The major exception has been in South Korea, where soldiers serve for one year.
The major exception has been the cultivation of oil palm in West New Britain (on previously little-used volcanic soils) and on the eastern mainland, boosted by foreign investment.
European-style privacy protection regulations have spread rapidly across the industrial world, with the United States as a major exception, and have transformed and led the global privacy debate, while the US has relied on a more laissez-faire mentality about protection of personal information and a patchwork of privacy guidelines.
Baseball discourages teams from making major announcements during the World Series, but exceptions have been made.
A major exception may have occurred on Tuesday, when 32 prominent Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders announced a National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East, a collaborative effort to push the United States into vigorously and visibly pursuing its road map for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.
Exceptions have also emerged.
The only major exceptions appear to have been Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun, a force in Chinese economic policy; both faded from the public eye in 1958 only to be brought back into active roles as the Great Leap faltered in 1959.
The scene isn't too different from your average political debate or town hall meeting, save for two major exceptions: the figures have giant, flashing, geometric heads, and they only talk in R2-D2 style beeps and bloops.
The incomparable Grand Canyon of the Colorado River provides the major exception to what has proved to be an area easily traversed.
A much-loved celebrity dies; a coup happens somewhere; an unhinged demagogue wins the US presidency: the response, invariably, has been, "Oh, how 2016!" If you are British and of a vaguely progressive bent, there have been two major exceptions this year.
