Word: foolproof
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...These companies expect very brisk sales in the coming year. Meanwhile, scientists at Harvard and Berkeley are getting together to propose a foolproof national system. Conferences and symposiums on voting reform are springing up everywhere. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer promises to set up a commission to entertain all suggestions and pick us out a winner. Hillary Clinton wants to ditch the Electoral College. Bill Clinton thinks something ought to be done...
Such an electronic balloting system would provide rapid and nearly, if not entirely foolproof, ballot counting and certification. The system could be set up to keep a list of voters and whom they voted for. Hard-core civil libertarians might contest the possibility that such a system wouldn't maintain voter anonymity. But stipulations could be legislated to prevent disclosure of this information except in the event of a court order based on substantiated allegations of voter fraud...
Unfortunately, the test is not foolproof. As many as half of epileptic patients will have a normal EEG, while others who have never had a seizure will show abnormalities. It's unclear when to perform the test, though most studies suggest that the best chance of spotting abnormalities is in the first 24 hours. If a serious underlying brain disorder is suspected, doctors may also recommend an MRI scan (which is now preferred over C.T. scans), but these tests won't tell you much about epilepsy...
Bruised, battered and frustrated, the losing team inevitably searches for someone to blame in the face of an unexpected defeat. To place the onus on one's own shortcomings is to lose face; to credit the other team for a better performance is to admit inferiority. The most foolproof tact is to, instead, blame the referee--for a bad call on a particularly key play, for consistently favoring the other team or for simply being, as school kids are apt to whine in gym class, "not fair...
Like most generalizations, this one is not foolproof. It's a chicken-and-egg problem: who's to say whether the university fits the mythology, or the mythology fits the university? And sure, there are levels on which this is just a story, surrounded by self-perpetuating hype...