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Q: What would be one thing the USA could do to get kids interested in science?A: When I grew up, I remember magazines about the world of tomorrow, space travel of tomorrow, the future on other planets and the Moon. As a ten year old kid, the Space Shuttle was not a symbol of political compromise and home district pork, but a symbol of a future where space was accessible. Even being Swedish, I stayed up to watch the first (and delayed) launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It had me dreaming.Something happened later, possibly because the post-modernist turn of science fiction, possibly because the highly political 1980s, the Thatcher and Reagan years, punk, post-punk and goth, the intensity of the Cold War and impending nuclear doom. But that feeling of the bright future disappeared and was replaced by the rather cynic future of the cyberpunk genre and the 1990s on.I later realised that the bright future I grew up on was the last hurrah of the dreams of the future caused by Apollo program. But I also came to realise that the Apollo program could only come to be in an era where the science rushed visibly ahead in big programs, with a big external adversary that could unite the nation to a common cause. I also have a hypothesis that the death of JFK enshrined that cause and made it sacred to the American people. It could only happen there and then, and it was so massive that not only did it overshadow the Vietnam War and the sense of conflict of the 1960s, but it rubbed off to the rest of the world and dragged them along. And this sense of “futurism” was so strong that the world coasted on it for almost two decades after – not only technically, but culturally.We no longer dream.Well, there are people who dream. People that want to get to Mars, or build space stations or Moon bases. But they are shot down by the bean counters; they are ridiculed by the realists; they are dismissed by the down-to-earthers, those that think we should solve the problems at home rather than go beyond the horizons.I say rubbish. We need to strive higher, go beyond the next hill, and drag all the others along to a better future. Because if we can conquer the impossible goals, there’s nothing to stop us solving the problems down here.That’s why I often think that The Martian is one of the most important books and films of this decade. It has this unfettered optimism of what we as a species and culture can do with a bit of optimism and elbow grease. That is the template to the mindset that we need, the mindset of problem solvers and dreamers, of the adventure of going beyond the next hill.And before the bean counters shoot me down, here’s one thing to consider:The 2008 bailout bill ended up costing around $800 billion. The US defence budget request for 2019 is $686 billion.The entire Apollo program, from 1960–1972, cost $107 billion adjusted for inflation.You could have had eight complete decade-long Apollo programs for the 2008 bailout alone.

I once had a supervisor that I detested greatly. Before I felt that emotion, I'll share a coffee story to start my hatred. I had just relocated through my company to a new state (voluntarily requested transfer) and was assigned his team. It was good for the first 2 weeks until I noticed that he only asked my senior to do errands. Simple errands he could get up to do himself. She was black and female. There were 3 others in the office, all white males, all less senior. At this 2 week mark, my senior goes on vacation. One day, he's having a closed-door meeting with another auditor. He proceeds to get up, open his door and loudly tell me to get him a cup of coffee. I looked around to see who he was talking to at first. He says, “Yea you, AJ. Can you do that now?” So I replied that I could not, I'm allergic and that it would be better if he made his own since he knows what he likes best. So he walks the 3 feet to pour his own cup. He comes to my desk and tells me that my excuse was complete shit (his real retort). So, I moved my chair for him to see my hanging, framed degree behind me and firmly told him, “I have a degree in Accounting. I'm an auditor just like you and the rest of the team. My position is an auditor and I get paid for that. I'm not a secretary or an office administrator. Unless you have a direct billing charge for that task, I am unable to help you. And, I am allergic. That's why I don't let you talk too close to me or sit in your office with the door closed since you drink coffee all day.” Our professional relationship went downhill from there, but I don't regret it. It's important to set boundaries.Update 3/30/2019: Thank you to everyone that has edited my post. Thank you for caring. I wrote this at a weird hour in a cafe in Istabul on my mobile. Mistakes were 100% likely.Update 6/24/2019- To the man below that feels it was a petty request; it wasn't. It's a “temperature check” to see what a person can get away with. Those pretty requests start to add up until it is expected and AJ the auditor is replaced by AJ the secretary.I'm not a general-use employee. And if I cave on non-essential trivial errands at the request of an able-bodied individual, that sets a bad precedent for future interactions. My promotions, final evaluations, including hiring and firing, never rested in his hands and that gave me a sense of comfort in my stance. Even now, years removed from government work, I would never accept it in corporate America nor make those demands on another. On the flip side, I've accepted requests to conduct trainings, including the effort to obtain the information and its presentation, which is not in my job description, but I did it