Word: gnat
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...silicon pressure sensors a year to its parent company, General Motors, for use in power-train controls and diagnostics. But scientists at Berkeley, Stanford, M.I.T., AT&T, IBM and a handful of other research centers around the world see much broader possibilities for minuscule machines. They envision armies of gnat-size robots exploring space, performing surgery inside the human body or possibly building skyscrapers one atom at a time. "Microelectronics is on the verge of a second revolution," says Jeffrey Lang, a professor of electromechanics at M.I.T. "We're still dreaming of applications...
...bellows Maxwell, as he signs checks for needy causes. But Jay's real challenge is simply to keep the emperor's attention. After the first few letters, Maxwell's mind ticks elsewhere. He can drill to the core of any issue, but his attention span is that of a gnat...
...Sixth Fleet. But aside from having the U.S. seem to stand tall again, it was difficult to discern any long-term strategic policy behind Reagan's show of force. In fact, long-range policies are in short supply in this Administration. Reagan swats a fly here or a gnat there while ignoring the insects' breeding areas. Says the President's former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane of last week's action: "I don't see the kind of strategic framework that would make it a new phase. It is more a case of reacting to events...
...much on the garbled America of TV as the real thing. Boyd is fine as long as he stays in New York City. In the South his story tends to unravel, and the picaresque incidents verge on cartoons. There are, however, some sharp observations of Dixie speech ("Each gnat she cooked me a fan dinner") and fauna ("a moth the size of a wren"), and an impudent send-up of atrium-style hotels, a high-rise in Atlanta where the guests go from check- in to elevator via canoe...
...Gnat that had been buzzing about the head of the Bull, at length settling himself down upon his horn, begged his pardon for incommoding him, "but if," says he, "my weight at all inconveniences you, pray say so and I will be off in a moment." "Oh, never trouble your hand about that," says the Bull, "for 'tis all to me whether you go or stay; and, to say the truth. I did not know you were there...