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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Well Waddaya Know VIII

...aaaand, we're back! Shragi, our host for this series, sent this to me a while ago, but I neglected to post due to busy season and Yom Tov obligations. So, though it is the middle of the week, in honor of Shragi's turning a quarter of a century old yesterday (happy birthday Zucchini boy!), we're going to post this today.
Moshe's mother sent him to buy 20 items. He will remember:
  • the first items
  • the last items
  • between 5 and 9 items
  • all answers
  • answers 1 & 2
  • answers 2 & 3
Poll is going to be up to the left. Good luck! :) Feel free to elaborate in the comments, and also discuss the previous question which didn't last long enough to get any comments:
What do you think of the idea to privatize the jails?

8 comments:

  1. Wait, which Moshe are we talking about?
    He'll do fine, as long as you don't ask him to identify a uterus.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jails, on the whole, are quite useless.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Moshe's mother sent him to buy 20 items. He will remember:"

    Not a darned thing, unless I take a written list.

    That's why I have a huge homemade database at work (low-tech type that I am, it's in a Word table)--since I can't remember anyone's phone numbers, I write 'em all down!

    Re privatizing prisons, pardon me for being such a cynic, but I can't help thinking that some enterprising capitalist(s) would think of a good way to have more people arrested so that his/her/their jail might earn a higher profit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do they provide an adequate deterrence -- no.
    Do they provide adequate rehabilitation (assuming you believe in such a thing) -- no.
    Do they foster a deeper sense of animosity between the offender and society at large -- yes.
    Do they make it that much harder for the offender to re-enter society -- yes.
    Do they lead to a decrease in repeat offenders – clearly not.
    Do they lead to an increase in repeat offenders – not sure but it would not surprise me.

    Do they provide a return on their investment (be it monetary, human or otherwise) in any way, shape or form --- abso-freakin-lutely NOT.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Huh? Statistics show that the more full jails are, the lower the crime rate.

    The problem is when the criminals get let out, which means there's a huge issue with the rehabilitation process.

    Also, how would you measure that it is not a deterrent? Where in the US is there no jail that that could be reasonably measured?

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.bop.gov/news/PDFs/legal_guide.pdf

    This is a legal handbook from the Bureau of Prisons detailing the prodecure and laws of imprisonment. It also outlines thier course of recovery.

    This link: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm

    has many more reports on various topics of interest including those which were mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are assuming that Moshe, once out of the house, will remember 1)where he is supposed to be going and 2) what he is supposed to be doing once he gets where he is going.

    ReplyDelete