By Gus Saltonstall
Following NASA having to vacate its longtime home at Armstrong Hall on West 112th Street and Broadway, science books, journals and materials were thrown into a dumpster on the Upper West Side block.
The relocation of the more than 100 scientists came after a federal government cost-cutting push connected to an executive order this April calling for a “re-examination of all leased federal office space, especially in city centers.”
NASA, which has operated out of 2880 Broadway since 1966, subsequently canceled its lease. But, money will not be saved, since the lease is between Columbia University and a different federal agency, meaning that the $3 million in yearly rent will still be due, regardless of whether the scientists are in the building, a Columbia official told the Times.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Into a dumpster! As go these publications, so goes American science — and with it, America.
Not to be melodramatic, of course. American scientists, at least, are heading to Europe rather than into dumpsters.
Also, when did it become okay to dispose of ANY books this way? St. Leibowitz and I, not to mention Montag, strongly disapprove.
Thank you for referencing “A Canticle for Lebowitz.” So few people know of that extraordinary book.
If you need to discard an outdated book, put it in the paper recycling! It will be taken to Staten Island and turned into paper. If you throw it in the trash, it will be transported to far away landfills and left to rot which is way more costly to taxpayers, as well as more wasteful.
Do they really recycle the paper or does it all go to the same place, shipped to a developing country so the first world countries don’t have to deal with it. As per the book “Waste Wars” by Alexander Clapp
Paper is absolutely recycled in NYC! There is a paper recycling plant on Staten Island run by Pratt Industries. See it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXABlDk4cYU. (The video is a bit old. There are now 2 barges, not 1, coming from Manhattan every day.) And here is where they come from:
https://www.westsiderag.com/2021/12/26/a-visit-to-the-disco-dump-shows-how-the-upper-west-sides-recycled-paper-is-reborn
If you bothered to look these were very old editions and/or superseded research poster/papeers They are also already up on NASA’s open source links due to there age
I confess that I did not go digging through the dumpster to see what all was present. But if you assure me everything there is available on-line, well, there’s that comfort at least.
So you can never throw away a book? What if someone gave you The Art of the Deal ? Would you treasure it?
No, but I’d look into donating it to a prison or mental-health clinic, where it might be better appreciated.
While you’re at the mental health clinic, why don’t you sit and talk to them for a couple years.
How’s your list of Trump’s surrounding “smart people” coming along and, this being Friday, would undeniably brilliant Elon still be on it? Or are you too busy frantically rejiggering your theology, er, ideology? FYI, I read that the Republi are siding with THE KING over Musk by about 12 to one — not that that would influence your loyalties in any way, of course. Me, I continue to side with America over both of them.
What a patriot!
Yes
Absolutely! Without it my cat’s litter box would be wobbly.
But with it, the litter box might stink.
New York Historical society dumped their books in the dumpster. According to the readers many were very valuable.
Didn’t hear your outrage then.
That’s outrageous
Why the obnoxious comment? Just because you didn’t hear it doesn’t mean OP wasn’t upset when NY Historical got rid of their books. Also perfectly reasonable to imagine OP wasn’t aware. We’re not all as smart and well informed as you are!
Probably because I was too busy trying to salvage some of them, then too pissed off about it when I returned home unsuccessful. Besides, 100+ comments is sufficient outrage without my redundant contribution.
Although I myself believe nearly all books valuable — if not to me then to others — and should not end up in dumpsters, you will recall from the discussion that the discards’ value/rarity was repeatedly called into question, including by a professional librarian.
Oh, and were were you? I didn’t spot your handle among the comments.
Ivanka doesn’t believe in books, even if she “wrote” “Women Who Work”.
I don’t think DJT or the sons have read one.
Elon K told the Trumps that everything is online in 2025, which is BS.
Whether DJT reads books was settled long ago by Dick Cavett, who quipped, “imagine Trump’s library. You’d have to.”
Actually, we have testimony that the elder Trump was fond of Hitler’s “My New Order” and kept his copy at bedside. So at least there’s that, and maybe a few coloring books.
I hope you see a qualified specialist and don’t rely on self-help books.
