Word: curiousity
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Witch-hunting had lost much of its glamour by the end of the eighteenth century, but the University faced its perennial housing problem, so the trustees decided to build another monument to the distinguished persecutor of Salem. In a curious reversal of roles, however, the General Court seemingly upheld civil liberties by refusing funds for the enterprise. Lacking any other resource, the crafty trustees held a series of lotteries and, in 1794, hit the jackpot, winning their own ten thousand dollar prize on a redeemed ticket. After this victory of the righteous, there was enought money to build Holworthy...
...Legislative Assembly, the winner to form a Cabinet and take over Singapore's internal administration-subject only to the veto of the British colonial governor. Often trailed by as many as four interpreters speaking Singapore's eight main languages, the 79 candidates ministered to curious, multilingual crowds with sound-truck orations, clanging gongs and cymbals, Chinese opera troupes, the reedy piping of snake charmers, and campaign promises that ranged from "hospitals at your doorstep" to "compulsory courtesy for civil servants." Only three candidates were Europeans...
...performance that made Debussy unforgettable was more controversial. It became apparent in Mozart's Dissonant Quartet that the Paganini members have attained refinement at the price of their own individuality. Their overwhelming sense of ensemble--with its attendant precision--robbed the music of linear independence. This produced a curious lack of internal rhythmic drive, although actual tempos never lagged, as the Mozart took on too much polish it became increasingly dull...
...twisted pipe cleaners into animal forms, shaping a dog, a rabbit and a kangaroo. He testified that he had recently invented "an entertaining, nondestructive toy," but he refused, claiming the immunity granted by the Fifth Amendment, to name the manufacturer for fear of hurting the toy's sales. Curious, Senator Herman Welker persisted: What was the toy? A miniature lie detector? "Well," said Matusow coyly, as the hearing-room crowd roared, "I call it a stringless...
...recluse who keeps his Paris address a secret, Rouault rarely offers clues to the meanings of his paintings, probably because, as he once wrote of his famous painting Three Judges: "What had seemed to me so simple pictorially has been thought a curious enigma." Guessing who the old king might be, a former director of the Carnegie Institute says: "He may be a David, a Herod or a Sennacherib, for he is an epitome of Oriental magnificence." Said another critic: "It is as though the whole sorrow of mankind were concentrated on the old king." Whoever the king, he speaks...