Who makes these 'physics' rules anyway?

[rolerbe]

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/659/car.gif

Not intended as a political statement.

 

[russ_watters]

I have a hard time believing that's true.

 

[fourier jr]

I can believe it. There's a whole school of thought in economics that says there are laws of nature governing the markets even though corporations, small businesses, etc are created by laws enacted & amended by human beings in a legislature somewhere.

 

[Pengwuino]

I have a hard time believing that's true.

I don't. Well, actually yah i do but you never know. Reminds me of that ol story of the city council trying to ban water.

 

[fourier jr]

or the story about the Indiana government that tried to define Pi to be 4:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns...egislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

 

[Neo_Anderson]

I have a hard time believing that's true.

I have a very hard time believing this is true, as well.
Now if this was quoted by someone in the GWB Administration, of course I'd believe it since GWB and cronies are nothing but a group of nit-wits. But someone from Obama's Admin?...

 

[Neo_Anderson]

Yep! I was right!
After doing some google-based research, I found out that it was the GWB Administration--and not the Obama Administration--that tried to repeal the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Here is what CAR Engineer D. Cole said when questioned about this Obama task force meeting:

David E. Cole: I have not met with the Obama task force. The reference to "laws of physics" applies to a conversation I had with several congressmen a number of years ago where they suggested we pass a new 2nd law of thermodynamics.

"several congressmen a number of years ago" sounds like around the time of the Dubya Administration to me...

Source: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/obamas-auto-team-the-laws-of-physics/

 

[rolerbe]

I can't make any particular claim of veracity. I probably gave it more credence because it looks like a clip from a newspaper, not just internet fluff. Everything printed in the newspaper is true, isn't it??

If there was any point to make here, this would be it. Whether or not you suspect it true or not true, one would hope that these suspicions would not be significantly different if you replaced the word 'Obama' with the word 'Bush' in the above, and that we raise our intellectual examination above our individual biases.

For myself, I think these types of gaffe's occur all the time (with staff from both parties). They can be amusing, but I'm not too worried about them. Political wonks, because they are political wonks, tend to see the world as a set of social problems. I suspect that most of us here, because of our backgrounds will be more likely to see the world as a set of technical problems. Some are technical, some are social, but most are way more complex than can be imagined.

 

[Redbelly98]

"several congressmen a number of years ago" sounds like around the time of the Dubya Administration to me...

Source: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/obamas-auto-team-the-laws-of-physics/

Allow me to point out that congressmen are not part of any president's administration.

 

[humanino]

I always thought it would be wise to have a secretary of entropy.

 

[rolerbe]

Allow me to point out that congressmen are not part of any president's administration.

"If I were an idiot, and if I were a congressman...but I repeat myself..."
- Mark Twain

 

[WaveJumper]

physicists=lawyers, this can't be a bad thing

 

[Matterwave]

Oh man, repealing the second law of thermodynamics is the best idea I've heard for ages! Imagine what we could do with all that free energy!

 

[russ_watters]

The reference to "laws of physics" applies to a conversation I had with several congressmen a number of years ago where they suggested we pass a new 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Source: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/obamas-auto-team-the-laws-of-physics/

Not buying that one either.

 

[FredGarvin]

All Obama-GWB aside, what rag of a "newspaper" printed the article in the OP? It has been shown here to be blatantly wrong. Newspapers printing the equivalent of a forwarded bogus e-mail again?

 

[Pengwuino]

"several congressmen a number of years ago" sounds like around the time of the Dubya Administration to me...

Wow talk about being ... so blinded by political ideology.

 

[skypunter]

I can believe it. There's a whole school of thought in economics that says there are laws of nature governing the markets even though corporations, small businesses, etc are created by laws enacted & amended by human beings in a legislature somewhere.

In an unregulated market, natural selection prevails.
Attempting to regulate the market subverts evolution.
Many feel that welfare and subsidy programs are devolutionary.
Corporate welfare degrades the market.
Personal welfare degrades the culture.
Not sure how monopolies fit into the theory.

 

[russ_watters]

All Obama-GWB aside, what rag of a "newspaper" printed the article in the OP? It has been shown here to be blatantly wrong. Newspapers printing the equivalent of a forwarded bogus e-mail again?

Now that part doesn't surprise me!

 

[FredGarvin]

Now that part doesn't surprise me!

I get annoyed enough when people I know forward the idiotic e-mails on a daily basis. It takes my PO'd-ness to a whole new level when I see a newspaper or news show, essentially, do the same thing. These people get paid for this?

 

[russ_watters]

And then they wonder why their newspapers are going out of business!

 

[Moonbear]

It sounds like the type of urban legend/myth story that gets recycled and packaged up with a few detail changes for any and every administration. The core of it is an OLD joke about repealing the laws of physics.