FYI: https://web.archive.org/web/20200405114223/https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/e515a2cd-a51b-4f83-8d61-6ebb9a104e0a
Can you articulate clearly instead of providing links ?
It might provide more credibility.
Sorry, you’ll simply have to read it, and following the course of the thread to know why it’s relevant wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.
He’s a special URL I’ve created just for you to take you directly to the passage of main interest, complete with highlighting (if supported by your browser):
https://web.archive.org/web/20200405114223/https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/e515a2cd-a51b-4f83-8d61-6ebb9a104e0a#:~:text=Last%20April%2C%20perhaps%20in%20a%20surge%20of%20Czech%20nationalism%2C%20Ivana%20Trump%20told%20her%20lawyer%20Michael%20Kennedy%20that%20from%20time%20to%20time%20her%20husband%20reads%20a%20book%20of%20Hitler's%20collected%20speeches%2C%20My%20New%20Order%2C%20which%20he%20keeps%20in%20a%20cabinet%20by%20his%20bed.
Like a whole team of doctors in white coats, with clipboards.
And how are you, Mr. Wilson? Let’s check:
https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the_latest/louisiana-republicans-pass-bill-banning-chemtrails-which-are-not-a-real-thing/article_0e093ce2-451e-481e-983d-87376709d542.html
Quite so! A convenient demonstration:
https://annas-archive.org/search?q=%22The+Answers+to+the+Space+Flight+Challenge%22
They’re headed to China.
NASA/GISS was the first major American scientific institute to warn of the reality and danger of climate change.
I worked at GISS (secretarial work) part-time while in college. This was prior to Dr James Hansen’s going public on climate change on Earth.
In those days the Institute focused on astronomy, meteorology, planetary atmospheres, etc., and the design of instruments and experiments to study the same. This had nothing to do with putting humans on the moon, or competing with other countries. It was science for science’s sake. Some projects were supported by grants from major universities like Columbia and NYU. (I worked on one such project. It tickled me to have an NYU faculty card at age 17!)
Before Armstrong Hall (over Tom’s Restaurant), GISS had offices in the Interchurch Center on Claremont between 119th and 120th, in Watson Hall at Columbia, and over a bank that used to be on 113th and Broadway. Moving to Armstrong was a way to consolidate all the NASA-related projects in one building, with access to the same computer (an IBM 365-95, extremely powerful for its day).
The GOP is even now hard at work protecting America from reality!
No need to be in the most expensive real estate.
Wednesday pizza parties can be held elsewhere.
This is not the NASA that put us on the moon in 1969.
Buzz Aldrin said we never went there…
Okay, here’s my own little lunar joke at the expense of reality:
It was actually Stanley Kubrick who went to the Moon, which is why the lunar scenes in “2001: A Space Odyssey” look so great. (The hardest part, though, was traveling back in time four million years to film “The Dawn of Man” sequence.) What a perfectionist, that guy!
This is either a “joke” or libel.
Indeed, not 1969; we’re now in the era of NASA’s James Webb telescope. If you stopped paying attention in 1969, check out the images it’s sending back. They’re pretty amazing.
As for the NASA scientists conducting their research near and in collaboration with Columbia, this is their take on what they were doing (I guess between pizza parties)…
“A key objective of GISS research is prediction of atmospheric and climate changes in the 21st century. The research combines analysis of comprehensive global datasets with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes. Study of past climate change on Earth and of other planetary atmospheres serves as a useful tool in assessing our general understanding of the atmosphere and its evolution.
“Program areas at GISS may be roughly divided into the categories of climate forcings; climate model development; Earth observations; atmospheric radiation; atmospheric chemistry; climate impacts; planetary atmospheres, exoplanets, and astrobiology; paleoclimate; and other disciplines. Due to the interconnections, most GISS personnel engage in research in several of these areas.
“The perspective provided by space observations is crucial for monitoring global change and for providing data needed to develop an understanding of the Earth system. ”
(excerpt from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies website)
All this can be done remotely and probably has been for the past couple of years,
Did not see any Telescopes or Radio Telescopes on top of the building.
No doubt there is or was a lot of brainpower there.
