The biggest problem I see with this is that the research funding will end up going to those with the best grant writing skills and not necessarily the best scientists. I have no idea how to solve this problem, and get the actual best people working on it, but this is as important as any other aspect of the project.

The problem is the unions. I don't think that needs any explanation.

Thank you, I'm not sure how the AC got modded. You would think that seeing a 747 cost $1,000,000 per 1000 km to fly would have raised a flag for someone.

This is easy to say, but not many people are going to pay 5X the price or more to fly with an airline that pays their employees extra and is nice to their customers. Unfortunately, consumers are getting what they want from the air travel industry, a race to the bottom.

Look up eddy currents and inductive heating

Quebec City is not a major Canadian airport. All major airports have pre-clearance, little regional airports do not. I used to fly to Boston from Fredericton and had to clear customs in Boston, but Fredericton Airport is basically a shed with one international flight a day (usually with about five people on it).

Toronto, Montreal, even Ottawa which is a tiny airport, Vancouver, Calgary etc, all have pre-clearance

She was cute. The GP has likely never been near a real woman to has no point for comparison.

Way to provide a well supported counter argument. I there a fancy Latin term for the logical fallacy of refuting an argument by saying "no they don't"?

If you want real fictional mathematics, look for some of the works of El Naschie.

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to compare Google and RIM. After I wrote my comment, I realized some people might draw that conclusion. I was just pointing out, based on my own experience, that trading stocks based on technical indicators is not always the best idea, as was implied by the post I was responding to.

I remember buying some RIM stock a few years ago (for > $100 / share) based on this philosophy. Ask me how that worked out.

I think that one of the reasons there is so much hate directed to smokers is that disliking those that are different from you is an unfortunate part of human nature. Smokers are virtually the only group left that it is politically correct to put down and so people flock to them as a kind of punching bag.

Another reason is jealousy I think. People who used to smoke, or are two inhibited to allow themselves a publicly visible vice feel jealous when they see somebody enjoying a smoke and take it out on them.

I have no idea how this could be viewed as insightful. First there is the obvious point that alcohol a depressant that modifies behavior and makes you generally stupid and tired, wheras nicotine is a mild stimulant which may slightly increase mental function more like coffee. More importantly though, in what kind of workplace do you not get to take a break every couple of hours? I work at a desk a lot of the time, don't smoke, but I certainly take breaks where I go for a 5-10 minute walk outside, just to stretch and get away from my computer. Any workplace where employees can't do this is asking for higher healthcare costs.

When people go out for a cigarette, they are taking a short break from work. I grant you they are using an addictive drug during their break, but so is anyone who goes for a coffee or chocolate bar.

I just heard about this on the radio driving home. I am in Canada. Our equivalent of the FTC fined two companies, one 500K, one 18K. They also asked that the companies respect our do not cole registry from now on. My understanding is that in Canada at least, they can still call, just not if you chose to give your number to the DNC registry. Seems a bit light of a punishment.

Unfortunately, in many universities (I teach in Ontario, Canada) government funding is tied to metrics like student retention. My university lets in all kinds of people that shouldn't be there, then blames the faculty members when they drop out or fail courses. We have caps on the percentagle of D's, F's and withdrawals we are 'allowed' to have in a class. In cases where the DFW rate is too high, the adminstration has converted failures to passes and blamed the teacher. The result is grade inflation and passing people who shouldn't pass. Right now this is not a problem with online universities, but once you have many businesses competing for pupils, things like dropout rate will become important to them and the numbers will be fudged.