I am GM of a nuclear power plan

And I am Jack's liver.

And there are more people who believe (terrestrial) solar energy will become economically viable but think castles in the skies of Venus are just that. Castles in the air.

To be fair, we have solar energy, getting more economical by leaps and bounds, while our rockets are still blowing up at launch.

High enough, the climate is nice.

This is the only reason people live in Canada. Because if you're high enough, you don't really care about the climate.

I always get a kick out of the fact that some of the same people who think solar energy will never be viable will embrace the idea of human colonies in the clouds over Venus or on Mars.

I love stories like this one, which are proven conclusively in the comments section under them.

Could not one of average intelligence yet above-average perseverance perform an experiment building on another's experiment and be called a "successful" scientist.

Maybe, but they still have to write it up and get it published, and that's where the above-average intelligence comes in. There are drones in science, like in every field, but they don't get "successful" without publishing. And often that means working with others, and working with others requires above-average intelligence.

Intelligence is of little concern and to be honest I'd like to know what defines intelligence.

If only there was some sort of reference that we could use to find such a definition...

"noun
1.
the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills."

or...

" A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.""

No matter how you define, it is most definitely not the same as "education". I'm not sure if you've ever gotten a PhD or been on PhD committees or been an adviser to PhD candidates, but "education" only gets you partway there (and not that big a part).

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try, but at her advanced age, my dog's favorite toy is a bed on which to take a nap. I could probably interest her in a tennis ball or treat, though.

Unless I'm drastically misinterpreting your quote, you are requiring them to do that:

No, my point was that paying hundreds of thousands of dollars is not the only way to get a medallion here. There's a lottery every year when they put new medallions into circulation. The winners get the medallions for just a nominal fee.

Now, regarding the special medallions, those are not the ones that are hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're much more readily available for the cost of a license, and after a certain period of serving the underserved locations of the city, there are ways to get the regular medallion. All of these new rules were put in place long after I was a weekend warrior cabdriver during grad school, so I don't know the exact details, just what I've had hacks tell me when I was in their cabs.

Not everyone has a brand-new computer; The manuscript of the book I'm about to publish is in Open Office Word, about 400 pages and full of large images, and autosave is a real pain because it takes minutes to save the file.

Like another commenter said, I wouldn't make it the most important thing, overall efficiency is. But software speed is important to anyone with an older computer, especially a Windows computer, because the computer slows as the registry grows, and the registry never gets smaller, only bigger.

This is the real reason why CCP had it's funding reduced.

The coup was a counter-coup. The Iranian PM was the one that overthrew the government, faked an election, dissolved parliament, was ruling by decree, and caused the Shah to flee.

That's not even close to true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
http://partners.nytimes.com/li...
http://www.theguardian.com/wor...

The government of Iran had been overthrown by the Prime Minister who faked an election, dissolved parliament, and was ruling by decree while ignoring the Shah as constitutional monarch. (You know, the traditional head of government being responsible to head of state?) Not even Stalin faked elections as brazenly as the Iranian PM. The Shah fled for his own safety. The US and UK helped restore the Shah to power, not install him.

That is 100% false.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

http://partners.nytimes.com/li...

http://www.theguardian.com/wor...

And if it was society's resources paying for the gas and labor, then I would agree with you, but at the moment, you're requiring the cab drivers - who are typically lower-class - spend their own resources.

No, you're not requiring. Cities have lotteries for new taxi medallions every year where they are obtained for a very small registration fee. That's the only way new medallions come into the system.

And after all, isn't spending your own resources in order to start a business that will be profitable what capitalism is all about?

Barry M. Rubin

Horse shit.

Iran was a pro-Western, pro-American country until we sent the CIA to overthrow their government in 1953 and installed the Shah. If you're going to quote an Israeli PJMedia/Fox News propagandist, you might want to find one with more credibility than Barry Rubin.