Word: idiotically
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...Idiot proof and practically maintenance free, the tough cycles are the transportation equivalent of the first oversize Prince tennis racquet introduced in the 1970s. Both represent high-tech sports magic in accessible form, an Everyman's ticket to an activity usually ruled by youth and muscle. Behind the growing bike boom in America are all those adventurous teenagers reawakening in millions of overtaxed grownups. Frustrated with sore knees, joggers are turning to biking. Desk jockeys once intimidated by drop-handle 10-speeds can now handle as many as 21 gears on a bike that looks more like something the paper...
Each approach, that of busybody or crybaby, is selfish, and each poisons the sense of common cause. The sheer stupidity of each seeps into public discourse and politics. Idiot in the original Greek meant someone who cared nothing for issues of public life. The pollster Peter Hart asked some young people in a focus group to name qualities that make America special. Silence. Then one young man said, "Cable TV." Asked how to encourage more young people to vote, a young woman replied, "Pay them...
...sure, many TV shows are drivel. But using them to indict all of television is intellectually dishonest, NBC's decision to air Manimal doesn't make L.A. Law a bad show. Anyone who mentions Hard Copy and Nightline in the same breath is simply an idiot. If you watch Nova you'll learn something; if you watch Freddy's Nightmares, you won't. It's just common sense...
Proponents claim that the MHTGR (one type of which is shown here) is nearly idiot-proof. The key is to load a new form of nuclear fuel capable of withstanding very high temperatures -- up to 3,300 degrees F (1,800 degrees C) -- into reactor vessels so small that they cannot hold enough fuel to produce such temperatures. The fuel consists of tiny grains of enriched uranium that are coated in ceramic and embedded in billiard ball-size "pebbles" of graphite. The reactor needs no safety cooling system; helium gas flowing through the core simply carries away heat to power...
...FOOL AND THE FISH by Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (Dial; $12.95). Ivan is that classic Russian archetype, the wise idiot. When he catches a talking pike, it strikes a bargain: if Ivan casts it back into the icy water, his every wish will be granted. The result is riches, fame -- and problems. Gennady Spirin's paintings exhibit the palette of Russian icons and the surreal quality of Bruegel landscapes...