Word: descent
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...opponent, Lucia Marie Cormier, 48, is a stocky, even-tempered spinster, an ex-schoolteacher and the proprietress of a Rumford gift shop, a Roman Catholic of French Canadian descent, effective minority leader of the state legislature and the darling of Maine's resurgent Democrats. Lucia Cormier was chosen to oppose Margaret Smith for her sex-but before she could claim the senatorial-race plum she proved in the rough-and-tumble school of state politics that she could outshine the men around...
...caused it? The doctors can only speculate. But the baby had been predisposed to a heart attack by thickening of the lining in some of the coronary arteries, roughly similar to atherosclerosis in the adult. Circulation, the doctors believe, had been interrupted by the difficult delivery that followed premature descent, and probably squeezing of the umbilical cord. Blood clots formed, as in the adult's coronary thrombosis. As far as they can judge, the baby had his fatal heart attack when only one hour...
...observations untainted by sentimentality, Wallant follows every step of Berman's descent into melancholia. His eye and ear, as he tells of Berman's deterioration, are so good that time after time readers may experience the discomforting shock of self surprised. At first the plumber's grief seems simple-inward weeping set off by a breath of perfume from a bathroom cabinet, or the sudden spaciousness of his bed. Then, wallowing in his sadness, Berman turns on everyone who offers comfort. Even his married daughter, who tries to mother him, is stung by his quick, aimless angers...
...supply). Shortly before zero hour, 5:30 a.m., he staggered from the van. his 165-lb. frame laden with 155 lbs. of clothing and equipment, including an experimental stabilizing parachute designed to prevent dangerous high-altitude spin - during which blood collects in the extremities - without slowing the rate of descent...
...Cleveland tracked its course across the summer sky for a full eleven minutes. On its 18th pass around the world, an electronic command flashed up from earth, triggered rockets that altered the satellite's course and pointed it back toward earth. A quick blast from retrorockets slowed its descent, and a special thermal shield protected the satellite's skin against the heat generated by rapid descent through the earth's atmosphere. The capsule, with its canine passengers, was ejected automatically, floated down separately. Both satellite and capsule, said the Russians, landed astonishingly close-within 6.2 miles...