Feds cut funding to key science facility

[petros]

Coooool.

I read it. The thing is a dead dog. It's useless. If you wait 12 hrs you'll get the same readings the Russians got.

 

[mentalfloss]

Coooool.

I read it. The thing is a dead dog. It's useless. If you wait 12 hrs you'll get the same readings the Russians got.

Cool story bro.

 

[MHz]

Why not move the camp to a full-time settlement and do the experiments from there, the operating costs would certainly come down and the locals could be taught most of the daily routines with just a few guys (trained scientist) to keep it running as intended.

 

[L Gilbert]

lol Some people just can't clue in that machinery just can't do some jobs better than humans and some things need hands on experience. ****in funny.

 

[petros]

There is plenty of handy guys already living there maintaiing the weather station. Maintaining atmospheric equipment wouldn't be a stretch and data can be collected anywhere on the planet remotely.

DEAD DOG

 

[CDNBear]

 

[MHz]

lol Some people just can't clue in that machinery just can't do some jobs better than humans and some things need hands on experience. ****in funny.

I could show anybody how to plow a airstrip with a cat in one go. That doesn't qualify him to change oil, only how to check it and top it up if needed. In a Native community it should be the residents that are trained for the jobs that are there, if that means sending them to university for a few years then so be it, the money they earn would be spent in the village.

 

[L Gilbert]

There is plenty of handy guys already living there maintaiing the weather station. Maintaining atmospheric equipment wouldn't be a stretch and data can be collected anywhere on the planet remotely.

DEAD DOG

Uhuh. And these number punchers can calibrate sensitive equipment and make minor repairs if need be, I'm sure. I bet they are also trained to figure out what a significant anomaly is from an unsignificant one, too. A person can change a blown fuse in a meter by remote, I'm sure.

I could show anybody how to plow a airstrip with a cat in one go. That doesn't qualify him to change oil, only how to check it and top it up if needed. In a Native community it should be the residents that are trained for the jobs that are there, if that means sending them to university for a few years then so be it, the money they earn would be spent in the village.

I'm all for people getting degrees to do jobs in their locales.

 

[petros]

Uhuh. And these number punchers can calibrate sensitive equipment and make minor repairs if need be, I'm sure. I bet they are also trained to figure out what a significant anomaly is from an unsignificant one, too. A person can change a blown fuse in a meter by remote, I'm sure.

PEARL isn't the only gig in town.

 

[L Gilbert]

So...

 

[MHz]

I'm all for people getting degrees to do jobs in their locales.

A full blown university course might be over the top, perhaps some training at the manufactures level for the specific equipment that is actually installed. They just collect and send the data they do not do the interpretation. Send a few 20 yr old high school grads down and one month or so they are fully qualified on the equipment.

 

[L Gilbert]

Yeah ok. I took an electronics technology course in college. A month? lmao

 

[Tonington]

Why not move the camp to a full-time settlement and do the experiments from there, the operating costs would certainly come down and the locals could be taught most of the daily routines with just a few guys (trained scientist) to keep it running as intended.

Remote is what you want. Remote means no contamination of the data from nearby human settlements.

 

[MHz]

ROFLMAO That would be at uour speed apparently if that is an example of your ability to read and understand in one swipe. one month or so"

 

[Tonington]

A full blown university course might be over the top, perhaps some training at the manufactures level for the specific equipment that is actually installed. They just collect and send the data they do not do the interpretation. Send a few 20 yr old high school grads down and one month or so they are fully qualified on the equipment.

So...remove the funding and the people who are trained to work there, only to turn around and train other people to do the same thing? Where's the logic in that?

 

[MHz]

Remote is what you want. Remote means no contamination of the data from nearby human settlements.

Then you better upgrade the village facilities to something from this century. Do they not know how to subtract that data? Drive 3 K on a skidoo and it is as prime as it gets not counting Polar Bear farts that is.

So...remove the funding and the people who are trained to work there, only to turn around and train other people to do the same thing? Where's the logic in that?

My point was moving it to a place people already live at. that cuts the expenses (getting things there and then back out again), the $1.5M better not be the ****ing wages alone for a handful of people.

 

[taxslave]

I only questioned the spending on the basis of are we getting value for the money or are we just creating government jobs? Ton came up with enough good reasons to persuade me that it should be kept. At least for now. Actually I am fairly impressed that this facility can be runby a government department for a million bucks a year. Unless there are hidden costs in some other budget.

 

[Tonington]

Then you better upgrade the village facilities to something from this century.

What are you on about? The facility is fine where it is. It is ideally located. Why do you think so many nations operate atmospheric research facilities in polar regions? It's not because of the balmy weather, it is because they are ideally situated. Three kilometers is not far enough when you're looking at aerosols in the atmosphere. Some days in PEI I can smell the smoke from a pulp mill on the Southern Northumberland Straight coast in Nova Scotia, and my nose is far less sensitive than the equipment they operate in these research stations.

My point was moving it to a place people already live at. that cuts the expenses (getting things there and then back out again), the $1.5M better not be the ****ing wages alone for a handful of people.

It's 15 kilometers from Eureka. There are people there year round. $1.5 million is operating expenses...how do you figure that is only salary? That makes even less sense than your other posts...

I only questioned the spending on the basis of are we getting value for the money or are we just creating government jobs? Ton came up with enough good reasons to persuade me that it should be kept. At least for now. Actually I am fairly impressed that this facility can be runby a government department for a million bucks a year. Unless there are hidden costs in some other budget.

Yes, it's like I said earlier, the baseline funds keep the facility operating, and that allows more funds for research to flow through. For instance check out these numbers from one of the researchers who uses this facility:

Project: The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory
Institution: University of Toronto
Research Sector: Environment
Principal Investigator: James Drummond
Trust Investment: $1,807,730
ORF Investment: $815,590
CFI Investment: $3,293,176
Total research investment from all sources: $8,721,306

Other funding comes from:

• Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• Environment Canada
• Canada Foundation for Innovation
• Ontario Innovation Trust
• Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
• Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust
• Canadian Space Agency
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Study of Environmental Arctic Change program
• Government of Canada - International Polar Year program
• University of Toronto Centre for Global Change Science
• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada - Northern Scientific Training Program
• Polar Continental Shelf Project
• Nunavut Research Institute

 

[L Gilbert]

ROFLMAO That would be at uour speed apparently if that is an example of your ability to read and understand in one swipe. one month or so"

It's closer to a year to understand the equipment. DUH

 

[MHz]

Fine that still makes the staff a permanent resident of the community rather than somebody on a shift and off they go south with the wages.

What are you on about? The facility is fine where it is.

Fine shut it down completely then, don't forget to take all the pierces with you.

If they don't know to go upwind to take a measurement then they suck at your job.

Perhaps the data doesn't support global warming so it became an anchor to the science community pushing that agenda and they stopped the funding drive.

Who cares if a few more people are unemployed.