Word: distraction
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...willing to pay for a commodity that the other group has depends on the scarcity or abundance of that commodity on the market. Scientists think female macaques may use grooming, too, to try to maintain social relationships within the group to benefit their offspring, or as a way to distract or appease males from getting aggressive after a sexual encounter. In fact, when female macaques groomed males, their services decreased sexual activity in males...
...Instead of the giddy surprise viewers experience during well-placed cameos, such as Ferrell’s uncredited appearance at the end of “Wedding Crashers,” there is the distinct impression that all of the celebrity drop-ins are mere smoke and mirrors to distract from a lead who, while passably funny, doesn’t have the comedic chops of his compatriots.As for the humor, Apatow and friends take shot after ever-cheaper shot at the Cash mystique. When the jokes hit, they’re usually propelled by the shock of sheer absurdity...
...other incendiary political issues, such as visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where the general who commanded forces in Nanjing is honored. Meanwhile, Chinese leaders know that keeping the memory of the Rape of Nanjing alive stirs outrage against a common enemy and inspires a fervent patriotism that helps to distract the public from the Beijing government's shortcomings. In other words, the truth is obscured because the massacre is being used as a political football by leaders in both countries who are better served by retelling the more extreme versions of history...
...mail popped into my inbox from the guy whose kitchen table we had gathered around two and a half years ago. I was watching “Gossip Girl” at the time, trying to distract myself, until the local news hosts started to discuss the night’s lead story: the “massacre in Omaha.” It was one of the most bizarre feelings I’ve ever had. No one cares about Omaha—no one knows where Omaha is—and there it was, broadcast directly into...
...shame this is the standard reaction we have to our problems. And the even greater shame? That such foolishness had to distract us, me included, from the tragic end of a life that held so much promise...