There are indeed reasonable number of fare-free systems. But you neglect the core purpose of public transit as it is seen by most US governments—i.e. distributing cash. Even if a system has 10% farebox recovery, they still get to buy the equipment and employ people to collect the money. Sure, they could go to proof-of-payment (or drop fares entirely), and further reduce costs by putting the Buy America Act and Davis-Bacon out of their misery, but that would reduce the opportunity for graft.

Your modems are Hayes-compatible? My, that's new-fangled.

In practice, death sentences in the US tend to be more expensive, and that's leaving aside the far-too-high rate of improper convictions. Perhaps an alternate universe with substantially less judicial process would be cheaper, but that option isn't on the menu.

The McAfee/Symantec/Kaspersky salesman. The software doesn't sell itself, y'know.

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

And a spare lightbulb kit.

In other words, "I'm doing SCIENCE!"

Since I lived in Baltimore for four years, I have to nominate Willis Carrier.

On a slightly more frivolous note, there's also Aldus Manutius, 15th-century inventor of the mail-order catalog.

Pictures of the cat or it didn't happen.

That is, indeed, the question. If we stipulate that the patent in question is 100% legitimate, then why was the lawsuit filed in East Texas when none of the defendants have any connection with that jurisdiction? I'd be much more sympathetic to CSIRO in this case if it had been filed in the Northern District of California.

That would most likely be a diesel. If you're in the US, our government's protectionism is at work again, keeping vehicles you want to buy out of the market.

Texas has nothing to worry about. Until we actually start building more nuclear plants, the energy for all those electric cars you want to see on the roads will come from coal and natural gas. The EPA just introduced some more rules to favor natural gas over coal, and guess which state produces the most natural gas. (HInt: Its capital is Austin.)

The Saudis don't have to worry that much, either. Only 60% of petroleum is used for transportation, and much of that is for aviation. They'd be more worried about their pets in DC failing to block the Keystone pipeline.

With Directed Energy Sea Mammals —even if thef Orbiting Pelican Relay Mirror (OPRM) is no longer needed to whack Osama.

Tom Lehrer, you have a phone call on line three.

If your customers want a City address and an 020 phone number, a virtual office is £LOTS cheaper.