Word: ax
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...working with a rock," he explains. "It's a beautiful process of solving a puzzle." He is an accomplished rock climber, rated 5.10 (5.14 being the highest), and has led teams up sections of Yosemite's notorious El Capitan. On ice, where one wrong strike with an ice ax can bring down an avalanche, Erik has learned to listen to the ice as he pings it gently with his ax. If it clinks, he avoids it. If it makes a thunk like a spoon hitting butter, he knows it's solid...
...where many climbers finally turn back. The 656-ft.-long knife-edge ridge leading to the Hillary Step consists of ice, snow and fragmented shale, and the only way to cross it is to take baby steps and anchor your way with an ice ax. "You can feel the rock chip off," says Erik. "And you can hear it falling down into the void...
When a slowdown in the economy looms, the instinctive reaction of far too many people is fear. Managers fear that expenses are too high and cut costs and jobs. Employees fear the ax. The result is tunnel vision: What matters is my job, my department. Kicking into survivor mode makes it tough for employees to think about the big picture...
What is it with Republicans and school lunches? In 1981 Ronald Reagan looked both callous and politically ham-handed when he tried to save a few pennies on school lunches by classifying catsup as a vegetable. Last week the Bush Administration went beyond condiments, proposing to ax a Clinton Administration regulation that forces the meat industry to perform salmonella tests on hamburger served in school cafeterias. Given the heightened interest in the health of cattle right now, the move wasn't exactly well timed. The uproar forced Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to drop the proposal the same...
...still owes about $2 million to Washington, which to date has received only one check (which wasn't even big enough to cover the party and the engraved ice ax the school gave Desai, a professed Everest climber). "The longer time goes on, the more skepticism starts to creep in," Arkans says...