Word: earthly
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...looks steely-eyed at his charges, each of us with our heads tossed back, eyes wide open, jaws dropped, certain the two divers will, in less than 17 seconds, bounce and splatter on the grass. "Ooooo, ooooo" we say as two chutes blossom and the jumpers silently glide toward earth. Maclaughlin's brows are down, his lips pursed, his eyes still locked in on his students. "Snap out of it boys," he spits, "you just missed three minutes of information that could make the difference...
...machinery. "I'm hooking you up now." He attaches the beginner's 12 foot parachute line to the static line, the string of lines that supposedly will open the parachute, secured to the plane. I glance out the window, raise myself up to get a glimpse of the earth straight down, let out a short moan and settle back in the cockpit, gasping quickly and irregularly...
...earth is a mere blot, darkened at sunset and dotted with strings of insignificant lights and shadows. The propeller whirls, forcing air through my mouth, adrenalin through my system. I feel a light tap on my shoulder and I jump, thinking it is the jump master giving me the signal. "Where the hell is he going?" the jump master asks. "I don't know where he's going," my friend yells with a grimace, "you're the jump master...
...fall, back to the ground. One second, I flip around twice, no parachute. Two seconds, I twirl twice, still no parachute. Three seconds, I plummet, forehead toward the earth. Four, my harness tears at my hips and chest, swings my feet above my head. The parachute glides above me. The earth is a gray mound, Boston glimmers on the horizon. I make out a small rectangular building surrounded by dots, a small field and then trees and lakes. The air swirls silently. A band of trees approaches but I glance once more to the parachute, the sky and the horizon...
...results give nine billion years as the approximate age of the universe. Most previously accepted estimates of the universe's age ranged from 15 to 18 billion years. (The Earth and the solar system are about 4.6 billion years...