[LINK] Einstein's fridge an example for NICTA?

[Eleanor Lister]

Chris Maltby wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 11, 2006 at 02:57:46PM +1100, Evan.ARTHUR at Dest.gov.au wrote:
>   
>> In relation to Tom and Brendan's exchange, Linkers might be interested
>> to look at a recent Productivity Commission draft report on exactly this
>> issue at http://www.pc.gov.au/study/science/draftreport/index.html.
>> Overall the PC's view of the world has much more in common with
>> Brendan's than Tom's.
>>     
>
> On a more political note, the election of the Reagan administration
> resulted in a dramatic change in research funding in the US. The idea
> of government funded research ending up in the public domain where
> anyone could profit from it (either in an economic or academic sense)
> went largely out the window. It was replaced with funding designed to
> generate Intellectual Property which could be exploited for economic
> return. Naturally, clients of the US adopted similar funding models
> soon afterward.

interestingly the Reagan administration removed the tax breaks for books
in storage ... certainly it needed reform, as many publishers would
stock warehouses with crap that got massive tax write-offs, but the
administration threw the baby out with the bathwater when they removed
the tax breaks completely, as they were also funding the ability of
publishers to print large quantities of texts that would only sell a few
thousand a year, for the next 20 years, or longer; which meant lots of
textbooks got pulped, like warehouses of Feynman.

this also reduced the quality of local education for any but the
best-heeled, so the quantity of home grown scientific talent declined,
and now the homeland security regulations have made it hard to get the
scientists from overseas; and so it goes, with intelligent design
replacing intelligent debate.

(and i have a query:  is Moral Fibre what is in Porridge for Priests? 
or is it a component of Holy Rollers, the delicious Halo shaped brekky
cereal, that keeps you in the Pew?)

-- 
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Eleanor Ashley Lister
South Sydney Greens
http://ssg.nsw.greens.org.au
webmistress at ssg.nsw.greens.org.au