Word: albatross
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...goony bird, a type of albatross, is an odd and charming creature which serves no useful purpose at all. It spends most of its life at sea and subsists entirely on a diet of fish-a fact which makes goonyburgers much too fishy for some human taste. Sailors gave it its name, because it is such a goony bird. One of the largest of all sea birds, it develops a wingspread of 7 ft.* It is capable of flying for many hours without resting. Like an airplane, it runs to get up flying speed, takes off into the wind, retracts...
Whatever stratagem DuMont adopts, he will not resort to simple slaughter. The goony birds are protected by the Interior Department because-except at Midway-they are rare specimens of wildlife. And besides, as any mariner knows, it's bad luck to kill an albatross...
...Albatross. In Manitowoc, Wis., three years after losing his wallet, George Massman got it back, along with $30 and a note: "I have picked many pockets and I have kept the wallets for souvenirs, but ever since I picked yours I have been having bad luck...
Despite the fine promises of Pierre Mendès-France, Diem was also half strangled by the albatross of French colonialism: if he asked the French army to withdraw, it would take about 80% of Viet Nam's military equipment in its train; if he asked the French army to stay, the Communists might easily convince the Vietnamese that Diem's new independence was a myth...
Last week McCarthy won what appeared to be a big victory. But all along, McCarthy's ship has been trailed by its own kind of albatross, a bird called "McCarthy's methods." His albatross has brought him big headlines, but it has also brought him bitter criticism. This week, as a result of his methods in his battle with the Army, the G.O.P. high command was plotting ways to take away some of his steam...