Word: flotsam
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...passing star gives the cloud a gravitational jiggle, releasing hundreds of these fragments. Most of them are sent outward into interstellar space, but some are hurled toward the sun as comets. Although the Oort Cloud has yet to be seen, most astronomers agree it exists and is the flotsam left over when a nebula, a massive cloud of dust and gas, collapsed and formed the solar system...
...Designed to map deep-sea hills and gulleys, the craft can descend to depths of 20,000 ft. and remain underwater indefinitely. Essentially, it is a 16-ft.-long cage fashioned to protect a clutch of strobe lights, side-scanning sonar devices and an array of cameras from marine flotsam. The entire contraption is tied umbilically to the mother ship by a thick steel cable. When sonar patterns signal an interesting feature, the video cameras can be commanded to zoom in on the object. The images they pick up are relayed instantaneously through the cable to computers and video screens...
...imagery mimics the nullifying influence of TV, its promotion of derisive inertia as the hip way of seeing. Underneath, a congealed eroticism, derived from the misogynies of soft porn and the misty cliches of romance-illustration; on top, a disconnected shuffle of high-art fragments and other visual flotsam. The effect is often harshly sexist and supercilious: porn-in-quotes garnished with irony, the yuppie market's dream...
Some shark authorities downplay the dangers of Great Whites, which they consider magnificent scavengers that have successfully lived through 30 million years of evolution virtually unchanged. Sharks, they declare, play a necessary role as the garbage collectors of the sea, indiscriminately devouring flotsam ranging from fish carcasses to old tin cans. Most important, say shark admirers, the number of people killed by Great Whites over the centuries is small, far less than those who die from lightning strikes or snake bites. But in the Red Triangle, at least, it is still not safe to go back in the water...
...docudrama, sociological argument, fragmented monologues and musical interludes. This stylization moves the play closer to Brechtian irony than to Greek tragedy. Jones, played with grim conviction by Richard Kneeland, is not a satanic Pied Piper but a drug-addicted preacher with delusions of grandeur. His followers are not pathetic flotsam but all too recognizable products of the '60s: a rebellious flower child, a medical student avoiding the Army, a socially concerned lawyer. "We were 913 individuals," one proclaims to the audience at the end. The message comes through with clarity and power: it could happen again; it could happen...