Oh good, knowing that your vote is being recorded for posterity oughta do wonders for voter turnout!
No, just THAT you voted. Kinda like they do now when they check your name off at the front desk of the voting area, give you a form to fill out, and then you put it in a machine that reads the vote after as many people as you care to wait for put their forms in before you.
What the parent poster meant was that the electronic nature of this system would make it easy to prevent multivotes by using a county-wide system.
I think that any moral person would have to question some of the decisions the US made in the fight against communism.
Of course.
But can you name one country of any consequence whose hands are clean?
Didn't think so. I'm aware of the mistakes of my country, but that does not dissuade me from loving my country and thinking overall, we've got the best thing going.
Moreover, as a country, we've learned the folly of coddling dictators. I don't see it happening anywhere near as often lately.
the AC said it well. Also remember that we spent fifty years staring down the soviet union, and that can tend to have a bit of an effect on American perceptions of communism.
I'm no fan of dictators, either, it's the same crime from a different approach. It's worth remembering though that economic freedom and political freedom are usually linked.
Translation: I've got no compelling argument, so I'm going to pull something condescending and dismissive out of my ass, and hope that no one realizes that "truth my repeated assertion" is an invalid debate tactic
Oh wise one, how can I learn to be like you?
Seriously, how long have you been having debates on the internet?
There's only so much time and energy I'm willing to invest to make a point. Considering that our debates here are utterly pointless, what I'm willing to invest is extremely limited. I can see the roadblock up the road before i get to it, so I don't bother.
The alternate scenario, which I've played out many, many times before, goes like this:
1. I make a counter argument. 2. you make a counter-counter argument and point out some flaws (real or imagined). 3. I concede or reinforce real/imagined flaws and make a counter-counter-counter argument and point out places you're full of crap. 4. you defend against my charges or ignore them and make a counter-counter....
Step infinity: We both give up, not having made a convert of the other, and have spent an hour or two of our lives we can never get back.
Collosal waste of time.
You're aware of the old saying, right? Arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still a retard.
If there's nothing more important you have to do than to argue with me, more's the pity.
My total time invested in this thread: 15 minutes. A minor distraction I can afford, but I have little desire to put in more for no real gain in the end.
So it isn't communism that is evil, it is compelling people do something.
If you can't understand on your own how communism makes slaves of everyone, it would take far more time than I'm willing to invest to explain it to you.
Clearly, the muderous regimes of Stalin, North Korea and a few others show that the implementation of communism is almost certainly evil- communists have murdered 100 million people in the past 100 years.
when communism becomes evil is when it is compulsory. A point you seem to have missed widely.
No one gives a shit what you CHOOSE to do for a hobby, who you CHOOSE give the results to, or if you CHOOSE to run off and live on a commune with River Moonchild and a bunch of other random hippies.
It's when you demand under threat of violence (usually via government) that I do these things that we have a very, very big problem.
When you give the computer final say in what the plane does, you're swapping your trust in the pilot for your trust in the ability of the programmers to forsee all possible conditions.
Not always a good bet.
Anyone else seen that video of an airbus flying into the trees after a low pass for an airshow? Apparently, the pilot wanted to pull up 30ft to clear the trees, but the computer decided it was better to increase thrust before pulling up.
Boeing planes have all those autopilot toys too, but if something unforseen comes along, the pilots can take actions required to save the plane. In an airbus, the computers would tell the pilot to fuck off.
I believe there are other stories out there showing the folly of giving computers the final say.
start requesting that stores associate a purchase with a time and a checkout lane,
As a former retail worker I can tell you that store number, date, time, register, and cashier number have been printed on receipts for several years, if not a decade or two. They may not be in an easily recognized format, but you didn't think all those meaningless numbers at the top and bottom of your reciepts were actually random, did you?
As for tying it into the security cameras & keeping tapes long enough to review days or weeks later....that's another matter.
You make big statements for being AC, but I'll give you a bit of a response.
