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A comment on Arecibo Observatory Detects Mysterious, Energetic Radio Burst. Parent comment

Re:Arecibo Observatory Detects Mysterious, Energetic Radio B... by omegaworks on Sunday May 18, 2014 @12:18PM (#7763432)
> As the National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns Arecibo Observatory, cannot legally carry insurance on its facilities, there is no clear source of funding to carry out such a massive repair.

This seems so absurd. Why cant NSF facilities be insured?

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Re:Arecibo Observatory Detects Mysterious, Energetic Radio B... by lutorm on Sunday May 18, 2014 @12:24PM (#7763441)
AFAIK, doesn't the entire federal government self-insure?
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Re:Arecibo Observatory Detects Mysterious, Energetic Radio B... by maaku on Sunday May 18, 2014 @06:38PM (#7764695)
What does that mean? The government pays... itself? How is that different than no insurance?
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Re:Arecibo Observatory Detects Mysterious, Energetic Radio B... by prawn on Sunday May 18, 2014 @09:16PM (#7765186)
Presumably they set aside an amount of money based on risk factors and so on. No insurance would mean not having any preparation in place at all.
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