Word: distantly
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...white, that are misunderstood as political terrorism. The action is set in 1962, mostly during the week when Nelson Mandela was taken into custody. That arrest, and its long-term deforming consequences for South African society, plays an oblique but significant role in the narrative -- especially in the distant fate foretold for the team in the novel's final paragraphs. Despite the deep optimism inherent in depicting their relationship, McClure ends in glints of gloom. He implies that no such bond can survive forever the fire storm of that nation's rage...
...countless stars fill the firmament, they must be circled by countless planets -- or so everyone assumes. In the fertile minds of fiction writers, the distant worlds have taken on every imaginable name, from Krypton to Ork, and spawned every imaginable creature, from the Klingons to the Ewoks. But in real life no earthbound astronomer has ever proved the existence of a single planet outside our solar system...
...planet whose sun is a relatively tiny, dim pulsar. Astronomer Black figures that in about 10 years, telescopic instruments may be sophisticated enough to focus on the planet itself, rather than just the pulsar. Even if no Klingons are immediately found, the knowledge gained from examining the distant planet will make it easier to explore the countless other worlds waiting to be discovered...
...20th century. At 6:30 a.m. the celestial show began. Like a devouring sky god, the moon's shadow appeared, gouging out a perfectly rounded bite from the upper edge of the sun. Moving at 10,000 km/h (6,000 m.p.h.) -- but as slowly as a distant airplane to the human eye -- the shadow crept down the face of the sun. Soon it obscured all but a thin lower crescent that gleamed against the darkening sky like the Cheshire Cat's smile. Next the corners of the smile vanished, leaving a single dazzling gem of brilliance at the bottom...
Although the centuries-old ethnic, religious and political enmities roiling Yugoslavia must seem very distant to most Americans, the turbulence has immediate meaning. The U.S. is currently engaged in a social debate that pits the virtues of ethnic and racial diversity against the value of a common national identity. Of course, unlike the artificial construct that is Yugoslavia, America evolved organically, its identity forged by a populace that for the most part joined the union eagerly, not with sullen resistance. Still, it was instructive for Americans to watch the television footage from Yugoslavia to see what unbounded "multiculturalism" can look...