because it needed to be done as my office was hosting, it displayed my work, and it benefited the entire office and organization for years to come. I didn't get paid extra for that request but it wasn't demeaning. Certainly didn't factor into my promotion either. On the other hand, when I was asked to create a simple Excel table template for him to use, something that would have taken him 2 mins to concoct, I sent a reply with my current day itinerary and a link to a YouTube video for him to learn a skill he should already possess at his current pay grade. Passive-aggressive, yes. But, I refuse to accept this from someone who evaluates my work but can't themselves do the work.Also, never did this person ask if it would be something I'm willing to do. I was TOLD and that doesn't sit well with me. He never once asked a male so this office wasn't inclusive in meeting his demands, nor was my comfort and health around coffee taken into consideration.Just so you know, I have on occasion provided the OFFICE with coffee and bagels from a store as a gesture of goodwill. But that was my graciousness, not my implied duty to earn good will, fair evaluations, or general pleasantries from my supervisor.His job is not harder than mine. If he can get his ass up to demand coffee, he can take a few more steps to get it himself. Or budget for an office assistant. His choice. Not my concern.FYI, I do empty my own trash can out and clean my work area prior to the nightly cleaning crew coming in. Something about being able-bodied prompts me to look after myself instead of leaving a mess for others. It may be their job but you don't have to be a dick about it and make it worse. I hate seeing work spaces of grown adults that look like the playroom of a toddler because they expect someone else to clean after them.

What are the key highlights from the Indian Union Budget 2018-19?Answer requested by Aditya Kulkarni. Thanks for a trending question. Many answers here and elsewhere have already discussed almost all the points of the Budget 2018–19, but in my opinion, the key highlights of this election year budget are its intention and direction on the positive side, but lack of cohesiveness and dearth of details on the flip side. While the budget correctly diagnoses the areas which cry for urgent actions, and tries to address these issues on a priority basis within the practical constraints of available revenue, it seems to flounder on details of how the budgetary goals are expected to be achieved and rely too much on extra budgetary resources or agencies for the effective fulfillment of the promised outcomes.The Hindu, in its Editorial of date, has clearly brought out this dichotomy contained in the Budget with characteristic lucidity and I would quote excerpts from there to illustrate/explain my own aforementioned statement:Mr. Jaitley has homed in unerringly on the root causes of distress — unremunerative farm incomes, unemployment, lack of social security nets and the squeeze on the middle-class taxpayer.While his intent is clearly welfarist, resource constraints have forced him to rely significantly on extra-budgetary resources and external agencies to give life to many proposals. If they fail to materialise, it can lead to a gap between promise and delivery.Consider agriculture. After asserting that minimum support prices (MSPs) should cover all crops and assure farmers 1.5 times their production cost, food subsidy allocations for FY19 have been upped by a relatively modest ₹29,041 crore. A ‘fool-proof’ mechanism has been mooted to avoid market prices falling below MSPs, but it is left to the Niti Aayog to work out the modalities. Setting up farmers’ markets is similarly a great idea to free small farmers from the tyranny of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs), but the project gets a mere ₹2,000-crore allocation.The ambitious rural package in this Budget brings in free gas connections to three crore new households, free electricity connections to four crore homes, two crore new toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, higher micro-irrigation coverage, and so on. But of the massive outlay of ₹14.34 lakh crore required to bankroll these grandiose plans, as much as ₹11.98 lakh crore is expected to be met from extra-budgetary resources. A similar template has been used in social sector schemes. The National Health Protection Scheme, to provide a ₹5 lakh health cover to 10 crore households, is a much-needed social security intervention to benefit poor households that rely overwhelmingly on private health care. But there is little clarity on modalities.The entire clutch of proposals on improving learning outcomes, providing universal health coverage and alleviating the lot of minorities and girl children is expected to be funded through a mere ₹16,000-crore increase in allocations to ₹1.38 lakh crore.Infrastructure appears to be one of the few sectors where the funding problem has been addressed, with PSUs bankrolling a significant proportion of the ₹5.97-lakh crore outlay for FY19.Overall, the Budget has a sense of direction that is difficult to find fault with. If some of the proposals seem half-hearted or are not taken to their logical end, it may be the result of revenue constraints. It is to be hoped that as the revenue base improves and GST collections stabilise, future budgets can put the finishing touches on the welfare proposals.Source: Promise and delivery: on Union Budget 2018(I have broken up the paragraphs for making bullet points, and added emphasis)So, just as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the key highlights of this budget need to be seen only in their implementation at the ground level.