Handsome and charismatic, Wilson was our first modern president, holding regular news conferences, complaining about having to live in Washington and delighting in popular distractions like baseball games, detective stories, golf and especially the new moving pictures.
The Japanese have successfully enthralled Westerners by exporting all manner of popular distractions – karaoke, manga, Super Mario Land, karate – but sumo wrestling remains, squatting stubbornly in its birthplace, refusing to leave.
There is little question that Jonathan, who is facing public disapproval over charges of inefficiency, corruption, and a badly fought war against Boko Haram Islamists waging a terror campaign in the north, seized the legislation as a popular, unifying distraction.
[t]here is little question that former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who was facing public disapproval over charges of inefficiency, corruption, and a badly fought war against Boko Haram Islamists... seized [anti-gay] legislation as a popular, unifying distraction.
Jigsaws were also a popular form of distraction in the Great Depression, and since modern life produces its own big worries, it's not hard to understand the success of mindfulness and colouring books.
Other potential distractions now popular in cars are navigation systems with maps to point the way to a destination, or maybe just to the nearest florist.
Ford Motor, for example, has had to repeatedly revise its popular Sync system to mitigate distractions and make it easier for consumers to use.
Public performances and popular prose works were necessary distractions from the writing of poetry.Richard Greene's excellent biography of Edith Sitwell is informative, witty and entertaining.
Alveolar distraction osteogenesis is becoming a popular surgical bone augmentation procedure prior to dental implant rehabilitation.
