Word: flare
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...expanding by the day. Just this past week, trucks overflowing with confiscated, spindly satellite dishes rolled through my neighborhood in Tehran. Police have been systematically raiding neighborhoods throughout the city, rounding up illegal dishes, but unlike in the past, without issuing fines. Whether these measures are a temporary flare-up or here to stay remains to be seen. So far, the government seems undaunted by the marked lack of public enthusiasm for its Islamic causes. On the eve of the ceasefire in Lebanon and Israel, the establishment celebrated Hizballah's success as though it were an Iranian military victory...
Then Tierney announced the hotly anticipated results of the Next Big One contest. There were some outliers. One person predicted that a gamma-ray flare would kill 90% of the earth's species. That is what is known in the disaster community as a hilarious joke. But the winner, with 32% of the votes, was once again a hurricane. After all, eight of the 10 costliest disasters in U.S. history have been hurricanes. This time, most of the hurricane voters predicted that the storm would devastate the East Coast, including New York City. History has left us all the clues...
...that in politics, this is known as "playing the expectations game." It's an especially savvy spin to make right now, considering how the Lamont campaign has recently had to contend with an over-enthusiastic blogger's controversial photoshop comment on the race. In the wake of that flare-up, Lamont insisted that "I don't know anything about the blogs." Some found that disingenuous. But Moulitsas backs him up. "He doesn't read the blogs. I know that for a fact. In fact, I'm always distrustful of candidates who do read blogs, because if they're reading blogs...
...defined now." And so far, he is gaining. In a poll published at the end of last week in the newspaper Ma'ariv, 95% of those surveyed supported the government's actions in Lebanon; 78% said they were satisfied with Olmert's performance, compared with 43% before the Lebanon flare...
...summit in St. Petersburg. Putin smiled modestly to thundering applause from the audience. Earlier, he had told them, "We believe that the summit has been a success." And it may have been, at least for Putin's own image. The agenda had been eclipsed by the flare-up of violence in the Middle East, and the U.S. had at the last minute denied Putin his coveted prize of World Trade Organization membership for Russia. But basking in the nightly limelight of international media attention, Putin had stolen the show...