Word: utilitarian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Lawmakers have toyed with curbing the mortgage deduction for 30 years, both for utilitarian reasons (to boost tax revenue) and philosophical ones (to make the tax code less favorable to the wealthy). Yet each time the idea has surfaced it has been swatted away amid public outrage and the battle cries of every real estate lobbyist not sunning at his second home on Fiji. This time the outrage may be even more shrill, given the fears of a real estate bubble about to burst. "We are raising the loudest possible alarms," said Tom Stevens, president of the National Association...
...Saigon glitters these days as it never did in the '60s and '70s. One night, Nga and I jump into a white taxi and cruise in a sea of motor scooters through neighborhoods dotted with shops selling bright clothes, utilitarian furniture, the latest electronics. We join a friend and his wife for dinner at a charming restaurant tucked away on a quiet residential side street. It serves splendid food from central Vietnam, a new sophistication in itself. Ten years ago, our host could not find a job. His wife kept the family afloat by running a small day-care center...
...1980s, however, black is hip. Not since the glossy lacquer fixtures of art deco and Ford's utilitarian Model T has the color of doom been so specifically fashionable or so ubiquitous. In big cities, there are upscale stores that sell virtually nothing but black hardware and electronics, black furniture, luggage and clothing. One such place in New York City is called Black Market, a punky East Village store just down the block from a still punkier black leather boutique called Fetisch...
...have the right to be self-righteous when it comes to camera phones (or anything, for that matter—this is my rant, suckers). My cell phone was manufactured circa 1887. It weighs 18 pounds and runs on Diesel fuel, not unlike a late-model Peugeot. It is utilitarian to the extreme and does its job quite well, thank...
...seriously. What does his opinion matter, after all? I can still take pride in my own accomplishments (like my mother does). Bill Gates may have been a “little bitch” once and look at where he is now! Yet these thoughts are unsatisfying. From a utilitarian point of view, Gates made out all right, but from a Kantian perspective, he probably never deserved to be called a “little bitch” in the first place...