Word: ballooned
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Like a Lead Balloon. Gripped in my hand as we went through the power dive and pullout was a 4-oz. lead sinker of the kind used by bottom fishermen. Though it cost only 7? at the base PX, it made a far more vivid indicator of the zero-gravity state than the electronic accelerometer in which the Air Force has invested millions. As my bottom, squeezed to insensible bloodlessness during the 4-g pullout, rose from the seat cushion, I felt the exhilaration of restored circulation (and noted the lasting aptness of the old barnstormer's motto...
...shock of opening. When the falling speed was reduced still more, explosive bolts freed the recovery package, the parachute was unreefed and its powerful drag pulled the package a short distance away from the hot shell of the nose cone, preserving it from heat damage. Then a small, tough balloon popped out of the side of the package and was inflated with compressed air. An automatic knife cut its air hose, allowing the balloon to drag behind and making the chute take most of the shock of landing...
...apiece, enough for Bell and Macfarquhar to plan a second edition. By 1777, when work started, Smellie had gone off (later to become a boozing buddy of Robert Burns), and the publishers replaced him with James Tytler, a scholar just as whiskyfied and twice as eccentric, being given to balloon ascensions. Editor Tytler stayed on the ground long enough to get out a ten-volume, 8,595-page encyclopedia...
Harry Hoehler, assistant Dean of Freshmen, and Daniel L. Steiner 3L, head proctor of the north end of the Yard, were the only victims of the attempted fun. A balloon filled with milk exploded at their feet as they walked in front of Matthews Hall...
Frondizi soon got clear evidence that diehard Peronistas may confuse amnesty with a license for riot. At a military parade, a segment of the crowd shouted "President by Perón's orders!" and sent up a barrage of balloons bearing colored pictures of Perón and his late wife, Eva. One balloon floated by Frondizi's face and was snared by an aide. All through the afternoon, Peronista demonstrations flared up in central streets, but Frondizi's new police chief sent in cops with tear gas to disperse the mobs. It was an encouraging reminder...