Until only a few decades ago, desertion was the most common military offense committed.
Only a few decades ago, incredibly, some "experts" said Japan would forever be a poor, underdeveloped, mostly agricultural nation.
Today we grant welfare assistance to families that only a few decades earlier would have been perceived as relatively well-off.
However, this specific focus of the word on race and gender, which is now a primary part of the definition, is only a few decades old.
This view is understandable given that only a few decades ago I, myself, would have thought it ridiculous to imagine that reefs might have a limited lifespan on Earth as a consequence of human actions.
FORBES: Is the Great Barrier Reef Doomed? One of the World's Leading Coral Scientists Thinks So
In 70% of cases, up from only 30% a few decades ago, water is supplied for a profit.
In the past few decades, though, only a handful of Brazilian stars such as supermodel Gisele Bundchen and footballers Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have managed to break that curse and become international household names.
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While women have made significant progress in business over the last few decades, they are only about a quarter of all chief executives and earn just 76% as much as men with the title.
So whereas a few decades ago POS manufacturers would only be interested in designing a machine that suited the needs of the retailer, now they have to take into account the supply warehouse and the point of manufacture.
BBC: How 'point of sale' became much more than a fancy calculator
Although Mr Meshal has more weight, plenty of other Hamas leaders have said many times that Israel is a reality, that they want a Palestinian state along the 1967 ceasefire lines (ie, in the West Bank and Gaza only), and that one day, perhaps after a few decades of peaceful coexistence, they might put the question of formally recognising Israel to a Palestinian referendum.
ECONOMIST: Israel exists. A Hamas leader briefly admits the obvious
Scientific processes have only been with us a few hundred years, talent management processes a few decades.
Drilling has occurred for decades in locations around the world, with only a few incidents even approaching the harm of the current situation.
When I think of how much easier it was to invent new medicines a few decades ago, I usually mention the story of Roche chemist Leo Sternbach, who invented not only Valium but related drugs such as Klonopin and Librium.
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