One night, fog gathered thickly, abstracting the licks and sighs of the northern lights.

NEWYORKER: Naima

MapReduce is important in the scheme of big data because it allows processing of analytics at a large scale while abstracting the complexities of doing this processing.

FORBES: Can MapReduce Be Made Easy?

Among the four "early adopters" of the standard was Coca-Cola, whose operations in India had been criticised by campaigners who said the firm was abstracting too much water, which was having a detrimental impact on surrounding farmland.

BBC: Carbon Trust launches scheme to tackle water waste

Higher taxes on capital gains and dividends, abstracting from issues of equity and fairness, reduce real economic growth, cause weaker consumption and decreases in business capital spending, reduce employment, and labor force growth, and help bring about less potential output.

FORBES: The Horrific Accident Awaiting Us Over The Fiscal Cliff