Word: dimout
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...drop - an illuminated 400-pound iron-and-wood orb - was lowered from a flagpole. Tradition took root and the ball has heralded a new beginning almost every year since - in 1942 and 1943, during World War II, the ball was temporarily put out of commission by a war-time "dimout." Instead crowds gathered in the square and observed a moment of silence before hooting and hollering...
Christmas Dimout. The requested ban on outdoor illumination will crimp the plans of many communities and businesses to put up dazzling Christmas displays. Even before the President's call for a blackout, Detroit Mayor Roman S. Gribbs had ordered a "dimout" of Christmas lighting, and has been severely criticized for it. Groused Councilman David Eberhard: "This town needs some joy. If we turn off the color, the sparkle, the life, then we're a dead city." To conserve electricity, the small town of Jefferson, Iowa, stilled the carillon bells that pealed hymns and patriotic music...
Sadat's statements set off the Middle East's worst war jitters since a ceasefire began along the canal 16 months ago. Floodlights and neon signs were doused in Cairo, blue dimout paint was smeared onto auto headlights and plate-glass windows. Civil-defense equipment was pointedly inspected, including electronic amplifiers that would supposedly magnify groans from victims trapped under debris. At the same time, the top military commanders of a dozen Arab nations met in Cairo and, according to Egypt's hawkish Chief of Staff Major General Saad Shazly, "voiced full desire to participate...
...Egyptian morale, in fact, is at its highest point in months. "The uncertainty of the future still gnaws at everybody," a Cairo businessman said last week, "but at least we know that Cairo won't be bombed." The piles of sandbags have disappeared from the Nile bridges, blue dimout paint has been scraped off windows and automobile headlights, and Suleyman Pasha Square is bathed in new floodlights...
...Israelis lit their first candles celebrating the traditional festival of lights (Hanukkah) last week, the government decreed a national dimout. Reason: a fuel shortage that was one indirect consequence of Israel's seven-day victory over Egypt. In homes, hotels and hospitals only one 60-watt light bulb was permitted to burn in any room, and families were restricted to a maximum of 60 kw-h per month. Housewives boned up on how much power each appliance consumed (example: a washing machine uses up one kw-h in 30 minutes), and pinned up self-rationing lists in their kitchens...