Tax dollars fund shrimp on treadmills, Jell-O wrestling in Antarctica

[Pete]

Tax dollars fund shrimp on treadmills, Jell-O wrestling in Antarctica

Hey, it's only Federal Dollars - not like it's real money or anything.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/26/tax-dollars-shrimp-treadmills-jell-o-wrestling/

"................In one instance NSF employees, in their spare time, engaged in a Jell-O wrestling contest at the agency’s McMurdo research station at the South Pole. In another case, the agency paid $559,681 to test sick shrimp’s metabolism, which one researcher said was “the first time that shrimp have been exercised on a treadmill.”

Mr. Coburn’s report noted that the researchers found sick shrimp “did not perform as well and did not recover as well from exercise as healthy shrimp.”........."

Jell-O wrestling? I'd have to know more about that one. They may have been there anyway and it was used as a form of relaxation. But it looks like mixed wrestling and I'd think that would be a no-no seeings how Army Leaders are relieved due to bad slides on a power point.

[alelks]

There is SO much government waste it's not funny. Here's just a small (to the government anyway) portion of what is wasted.

With the chemically-enhanced monkeys, Wake Forest University received $71,623 to "study how monkeys react under cocaine." There's also a grant of $181,000 to see how cocaine enhances the sex drive of Japanese quail.

That's $252,623, enough loan money in this down economy to pay for a year's rent at a dozen storefronts — a strong incentive for the launching of startup companies that could well have the potential of hiring hundreds of people off the unemployment rolls.

Instead, what we'll get for our money out of this so-called jobs bill are a few high monkeys, a covey of stoned quail, and a bit of temporary employment for a handful of grad students and a few crack professors.

That's not saying monkeys aren't interesting or that we can't learn anything by studying them. It's just that snorting monkeys don't belong in a jobs bill if we're trying to get the biggest bang in terms of economic recovery and employment growth.

[wildelectric]

15. The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades

http://blog.heritage.org/?p=16701

[rdret1]

Jell-O wrestling? I'd have to know more about that one. They may have been there anyway and it was used as a form of relaxation. But it looks like mixed wrestling and I'd think that would be a no-no seeings how Army Leaders are relieved due to bad slides on a power point.


What else are you going to do on your off time in Antarctica? I don't think they have Wal-Marts yet. :D

[mugwump]

Identifying waste in public funding of basic research is certainly a legitimate endeavor, but beware when weenie political staffers attempt to do it.

"Shrimp on treadmills" is an attempt to identify the effects of marine stress on the gulf shrimp industry. Petroleum is first introduced into the shrimps' environment. This is not a trivial exercise and I bet the results will be used in ongoing lawsuits with BP.

An awful lot of good stuff has come from NSF grants. It's like that guy said about spending money on advertising: "I know half the money I spend is wasted, I just don't know which half."

The NSF budget is a drop in the bucket. This is an attempt to wear the deficit hawk mantle without incurring the political risk associated with reforming the real culprit--entitlements. Don't you love that word...entitlement?

[Hand]

Mr. Coburn’s report noted that the researchers found sick shrimp “did not perform as well and did not recover as well from exercise as healthy shrimp.”
This is a very profound conclusion.

While the brief mention of 'shrimp on a treadmill' in the Washington Times article is surely worded to maximize the perception that this was profligate research, the description found on the NSF website indicates that the program has been around for a while (2003) and that its intent is beneficial to our seafood industry.

Advances in the immune responses of shrimp. The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) supports an Integrative Research Program in Marine Genomics in South Carolina that is designed to analyze the shrimp host response to infection and stress at the level of gene expression, using a functional genomics approach. Although shrimp are susceptible to viral diseases that affect both commercially aquacultured and wild shrimp in the Atlantic coastal fishery, little is known about their immune systems and how they fight viral infections. Over 40 immune-function genes in both Pacific and Atlantic white shrimp have been identified, advancing our knowledge and permitting direct studies of shrimp immune responses to viral infection. Atlantic shrimp are the staple of the shrimp fishery industry in South Carolina. LINK (http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2003/ideas.htm)

It is apparent to me that the news article, if not the entire report, may lack sufficient depth to accurately arrive at its conclusions that a) these programs were properly understood and described and b) that actual funding was used to support them.

I would be comfortable asserting that this report may be in part, or in full, a mechanism to further some agenda of Mr Coburn.

[Pete]

............I would be comfortable asserting that this report may be in part, or in full, a mechanism to further some agenda of Mr Coburn.

Since 2003? Then it would seem somebody has found a new job and a comfortable living.

So whats wrong with the Shrimp industry funding the research? After all shrimpers are making money off the shrimp.

[Hand]

Since 2003? Then it would seem somebody has found a new job and a comfortable living.

So whats wrong with the Shrimp industry funding the research? After all shrimpers are making money off the shrimp.

Respectfully,
Aren't they allready?

[Paragrouper]

Respectfully,
Aren't they allready?

The question I would like the answer to is; why am I paying for it?

I read the summary in your link and their business case is weak.