They are modelers and used the servers that now have to be moved elsewhere. The fed is not saving any money. They did a study recently and found that leaving them in NYC was the best deal for the tax payer. The place was recently renovated. DOGE does not understand cost or value.
All the more reason to move.
Electricity rates in NYC are pretty expensive.
If there were servers there, they should have been moved to a proper data center years ago, (backup/security/disaster recovery)
The electricity savings will be massive.
A majority of the companies in NYC do not have their servers in NYC.
(Wall street may, but that is the execption )
Does it give you some pleasure to be constantly contrarian and smart-assed? How tiresome, and why haven’t you realized that being nasty on the internet is not going to convince one solitary soul of your position. Be kinder, be civil.
A Columbia official said the government will still pay 3 million in rent. I don’t put much stock into something an unnamed Columbia official said President Trump is not known for paying for things he doesn’t get value for.
“value” has many meanings not just $
How true you are!
I think the point was so the goverment wouldn’t give Coloumbia any more money period .
Your comment gave me a great laugh! Thanks!
What of “value” has Trump produced? A bankrupt casino, largely ugly real estate development that may have enriched a few early investors, but didn’t enrich contractors?
Trump is known for going bankrupt (corporate) and then being bailed out by Wilbur Ross. DJU was then again close to corporate bankruptcy but saved by some party.
No wonder he’s into Crypto, which can totally be hacked and “minded” with a quantum computer, something that exists IRL in 2025.
Crypto may be the Man of Convictions’s hugest and most horrific money-grabbing scam yet. Then again, with so very many candidates to choose from, it’s hard to say.
No, he is known, among other things, for Trump University.
Not know for paying for things, like bankrupting a casino 🤣🤣🤣? Not honoring contracts and going bankrupt four times apparently is something you find admirable?
I think you should try to emulate that behavior and let us know how it works out for you.
Six times!
And counting!
(Do we include America in the total once he’s finished with us?)
That $3 million may come in handy: “Trump admin claims Columbia violated Jewish students’ rights, threatens school’s accreditation” (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/trump-administration-claims-columbia-violated-title-vi-threatening-sch-rcna211028). Of what value is American higher education to Donnie? It’s not as if he’s still at Wharton business school, is it?
For more on this, see https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/06/09/monday-bulletin-uws-broadway-medians-replanted-for-the-birds-another-championship-for-uws-baseball-team-trumps-threat-to-pull-columbias-accreditation .
You’re welcome.
The Orange Menace did not go to Wharton Business School which is a graduate school. He went to UPenn as an undergraduate. People often refer to uPenn as Wharton but they are different animals. And his professor said he was the dumbest student he had ever had!
I will unhesitatingly stand corrected if this is the case, but according to all I’ve ever read on the subject, the Lord of Snakes & Leopards attended “The Wharton School”, a business school at UPenn. Not the same place?
As for the professor’s comment: indeed, and I quoted it here below. Quite an honor!
Ah, but then Deadbeat Donnie is not known for paying his bills in general, is he? Just ask the folks in Spokane, Billings, Mesa, Tucson, Albuquerque, El Paso, Minneapolis, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Battle Creek, Lebanon, Erie, Burlington, Wildwood, & Washington, DC. And of course NYC, to which he owes over half a billion dollars. The guy sure has a hard time getting “value”, doesn’t he? Sad!
He clearly doesn’t value science. Maybe he could try surrounding himself with some smart people.
He did with Elon Musk,
You may not agree with his politics.
The brilliance of Elon is undeniable,
Elon’s brilliance? He hasn’t invented anything. He buys companies and takes the credit he is not due. Tarpenning and Eberhard invented the Tesla technology and Tom Mueller designed the SpaceX engines.
Oh, it’s pretty deniable.
Oh, Elon’s brilliance is pretty darn deniable, actually.
“He did with Elon Musk”
He SURROUNDED himself with Elon Musk? Sounds rather … intimate. But hey, consenting adults, etc.
“You may not agree with his politics.”
No: to the extent Tяump even has any politics — as opposed to unenlightened self-interest — I am most definitely opposed to them; there is no “may” here.
“The brilliance of Elon is undeniable”
Watch me closely: I deny it.
