Word: damp
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...these necessary jobs at the embassy was the ritual burning of each day's decoded dispatches. At first the attache in charge carefully supervised Francesco's performance of this daily chore, but after a time (and after Francesco had thoughtfully filled the furnace with damp paper to ensure the production of clouds of steamy smoke that stung diplomatic eyes) the attache let him go it alone. Francesco burned a few of the papers and took the rest (for a small fee) to the Italian military intelligence. "I was certainly not qualified," he writes modestly, "to select the material...
...missed a plane, and he was delivered (to Athens) on a cargo plane in time to make the concert. Spare reeds and strings were plentiful; even the tympani player got around his problem of extremes of humidity by putting the drumheads under a hair drier when they loosened in damp climates and covering them with wet diapers when they got too tight in dry climates...
Despite the President's attempt to throw a damp blanket over discussion of the Soviet feat, scientists, defense experts, and legislators have not hidden their concern. To them, the man-made moon is a signal for reappraisal of American defense structure and scientific ability...
...Damp Spirits. As soon as the Communists heard the news, they ringed the Public Palace on the hilltop with a guard of local comrades armed with weapons cached away since war's end. While Italy's press screamed of "bloody civil war" in the tiny contained nation, San Marino's own partisans were subdued by a drizzling rain. At one point the Reds on the hill organized a sortie against their adversaries, but what with the mud and all, gave up after firing a single wild shot. The Italian government helpfully recognized the anti-Communist government, then...
Solid Sand Castles. What makes the contents of Nivola's pocket economically feasible is a technique of his own invention. While amusing his children building sand castles on the beach at East Hampton, he conceived the idea of sculpting in damp sand and casting directly in concrete. A certain amount of sand sticks to Nivola's concrete casts, providing color and texture plus an odd feeling that the bas-relief, once erected, may slide away like sand at any moment...