Word: benignantly
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...left the launch pad ensconced in bulky space suits, each partly pressurized and equipped with an oxygen tank, a parachute and an inflatable raft. In addition, a new emergency escape system was designed to give the astronauts a chance to leave the orbiter quickly in the event of a "benign disaster" after the boosters had fallen away. In such a crisis, the crew would jettison the huge external fuel tank and stabilize the winged orbiter into a downward glide. Then, when the craft descended to an altitude of about 30,000 ft., the astronauts would set off explosive bolts, blowing...
...touched, appropriately, by the austere romanticism of '50s existentialism. It is a circle of sheltering darkness, where the time is always 'round midnight, the mood is always accepting (it's not why you play but how you play that counts), and even agents and club owners are basically benign. Trouble is always an intruder from outside -- a narc obsessed with pinning bad raps on musicians, society ladies slumming, rock 'n' roll making rude noises on the periphery -- attacking the soul when it is restlessly idling between gigs. Bird, for all his troubles, is a wonderfully attractive figure, delighting...
...last count, more than 25 different viral strains had been isolated, and new ones are emerging nearly every week. Some are relatively benign, like the virus spread through the CompuServe network that causes machines equipped with voice synthesizers to intone the words "Don't panic." Others are more of a nuisance, causing temporary malfunctions or making it difficult to run isolated programs. But some seem bent on destroying valuable data. "Your worst fear has come true," wrote a computer buff in a report he posted on an electronic bulletin board to warn other users about a new Macintosh virus...
Only in its final landfall did Gilbert reveal a benign side. The hurricane hit a relatively unpopulated area of Mexico, 110 miles southwest of Brownsville, Texas, where the terrain of mountains and flat farmland helped undermine its strength. It did bring more than 6 in. of rain, causing flooding in an area the size of Colorado. At week's end it had spun off some 30 tornadoes twisting around coastal Texas. High winds and battering rain were expected as far north as Chicago. Gilbert, according to Mark Zimmer of the National Hurricane Center, will turn into a "huge rainmaking machine...
...refusal to face unpleasant facts. Though cruelly diminished by scandal, Reagan is still widely perceived as the model of a strong President. In fact, for many voters under 30, he has become almost synonymous with the job itself; since World War II, only Dwight Eisenhower, that other benign patriarch, served as long a tenure in the White House. It is no mystery why a conventional politician like Bush seems so wan in comparison and why an unfettered challenger like Dukakis remains so cautious in attacking the incumbent. Reagan has molded public attitudes too much in his own cheerful, nostalgic image...