The Straight Dope 02/06/2004

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 02/06/2004

Dear Cecil:

What with the new war on terror and the ongoing war on
drugs, I've heard a lot of people make the claim that
the United States has incarcerated a higher proportion
of its citizens than any other country in history. To me,
this claim seems tenuous at best. What about countries
such as China, the USSR, and Germany during the mid-20th
century? Perhaps the jail population would be low, but
with all of the secret detainments and labor camps, the
actual total would be more befitting of the all-time
title. --Shawn Hatfield, via the Internet

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Cecil replies:

Your skepticism is well-placed. The U.S. certainly doesn't
have the highest incarceration rate in world history, and
depending on whose figures you believe may not even have
the highest rate now. However, to be honest, we're more 
competitive than you might care to hear.

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies
at King's College London, the U.S. currently has the
largest documented prison population in the world, both
in absolute and proportional terms. We've got roughly 2.03
million people behind bars, or 701 per 100,000 population.
China has the second-largest number of prisoners (1.51
million, for a rate of 117 per 100,000), and Russia has
the second-highest rate (606 per 100,000, for a total of
865,000). Russia had the highest rate for years, but has
released hundreds of thousands of prisoners since 1998;
meanwhile the U.S. prison population has grown by even more. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040206.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I was watching a special on Egyptian gods today, and this
question came up. When one society conquers another (as
when the Greeks conquered the Egyptians), usually elements
of the conquered society are incorporated into the
conqueror's. Are there any Greek gods that came out of the
Egyptian conquest? --Rick Garnett

Guest contributor Fierra replies:

Could be.

Expecting a little more, were we? OK, you asked for it.
There are several aspects to your question:

1. Were elements of Egyptian society incorporated into
   Greek society? 
2. Were any Egyptian gods incorporated into the Greek
   pantheon? 
3. Did this only take place amongst the Greeks living in
   Egypt, or among those Greeks back in Greece too? 
4. What evidence do we have and how reliable is it? 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgreekegyptgods.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 02/27/1981

Dear Cecil: 

What is a "Swiss bank account"? In what ways and under
what circumstances would it behoove me to have one?
Who would I contact to arrange the deal?
--Ann H., Washington 

Dear Ann:

A Swiss bank account, dollface, is an account in a bank
in Switzerland. It seems to me you could probably have
noodled this out for yourself. Most likely what you are
really interested in is the legendary numbered Swiss
bank account, made famous in innumerable trashy novels.
Such accounts are misleadingly named, since all Swiss
bank accounts (and, for that matter, all American bank
accounts) are numbered; the difference with the ones in
question is that they are referred to solely by number,
rather than by name and number, in the course of the
bank's internal bookkeeping operations. The bank does
keep a list of depositors' names, of course, but access
to it is restricted. The supposed advantage of this is
that no one will be able to bribe some clerk to reveal
the size of your balance, which may be useful if you
happen to be, say, the deposed ruler of a large Middle
Eastern country. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_331b.html

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