Word: gifts
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...That's because it's a pretty standard celebrity drama. In the beginning he was a tall, devastatingly handsome young man, with a polite, soft-spoken gift for ingratiation. This he employed to worm his way into the confidence of the Hell's Angels, the outlaw motorcycle gang, becoming a participant-observer in their rites and rituals and writing about them acutely in what I think remains his best book. There followed his Fear and Loathing books about Las Vegas and the political campaign of 1972. These books had their moments, of course, but there was something hysterical about...
...Savage Garden-blasting boombox, and in the other, he totes a pink bag emblazoned with the faces of every classic Disney princess. We try, unsuccessfully, to stifle our giggles, at which he smiles toothlessly and moves on. But in moments, he is back, offering Danny a $100 American Express gift card. Danny asks if it costs $100, to which the man replies, no, it's $10. Danny says he'll take it for free, and the man agrees, asking instead for a small coffee. Danny obliges. Upon returning to our table, Danny reports that the man's name...
Just a few miles up the road is the biggest gift of all: a $128 million hydroelectric-dam project that when completed will provide enough power to light 1.7 million Afghan homes, for about a quarter of the population. It has some 200 immediate job vacancies that could provide income to hamlets like Madin's and plant the roots of a thriving community. But the Taliban prevents potential workers from even approaching the dam site. Shervington believes he needs at least another 100 troops to drive out the insurgents in his area, but foreign forces are already stretched thin...
...sort of gave up on this whole human adventure a long time ago," he liked to say, his cynicism at odds with a sweetly unpretentious demeanor that made him almost universally beloved in the comedy world. "Divorced myself from it emotionally. I think the human race has squandered its gift and this country has squandered its promise. I think people in America sold out very cheaply, for sneakers and cheeseburgers. And I don't think it's fixable...
...interesting to consider what the price of oil would be today if it had been higher in the past. Suppose, for example, that President George W. Bush had used the political gift certificate he was granted on Sept. 11, 2001, when he could have asked Americans to do almost anything in the name of fighting terrorism, to impose a $1.50 "War on Terror" tax on a gallon of gas (instead of squandering his gift certificate on invading Iraq). The price at the time was about $1.50 per gal., so this would have doubled it to $3. People would have screamed...