hilary Clinton runs.)

I thought NASA did science and exploration?

I thought so too. But, we discontinued the fantastic mission to build a space station at Clavius crater on the Moon, and discontinued the Mars mission, under the rubric of retooling the space program to do even bigger and better things.....and so far, we get "motivating kids to learn math and science more" and "raising the self-esteem of Muslims relative to their contributions to science."

I am flabbergasted. I am like, "did he really say that out loud?"

It's pathetic. Sad. Stupid. Shortsighted. Phony. Useless. Pointless. Among other things.

[Farsight]

That is so depressing. Every where I turn it seems as if science and technology is corrupted by religion and politics and the vagaries of human nature.

[Coito ergo sum]

http://online.worldmag.com/2010/07/08/n ... w-mission/

Silly me. I thought America’s unparalleled space program (before the present administration began dismantling it) was a triumph of American ingenuity, technology, vision, and boldness. Instead, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says its “foremost mission” is not returning to the moon, or completing a mission to Mars; rather it is improving relations with the Muslim world. Bolden says President Obama told him he also wants NASA to encourage children to study science and math, but isn’t that best done by applying science and math to a robust space program?

Why is Obama eviscerating NASA?

I am flabbergasted.

[Coito ergo sum]

[Coito ergo sum]

Appalling."
"The guy who designed this ball never played football."
"The worst ball that I have seen in my life."
So says everyone from Iker Casillas to Robinho to Fabio Capello. Former Liverpool striker Craig Johnson even wrote a passionate 12-page letter to Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, on how the Adidas ball "could ruin the game as we know it." Trashing the Jabulani has become something of a sport in its own right, with wildly mishit shots celebrated with resounding cries of "Jabulani!" in pubs and living rooms around the globe.
Now it turns out there is a very real scientific basis for all the moaning. NASA's aerodynamics people at the Ames Investigation Centre managed to get some MLS players to kick a very dusty Jabulani around to what sounds like a soundtrack from a 1970s instructional video. The tests confirm what everyone has been saying: Jabulani's scanty 440-gram weight, coupled with the high-altitude conditions in South Africa, means when at speeds of 44 mph or more the ball becomes susceptible to something called the "knuckle effect." That's aerodynamic shorthand for "it swerves all around like crazy at high speeds because of the air flow on the seams and stuff," which isn't so bad when you get goals like this.
Adidas has yet to respond to the new scientifically based criticisms, and Sepp Blatter and FIFA are meeting in September to discuss the horrible aftermath left in Jabulani's zig-zagging wake. What's really frightening though is that we now know World Cup footballers are apparently as adept at noting erratic aerodynamic patterns as NASA's rocket scientists. Be afraid.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world- ... sow,254182


And, since our space program has decided that its primary focus is not on space, we might as well have them looking at soccer balls.

It just gets better and better......

[Ian]

I'm with Coito: this is a true WTF moment.

The muslims should feel good about their contributions to science... about 600 years ago. Between the 7th and 15th centuries, Europe was a relative backwater compared to the muslim lands. Over the last six centuries... mmm, not so much.

[Farsight]

And that's where we're headed, guys. This is a recent IOP report about the decline of physics in UK schools:

"With only five students from Blackpool’s eight schools sitting physics A-level exams in 2008, the Institute of Physics (IOP) describes the north-western town as a ‘microcosm’ of the big problem that physics faces nationally..."

[Clinton Huxley]

This just looks like standard Public Engagement with Science and Technology to me, the kind of outreach that all science organisations need to do in order to carry the public (who foot the bills after all) with them. It's nothing that unusual these days. With regards to the Muslim angle, it does seem a little odd but you could argue that a Muslim who is inspired to become an engineer, rocket scientist or mathematician by this NASA agenda is a win for reason.....

[JimC]

And that's where we're headed, guys. This is a recent IOP report about the decline of physics in UK schools:

"With only five students from Blackpool’s eight schools sitting physics A-level exams in 2008, the Institute of Physics (IOP) describes the north-western town as a ‘microcosm’ of the big problem that physics faces nationally..."

That's why I don't mind hearing that one goal of NASA could be inspiring students to do maths and science, it will be good for the future of space science and technology...

But the other thing is crap, and not just because of the muslim connection, it would be crap if it was "reaching out" to any ethnic, geographic or national grouping...

[Clinton Huxley]

, it would be crap if it was "reaching out" to any ethnic, geographic or national grouping...

Unless it was an ethnic, geographic or national grouping that needed a bit more of an inducement to get sciencey?

I like NASA, I wrote to them when I was 10 and they sent me an excellent poster of the Moon.

[Coito ergo sum]

I'm with Coito: this is a true WTF moment.

The muslims should feel good about their contributions to science... about 600 years ago. Between the 7th and 15th centuries, Europe was a relative backwater compared to the muslim lands. Over the last six centuries... mmm, not so much.

I don't care what they did or when. It could have been yesterday, and they could be the "greatest scientists ever." It's not a role of an aeronautical and space administration in the United States to give a flying rats ass fuck about anybody's self-fucking-esteem.

This is a crock of shit, and Obama ought to be called to the carpet on this one. He's wrecking one of the few remaining avenues for science and technological development left in the US, all for public relations purposes.

If Bush had done this, there would have been a much bigger reaction among my atheist and pro-reason friends.