Unfortunately, I am well aware of Nancy Knight’s incredibly stupid and useless quest to find identical snowflakes. Awarded well over $100,000 to waste on the project, she had to take an aircraft to the very tops of the clouds to find her unicorn.
I make snowballs out of snow. I make snowmen out of snow. I ski on snow. I watch dogs change the colors of snow. I watch snow decrease the IQ of sport utility drivers by at least half. I can do none of these things at the tops of clouds - snow is down here, ice crystals are up there - there are ice crystals up there during the summer months as well… would they still be called “snow flakes” in July?
Find two identical ice crystals has never been in doubt. Finding two identical snowflakes, however, has yet to be accomplished.
Welcome to the SDMB, stormtrax.
I assume you found Cecil’s column on snowflakes not
very satisfying.
You seem to know more about investigator N. Knight and
her meterological studies than the rest of us. Judging
from the tone of your inaugural post, I’d also say your
beef is mainly with her and not Cecil.
Did she rain on one of your parades?
And I am confident that two identical snowflakes have
been collected numerous times, they just haven’t been
documented adequately; having been crushed into
ballistic spheroid projectiles miles apart… 
To tell the truth my beef is mainly with the people in DC who are so generous with my money. I’ve never met Knight and I’m sure she may be a very nice person. All I know is that if the government is giving out hundreds of thousands of dollars at a clip for projects which serve no useful purpose I’d rather they spend the money on determining if I’d have more fun in a Porche than a Saturn.
It just so happens that we have two forums specifically to deal with your complaint. There’s Great Debates, if you want to discuss it, and there’s the BBQ Pit, if you just wanna rant. Take your pick.
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space before and after the text of the URL).
Cecil’s column can be found on-line at the link provided by our friend Jamoross.
The column can also be found on pages 392-395 of Cecil Adams’ book «Return of the Straight Dope».
stormtrax, if you have a link to provide that discusses Nancy Knight’s research and your contention that her funding was solely to find identical snowflakes, we would all be interested in reading it. However, as other posters have hinted, the discussion of how wisely the US government spends its tax revenues is probably far enough removed from the subject of this Straight Dope column that the conversation may be better suited to the «Great Debates» forum (for a debate on the subject) or «The BBQ Pit» forum (if the intent is to air a gripe).
moderator, «Comments on Cecil’s Columns»
In case anyone’s curious, here’s a nifty website on snowflakes, crystals, etc. Everything you could ever want to know, and then some…except for a few things…