US Government Spent $432,000 Researching Gay Hookup Apps

The government, courtesy of the US taxpayer, somehow finds the extra cash to spend on useless studies like how kids view fat characters in movies, voice therapy for transgender folk, why lesbians are hazardous drinkers and fat, and other bizarre and useless studies.  Frankly, who cares.  These studies have cost up to 99 million.  That was for a grant study in China!

Yes, I'm sure the National Institutes of Health (NIH) does conduct research studies on legitimate and worthwhile subjects, but do we really need (or want) to know whether GPS dating apps will encourage gay men to have risky sex, and how aroused they get using the app? Yep, that's the latest NIH waste.

Columbia University received $432,000 to study how gay "hookup apps" like Grindr, Scruff and GROWLr might increase risky sexual behavior.

“Smartphone technologies have provided a new venue for sexual partnering among men who have sex with men (MSM),” the grant for the project states. “Indeed, there are a rapidly growing number of smartphone applications designed to facilitate sexual partnering among MSM.”

The project argues that dating apps that use the Global Positioning System, or GPS, has “accelerated” the rate that gay men can find sexual partners, compared to online.

“Furthermore, given the expediency with which men are able to arrange sexual encounters using these applications, there is cause to question if, when, and how sexual negotiation and serostatus disclosure occurs,” the grant said. “The overall study goal is to understand how sexual risk behaviors among MSM may be facilitated by the nature of GPS-enabled smartphone applications, the way they are used, and the process by which sexual partnering occurs via smartphone applications.”

60 gay men were interviewed for the study.

Who cares about the dating habits of gays or straights.

I'd like them to conduct a study: find out why the government spends money on stupid research projects.

More on the Washington Free Beacon.

Taxpayers To Pay $400,000 To Find Out How Kids View Fat Characters In Movies

Someone wants to know how kids view fat characters in movies, so the National Institute of Health (NIH) is spending over $400,000 to find out.

Children's perceptions of "obesogenic" culture in films, or the promotion of excessive weight gain, is the subject of the $433,577 study being conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The researchers have concluded that children's movies are confusing because they make fun of fat characters, while also promoting unhealthy behaviors like drinking soda and watching television.

"Children receive cultural messages about appropriate eating, exercise, and attitudes from a variety of influences, likely including family, friends, schools, religious institutions, and electronic culture (television, movies, and video games)," the grant explains. "One important source of culture in the world for children is children's movies."

Your tax dollars at work.

The rest here.

Feds Waste $300,000 On How Humans Interact With Bicycles

Taxpayers just wasted $300,000 on a research study of how "humans interact with bicycles," because it's oh so important to know how to lower our carbon footprint.

Think this was sourced from The Onion or from one of the myriad of other satire sites? Nope.  It's woefully true. The National Science Foundation (NSF)  conducted the study from October 2009 through June 2013.

The premise for the project, which was conducted between October 2009 and June 2013, was that bicycle dynamics are “poorly understood,” and researchers set out to come up with new designs to encourage more Americans to bike to lower their carbon footprint.

“Although human operator control models exist for numerous aircraft and other vehicles, the bicycle with a rider is a human-vehicle system whose dynamic behavior is poorly understood,” researchers at the University of California, Davis said in a paper publishing their interim results.

The paper said the authors had “deeper questions” about how people control bikes, and argued that no designs in the last century have been made with “desired handling qualities.”

“Even the simplest models of a bicycle with a rigidly attached rider have yet to be completely understood,” the researchers wrote.

“If successful, this research will improve the fundamental understanding of how humans interact with bicycles and will help pave the way to the design of bicycles for a wider population and for a wider range of tasks,” they added.

The rest on the Washington Free Beacon