wastebook2014

WASTEBOOK 201430NASA Wonders HowHumans Will React toMeeting Space Aliens$392,000Encountering aliens may one day posea communications problem, read one officialNASA document published this year.By using our experience with anthropology“we can be much better prepared for contactwith an extraterrestrial civilization, should thatday ever come,” 445 says the editor of the NASAeBook titled, “Archaeology, Anthropology, andInterstellar Communication.” 446 The publicationwas put on NASA’s website in May and was editedand officially published through the Officeof Communications. 447Learning from history itself is difficult.“Communicating with intelligent terrestrial beingsremoved from us in time is deeply problematic,”concludes the work. 448 If humans findaliens, they may have to confront these issuesin new ways, finds the author: “[T]he constraintsthat humans now contend with will be refined,removed, or simply accepted as [communicationwith extraterrestrial intelligence] is engaged.” 449In publishing a review of the book, NASA’sChief Historian said the title may sound likean odd one for the space agency’s historyprogram,” but nonetheless the book is “anenjoyable and thought-provoking read.” 450 Itwistfully recounts the days when the federalgovernment actually funded a program calledthe “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”(SETI). Unfortunately, yearning for the days ofyore and producing books on communicatingwith E.T. cannot change the fact NASA cannoteven get its own astronauts into space.Perhaps the agency could shoot for the starsand make better use of the history program’s$392,000 budget for 2014. 45131 $70,000A taxpayer-funded play about the iconic cohesivemartial arts figure Bruce Lee has been broadlypanned as suffering from a mediocre plot,with some critics going as far as to say that itevokes a racial stereotype. 452It is unclear why the federal governmentalsupported this flop. But, perhaps the NationalEndowment of the Arts (NEA) decided tospend $70,000 for the play “Kung Fu,” whichfeatures a dozen fight scenes, 453 because itexemplified the NEA’s mission to “fund andpromote artistic excellence, creativity, andinnovation for the benefit of individuals andcommunities.” 454Others did not find such artisticexcellence, creativity, or benefit.Variety Magazine panned it as “lack[ing] aBruce Lee Dance Play Panned AsPromoting Racial Stereotypesnarrative structure” with “no dramaticobjective.” 455 The New York Times slammedthe play’s clunky dialogue and corny jokes. 456Even worse, the paper suggested the “mangledEnglish” of Bruce Lee’s speech throughout theplay may actually perpetuate the prejudicialstereotype of the “Oriental sidekick.” 457On its website, the Signature Theatre inNew York City credits support for “Kung Fu”from individuals, foundations, corporations,and government agencies for its continuedsuccess as a non-profit organization. 458Since the play received $1,127,370 in nonfederalfunding, taxpayers are left wonderingwhy the NEA didn’t give a karate chop to thetheatre’s grant request. 459The dialogue and plot of “Kung Fu,” according to the New York Times, never reaches the “fluid grace” of its action sequences30