Word: discomfort
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...that are most uneasy at the turn of events. After years of publicly decrying the proliferation of nuclear weapons on their soil, some Europeans may be reminded of Oscar Wilde's dictum: "When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers." To the West's discomfort, Gorbachev is zestfully playing a role no previous Soviet leader has essayed: the man who keeps saying yes. The General Secretary first astonished NATO last month by accepting Reagan's zero-option proposal to scrap all intermediate-range Soviet and American nuclear missiles in Europe, and then by agreeing, at least...
Texaco is today seen as arrogant in its dealings with competitors, suppliers and its own station operators, some of whom have secretly enjoyed its discomfort in the Pennzoil crisis. The company's chairmen have been known for making their own decisions. James Kinnear, who has been chief executive for less than four months, may adopt a more democratic management style. But Texaco could have already paid a steep price for its autocratic tradition. It was one man -- John McKinley, Kinnear's predecessor -- who decided in 1984 to buy Getty Oil. At best, he had a good idea that was poorly...
...surplus cash is one impetus driving the country ever closer to the U.S. Another is Washington's need for Japanese funds to finance the budget deficit. Notes Goldman Sachs' Hormats: "Japan and the U.S. are locked in an embrace from which there is no escape. It may create some discomfort, but there is no longer...
...question remains of how much discomfort -- not to mention occasional pain -- may be involved. If, as the Reagan Administration hopes, the semiconductor skirmish spurs Tokyo to more urgent efforts to settle trade disputes, it will have served a useful purpose...
More recent studies suggest other pluses. In a 1984 Philadelphia study of patients about to undergo dental surgery, some were hypnotized, others were told to look at an aquarium full of fish, and the rest sat quietly for 20 minutes. The first two groups experienced the least discomfort. Surprisingly, watching fish was as effective as being hypnotized. Why animals are so soothing is still a mystery. Psychiatrist Aaron Katcher of the University of Pennsylvania speculates that stroking animals and talking to them stimulates < the brain's production of its pleasure chemicals, the endorphins...