Word: mere
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...burst onto the political scene in 1994 with billionaire bravado, has become a shadow of his former self, talking obscure Roman political jargon and cutting deals with anyone who will help him win back power. That effort is undercut by the fact that Italians have now learned that mere survival, which Berlusconi achieved for a post-war record of five years until 2006, is not the same thing as stability...
...Michigan and Florida jumped their primaries ahead and forced Iowa and New Hampshire even earlier, Nevada now finds itself the fifth state that will pick presidential nominees. And because South Carolina is holding its crucial, bitterly contested Republican primary on the same day, the GOP caucus has become a mere afterthought (Mitt Romney is expected...
...broad shoulders in men and a low waist-to-hip ratio in women. This suggests either that an alluring voice is part of a suite of sexual qualities that come bundled together or that simply knowing you look appealing encourages you to develop a voice to match. Causation and mere correlation often get muddied in studies like this, but either way, a sexy voice at least appears to sell the goods. "It might convey subtle information about body configuration and sexual behavior," says psychologist Gordon Gallup, who co-authored the study...
...then there's China, where Yum is so big that it has reported earnings separately since 2005. Profits from Yum's stores in China, Thailand and Taiwan popped 37% in 2006, while all other international profits grew 11%, domestic a mere 3%. A KFC opened nearly every day in China last year, and KFCs and Pizza Huts now number more than 2,300. (McDonald's has about 1,000 restaurants, not that Yum keeps track.) Sam Su, who runs Yum in China, projects 20,000 stores someday. "We're nowhere close to saturation at all," he says...
...anyone who has been under love's spell, these theories seem preposterous, and so they are. Nothing so primal could have been created out of thin air as a mere custom or product. To the contrary, romantic love is a human universal. In 1896 a Kwakiutl Indian in southern Alaska wrote the lament "Fire runs through my body--the pain of loving you," which could be the title of a bad power ballad today. Similar outpourings of passion can be found all over the world from those with broken hearts...