On 07/23/2011 05:54 PM, Alec T. Habig wrote:
Yasha Karant writes:
Although the future is unclear for Fermilab with the imminent
decommissioning of the Fermilab accelerator, this professional status
currently is correct.
Correction - one beamline (the tevatron) and associated experiments are
ending. The rest of the accelerator complex and associated experiments
(not to mention the non-accelerator based stuff) are humming right
along, new experiments coming online, etc.
I believe there is some danger of what the lists term a "flame war" from
this discussion -- that is not the point nor my intention.
With no disrespect (and not being a Troll -- the decision of which Linux
operating environment and distribution to use is one that requires data
or, lacking that, anecdotal experience), Wikipedia states the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermilab
Current developments
[edit] The end of the Tevatron Run
On January 10, 2011 it was announced that the Tevatron Accelerator had
failed to find additional funding to continue operation beyond the close
of fiscal year 2011 (October 2011).[10]
[edit] Financial situation
The Fermilab budget has been continuously below inflation over the last
several years, and Fermilab failed to attract more funding sources and
this resulted in reducing staff levels (by 100 in 2005).[11] The new
director of the lab and the new management are working hard to bring the
International Linear Collider (ILC) to Fermilab. However, the decision
by Congress to fund the ILC at only a quarter of the requested $60
million significantly reduces the chances that Fermilab or any other
U.S. research facility will host the ILC. Due to Fermilab's financial
situation, on December 20, 2007, director Piermaria Oddone announced the
planned layoffs of 10% of Fermilab's staff.
End quote.
Although the experimental facilities you mention are ongoing, the issue
of long term funding of fundamental physics (or fundamental science
without immediate practical application -- the genetic science and
engineering fields are fundamental biology and medicine, but are also
have immediate practical application -- going beyond/fixing the Standard
Model lacks such applications) is highly unresolved in the USA under the
Republican Tea Party model -- and has been declining for a number of
years. This issue is not a SL or Linux issue, but merely a comment on
the longer term stability of SL as being developed by paid professionals
(from Wikipedia: this resulted in reducing staff levels (by 100 in
2005)). The situation at CERN is less bleak, even given the financial
problems of the EU and Euro/Eurozone, from colleagues I know in various
EU nations, some of whom are in CERN collaborations.
This list is not the appropriate place to attempt to convince Tea Party
Republicans and Social Program Democrats to maintain public funding
(investment) in fundamental physics. However, the practical
ramifications of such de-funding may have implications for the Fermilab
portion of SL support. I am not trying to be grim, negative,
derogatory, Troll, or anything else -- merely discussing the present
facts and a possible several year future. I certainly hope that
Fermilab/CERN will continue to assign / allow to work with pay
professionals to redistribute RHEL and to support both enhancements and
bug fixes to RHEL, rebadged as SL.
