Word: vitality
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When the press runs a story the White House claims is harmful to security, the word disloyalty inevitably creeps into the conversation. The line between dissent and disloyalty, between harmful revelations and vital ones, is murky. Often we never really know. But I would argue that the judicious questioning of the conduct and morality of war is the furthest thing from disloyalty: it is an expression of deep patriotism and the essence of responsible citizenship...
...Wallace, Franzen et al. aren't the leading young novelists anymore, who are? It's not an idle question. The novel is one of the most vital cultural resources we have--a private, potent means of sharing the unspeakableness of daily life with one another. So it's only natural to wonder who's taking care of the novel--who's taking up the torch and where exactly they're taking it. Or whether it has gone out. The novel is one of the platforms from which the voice of a generation speaks. And if you listen closely...
Americans buy everything from burgers to coffee to karate lessons at franchises. They're convenient, predictable and often cheap. So why not try franchising a service most of us avoid like a trip to the dentist? Actually, it is a trip to the dentist. Meet Vital Dent, purveyors of franchise dentistry...
Standing convention on its head--usually U.S. firms are the ones franchising their businesses in Europe--Vital Dent, based in Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain, launched its first U.S. location in New York City in December 2004. (Privately held Vital Dent operates some 250 offices in Spain, Portugal and Italy, most of them franchises.) Since then, the company has opened nine more dental offices there, all with an identical high-gloss, minimalist look, and seven more are under construction in Florida and Massachusetts. In the U.S., Vital Dent plans to draw traffic by offering new patients free cleaning, X rays...
...Vital Dent's founder, Ernesto Colman Mena, believes he will get people in the door by emphasizing convenience, reasonable prices and new technology, including the latest in dental implants. "That's what works in Spain," Colman says through a translator. In 2005 Vital Dent was second in Spain only to Burger King in attracting franchise investment, according to Franchisa, an industry consulting firm. And he hopes a similar strategy will appeal to Americans looking for an alternative to the old-fashioned neighborhood dentist. "The United States market offers a great opportunity," says Colman...