In fact it does. Perhaps more importantly PROGRESS comes from collaboration.

My PhD has been spent visualising the output of agent based to real-time 3D environments. I come from a computer games tech background - of course I needed the expertise and help of the agent based modellers (and computer artists) within the university. We all had some understanding of mathematics (and I do believe a solid foundation in mathematics is helpful) but were more experienced and confident within our own little subset.

I think part of the reason science does work this day is that a lot of progress comes from the less-prolific scientists and researchers. I remember one of my professors extremely well because he was a prolific man, with a truly immense ability to recall the vast amounts of information seemingly outside his subject area. (It turns out he would later describe it as being "connected to his subject area and therefore just as amazing to learn"). I know from experience he wasn't the easiest man to work with, he had his own process and it was quite personal and independent to him. For the rest of us not blessed with the type of ability my professor had collaboration is a key part of science.

Try not allowing factual inaccuracy detracting from the point the OP was making.

Certainly not my sole reason. Scotland has different needs to that of England, Northern Ireland or Wales. I have contempt for "our" government Broken promises in the form of tax breaks for leading Scottish Industries such as computer game technology where money was taken from what was promised to the industry and given to Manchester's new Centre for Excellence in Computer Graphic Technology, promises on consultation of expansion of financial powers that have yet to be delivered and the staunch, defiant sound of a complete block on any discussion of Scotland gaining independence.

Something I meant to put in my first comment, In your original post you said you wish the whole independence debate would go away. The problem is that no other party has ever allowed the debate to take place, they debate about being able to debate about it. Who gave 650 MP's the right to say "No, not a chance." Who do they think they are to deny the people of Scotland to choose what they feel is best for themselves?

While the RBS and HBOS, well BOS are Scottish banks they are not exclusively for Scottish citizens nor run exclusively by Scotsmen and woman. If, and it's an if, RBS went bust, do you really think that Scotland would have been the only country in the UK to suffer because of it? In fact, as the previous poster mentioned, due to the size of the other home nations combined, I'm sure that there are more non-scottish based accounts in RBS than Scottish based ones.

Similarly, banking sector rules, regulations and laws are created and enforced through the UK government, it was not part of the devolution agreement in place. I could wail about Scottish politicians calling for powers to be handed to Scotland to regulate their own banks which have fallen on deaf ears since the creation of the Scottish parliament.

It is very easy to only remember the banking crisis as it is fresh in everyone's head. Most people have and probably are still affected by the crushing blow the worldwide recession has dealt. I'm sure if we go back through time we can comprise a list of things England owe Scotland and vice versa. Don't delude yourself into thinking Scotland would ever be financially indebted to England.

Sadly, you completely miss the viewpoint of many supporters of Scottish Independence. Saying that there is no real reason why Scotland should be independent is a statement I hear time and again by anti-independence supporters North of the border and by a vocal majority South of it. If, as the case may be, the majority of voters want an independent Scotland then I would say that IS a real reason for Scotland to gain her independence. After all, the role of government is to do the will of the people. The fact that many other EU countries have a similar landmass, population and influence as Britain in no way makes me alter my stance. So because other EU countries are the same we should stay part of the UK to keep up appearances? I consider myself Scottish, not British or European (although I am all them).

Claiming only national pride and emotion drives pro-independence supporters is a cop-out. It's the same line that has been spun for years, as is the argument that Scotland will be financially devastated if we were to leave the Union. I do not imagine breaking from the Union would be easy and plain sailing. I am fully prepared for hardships that may arise through seeking independence as are most pro-independence supporters I know.

P.S. AFAIK, IANAM (I am not a minister), catholic's and protestant's believe in the same God.

It''s awful. Yesterday I could browse slashdot happily. Today I look at it in disbelief, how could one update make such a difference to my browsing experience. It's almost as if . . . . . Oh, my bad, I loaded up Internet Explorer by mistake. So, the Slashdot layout has changed huh?

It is an interesting subject. I got hooked on crowd control simulations although I would have described that sort of study more herding than silent democracy.

I LOL'd at this. The fact I swallowed half my banana while reading it was the karmic downside :(

Yup, us drivers have boids flocking algorithm in-built.

Just a thought but should they not, for simplicity, skip PSP2 and go straight to PSP3? I hardly look forward to walking into my local GameStation, watching all the cool kids hanging next to the PS6 section of games while I am nervously shuffling about the PSP4.

Looking forward to seeing Rock Band: Backstage pass, groupies and all.

I'm not sure it's a double standard when you compare software glitches to a professional con. These guys developed a plan, hired another man in an attempt to decrease attention to the fact they were robbing a slot machine.