The "quadrant" system. As many as six trailers play before features at major chains, like AMC and Regal. The studio releasing a given film typically has automatic rights to two of these slots, and theater executives (in consultation with higher-ups from various studios) select the remaining four. Though theoretically studios and theaters could attach any trailer to any movie, they usually decide which releases to promote by using the "quadrant" system, which divides potential audiences into four different categories: men under 25, women under 25, men over 25, and women over 25. Before chick flicks, theaters play previews for romantic dramas as well as romantic comedies, because they figure that's what young women will eventually want to see.
It audits itself. Every year, various federal agencies review programs that have a high risk of improper spending—that is, programs that historically misspend more than 2.5 percent of their budgets and more than $10 million total. Kind of like the IRS during tax season, agents don't pore over every last high-risk dollar. Instead, they take random samples and investigate those. For example, the federal food stamps program might examine just a few thousand of its 28 million or so payments. If 5.6 percent of the money spent in those payments includes errors—as it did in 2008—then that rate is extrapolated to the rest of the spending program.
French law doesn't define the term "cult." Rather, it uses the expression "cultlike movements" to describe groups that demand unreasonable financial contributions, encourage nonparticipation in elections, promote anti-social behavior, or cut members off from their families. It's easier to target bad behavior, the thinking goes, than to get into a semantic debate over what is and isn't a cult. The French government has, however, tried to define the term in the past. In 1995, a special parliamentary commission compiled a list of 10 cultish characteristics, including the indoctrination of children, a mentally unstable membership, and the attempt to infiltrate public institutions.
With a two-page form. For the last nine decades, the International Committee of the Red Cross has hand-delivered messages to hostages, detainees, soldiers, and civilians living in war zones using an official form (PDF). (To get one, the family of a hostage can contact their national Red Cross or Red Crescent society.)
