Word: instrumental
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...mind have its way all the time when physical realities challenge it. In a patient stubbornly working to rehab after surgery, in a child practicing an instrument or struggling to create, a mind or will, clearly separate, hovers under the machinery, forcing it toward a goal. It's wonderful to see, such tangible evidence of that fine thing's power over the mere clumps of particles that, however pretty, will eventually clump differently and vanish...
...Constitution," FDR said, "was not a perfect instrument, it is not perfect yet; but it provided a firm base upon which all manner of men of all races, colors and creeds could build our solid structure of democracy." That base becomes less firm when public servants, whether President or city commissioner, get to remove whichever pieces they dislike...
...wait. It's all right. It's good news. Two blue dolphins were choking on plastic they ate off the side of their aquarium pool, and no medical instrument could access the blockage. So, for a change, something sensible was done. The world's tallest man, all seven-foot-nine of him, was summoned - from the flock (of what, yaks?) he was herding in Inner Mongolia. His great long arm reached in past the gag reflex, grabbed the plastic and pulled it out! Mission accomplished...
It’s shortly after 6 p.m. on a Friday. As many students are gearing up for a few drinks before heading out for the night, I grab my instrument and start the trek over the bridge to the Bright Hockey Center, ready for a different type of pregame...
...suspicion in Moscow is that the recent murders of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former KGB operative Alexander Litvinenko - as well as the alleged attempt on former prime minister and economic-reform mastermind Yegor Gaidar - result from domestic clan warfare. Russians are quite accustomed to seeing assassination used as an instrument to silence an opponent or redistribute assets, and over a dozen major energy-corporation and banking executives have been killed in the past couple of months alone. What is different about the Litvinenko and Gaidar cases is that they happened beyond Russian borders...