It was such a strange hybrid of watch and algebraic calculator that calling it a mere watch or a calculator would not do it full justice.
In Stotland, both forms of role-taking are intended to activate our ability to think about the other in a mentalizing and emotive manner and are contrasted with a mere watch-him instruction emphasizing the observation of the external and physical behavior of the observed subject.
Of the many mistakes made at Three Mile Island, the most damning was that the reactor's operators had become mere managers watching from above as the automated controls did their job.
It was the same story in English rugby's hotbed Leicester, where a mere 10,000 watched Italy v Tonga.
This is no mere amuse-bouche: watching artifice build, observing the mechanisms, is fundamental to a show that the audience sees through several pairs of eyes.
We don't want to be reminded that we're watching mere mortals who might trip on their way to the podium, stutter through the oaths of office, shiver in the cold, or worse, err in judgment and lead the country on the wrong path.
Like the observer effect in physics, the mere act of watching your Lime Equation can change the outcomes it measures.
In my lower moments I can be found browsing various message boards, watching mere children argue over what video game console is superior, the Xbox 360 or the PS3.
The mere act of watching it climb and claw it's way to the very top, bigger than ever, is something worth celebrating.
Which is interesting, considering mere days before watching it I couldn't get enough of a series based on a no-faced monster that steals people from their lives and fills their gut with slugs.
