Word: uselessness
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...They also said the attacks included B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers. The strikes are reportedly to be against Afghan air bases and suspected terror camps. Local sources have confirmed that the initial wave of attacks struck the airport in Kandahar. One immediate goal is to render useless any Taliban air defenses. In a televised address earlier this afternoon, President Bush said the Taliban "will pay a price" for not meeting U.S. demands...
...world of science. Ten prizes are awarded to individuals who have done impressively ridiculous and weird things such as demonstrating that, biochemically, romantic love is indistinguishable from obsessive-compulsive disorder or creating the self-perfuming business suit. Although many of the ideas and discoveries of the recipients are fairly useless, that’s just the way these mad scientists like it. The awards are presented to the year’s winners by somewhat bemused Nobel laureates. Presenters this year include Sheldon Glashow, Dudley Herschbach, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts, Robert Wilson, and many others...
Surely enough, cultural critics have trumpeted the detrimental impact of the cell phone on society. Are we not disingenuous hedons, appropriating a gadget with the pretext of boosting efficiency, when in fact we use that technology for useless chit-chat? Even the most avid cell phone apologists concede that this is a rhetorical question. Of course cell phones are mostly frivolous and only occasionally useful. Ultimately, users argue, the cell phone is a benign force, and on the rare occasion that it seems absolutely necessary (“Where are you, I’m outside Mather?...
...course, professors and students have limited time. Would I have been more satisfied with my freshman seminar rejections if the questionnaire was more thorough, if the interviews didn’t feel so cursory? No—in fact, I’d be angry that the whole useless process took so long. Seminars and conference courses demand limited enrollment, and people have to be turned down. And to be fair, the college has recently expanded the freshman seminar program. Worse than the school itself are the student organizations that imitate Harvard’s arrogant, supposedly merit-based approach...
...could likewise be said that men don’t drive their children into lakes (per Susan Smith)—but such statements are inappropriate and useless. Such generalizations about a group lead to the kinds of prejudices that we have seen against Arabs and Muslims in this past week (but for some reason, it is more acceptable to apply them to gender than race or religion). Most men don’t fly planes into buildings either; and, while 98 percent of violent crimes may be committed by men, the majority of men don’t commit...