Word: conceptional
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...seems--at least if the proliferation of such advisories is any indication. No longer is it sufficient for kiddie paraphernalia to carry hypercautious legal disclaimers--CAUTION: DO NOT ALLOW CHILDREN UNDER 3 TO PLAY INSIDE CAMP STOVE WHEN LIT. Nowadays toys, classes, even cartoons carry high-concept "claimers" detailing how said item or activity is prepping your preschooler for a Supreme Court clerkship...
...highest levels of government; Iran's ayatollahs deeply fear they are a personal target of Washington. Most view normalization and offers of Western incentives as poisoned carrots designed to open up the Islamic Republic at the seams. These fears existed under the Clinton administration as well, for the very concept of normalization makes the clerics uneasy, but the open hostility of the Bush Administration's stance on Iran has made them paralyzing...
...There is a concept in Iran known as taarof, a set of social manners that can be defined to make Iranians sound exquisitely polite or deceitful, depending on the point you're trying to make. At heart, it is a form of etiquette intended to harmonize social encounters, and involves displays of flattery and deference. Taarof does not seek to mask the truth, it simply rests on the belief that life is more pleasant when you do not needlessly inform every jerk you meet that he is indeed a jerk. What does this mean in practice...
...truth is the Islamic and especially Shi'ite principle of taqiyya, the practice of hiding one's religious faith under life threatening circumstances. Taqiyya evolved during the early centuries of Islam, when Shi'ite Muslims faced persecution for their minority status at the hands of majority Sunnis. The concept is not, as sometimes described, carte blanche for telling lies or promoting one's interests, but rather a moral pass to tell one very specific lie (?I am not a Shi'ite') expressly to avoid being killed. From this ancient practice that is today irrelevant (in Iran at least, where...
...this isn?t a restaurant model for the faint of heart - Kary is often working his land after dark, by his tractor?s headlights - and I wondered if the farm-to-table concept could work for any but the most elite places...