Word: explaining
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...particular talent -- especially a visual talent -- are seldom the best theorists of what they do. Georges Seurat, for instance, was tiresome on pointillism. So perhaps Richard Saul Wurman, a graphic designer who creates the delightfully unorthodox Access guides to cities, should have left it to someone else to explain how people can organize the overflow of data that saturates contemporary life. Information Anxiety is an intermittently diverting self-help guide, Megatrends crossed with What Color Is Your Parachute? But it is more a collage than a book -- with digressive marginalia, diagrams, stray factoids and snatches of autobiography...
...petition's organizers should have made sure they fully understood the provisions of the new lottery plan before attempting to explain it to their freshmen signers. But it is nothing less than irresponsible for the council not to make any effort to correct the mistake before furthering the document, particularly when council members sit on the student-administrator committee which debated the masters' plan with Jewett. To have failed to do so was a grave disservice to the freshmen who signed the petition in good faith, and an embarrassment to a council which claims to be actively representing student interests...
Williams repeatedly attempted to get the governor to explain the perception that he was an "iceman," an issue President Bush used against him in the presidential campaign. When Williams asked Dukakis why he returned to work the day after his election defeat instead of taking a vacation, the governor replied matter-of-factly, "I wanted to get to work on the budget...
...manual features a chart that puts infractions into 43 categories and lists corresponding penalties. The sentence is increased according to such factors as use of a weapon, the amount of money involved and prior criminal record. A judge can depart from the recommended numbers in unusual circumstances but must explain why in writing; both sides can then appeal the sentence...
...John Allen Paulos, professor of mathematics at Temple University, has written a book about mathematical illiteracy. Titled Innumeracy (Hill & Wang; $16.95), it seeks to explain why so many people are numerically inept and shows how they can learn to work and play with figures. Paulos, 43, has no patience with mathematical dumbos who almost boastfully claim, "I can't even balance my checkbook," or "I'm a people person, not a numbers person." "I'm pained," he says, "at the belief that mathematics is an esoteric discipline with little relation or connection to the 'real' world...