Word: frictional
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Here's the pitch: capitalism thrives on the reduction of friction, and the Web is the most effective friction reducer since the assembly line. The dot-com revolution hit first for consumers; as soon as Amazon, for instance, put millions of discount books within buying reach of anyone with a modem and a credit card, ordinary bookstores had to change or die. "E-markets have had a very significant impact," says Tim Minahan, an e-commerce analyst for the Aberdeen Group. "And you're going to see that on the business side as well...
...Plans to expand graduate student housing are one example of the University's continuing interaction with local government, an area where Harvard would like to avoid any future friction...
...someone who is exceptionally lazy and proud of it, I am always on the lookout for things that will make my life even more friction free, which is why the sudden proliferation of all manner of electric bikes and scooters thrills me (in a low-affect, let's-not-unduly-elevate-the-heart-rate kind of way). You've probably heard about the E-Bike, the brainchild of erstwhile Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, which went on sale (for $995 and up) at car dealerships in warm-weather states two weeks ago. I'm certain Iacocca is on to something...
When Wittgenstein returned to philosophy in 1929, it was with the message that the rigorous methods of pure logic could get no grip on the problems of philosophy: "We have got on to slippery ice where there is no friction and so in a certain sense the conditions are ideal, but also, just because of that, we are unable to walk. We want to walk: so we need friction. Back to the rough ground!" Where before he had favored explicit logical rules, now he spoke of language games, governed by tacit mutual understanding, and he proposed to replace the sharp...
...military increasingly deploys in joint operations--those involving personnel from more than one service--the disparity between the Army's liberal fraternization policy and those of other branches has begun to cause friction within the ranks...