This one is pretty amazing: Stephen Hawking is confronting his government over disastrous budget cuts. You need to read this; Hawking is tearing into them pretty well. Take notes. That's how you treat dumb government decisions. But keep reading, because it gets better! Evidently, Hawking has turned down knighthood from the Queen. Multiple times. That takes guts. However, the reason he turned it down has some irony to it:
“Professor Hawking does not like titles. In fact he dislikes the whole concept of them,” said a spokesman.
Hmmm. Professor Hawking doesn't like titles. Right. Got it. Anyway, this is pretty cool. I've been reading about how England is making devastating cuts to science research, which is slitting their own throats. Science is one of their biggest exports, so their cuts are incredibly ill-advised. Incidentally, you need to read toward the bottom of that article; Brian Cox has one of the best quotations of all time in this regard. OK, fine, I'll spoil it here. It's too good not to reprint anyway:
“The notion that scientists will make a more valuable contribution to the economic and social wellbeing of the world if their research is closely directed by politicians is the most astonishing piece of nonsense I have had the misfortune to come across in a long time,” Cox said.
Heh. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Tip o' the bowler hat to Fark.