So, in lieu of a list of these “smart people” with whom you claim Donnie surrounds himself, at least we now have a single specimen, as well as a clue as to what you consider “smart”: a drug-crazed, white-supremacist Nazi (pardon me: NEO-Nazi) silver-spoon baby known for his uncontrolled fecundation, tanking businesses, cheating at video games, promoting racism and transphobia, squandering gigawatts on AI, and a rampaging, wholesale dismantling of civilization. SpaceX, someone mumbles? Elon is no rocket scientist whatsoever, literally or figuratively, though it must be conceded he knows how to hire and whip those who are. He can code in BASIC, scored a B in math, and, like Donnie, attended Wharton School, but — unlike Donnie — was NOT regarded by a professor there as “the dumbest goddam student I ever had.”
Any more brilliant smarties you care to cite?
Ouch!
And you have how many companies ?
You lost me at “He did” and made me laugh at fecundation.
That cheating at video games is a crime against humanity.
His next heinous crime is bringing home the two astronauts stuck in space for 8 months.(SpaceX)
When he got re-useable rockets ironed out, I thought that he would go to jail.
He should be locked up for starting Pay-Pal.
(Not sure Pay-Pal was written in BASIC)
His neuralink product that can potentially help blind and paralyzed people
should put him in front of the Hague.
Won’t even mention Starlink/Tesla/The Boring Company
(Part the 2nd)
“He should be locked up for starting Pay-Pal.”
You mean Max Levchin, Luke Nosek, & Peter Thiel should be locked up? (I certainly wouldn’t argue in the case of Thiel.) Or do you mean Harris Fricker, Ed Ho, & Christopher Payne should be locked up? OR do you labor under the misapprehension that Elon did it all by himself?
“(Not sure Pay-Pal was written in BASIC)”
I’m quite sure: it wasn’t. With all due respect to BASIC, it’s utterly the wrong tool for the job, frontend or backend.
“His neuralink product that can potentially help blind and paralyzed people should put him in front of the Hague.”
Neuralink might be something IF it works as advertised (and when has any Musk project not?) and Precision Neuroscience doesn’t get there first, as seems likely. But what of it? Do you fancy Musk himself invented it? That he also implants them himself, moonlighting as a brain surgeon Buckaroo Banzai-style?
“Won’t even mention Starlink/Tesla/The Boring Company”
I’ve already referred Tesla: see “tanking businesses”. The Boring Co.? Sorry, I’m too bored to discuss holes in the ground, flamethrowers, & fraud right now. As for Starlink: lies, corruption, strongarm tactics, & the Kessler syndrome are further topics for a later date.
But please, do continue to expound on the undeniable brilliance of Elon Musk, the sole smart person you’ve so far named with whom Trump surrounds himself. I’ve been enjoying it tremendously, especially after yesterday!
Firstly:
“And you have how many companies ?”
Precisely as many as I need. Your point, if any?
“You lost me at ‘He did’ and made me laugh at fecundation.”
That “He did” was your own, so you evidently managed to lose yourself, no doubt a recurring experience. Always a pleasure to expand the vocabulary of the downtrodden.
“That cheating at video games is a crime against humanity.”
And his opponents were pretty upset about it, too. More pertinently, it highlights his lack of character and competence.
“His next heinous crime is bringing home the two astronauts stuck in space for 8 months.(SpaceX)”
I thought we were discussing his intelligence, not how great a humanitarian *ahem* he is. Perhaps you’re under the impression he designed and built the spacecraft himself? Musk buys stuff, period.
“When he got re-useable rockets ironed out, I thought that he would go to jail.”
He may yet (e.g., https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/03/elizabeth-warren-elon-musk-doge-report.html), but it won’t be for accomplishing something he hasn’t accomplished, such as debugging his rocket fleet; his engineers are still hard at work on that and, in the case of Starship, quite possibly beating a dead horse.
No Musk
No Starlink/Tesla/SpaceX/Boring Company/Neuralink etc.
If he just “buys stuff” anyone could do it.
(But they didn’t)
If I follow your reasoning anyone who starts a company and is the driving force and vision behind it is not legitimate ?
