Word: meaninglessness
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...biggest in the world, which it uses to study the effects of the various heartbeat patterns (P, Q, R, S and T-Waves). Years ago the Pru refused to accept applicants whose cardiograms showed deep Q3-waves. Now it knows that deep Q3-waves are often meaningless, accepts most applicants. The Pru never says that any one individual will die sooner than another. What it does say is that, actuarily, in any given group of 1,000 people with a heart abnormality, possibly 30% will die before their time, and that it must charge all a certain penalty to cover...
...addition to Yale's Dave Armstrong and Rex Aubrey, both of whom finished behind Dyer's 22.2 in last week's Yale meet, Bob Keiter of Amherst, who reportedly has done 22.3, should offer Dyer, hard competition. The 50 being what it is, prediction among these four is meaningless...
...only to show how much has been learned, and that consequently the examination itself need not be a learning experience. This argument rationalizes sloth in writing an exam, but even at its best it has gross defects. The most serious is that it presupposes accuracy of grading. Examinations with meaningless grades still have a point if the test itself teaches; if the exam is only a measuring rod, then it stands or falls with its accuracy...
...most Americans farm parity* is a meaningless phrase. But to farmers it is the measure of how their part of the economy is doing in comparison with the rest of the country. Last week the parity ratio sagged to 80, as low as it has been since World War II ended, showing that farmers are still in plenty of trouble. The drop of two points from January came because farm prices slipped while industrial prices continued to rise. Compared with a year earlier, farmers in February still were being paid 3% more for what they sold. But they were paying...
...Double Check. In Roanoke, Va., after banks bounced five checks because they couldn't read the signatures, cops tracked down Kenny Calhoun, got him to admit that he persuaded store clerks to fill out checks for him, signed them with a meaningless scrawl, did his forging in this way because he couldn't read or write...