Word: instrument
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...abortion. The confusion also raised questions about whether the Lisbon Treaty was too complicated and technical to be put to a referendum. But Ganley, who will run himself in Ireland's northwest constituency, rejects such claims. "Democracy is not supposed to be perfect," he says. "It's a blunt instrument. It's not expected to be efficient...
...etymological examination further exposes meat as a decidedly non-gender-neutral term. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "meat," in its slang usage, can refer to “the human body (esp. a woman’s body) regarded as an instrument of sexual pleasure,” as well as both female and male genitalia. The less academic, but no less authoritative Urban Dictionary defines meat as both sexual intercourse (with the charming example “I’d like to meet Jessica Alba and then meat her”) and as a derogatory term...
...insurance policy, not on yourself, but on a sick man who lives down the street. That way, if he dies, you’ll be sure to turn a profit. This is but one of many bizarre features in the world of credit default swaps—a financial instrument that crippled our global economy. While many different events and policies contributed to the financial crisis, it is safe to point a finger at credit default swaps. The U.S. government should decisively regulate these complex financial instruments...
...test long used by psychologists, celebrities averaged 17.84. Longtime stars and newbies scored similarly, which might lead you to conclude that fame doesn't turn people into narcissists - it just attracts them. The more a person's fame was the unintended by-product of a skill, like playing an instrument, the lower the score. Reality-show participants landed numbers you'd expect only from 2-year-olds and fascist dictators. (Watch Stein interview celebrities on the TIME 100 red carpet...
Some lives are like Hollywood soundstages, all faade, and suicide is the instrument by which their hollowness is revealed. Increasingly, though, this tragedy works in reverse. Hollow men (it's almost always men) add mass murder to their suicidal outbursts, hoping to mask their nothingness with a front of brutal significance...