Word: focal
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...Hollywood was like running off to join the circus.”The networks of these early pioneers were more closed and exclusive than they are at present. Their connections stemmed from shared college experiences, such as House affiliation and extracurriculars, rather than any official organization. One such focal point was the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine. The Lampoon name, Mostow said, was a Hollywood calling card. It granted access to a social group of Hollywood professionals—mainly comedy writers—including admittance...
...focal point for many of these new believers is Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), an evangelical Anglican church in plush Kensington. The church's 4000-strong congregation has almost tripled in the past 15 years, and its average age is 27 years. While HTB does not keep records of these young converts' wealth, a look at its bulging collection hat offers some clue: the church raised over $7 million from donations last year alone (An average London parish, by contrast, can expect to raise around $150,000, according to data provided by the Anglican church). The church has become so popular...
...Bangladesh voters will cast their ballots in the nation's first general election in seven years. The polls have been a focal point of the country's politics ever since a military intervention in January 2007, which postponed scheduled elections in order to end escalating violence between followers of two rival political parties. In the interim, a caretaker regime of technocrats has set about trying to tackle Bangladesh's wretched record of corruption and reform its volatile electoral politics. Results have been mixed, but the government now looks ready to deliver on its promises for free and credible polls...
...information flows--may have the most influence on others and in turn are the most influenced by them. But just because you start off at the center of your web does not guarantee that you'll stay there. In the 1970s, smokers were more likely to occupy that focal position in their network of friends and family. Look at a similar social map today, and you'll see that the smokers have drifted to the periphery...
...successful if sewn closer to the root of the problem. To this end, the African Union (AU) ought to play a larger role in quelling this crisis. Zimbabwe is a member of the AU, and the peace-promoting body has made Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s questionable regime focal points of debate for much of the last decade. At an AU summit earlier this year, a handful of member-states called for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the AU. Yet by the end of the summit, the AU had failed to pass any strong sanctions against Zimbabwe, and instead...