(reminiscent of the Obama “you didn’t build that”)
Bloomberg – Did not write all code behind a Bloomberg terminal
( No Bloomberg , No Bloomberg terminal – He had the vision to collect market data in one place.)
Steve Jobs – Did not design and code all of Apple products.
( He had the vision and the drive to marshall the resources )
Bill Gates – Did not write all the windows code.
( He had the vision and the drive to marshall the resources )
Jeff Bezos – Hired people to help with coding
( He had the vision and the drive to marshall the resources )
I to am envious of someone who can start a company and create great products that we all use daily.
So all these worthies you name had “vision” and “drive”? Maybe. But vision and drive are not the same as smarts, which is what this debate started with.
I will give Gates this (and ONLY this): he was, and for all I know still is, a pretty impressive coder. No, he obviously didn’t write all (any?) of Windows, but he was chiefly responsible for writing Micro-Soft’s first product, Altair BASIC, which worked on first run. Color me impressed. (Later, of course, he became a scoundrel.)
Did Jobs code ANYTHING at Apple? He had a very modest knowledge of electronics and a more extensive knowledge of psychedelics, but his primary contribution was in exploiting the genius of Woz and BSing their way to success. Color me unimpressed.
Et cetera.
“If I follow your reasoning anyone who starts a company and is the driving force and vision behind it is not legitimate?”
You don’t: I’m not claiming such people aren’t “legitimate” (whatever that means) but only that they are not necessarily SMART people, other than in the sense that a shark has a “genius” for shooting through the water and eating things. Hucksters and hustlers earn few points in my book; visions are a dime a dozen, though I will agree that the drive to realize them counts for something — just not, necessarily, intelligence. Pet Rocks were big in their day.
I don’t think Gates and others care about what you “give” them.
Your comments are never based on facts; they are a mere representation of your radical political views and intolerance of dissenting opinions. That’s why moderate democrats are moving away from the party it has been hijacked by this angry intolerant angry crowd.
“I don’t think Gates and others care about what you ‘give’ them.”
Likely true, but then I don’t care whether Gates cares. Including “others” might be a stretch, however.
“Your comments are never based on facts”
Kindly offer a few facts of your own in support of that curious assertion.
“they are a mere representation of your radical political views”
Yeah, well, being for truth, justice, and the American way didn’t used to be so “radical”, but then this is 2025.
“and intolerance of dissenting opinions.”
Only the uninformed ones, and even then it’s more a case of irk than intolerance. I side strongly with the blessed Harlan: “You are entitled to your *informed* opinion.” And I’m entitled to opine (informedly) on such opinions.
“That’s why moderate democrats [sic.] are moving away from the party it has been hijacked by this angry intolerant angry crowd.”
Those “angry intolerant angry” must be pretty angry! Anyhow, it would be interesting if any loss in the Democratic ranks were counterbalanced by an influx of disaffected (or stabbed in the back, as some characterize it) former Trump cultists. We’ll see.
Ok,
Thanx for laying out your reasoning and thought process.
We may have to agree to disagree.
You’re quite welcome, and I’d be okay with it. That’s how things ought to work.
It’s completely symbolizes what Trump and the Republican party are doing to science and research in this country.
Probably of no use; outdated and/or available digitally.
You sure about that?
Unlikely that you are either sure (unless you’re really MAGA) or that the books are available in some digital form. Some indeed may be, but it’s not assured.
I can confirm from frequent and frustrating personal experience that a great many space-science titles remain publicly unavailable on-line.
That could be true. Whose fault is it though that these books were dumped? Trump’s or their owners?
The immediate blame? Absent evidence to the contrary, the center’s staffers.
The ultimate blame? Trump and his DOGEy vandals — and/or the virulent ignoramuses who put them in power.
You say MAGA like it’s an insult, we will Make America Great Again.
OPOD,
The term is an insult, and it highlights those who want to detract from actual strengths of the USA.
You think Trump gives 2 cents (that’s being polite) about workers, or ending wars?
Remember: He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which deeply undermined the USA — that’s position in the world, its finances, and the liberty of people in the USA.
The acronym, in the way Trump, Elon K, Rubio, etc pursue the “goal” means: Make America Gangster Again.
