Word: draconian
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...Although the complaints are useful in shaming University Hall out of its more draconian antics, there are more important times when the idea of Harvard as Harvard surfaces in the mind. It’s during solitary moments when, despite the desire for humility and the claims of disillusionment, the mythology of this place overtakes one. For me, it happened one day when I was walking through the snow-covered yard and I realized that, sometime in the past three hundred years, someone whose name I learned in elementary school probably walked roughly the same path—and probably...
...Veggie Day is not compulsory, says the city's vice-mayor, Tom Balthazar, because such a draconian measure would be impossible to enforce, even in environmentally friendly Ghent, a picturesque town of 230,000 where bicycles lay scattered against spired churches in the largest car-free city center in Belgium. "We wanted our goal to be easily achievable - it's not hard to skip meat one day a week," he says. "And we wanted it to be something the population could rally behind. If you give people the correct information about meat, it becomes an easy ethical decision." (Watch...
...government has not repealed draconian media laws nor introduced a new media-governing board as promised. Says Makombe: "The much talked-about 100 days have gone by, and it is still no show. All [politicians] talk about is the economy and why so-and-so has not released funds, yet they have other major issues to address...
...weeklong quarantine when one guest was found to be carrying the virus. The city, one of Asia's busiest business and travel hubs, was ravaged by the 2003 SARS epidemic as well as subsequent scares over avian flu. As a consequence, its counterpandemic procedures are among the most draconian in the world, while its epidemiology laboratories are among the most advanced. (Read "Battling Swine Flu: The Lessons from SARS...
...H1N1 swine flu virus is already present in so many countries, and readily capable of spreading from person to person, it's far too late to try to isolate one or two countries. Although uninfected countries may be able to delay the introduction of swine flu by imposing draconian limits on international travel, they would not likely be able to stave off the virus for good - and the economic losses resulting from the travel ban may far outweigh any benefits. One 2007 study by the Brookings Institution estimated, for example, that a 95% reduction in U.S. air travel would cost...