Word: earliest
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...scenarios. He could announce later this year that his tasks as Armed Services Committee chairman prevent relentless campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, but that he will launch a national candidacy in time for the Southern round of primaries on March 8. This could succeed, Strauss speculates, because the earliest contests might yield a "dog's dinner result" -- a lot of scraps and leftovers -- for the present pack. If so, a Nunn or a Cuomo could defy conventional wisdom by waiting until after that round to leap...
...last week scientists had already amassed more data than they could immediately analyze, confirming some theoretical predictions and making several observations that for the time being puzzled everyone. Earliest readings showed that the shell of gases expanding around 1987A was initially traveling outward at nearly 10,000 miles per second. Since then the color of the supernova has been changing from blue to red much faster than expected. "That change is five to ten times faster than other supernovas," says Robert Williams, director of the U.S.-financed Cerro Tololo Inter-Observatory in Chile. This phenomenon indicates that the rapid expansion...
...Like today's astrologers, ancient civilizations believed the stars had a direct influence on earthly affairs, and the Chinese, who carefully recorded any changes in the sky, were especially impressed by "guest stars." They regarded such astronomical visitors as omens of important events on earth. What may be the earliest Chinese record of a supernova is an inscription on a bit of bone, dating from about 1300 B.C., that describes a bright star appearing near the star now known as Antares...
While there is some question whether this and several other of the earliest recorded sightings involved actual exploding stars, there is little doubt about the guest star of A.D. 185. "Second year of the Chung-p'ing reign period," reads an ancient Chinese text, "tenth month, day kuei-hai, a guest star appeared within nanmen. It was as large as half a mat; it was multicolored, and it scintillated. It gradually became smaller and disappeared in the sixth month of the year after next." The description, especially concerning the brightness and slow fade of the star, seems to confirm...
Robinson Crusoe, apotheosis of the desert island castaway, throws one of the longest shadows in literature. For more than two centuries, he and his black companion Friday have provoked countless imitations, parodies, cartoons and advertisements. But from the earliest days, in addition to the parasol and firearm, the beachcombers have also carried some heavy moral baggage. Rousseau considered Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel vital to the education of ambitious youth; Coleridge regarded Crusoe as the "universal representative"; and Karl Marx found the plot an illustration of basic economics...