But refusing to submit does not necessarily mean that an anarchist will break such laws; it merely means that he will not make an a priori committment not to break them.
Then your idea of an anarchist comes off as little more than the self-congratulatory idiots that I do see on the 'telly' waving signs but not actually accomplishing anything. The type of folks that you usually find the violent bandana-around-the-faces type of anarchist hanging out with.
On the other hand, your use of the term 'telly' makes me think you're British, and in that over-taxed, over-regulated, over-bearing nanny state I suppose I can be sympathetic to your view.
Coming from New Hampshire, USA, where the state government is so small it lives off a modest property tax, state ran hard liquor stores and a small service & meals tax, I find the local government to be unobtrusive.
Now, if you want to live by no rules you haven't specifically agreed to, go live in the Canadian wilderness or some remote place where no one gives a shit what you do. If you want to be a social creature, you must meet society's expectations. One of those nasty trade offs in life.
I have no sympathy for anarchists. They cannot create, only destroy.
That being said, there are different types of prisons. If you end up in a minimum security prison, it's mostly full of harmless idiots- repeat DUI's, the occasional petty thief, a hit and run or two. Not a country club, but pretty boring. You do your time and that's it. (I have a friend who spent 6 months in one of these. Claims he pretty much could have escaped any time he wanted to, but obviously didn't.)
Any inmate there who becomes violent gets sent off to pound-me-in-the-ass prison with the rapists, murderers, gang-bangers, etc.
Of course, mileage may vary by state. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
The Republicans are EVIL. They run up a HUGE debt so that something has to be cut from the budget
I agree with shrinking the government, and although I don't think the above qualifies as evil, it certainly is bad fiscal policy.
Of course, if the republicans tried to cut stuff directly, there would be no end to the whining and indignation from the Dems & their pet victim groups.
That is an option, but I don't think the hubble was built for a solo re-entry. Anything they could pick up off the sea floor (at a cost of a couple million) wouldn't be much to look at.
I would much rather have them take it back down to earth and put in a museum. What a magnificent object, how great it be to see it and thank it for all it has done for us and our planet. It just seems wrong to let it burn. We owe it more than that. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.
I, too, think that would be fantastic- but the recovery cost would be enormous. You'd basically be talking about a $100,000,000 exhibit.
it was balanced by a huge counterweight in the cart it pulled.
Are you sure? I seem to remember the dinosaur was well-balanced, but the cart was required for processing and batteries, as the interior of the beast had been takin up by mechanics.
French military victories We've all seen the Google page on French Military Victories. But the really funny part is if you click through the link to French Military Defeats:
The Complete Military History of France
Gallic Wars Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.
Hundred Years War Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman." Sainted.
Italian Wars Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
Wars of Religion France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
Thirty Years War France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
War of Revolution Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
The Dutch War Tied
War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
War of the Spanish Succession Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
American Revolution In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
French Revolution Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
Just out of curiosity, are you taking into account reproductive effects of a given dose?
We have specific limits at the plant for people planning on or in the process of reproducing in the near future. I do not recall what they are, nor the basis for the numbers.
What I do recall is the cancer risk studies- a career long exposure of 500 millirem (unit of radiation dose exposure) a year for 20 years will increase your chance of coming down with cancer from 21% for the general population to 21.6%.
At my nuke plant, most people who work in the radiactive areas(including myself) get less than 40 millirem a year. At this rate, I'll pretty much have the exact same risk of cancer as everyone else.
For acute radiation exposure, 25 Rem (25,000 millirem, obviously) will make you mildly sick, and you will stay that way for a couple weeks.
600 Rem and you will die within weeks.
I'm not sure that's as well known, and would be the reason I might be a little more concerned about potential waste dumps nearby.
Keep in mind that radiation energy distributes the same as sound energy. What I mean is that if you double your distance from a radioactive source, you cut the exposure to 1/4.
