Word: breakdown
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...massive power outages. It's not the year's supply of dehydrated food in their basement or their stockpiles of canned chicken chow mein. It's the water bed. The collapse of public utilities is one of the big worries among the Y2K-anxious--meaning people concerned about the breakdown of everything because of the millennium bug that could lead to serious computer malfunction in the year 2000. (More on that later.) So the Eckharts bought Danielle a water bed. That way, in a pinch, they have an extra 300 gallons on hand. Danielle is a little nonplussed. "I hope...
...cybermogul resembling Bill Gates figures as something like the Antichrist in Judgment Day 2000 by Richard Wiles, in which the breakdown of all computers leaves America vulnerable to terrorists with nuclear bombs in suitcases and a leftover Soviet doomsday machine called the Dead Hand. Wiles, 45, a onetime marketing director for Christian Broadcasting Network, believes God directed him to write his book. "In 12 months we'll know if I'm right," says Wiles. "If I'm wrong, the worst that will happen to me is I'll be tremendously embarrassed. If other people are wrong and don't listen...
Among the more serious consequences of last week's action could be a breakdown--or at least a slow erosion--of the consensus for sanctions against Iraq. China has long called for a lifting of the embargo to ensure an uninterrupted flow of imported oil. Lawmakers in Moscow too muttered darkly about unilateral removal of trade restrictions. Even if sanctions survive, there's no guarantee that Saddam will become less dangerous, just as a toothless UNSCOM didn't keep him in check...
...medication Broadway has needed most in recent weeks is Valium. As David Hare's new play, in which both Kidman and co-star Iain Glen appear briefly in the nude, prepared to transfer from London to New York City, trend-conscious theatergoers seemed headed for a nervous breakdown: the clamor for tickets exceeded anything in recent Broadway memory...
Indonesia is sliding into darkness. The Nov. 22 killings were a first for Jakarta, but since late summer there have been more than 250 lynchings across the archipelago. The killings seem to be a product of fear, economic frustration and a breakdown of law and order as security forces are withdrawn from the provinces to cover demonstrations in the cities. In Sumatra recently a man was beaten and burned alive because he couldn't tell suspicious residents the precise address of a relative he was visiting. "The reality principle is breaking down," says Professor Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono of the University...