Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is at it again. He’s issued his annual report that details massive government waste on stupid projects. We’re talking billions of dollars wasted on hairbrained projects.
Our favorite is the $1.5 million they spent to develop a robot that can fold shirts. Only problem is, it takes the robot 25 minutes per shirt.
OK, OK, you know us too well. That’s not really our favorite. We were just trying to sound mature. Our real favorite is the Antarctic jello wrestling.
The New York Post reports:
The report found that at the Antarctic McMurdo research station, which part of a $451 million a year polar research project, NSF employees organized a Jell-o-wrestling event and nude “polar bear plunge” party.
Ahhh, but that’s just the beginning. Scientists at the NSF came up with lots of other wacky ways to waste your money. Such as:
- Having shrimp walk on tiny treadmills to measure the impact of sickness on crustaceans;
- $80,000 study on why the same teams always dominate March Madness;
- $315,000 study suggesting playing FarmVille on Facebook helps adults develop and maintain relationships;
- $1 million for an analysis of how quickly parents respond to trendy baby names;
- $50,000 to produce and publicize amateur songs about science, including a rap called “Money 4 Drugz,” and a misleading song titled “Biogas is a Gas, Gas, Gas”;
- $2 million to figure out that people who often post pictures on the internet from the same location at the same time are usually friends; and
- $581,000 on whether online dating site users are racist.
Remember this next time you hear Democrats say there’s no way to cut the budget. Here’s Coburn outlining just a few of them.
Source: New York Post
