Word: discern
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Much of the problem with Entropy is trying to discern anything new in the theory. Certainly the idea that progress in history does not exist has been around for a while--Henry Kissinger '50, for example, wrote an undergraduate thesis on the subject. As a genuine social democrat and a favorite of the left, Rifkin backs himself into a corner with his entropic world view. Why should we accept his weltanschaung instead of Plato's? What do we have to gain by accepting Rifkin's view when, as he says, progress is impossible? The author's blend of cold reality...
...clergy clowns find a theological justification for their unusual ministry in the injunction of St. Paul to the Corinthians to become "fools for Christ's sake" because God has "made foolish the wisdom of the world." They discern multilayered analogies between the clown and Christ: the clown's joy in living and mimed delight in simple things, like the scent of a flower, for instance, recall Jesus' command to "consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." The simplicity and childlike persistence of the clown can have a special meaning for Christians. "The clown refuses...
...metaphors, he uses personal pronouns interchangeably and his enunciation is appalling. (I realize that these are symptoms of most rock artists, but Elvis is above all that.) Often it's a major task to determine the subject of a song, and it may take weeks of intense listening to discern any coherence. But the songs deepen with each newly-discovered phrase, and the rewards are great; I wouldn't work that hard for any other contemporary musician...
...shore, a sparse but loyal gathering, some outfitted in sweatsuits, but most in parkas, squinted into the rapidly encroaching darkness, trying to discern the silhouettes...
...aggressive gesture President Carter may boycott the Olympic Games in Moscow if the Russians don't go home. This threat elicits a wry smile from one of the two men. The other sneers. The camera shows President Carter speaking with utter gravity, but the two men can't discern what he is saying because the correspondent talks over the sound, paraphrasing the President's words. More beer. A tank's Red Star decal grumbles past the screen in telephoto proportions, and yet another correspondent reports that an estimated 10,000 Soviet troops are gathering on the Iranian border, within striking...