Whew, quick assumptions -- That would be Mountain View Trailer Park in lovely, rural, Durango Colorado [ http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.229004,-107.802

Whew, quick assumptions -- That would be Mountain View Trailer Park in lovely, rural, Durango Colorado [ http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.229004,-107.802162&spn=0.00145,0.002838&sll=37.229589,-107.80593&sspn=0.001459,0.002838&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=37.229229,-107.802292&panoid=OnY37nUDH31ne-o48F02Iw&cbp=12,57.23,,0,-8.02 http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.229004,-107.8021... ] (Although in that shot you can't see the sign, I assure you it's called Mountain View Trailer Park, because of the view of the Mountains ) However, I spent the majority of my youth in New Mexico, with close to the lowest public education ratings in the country. Outside of that, I guess we're simply in fundamental disagreement about the nature of success. Sure, doing groundbreaking work might be impossible or at least very unlikely for the average person, but I believe that anyone can be successful (in a pragmatic sense) for the same reason I believe in the central limit theorem. The most successful scientists are not necessarily the smartest, but the ones who publish the most -- the same can be said of any discipline. In short, unrelenting persistence is key, and depth always beats breadth. I'm willing to concede that maybe I'm young and dumb and haven't been jaded by the world yet. Maybe I'm Malcom Gladwelling myself into thinking that there's some rhyme or reason behind the (personally qualified) success I feel I've achieved. Still, I am of the firm conviction that if you put limits on yourself, it will spread from your life into your work. There are no real limitations to what you can do. There may be temporary periods of plateaus or even deep valleys, but you can transcend them. I have seen this too many times to declare our ultimate fate and legacy of our work entirely accidental.