The NIST is gone

[amyk]

Just noticed this while I was checking something...
From http://www.nist.gov/ :

NIST Closed, NIST and Affiliated Web Sites Not Available
Due to a lapse in government funding, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is closed and most NIST and affiliated web sites are unavailable until further notice. We sincerely regret the inconvenience.

The National Vulnerability Database and the NIST Internet Time Service web sites will continue to be available. A limited number of other web sites may also be available.

Notice will be posted here (www.nist.gov) once operations resume. You may also get updates on NIST's operating status by calling (301) 975-8000.

Conferences and other events scheduled during the shutdown are postponed or cancelled. Even after NIST reopens, some NIST events may need to be rescheduled. Once access to NIST Web sites resumes, please see the Conferences and Events (http://www.nist.gov/allevents.cfm) list for updated information on specific events.

[c4757p]

I apologize on behalf of my idiotic, immature government, since they are not capable of doing it for themselves.

[EEVblog]

  

[mamalala]

Yea, the NASA is also down, as are a lot of other things over there. From what i have read, 800,000 government workers are on unpaid "hollidays" now. They also took their government phones and stuff away, force them to no longer use the government web-based accesses, etc.

Just bizzare...

Greetings,

Chris

Edit: Of course the military can still pursue their silly wargames abroad. Go figure...

[Towger]

It is all in the name of balancing the books.

Option 1) Make more stuff and export it.
Option 2) Print (quantitative easing) more money. Or as is done these days add an extra trillion or two on to the government's bank balance.
Option 3) Shut up shop.

[c4757p]

Edit: Of course the military can still pursue their silly wargames abroad. Go figure...

Naturally. Even more predictable is that the Congressdicks responsible still get paid.

[Bored@Work]

From the outside it looks a lot more like a simulation/faking of a shutdown than a real shutdown. E.g. instead of really shutting the government employee's telephones down they just get told they aren't allowed to use them.  You call that a shutdown?

[c4757p]

Well yeah, exactly. It's just causing as much harm as possible to blackmail the other side into giving them what they want. Dicks...

[EEVblog]

Edit: Of course the military can still pursue their silly wargames abroad. Go figure...

In over 700 military bases in over 150 countries around the world, at the cost of several hundred billion (not including wars etc)
And they wonder why they can't afford universal health care 

[c4757p]

But those are essential! We have to assert our place as a superpower! We don't need sick poor people, though...

[EEVblog]

Naturally. Even more predictable is that the Congressdicks responsible still get paid.

Doesn't matter if they stopped it, the average worth of a congress member is $11M:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/averages.php

[c4757p]

Huh. That's less than I'd have thought.

It's still a sign of their immense selfishness that they would continue to receive pay. Sure, they can survive just fine on what they have. But how dare they take even more while the rest of the government employees struggle to put food on their tables?

[mamalala]

Huh. That's less than I'd have thought.

It's still a sign of their immense selfishness that they would continue to receive pay. Sure, they can survive just fine on what they have. But how dare they take even more while the rest of the government employees struggle to put food on their tables?

It surely is messed up. Reminds me of our own politicians. Each time they decide to pay themselves more money, they justify it with the job being so hard, demanding so much time, etc. But somehow they have still enough time to have anpther job in some comapnies management, give speeches for money, etc. If the job is that hard and time consuming, one would think that there is no time left to do any other job(s) outside of politics....

In case of the current situation in the US, from what i have heard (may be wrong), it really looks like some childs fighting in the sandbox over a shovel. They blocked to reach a decission because they don't like Obama's health care plans. Because of that single dispute they jeopardize the whole government. And soon they have to decide on the matter of debt stuffs. if they can't agree there either, they will be completely without any money. Well, at least officially.

That's just stupid, IMHO.

Greetings,

Chris

[Fsck]

Heh, now I know why a surprising number of people avoided positions at NIST... They've been trying to avoid the American government.

[ElectroIrradiator]

And they wonder why they can't afford universal health care 

They can, they just choose not to have it.

