Word: ironize
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...makeshift hoop hung on a tree or the side of a house. In Mexico, there is scarcely a town that doesn't have at least one court, and even in impoverished Nigeria, many homes have a rim at the back, sometimes fashioned out of a bent tire iron. Basketball is the most popular school sport in China, where an estimated 250 million players shoot the ball with an NBA-influenced aggressiveness and flash that were seldom seen just a few years...
Just as important, most of the foreign imports "are complete players, not specialists," notes Hall of Fame center Bill Walton, now an analyst for ESPN. The Europeans, in particular, are typically taught the basics by iron-willed coaches who have zero tolerance for showboating or big egos. The players learn to handle zone defenses, which, unlike man-to-man, require every player to hit the outside shot. And pressure doesn't faze them...
...Iraq has special disadvantages. Many experts on Iraq, both in the Arab world and the West, fear that the U.S. is glossing over the realities of imposing democracy on a country that is deeply tribal, vengeful and embittered. The vacuum left by a collapse of Saddam's iron-fisted order could ignite power struggles and vendetta killings that could trigger long-term civil strife or even the breakup of the country. There's no democrat in waiting to step in if the dictator departs. Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds would jostle for their share of power. Iraqi exiles would...
...startling. One tramload at 60% U3O8 is worth about $134,000. A single hole produces something like $150 million worth of uranium in the 10 days or so it takes to bore it. By mining just 140 tons of ore a day (a thimbleful compared with big copper-or iron-ore mines), McArthur River produces more than 18 million lbs. of uranium a year. That's 20% of the world's annual production, enough to run 40 standard 1,000-MW reactors for a year. That much uranium can satisfy fully 2% of the world's electricity demand--as much...
...reality and commuting. At times Zhou Yu's Train feels like a parody of an art film, complete with slow-motion shots of a melancholy Gong Li. Not even the charming presence of Sun Hong-Lei as a love-struck veterinarian who tries to persuade Zhou to dismount her iron horse can save the film's stalled second act. It's good to have Gong Li back, but here's hoping her next director stays on track. Anyone know what Zhang Yimou...