Word: dampness
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...grapefruit belt on the east-central coast, remain under water. Orange groves in South Florida also endured flooding, though to a lesser extent. Damaged, soggy roots increase the potential for premature fruit drops. But the extent of the harm caused by the rains has yet to be fully assessed; damp conditions have limited surveys of the damage. But Florida's grapefruit season is barely a month away and there is fear that there will not be enough ripe fruit to reach the market. Early guesstimates provided by growers to the industry group Florida Citrus Mutual indicate a 5% fruit drop...
Beyond the sogginess and damp, however, is a more dangerous threat: greening, a condition caused by the Asian Citrus psyllid, a sap-sucking insect invader from overseas whose depredations began three years ago. Unlike canker, greening spreads from tree to tree without the aid of heavy winds or rain. Greening, also called huanglongbing or yellow dragon disease, creates misshapen and bitter fruit and eventually renders the infected trees useless for commercial cultivation. As soon as the insects appeared, greening was detected in all 32 citrus-producing counties in Florida, as well as in Louisiana and Texas...
There's nothing remarkable, or witty, or particularly engaging about Hamlet 2, a ragged comedy about a failed actor who tries to mount a science-fiction musical sequel to Shakespeare's tragedy in a Tucson, Ariz., high school. But at the movie's damp little heart there is a poignant truth: all actors' desperate neediness to win the appreciation and approval of the audience, which is anyone they meet. All of life is a war for that attention, in which the armaments are charm, beauty and menace, the battle cry is "Look at me!" and the secret weapon...
...security volunteers." Some neighborhoods seem to have more guards than residents. Bus and subway riders are subject to random luggage probes, and a series of checkpoints on roads leading into Beijing have produced miles-long traffic jams. An anticipated Olympics-related tourism boom looks to be more of a damp squib, probably due in part to unusually strict enforcement of visa regulations. Some 500,000 tourists will visit Beijing this month, according to official estimates - that's about the same number that checked out the capital in August last year. One Chinese netizen named Ran Zaifei had this...
...serious money rolled in, Gerry purchased a chunk of Max Yasgur's farm, 37.5 fabled acres (15.2 hectares), with that lovely sloping field that I can say with authority is one of the most uncomfortable places in North America if you happen to be stretched out in a damp sleeping bag. Eventually he bought nearly 2,000 adjacent acres (about 800 hectares), enough to start thinking about putting in a golf course and even a theme park--bad ideas that he abandoned. Instead, two years ago he opened the Pavilion Stage there, an outdoor concert venue whose lineup this summer...