After all, one can plot a line of most any slope or shape through a single point.

FORBES: Connect

Although the theory that describes the interaction of quarks and gluons is on a firm conceptual footing, it is so complicated in practice that it can take years to make a single calculation of something like the shape of a proton even using the most powerful supercomputers.

ECONOMIST: Protons: Holey grail | The

East Africa does not have a single warship in good shape.

ECONOMIST: The Indian Ocean

But, at a lecture at the LSE earlier this week, Sir Malcolm Rifkind argued that it was "overwhelmingly in Britain's interest to remain a full participant in the biggest single market in the world, with the ability to shape the rules".

BBC: Europe's summer of argument

In the spirit of openness now sweeping the country, officials acknowledge that the economy was in no shape, for instance, to prosper after Myanmar's planned entry into a single market among the ten-country Association of South-East Asian Nations in 2015.

ECONOMIST: Myanmar��s startling changes

He spends about a month creating a single orb, which involves cutting and layering sheets of glass with graduating and diminishing circumferences, then honing the shape with a chisel.

FORBES: Henry Richardson's Glass Sculptures Go On Display in Naples, Florida

"That would be the single event that might really change the shape of the 1998 elections, " said John White, a professor of politics at Catholic University who has written books on the presidency and voting behavior.

CNN: By Ronald D. Elving, CQ Staff Writer