CNN just provided the relevant figures. 17% of the US GDP is used on healthcare, compared to at most 11-12% in other developed countries with universal healthcare. For instance Denmark is right around 10% of GDP. So to first order the US could save 5% of GDP by adopting some form of universal healthcare scheme.

[dfmischler]

But those are essential! We have to assert our place as a superpower!

You forgot: It would be unmanly to pull out!

[Hydrawerk]

Well, I am afraid, what will happen to USA. They can run out of money...
It's the homeland of transistors and oscilloscopes... 

[mamalala]

Well, I am afraid, what will happen to USA. They can run out of money...
It's the homeland of transistors and oscilloscopes... 

Hmm, Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, born in Lemberg, invented the FET in and patented it in 1925 in Canada. The US patent followed in 1926. When he was born, his country belonged to Austria. So, it's an European invention, so to say.

As far as CRT based oscilloscopes go, from what i know they were a british design in the 1930's, whereas that company was later bought by the US company Raytheon.

Greetings,

Chris

[c4757p]

We are the homeland of all useful inventions. You guys can have the stupid ones like books and art.

[echen1024]

I'm here in Houston,  people are pretty damn pissed right now. NASA employees in space center Houston have been furloughed. Out of a site of 4000 employees, over 3500 have been furloughed, most contractors are out of work, and the only people remaining are around 100 ISS support staff. Yep, in a Republican area, anti-GOP sentiment is running high.


P.S
I apologize for the idiotic, bat shit crazy actions of the government.

[Bored@Work]

I bet even if they closed foreign bases the population in close proximity would protest. Everywhere they set up a base pumps dollars into the local economy. Some of these countries hate Americans but they like their money.

There is a chance you lose that bet. The impact of a US foreign base on the locals is not really always positive. E.g. US forces try to import as much "made in America" supplies from the US as possible, typically tax free. I.e. the local economy sees increased hassle with fright traffic. They run their own shopping chain PX/BX, so US personal doesn't have to eat local, foreign food. Eating foreign food is probably illegal or unamerican, or both.

There is also the issue of crimes, and in general misbehavior of members of the armed US forces when it comes to dealing with the locals. Drunken solders are a problem. And real crimes get swept under the carpet by using the extraterritorial status of US bases. And the US military as such also likes to violate local laws and regulations, like building regulations, environment protection regulations, firearm regulations, traffic regulations or air traffic regulations.

[c4757p]

Yep, in a Republican area, anti-GOP sentiment is running high.

I've gotten the feeling this has been their goal for a long time, but they've been failing miserably. They may finally have succeeded in their efforts to make their supporters hate them

[Jon Chandler]

So far, the US govt shutdown has not affected my life one iota.  Now, if they started messing with my electric and network feed, I MIGHT get a little ANGRY!

800,000 civil servants have been laid off without pay.  Some 200,000 in"critical jobs" have been ordered to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown.  I know people who were on leave, but have been ordered back to work without pay.

The national parks and museums, including the Smithsonian Institute, are shut down. 

The last shutdown 17 years ago cost 1.5 billion dollars.

The Congress is being held hostage by a bunch of treasonous zealots over something that has nothing to do with the budget.  These zealots want to cancel a law that was passed by both Houses of Congress, signed into law by The President of The United States of America and upheld by The Supreme Count.  Furthermore, the candidate running on a platform of abolishing The Affordable Care Act LOST THE ELECTION.

The US is one of the few major countries that does not have universal healthcare.  Hospitals are required to provide at least some degree of care to people who can't afford it.  In the case of one woman I know who fell and broke her arm, this care DID NOT include putting a cast on her broken arm nor providing pain killers which she couldn't afford to buy!  Yet the half-assed care provided to people who can't afford it COSTS MORE than it would to provide everyone insurance with subsidies so that everyone can afford it.

I am not proud to be an American this day.

Sorry for the rant but this pisses me off.

[G7PSK]

From where I sit it looks for all the world like good old fashioned rascism, the president is the wrong colour for many in the opposition, and health care is just a smokescreen they have been against him from the start.

[c4757p]

From where I sit it looks like you are right.