So, say you have a fresh out of the core used fuel assembly sitting out in the open. At a 2.5 Meter range, it gives off 100,000 Rem an hour, enough to kill you in under a minute.
Five meters and you're down to 25,000 Rem/hour
Ten meters and you're at 6,250 Rem/ hour
one thousand meters and you're at 625 mrem/ hour. (I'm tired, so my math may be a little off)
Now, obviously, no one is going to leave such a radiation source out in the open, and whoever tried to do so would die before they got anywhere with it.
It's more likely that any radioactive source at a 'dump' would be less than 10 mrem/hour at the surface, probably even less than 1 millirem/hour. Our dry storage casks will be so thick that they will have a neglible dose at the surface- though they will be creepily warm.:)
Considering that you get (IIRC) 30 millirem per year in background radiation, you can see that living 1/4 mile away from such a site would result in no measurable dose above background.
always slightly worried about the waste by-products of nuclear power stations, over and beyond the stuff they use for nuclear bombs. With a half-life of how long? Thousands of years? Millions? Would you like a radioactive waste dump on your door-step?
The longer the half life is, the less radioactive it is, and hence, the less dangerous. Think about it. If something's really radioactively 'hot', it'll decay all it's going to decay within minutes to weeks. If you're around it during that time period, you're fucked.
If something decays very slowly, the dose it gives is very low- it just says that way for a long, long time.
And the obvious solution to avoiding radiation dose from waste.... STAY AWAY FROM IT.
I work at a nuke plant. In a couple years we'll be putting 15 year old used fuel in huge casks and storing them outside because our spent fuel pool is getting full.
Considering that, as a nuke worker, I'm well aware of the dose rates given off by heavily shielded used fuel (basically nothing), and the health effects of certain dose thresholds.....
I'd WOULD let them store it in my back yard for the right $$$.
How much more will we have to pay for our veggies and fruits if we stop illegal immigration?
IIRC, Labor is only 10% of the cost of a head of lettuce. Double the labor cost and you increase the price of fruits and vegetables a moderate amount. On top of that, many common farm products can be planted, maintained, and harvested in 1000 acre lots or better (wild-ass-guess for land size) by 1 guy in a machine. And I don't think any of those six big companies wich basicaly grow most of our food are going to hire paperless migrant workers to run $200,000 in equipment. Hire same to pick oranges? If they can get away with it.
How about for construction? How about when we eat out?
I live in cracker-white NH, and we seem to do just fine with legal workers, without over-inlated prices.
This is, of course, assuming all the caucasians who speak Americen style english as if it were their native language are in fact legal citizens of the US. This is a fair assumption.
The claim that we 'need' migrant, currently illegal immigrants is dubious at best. I have spent little time in the states that are greatly impacted by this issue, but I've spent lots of time in states that aren't, and we seem to hum along just fine, thank you very much. I'm not saying our immigration laws are perfect, but such as they are right now, anyone here in violation of our laws can go home.
The bigger issue here is that Vincent Fox & company in Mexico run such a shitty country that it would implode in civil war if people couldn't just jump the border to the US and look for a better life.
Mexico's failure as a state is our problem because of our lax borders. The border is basically a pressure-relief valve for them, and the Mexican government actually hands out pamphlets giving advice on border jumping. Why we don't kick their ass for that (diplomatically speaking, of course) is beyond me.
More money will not solve the problem some of our schools suffer from. Inner city schools, for example, are often the most expensive, yet produce the worst students.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh good, knowing that your vote is being recorded for posterity oughta do wonders for voter turnout!
No, just THAT you voted. Kinda like they do now when they check your name off at the front desk of the voting area, give you a form to fill out, and then you put it in a machine that reads the vote after as many people as you care to wait for put their forms in before you.
What the parent poster meant was that the electronic nature of this system would make it easy to prevent multivotes by using a county-wide system.
I think that any moral person would have to question some of the decisions the US made in the fight against communism.
Of course.
But can you name one country of any consequence whose hands are clean?
