And an Award in Self-Defeatism Goes To. . .

This is an email that came to my work mailbox:

As employees of the federal government will be unavailable to respond to inquiries, help and support for projects will be unavailable. This includes, but is not limited to, contact with program officers, help desk inquiries, requests for no-cost extensions, budget change requests, award transfer requests, supplemental funding requests, support on electronic portals, and inquiries regarding submissions. Electronic portals, such as the NSF’s Fastlane and Research.gov, are closed as of October 1. The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) eRACommons is closed. Peer review of submitted proposals is suspended. No new awards will be announced.

Yes, it is such a brilliant idea to cripple research at this point in time. We are making total idiots out of ourselves, folks. The whole world is laughing.

In the meanwhile, nothing I could ever write about this issue is likely to attract even 1% of the attention that a silly test with pictures of trees is getting.