Word: particularity
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...plumped up to 166 lb. (75 kg) and women to 144 lb. (65 kg). And while the small increase in average height for men (women have remained the same) accounts for a bit of that, our eating habits are clearly responsible for most. Over the past 20 years in particular, we've stuffed ourselves like pâté geese. In 1985 there were only eight states in which more than 10% of the adult population was obese - though the data collection then was admittedly spottier than it is now. By 2006, there were no states left in which...
...This threat comes almost as an ambush. The region's economies had previously shown resilience in the face of a global credit crunch and troubles in the U.S. India, in particular, was supposed to weather a downturn relatively well because its economy depends largely on domestic consumption rather than massive exports as does China's. But there's nowhere to hide from higher oil prices, and several factors make the crunch particularly painful in Asia. The vast majority of countries in the region are net importers of oil. Only Malaysia and Vietnam are able to produce enough crude...
...fact in Chinese sports circles. "Chinese bodies are not as naturally strong as those of people from other countries," says Qingdao school principal Qiao, repeating what I am told by Sports Ministry officials. "But we can work harder than anyone else. That's our biggest advantage." Chinese women, in particular, are renowned for their ability to withstand brutal training. Unlike in the U.S., where the privatization of athletics means less money for women's sports--just compare the NBA with the WNBA--the Chinese state lavishes funds on its female athletes from childhood onward. Mao used to say, "Women hold...
Swift-boat is shorthand for the brilliant, despicable Republican campaign strategy in 2004 that turned John Kerry's honorable service in Vietnam into a negative factor in his campaign. The phrase has become more broadly the term for a particular category of campaign tactics and has even become a verb. To "swift-boat" somebody is to use these tactics against him or her. If you remember the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign and don't see anything wrong with it--or if you believe it was the work of "independent" operatives unconnected to George W. Bush's campaign...
...There have, of course, been dirty politics and outrageous infamies since the beginning of the Republic. Swift-boating is not about that. Nor is it merely negative campaigning. There's nothing wrong with criticizing your opponent if the criticism is accurate and important. Swift-boating's essence is a particular kind of dishonesty, or rather a particular combination of shadowy dishonesties. It usually involves a complex web of facts, many of which may even be true. It exploits its own complexity and the reluctance of the media to adjudicate factual disputes. No matter how thoroughly a charge may be discredited...