Hmm, and I’d thought it meant Make America Go Away….
ecm:
Maybe: Musk’s Advanced Grifting Academy.
THIS (https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/us-science-is-being-wrecked-and-its-leadership-is-fighting-the-last-war/) is how you’re making America great (“again”), is it?
Yeah, swell job on that so far.
Uh-huh. Through the overwhelming power of unprecedented corruption and stupidity? You could start with MAAA — Make America America Again.
Correct,
Breaking news: People clean up and throw away old junk when they move!
Yeah, I’d heard that somewhere before. More breaking news: not everyone regards old books as junk.
Old books are not necessarily junk, some junk is actually old books.
That’s not the point. The point is Trump closing a significant research lab in our area and throwing 150 government scientists on the street.
I’m a bit confused. Who are the leasing parties? Apparently if something is cancelled someone is saving money (not saying it is a good or a bad thing for NASA).
I believe this question came up originally but wasn’t answered.
NASA has been leasing space in a Columbia University building since 1966 for a government sponsored research lab. They also collaborate with Columbia scientists, hence the locaion. Trump and Musk fired them all and closed the lab, however, there is still like another five years on the lease that the government still owes Columbia whether the lab is there or not. Some in the Trump administration didn’t think this through. There are no savings, and the government lost a lab and all the data.
So all the data was stored above Tom’s Restuarant with no off-site backup ?
That does not seem correct to me.
Thank you for the explanation but wasn’t there a mention of some other federal agency involved in the lease? I believe it was said that Columbia is not a direct landlord, or something to this extent.
Gus, any thoughts?
Terrible. Trump closing this crucial climate lab. I hope Columbia can hire and absorb some of the lab.
Big Green Scam
They are studying space, weather, climate, atmosphere. None of this is a “scam.”
In the immortal words of Juror #8, “He can’t hear you and he never will.”
I’m sorry, this is considered news now? How so? Yes, there were books thrown out but who said they had any value? I’m in computer science , I have to dispose of books regularly.
We really want to present this as the war on books and science? There might be one, still not sure about it, but Gus, I expected a bit better reporting from you. Stop politicizinf each and every thing to fit a narrative. A reporter should be thorough and objective.
Still not sure about it? They have fired thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people from agencies that support scientific work; destroyed or hidden valuable data sets that were previously public; nuked research into everything from ALS to breast cancer; and gutted NSF grants to universities that are the foundation of training the next generation of scientists.
What more are you looking for, the execution of a pediatric oncologist on live TV?
You and @ecm really need to come down before firing
What I meant (but WSR chose not to publish) is that this specific event, discarded books, doesn’t necessarily signify the war in books and science.
You have to be patient and read before resorting to attacks citing cancer research and such. Here we are talking just about a pile of old books. Is it the war on books? I’m not sure. And definitely not the war in cancer research. Hysterical claims like this make your other claims not credible.
Please highlight the nonfactual parts of Saltonstall’s story for me, will you?
The MAGA offensive against science and books is VERY well documented, so the rest is up to you.
Speaking of computer science … fortunately, there are still a few copies of Roger Garrett’s seminal “Star Ship Simulation” occasionally available (for a fortune!) on-line — because they weren’t tossed in a dumpster.
I think you completely missed both of my points. You need to snap out of your perpetual rage and read through. Also you seem to constantly attack and insult other posters rather than respond in a civilized manner.
The points you missed:
1. I didn’t say Gus is factually incorrect. I stated that this event hardly qualifies as news as especially the war on books.
2. Everyone gets rid of outdated technical books. Your example is irrelevant
Unable to defend his original position on the merits, Raj has resorted to hectoring others about tone and shifting his focus to a narrower “war on books” straw man, tacitly conceding that his interlocutors have a valid point about the administration’s anti-science bent.
You wrote: “Stop politicizinf [sic.] each and every thing to fit a narrative. A reporter should be thorough and objective.” I extend my invitation to point out any nonobjective parts. You claim to want thoroughness yet seem to have trouble with the mention of the role of Trump’s policies in this, the only remarks I see that can remotely be deemed “political”. One or the other, Raj.