Didn't think so. I'm aware of the mistakes of my country, but that does not dissuade me from loving my country and thinking overall, we've got the best thing going.
Moreover, as a country, we've learned the folly of coddling dictators. I don't see it happening anywhere near as often lately.
the AC said it well. Also remember that we spent fifty years staring down the soviet union, and that can tend to have a bit of an effect on American perceptions of communism.
I'm no fan of dictators, either, it's the same crime from a different approach. It's worth remembering though that economic freedom and political freedom are usually linked.
Translation: I've got no compelling argument, so I'm going to pull something condescending and dismissive out of my ass, and hope that no one realizes that "truth my repeated assertion" is an invalid debate tactic
Oh wise one, how can I learn to be like you?
Seriously, how long have you been having debates on the internet?
There's only so much time and energy I'm willing to invest to make a point. Considering that our debates here are utterly pointless, what I'm willing to invest is extremely limited. I can see the roadblock up the road before i get to it, so I don't bother.
The alternate scenario, which I've played out many, many times before, goes like this:
1. I make a counter argument.
2. you make a counter-counter argument and point out some flaws (real or imagined).
3. I concede or reinforce real/imagined flaws and make a counter-counter-counter argument and point out places you're full of crap.
4. you defend against my charges or ignore them and make a counter-counter....
Step infinity:
We both give up, not having made a convert of the other, and have spent an hour or two of our lives we can never get back.
Collosal waste of time.
You're aware of the old saying, right? Arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still a retard.
If there's nothing more important you have to do than to argue with me, more's the pity.
My total time invested in this thread: 15 minutes. A minor distraction I can afford, but I have little desire to put in more for no real gain in the end.
So it isn't communism that is evil, it is compelling people do something.
If you can't understand on your own how communism makes slaves of everyone, it would take far more time than I'm willing to invest to explain it to you.
Clearly, the muderous regimes of Stalin, North Korea and a few others show that the implementation of communism is almost certainly evil- communists have murdered 100 million people in the past 100 years.
and a commie by night, by doing some volunteer work for a local association.
Again, that's not communism at all. There's plenty of room for charity/volunteerism within a capitalist system.
when communism becomes evil is when it is compulsory. A point you seem to have missed widely.
No one gives a shit what you CHOOSE to do for a hobby, who you CHOOSE give the results to, or if you CHOOSE to run off and live on a commune with River Moonchild and a bunch of other random hippies.
It's when you demand under threat of violence (usually via government) that I do these things that we have a very, very big problem.
Astroturf...
seriously, you seem to be the only one with something nice to say about this 'upgrade.' Is astroturfing for SWG your main job?
When you give the computer final say in what the plane does, you're swapping your trust in the pilot for your trust in the ability of the programmers to forsee all possible conditions.
Not always a good bet.
Anyone else seen that video of an airbus flying into the trees after a low pass for an airshow? Apparently, the pilot wanted to pull up 30ft to clear the trees, but the computer decided it was better to increase thrust before pulling up.
Boeing planes have all those autopilot toys too, but if something unforseen comes along, the pilots can take actions required to save the plane. In an airbus, the computers would tell the pilot to fuck off.
I believe there are other stories out there showing the folly of giving computers the final say.
start requesting that stores associate a purchase with a time and a checkout lane,
As a former retail worker I can tell you that store number, date, time, register, and cashier number have been printed on receipts for several years, if not a decade or two. They may not be in an easily recognized format, but you didn't think all those meaningless numbers at the top and bottom of your reciepts were actually random, did you?
As for tying it into the security cameras & keeping tapes long enough to review days or weeks later....that's another matter.
The British use 'billions' when we Americans use 'millions'.
You make big statements for being AC, but I'll give you a bit of a response.
But refusing to submit does not necessarily mean that an anarchist will break such laws; it merely means that he will not make an a priori committment not to break them.
