Word: brickly
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...Another Brick in the Wall
...under way even before the shuttle debris was cool. The most notorious piece of evidence was the bit of hardened foam that fell from the external fuel tank during lift-off, striking Columbia's left wing area. Applied like shaving cream, the foam dries to the hardness of a brick, which could conceivably damage the fragile external tiles that protect the shuttle during its fiery re-entry. When it was later disclosed that the spacecraft had spent 39 days idling on the pad before launch--enduring episodes of freezing rain that could have loosened the foam further--the case seemed...
...there were problems with the theory. First of all, the foam may seem as hard as a brick, but it isn't nearly as heavy. Even if the debris had been moving at 1,000 m.p.h. when it struck the shuttle's left side--about twice as fast as it was actually going--computer analyses suggested it could have done little damage. "It's difficult for us to believe...that this foam represented a safety issue," said shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore. That, at least, was the agency's position on Wednesday. On Thursday, however, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe...
Toulouse, an architectural marvel of rose-pink brick on the banks of the Garonne River, is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe; it's also one of the liveliest, and the best way to see it is through its panoply of specialized markets. On Wednesdays and Fridays there's a tiny farmers' market for foie gras and poultry. On Saturdays, it's booksellers, organic foods and a flea market; on Sundays, a huge traditional market for food, flowers, clothing and housewares...
...Middle Ages the city was governed by councilors called capitouls, chosen from among the leading merchants. In the 15th century the merchant class grew rich from the international trade in pastel, a blue dye made from the locally grown woad plant, and the newly wealthy began to build the brick mansions that still line almost every central city street. The city's hallmarks are gaiety and gastronomy. At the Place du Salin, remnants of the city's 1st century Roman walls support the small, age-darkened medieval house in which St. Dominic first established his order of preaching friars...