Sure, everyone may dispose of outdated technical books, but MY point concerns HOW they go about it. Sorry that you didn’t perceive the relevance of my example.
I hope nothing controversial replaces the NASA space above Tom’s Restaurant. I also hope that Trump does not order Tom’s to change its name.
Hey, they could always repurpose the “T” (and “M”) to make it “TRUMP’s”.
Works for me.
I was there. Those books were never in the dumpster, they were always left on the cart to be given away. Most were also highly technical reference texts.
It certainly LOOKS to me like a dumpster in the first and second photos.
Don’t know about the rest of you, but I adore highly technical reference texts, often even outdated ones — a good way of learning how things change over time.
You must be a hoarder as no one “admires” outdated technical references.
Yep, that’s me — good ol’ Mr. Nobody (sans the antimatter core). Who said “admires”? Oh, you did. Rather, I APPRECIATE such works. And quite clearly, you do not. Really zealous to erase history, aren’t you?
Treason trump with Elon musk etc violation of federal government laws and regulations and rules etc against federal government property.
Calm down, please. People throwing out old, outdated textbooks and posters is no more of a symptom of the collapse of civilization than the piles of free books on the doorsteps of a myriad of UWS buildings.
Most books these days are bookshelf decoration, nothing more.
…if you read the article, you would see that the discarding of books here is a “symptom” of a valuable and long-established research facility being shut down, and for no good reason.
Yes, people sometimes unnecessarily get the vapors about deaccessioning, but you do understand the difference, right?
I read the article, thanks. It’s a symptom of a research facility closing an obscure branch office. I think NASA will survive the loss, and use the savings for other, more important initiatives.
Why throw the books??? Why not offer them to schools, libraries, or just for people to pick up and take if they like? Such a shame. The whole thing is a shame.
Ditto. What’s also a shame is seeing how few people around her get it.
Call me Samuel T. Cogley, but this is yet another outrage.
Maybe because they were outdated and highly specialized? Nobody needs outdated materials. .
Utter nonsense! Ask historians whether they have any use for outdated materials; ask scholars, ask collectors, ask me.
Not with a bang but with the grinding of a garbage truck….
I do work with researchers in tech field and am very aware that outdated technology references are useless. It is good only for recycling.
I don’t need to ask historians whether they need Visual Basic reference circa 1990.
If that is utter nonsense to you, you have a very superficial knowledge how tech world works.
Oh? What happens when you’re tasked with maintaining some sprawling code base written in some ancient dialect, eh? You just go on-line and look through the manual, right? But what if the book you need isn’t there because no one saved a physical copy and digitized it, having deemed it outdated, fit only for recycling? What if there were errata or addenda published later that the former owner had thoughtfully incorporated into the hard-copy? What if there were a vital accompanying floppy/CD/whatever? I guess you’d be up Fecal Fjord, wouldn’t you? “Useless”? Nope, not even close!
Just an insight gleaned from my ~30 years of hands-on, professional experience in software development.
Shameful! Typical of Trump.
So did they move to another location? If no money is being saved why move? I never knew NASA was located in the area.
“If no money is being saved why move?”
Well, uh … you poke a sensitive spot with the whole Trump/Musk/GOP modus operandi.
“I never knew NASA was located in the area.”
It HAD been among my favorite little-known NYC facts. I suppose it still is, if one tacks on the tragic ending.
As of 10:25 on June 6, out of 111 comments 35 are those of ecm. No wonder other people’s comments are censored, ecm should have at least 35% allocated to her/him/them. Plus they are always so pleasant to read.
I know! I love reading comments, sometimes more than articles, but lately they are so heavily peppered with lengthy rants from ecm it is hard to get to other neighbors’ comments.
Some folks have been known to read WSR articles other than this one. Eschew excessive extrapolation, and always remember that one human’s seitan is another’s poison.
Unsurprisingly, it seems never to have occurred to you that many of my own comments might have been rejected as well, though that is in fact the case. (It’s often the best ones that vanish, imho.) We’re all in the same boat; some of us bail, others sink.
It’s encouraging to hear you find my words so pleasant, and I hope tracking them so diligently brings you joy. It’s great to have a hobby.
Fahrenheit 451.