Then your idea of an anarchist comes off as little more than the self-congratulatory idiots that I do see on the 'telly' waving signs but not actually accomplishing anything. The type of folks that you usually find the violent bandana-around-the-faces type of anarchist hanging out with.
On the other hand, your use of the term 'telly' makes me think you're British, and in that over-taxed, over-regulated, over-bearing nanny state I suppose I can be sympathetic to your view.
Coming from New Hampshire, USA, where the state government is so small it lives off a modest property tax, state ran hard liquor stores and a small service & meals tax, I find the local government to be unobtrusive.
Now, if you want to live by no rules you haven't specifically agreed to, go live in the Canadian wilderness or some remote place where no one gives a shit what you do. If you want to be a social creature, you must meet society's expectations. One of those nasty trade offs in life.
Give us some names and dates. I heard this same story one night on FauxNews on the Oh Really? Factor.
This is slashdot, not CSI. No one's gonna be basing laws off of what this guy says.
Get over yourself. I've seen the activist-protester types in action, and it's easy enough to believe. If you don't believe it, so fucking what?
I have no sympathy for anarchists. They cannot create, only destroy.
That being said, there are different types of prisons. If you end up in a minimum security prison, it's mostly full of harmless idiots- repeat DUI's, the occasional petty thief, a hit and run or two. Not a country club, but pretty boring. You do your time and that's it. (I have a friend who spent 6 months in one of these. Claims he pretty much could have escaped any time he wanted to, but obviously didn't.)
Any inmate there who becomes violent gets sent off to pound-me-in-the-ass prison with the rapists, murderers, gang-bangers, etc.
Of course, mileage may vary by state. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
The Republicans are EVIL. They run up a HUGE debt so that something has to be cut from the budget
I agree with shrinking the government, and although I don't think the above qualifies as evil, it certainly is bad fiscal policy.
Of course, if the republicans tried to cut stuff directly, there would be no end to the whining and indignation from the Dems & their pet victim groups.
That is an option, but I don't think the hubble was built for a solo re-entry. Anything they could pick up off the sea floor (at a cost of a couple million) wouldn't be much to look at.
I would much rather have them take it back down to earth and put in a museum. What a magnificent object, how great it be to see it and thank it for all it has done for us and our planet. It just seems wrong to let it burn. We owe it more than that.
I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.
I, too, think that would be fantastic- but the recovery cost would be enormous. You'd basically be talking about a $100,000,000 exhibit.
Probably a little steep....
it was balanced by a huge counterweight in the cart it pulled.
Are you sure? I seem to remember the dinosaur was well-balanced, but the cart was required for processing and batteries, as the interior of the beast had been takin up by mechanics.
French military victories
We've all seen the Google page on French Military Victories. But the really funny part is if you click through the link to French Military Defeats:
The Complete Military History of France
Gallic Wars
Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.
Hundred Years War
Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman." Sainted.
Italian Wars
Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
Wars of Religion
France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
Thirty Years War
France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
War of Revolution
Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
The Dutch War
Tied
War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War
Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
War of the Spanish Succession
Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
American Revolution
In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
French Revolution
Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
What the FUCK is wrong with this country?
At this point, I think it's more fair to ask "What the fuck is wrong with this kid, and his parents?"
We know what's wrong with the lawyer. He has no ethics and thinks there's money to be made.
Now, if he consisently succeeds in winning these lawsuits, then we can ask what's wrong with this country. The answer is already ' a lot of things'
Just out of curiosity, are you taking into account reproductive effects of a given dose?
/hour. Our dry storage casks will be so thick that they will have a neglible dose at the surface- though they will be creepily warm. :)
We have specific limits at the plant for people planning on or in the process of reproducing in the near future. I do not recall what they are, nor the basis for the numbers.
What I do recall is the cancer risk studies- a career long exposure of 500 millirem (unit of radiation dose exposure) a year for 20 years will increase your chance of coming down with cancer from 21% for the general population to 21.6%.
At my nuke plant, most people who work in the radiactive areas(including myself) get less than 40 millirem a year. At this rate, I'll pretty much have the exact same risk of cancer as everyone else.
