Not really. It depends on the state you live in; in my state, there was an exam you had to take in order to graduate, but it was given in 10th grade instead of at the end - didn't make much sense, except maybe to allow those who didn't pass the first time to re-take it without graduating late. So overall, I'm not aware of the US having anything similar to the GED that students take while actually in school. So there isn't anything to pull from, in that sense.

Of course, your original question was: why privatize it? They probably did it because the college/university entrance exams have been privatized for a long time, and those seem to be okay, so why not? Sounds kind of lazy, but I don't have any better ideas :)

It's not the high school final exam, per se. It's an exam you can take *instead* of actually going to high school. Nobody does both.

I recall reading a few years ago that MS will release a patch that disables activation, once support ends.

The mono sound mix was finished last, and Lucas is on the record from that time saying it was the most complete. There is at least one fan DVD that contains this mix (where he got it from, I have no idea). Too bad it's..mono! :/

Not quite. They are taken from the same master tapes, but are not direct transfers of the LD video. The LD contained much more noise reduction (at the expense of detail). A few other sources were used for some things, too: the opening crawl and first shot of Episode IV (Tatooine and the ships flying in) are taken from a separate, higher-quality source; and the entire audio track of Episode V is taken from a different source (possibly a VHS master). It's not clear why the latter was changed, although, doing this did fix one audio glitch from the LD towards the end of the movie.

Of course, they are still 4:3 matted widescreen, with everything that entails. But they do look better than any other release of the unaltered trilogy, and in some cases, they actually look better than the SE (blue tint, anyone?).

I came from Norway, with 35 people per square mile, to Connecticut, with 739 people per square mile. Please explain that one to me again!

Well, most of Norway is desolate Arctic wasteland. The populated parts of Norway are more densely populated than the United States.
 

Yes, mass transit was better there. Given that this lowers demand without changing the supply, that should make the gas prices cheaper, not more expensive.

The mass transit is paid for from very high gasoline taxes, without which gasoline there would actually be pretty cheap.

In that case, most Americans can't afford cars. Few buy them on cash alone.

I think by "almost paid for," he means he's almost done paying the loan.

The first ~7 minutes of Evil Dead 2 are a "recap" of the first movie, but with only Ash and Linda. Everything else takes place after the events of the first movie.

Article 1 Section 8 says that the federal government can coin money, but it doesn't say that nobody else can.

You can get 17" and 15" laptops with 1920x1080 pretty easily today.

Wasn't it "spending" is better?

It's both of them. SBC bought BellSouth (formerly Southern Bell) and the combination was renamed AT&T - I think. It's possible that SBC started going by the AT&T name before that, but I'm not sure.

This spider was featured on "1000 Ways to Die." It bit a guy, he got a 4-hour erection, and then died during the obligatory sex. Perhaps this spider isn't so great after all....