This handsome, blond-wood structure, as solid and functional as it is exciting and ambitious, was built for a mere £10m thanks to a private donation.
But in the span of a few days, the weeds on the patch along South Hill Street has gone from a few feet tall to mere inches — thanks to a herd of goats that gobble up to 15 pounds of grass and such a day and have become something of a sightseeing attraction in the downtown bustle.
I've gotten clarification about terms, grant funding, papers I've read, statistical analyses and innumerable other research-related elements in mere seconds thanks to social media platforms.
No longer will we communicate concepts like selfies, bacon, and "face with cowboy hat" with mere words, thanks to an announcement from the Unicode Consortium.
I notice sometimes people who are newer to the ceremony will dread the arrival of the bowl, and then let it only briefly touch their hands, only the merest of thanks leave their lips before they quickly pass it on.
I whipped open the roof – a mere 21 seconds thanks to the car's 15 different roof motors and 37 individual sensors.
In other hands, this unpalatably important story could have slipped over into mere melodrama, but thanks to a bravura central turn the message never gets lost amid the madness.
'Potted Potter' (Friday through Sunday) Children who spent many long hours poring over the Harry Potter books can now see the entire saga acted out in a mere 70 minutes, thanks to Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, former BBC television hosts, who are closing this spoof this weekend.
In other words, what was billed as a summit of heads of state and a fine stage for France to display its skills as current president of the EU ended up as a meeting of mere ministers, unable, thanks to the absence of Syria and its "sister" Lebanon, to agree to any political and economic breakthroughs.But would a favourable context have made much difference?