For acute radiation exposure,
25 Rem (25,000 millirem, obviously) will make you mildly sick, and you will stay that way for a couple weeks.
600 Rem and you will die within weeks.
I'm not sure that's as well known, and would be the reason I might be a little more concerned about potential waste dumps nearby.
Keep in mind that radiation energy distributes the same as sound energy. What I mean is that if you double your distance from a radioactive source, you cut the exposure to 1/4.
So, say you have a fresh out of the core used fuel assembly sitting out in the open. At a 2.5 Meter range, it gives off 100,000 Rem an hour, enough to kill you in under a minute.
Five meters and you're down to 25,000 Rem/hour
Ten meters and you're at 6,250 Rem/ hour
one thousand meters and you're at 625 mrem/ hour. (I'm tired, so my math may be a little off)
Now, obviously, no one is going to leave such a radiation source out in the open, and whoever tried to do so would die before they got anywhere with it.
It's more likely that any radioactive source at a 'dump' would be less than 10 mrem/hour at the surface, probably even less than 1 millirem
Considering that you get (IIRC) 30 millirem per year in background radiation, you can see that living 1/4 mile away from such a site would result in no measurable dose above background.
always slightly worried about the waste by-products of nuclear power stations, over and beyond the stuff they use for nuclear bombs. With a half-life of how long? Thousands of years? Millions? Would you like a radioactive waste dump on your door-step?
The longer the half life is, the less radioactive it is, and hence, the less dangerous. Think about it. If something's really radioactively 'hot', it'll decay all it's going to decay within minutes to weeks. If you're around it during that time period, you're fucked.
If something decays very slowly, the dose it gives is very low- it just says that way for a long, long time.
And the obvious solution to avoiding radiation dose from waste.... STAY AWAY FROM IT.
I work at a nuke plant. In a couple years we'll be putting 15 year old used fuel in huge casks and storing them outside because our spent fuel pool is getting full.
Considering that, as a nuke worker, I'm well aware of the dose rates given off by heavily shielded used fuel (basically nothing), and the health effects of certain dose thresholds.....
I'd WOULD let them store it in my back yard for the right $$$.
How much more will we have to pay for our veggies and fruits if we stop illegal immigration?
IIRC, Labor is only 10% of the cost of a head of lettuce. Double the labor cost and you increase the price of fruits and vegetables a moderate amount. On top of that, many common farm products can be planted, maintained, and harvested in 1000 acre lots or better (wild-ass-guess for land size) by 1 guy in a machine. And I don't think any of those six big companies wich basicaly grow most of our food are going to hire paperless migrant workers to run $200,000 in equipment. Hire same to pick oranges? If they can get away with it.
How about for construction? How about when we eat out?
I live in cracker-white NH, and we seem to do just fine with legal workers, without over-inlated prices.
This is, of course, assuming all the caucasians who speak Americen style english as if it were their native language are in fact legal citizens of the US. This is a fair assumption.
The claim that we 'need' migrant, currently illegal immigrants is dubious at best. I have spent little time in the states that are greatly impacted by this issue, but I've spent lots of time in states that aren't, and we seem to hum along just fine, thank you very much. I'm not saying our immigration laws are perfect, but such as they are right now, anyone here in violation of our laws can go home.
The bigger issue here is that Vincent Fox & company in Mexico run such a shitty country that it would implode in civil war if people couldn't just jump the border to the US and look for a better life.
Mexico's failure as a state is our problem because of our lax borders. The border is basically a pressure-relief valve for them, and the Mexican government actually hands out pamphlets giving advice on border jumping. Why we don't kick their ass for that (diplomatically speaking, of course) is beyond me.
Yes, but for violating a toll. You have to stop if you don't have fastlane to pay the toll.
More money will not solve the problem some of our schools suffer from. Inner city schools, for example, are often the most expensive, yet produce the worst students.