Word: exceptionality
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...Overall, the situation was generally peaceful except for some untoward incidents.' AVELINO RAZON JR., deputy director of the Philippines' national police, on May 14's national elections, during which at least three people were killed in shootings and a grenade attack. At least 126 people have died in election-related violence in the past four months...
...what's the fuss about? Sepak takraw looks and scores like volleyball, except players use anything but their hands to get the ball over the net. If the ball hits the ground on the opponent's side, or if the return is hit out of bounds, a point is scored. There are three players per side, though variations exist. But the game's telegenic oomph (and there's plenty) comes from sustained volleys, deadly serves-the hard plastic ball reaches speeds up to 100 km/h-and the cartwheel spike, a power move of agility and aggression where a player backflips into...
...songs? Rock music has never lacked for zillionaires to romanticize farmhands and factory workers. But what of the John Henrys plowing sweatily through PowerPoint presentations? White-collar employees, who make up 60% of the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are largely absent from pop lyrics, except for novelty songs and minor works. (The Bangles' Manic Monday mainly proves that the songwriter Prince is more convincing on the subject of sex than commuting.) As far as songwriters are concerned, the Dilberts of the world can buy their MP3s, but they can't have noble souls and inner lives...
...Except in the music of Fountains of Wayne, the New Jersey power-pop band, who are to accountants what Bruce Springsteen is to refinery workers. Their songs probe the hearts of a paper pusher stuck in traffic, a heartbreaker who works at Liberty Travel and a hungover salesman cramming for a presentation. They are very likely the only band ever to have rhymed "making the scene" with "copy machine." FOW's new album, Traffic and Weather, chronicles a flirtation with a DMV bureaucrat and a lonely-hearts tale involving a food-industry lawyer and a teen-magazine photo editor...
...large percentage of high grades may decrease the relative value of such grades in the eyes of graduate schools or potential employers, it would be more misleading to have grades that were unjustifiably and arbitrarily lowered.Like democracy, Harvard’s may be the worst grading system—except for all the others. If grade inflation was a clear problem and there were fair and compelling ways to reduce grades without harming the undergraduate experience, we would hardly mind having fewer A’s on our transcripts. Until someone finds such a silver bullet, however, we?...