White House hosting stargazing party tonight 10/7/09, page 1

www.whitehouse.gov...

"OSTP is a proud co-organizer of the event, which will bring the President together with 150 local middle-school students and two students (a middle-schooler and a high school student) who have already made notable astronomical discoveries. The event will highlight this Administration’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education."

reply to post by lucentenigma

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Yea, those kids should just go home and play playstation instead and eat potato chips.

The stargazing is far from the point. It is getting kids in astronomy and sciences again. You don't have to be a football player to visit the WH.

These kids have made achievements in science.

Good for them! They deserve the trip. How dare Obama encourage kids to pursue science.

but yes, the light pollution is an issue, wonder if they can get around it.

reply to post by ufo reality

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Obama is just looking for someone else to blame.

reply to post by Wormwood Squirm

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It makes for a good photo op, but it won't be a persistent motivator for most of the country's kids, only those who get to experience it first hand. Now if they wanted to fire the czars and offer incentives for schools that will offer astronomy and telescope building classes, I'm all for it. No picture can do justice to the view or inspire a kid the way seeing Saturn's rings first hand can. I've seen that breathless moment of personal inspiration countless times when volunteering to help the girl scouts get their astronomy badge, and when I worked at a public observatory.

Additionally, I'm curious as to why they didn't time this a day later to capitalize on the LCROSS mission's big moment? It'll be difficult to see from the white house, and the early morning timing isn't convenient for a politician looking for attention, but you could at least tie the events together by doing it the night before to give more attention to our ongoing space exploration efforts.

[edit on 7-10-2009 by ngchunter]

Guess that means Michelle will have to postpone spending the tax payer money on her very expensive weekly White House Wednesday Night cocktail parties... at least for tonight. Or will the adults all be drinking booze and eating kobe beef platters while the kiddies look at the stars?

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