Science (funding) in NZ

'Blue skies' research gets $40m from science fund*
Nice to hear that they have doubled the funding for "Blue Skies" research (Marsden Fund) in NZ. Takes it up to $40 million, which is a large amount compared to what I have in my pockets, but is a very small fragment of the NASA budget... Don't ask about how much NZ spends on scientific research as a function of GDP, it ain't pretty and is very bottom of OECD (reference was in New Scientist a while back: sorry not more specific)
And the odds of getting funded: 79 out of 897 (8.8%) compared to a previous turn down rate of 92 out of 100 applicants, which is 8% funded... Wow, what a change...
And then we come to the definition of blue skies... Pure research, no immediate commercial gain, just cause it sounds like a cool/interesting thing to look at. Astronomy is about as blue skies as you can get. But I wouldn't say that many of the projects listed as funded are blue skies: several have direct applications and the possibility of saving lives. Projects such as "research into an important molecule in cancer prevention," "monitoring of the predicted Mt Ruapehu lahar, and a mathematical approach to understanding a common breathing disorder. " I am definitely not saying we shouldn't be researching these things - on the contrary, these really really need looking at, but these aren't pure research for research sake.
Possibly 3 categories of funding are needed:
a) Pure intellectual curiousity, because we can stuff.
b) Useful, potentially lifesaving stuff which you are unlikely to make a quick buck off selling, the stuff which AFTER the disaster hits, people realise that if they had just investigated a bit more time and money into that area, they would know a bit more and perhaps a few less people would have died. Tsunami warning systems, earthquake and volcano monitoring systems etc.
c) The cash cow technology/agricultural shit that everyone wants and commercial companies lap up.
It is really a continuum between these extremes, but still...
And I know which I think Govt should be funding (b), and I know which I would wish govt to fund (a) and I know the realities of funding crushing both.

Time to get some work done and listen to an interview with the guy who invented the contraceptive pill.

* NZ Herald is changing policy such that articles may only be up for a week after posting...

(no subject)

Hmmmm, the boredom of the last half hour at work on a Fri, especially after an hour 20 min long seminar on more than you ever wanted to know about composite materials, carbon fibres and their astronomical applications. It was interesting for the bits I was awake for...
Remembered to bring in the box of birdseed - happy parrots:) Must bring the digital camera in at some point.
So, the rain has turned patchy and sporadic (according to the radar), so, to walk home or not? Did walk in and will mean perkier in the evening without a soggy bag, but on the other hand, get more exercise and it may not rain again...
A discussion raised from carbon fibres and their use in bicycle (strange conversations around bikkies after) - bikes rely on torque to stay up and torque is mass dependant... so what happens if you make your wheels out of lower mass but stronger tensile material... Do you wobble more?

And the reason for this babble (apart from being bored): I fucked up on my line lists and am procrastinating manually correcting 198 (x2) entries in a spreadsheet and then re-editing them as I spent most of the late morning and early afternoon doing. Fingers crossed that is the cause of the NaN hissy fits from the program. If not, I reserve the right to throw things...

But as I have about 11 min til the bus, I am rapidly approaching Dontgiveashitville, which is bad from a work point of view, but great from a sanity point of view.