Word: keening
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Twain’s classic offers a medley of colorful characters, memorably presented by his irreverent narrator. Although Huck presents each new figure with a keen eye for the ridiculous, Huck himself is a shifting comedic persona rather than a genuine, grounded character. His personality and world view changes to fit each scene, allowing him to effectively satirize any given situation. Although Huck often seems implausibly ignorant of the world’s conventions, he at times possesses astounding insight into how society operates. The temptation of the comedian is to conveniently modify his characters for a few extra laughs...
Competitive only begins to describe it. Players come to the weekly challenges armed with notebooks and keen observation skills. During those challenges they collect as many details as they can about their fellow players, especially those they suspect of being the Mole. Any and every detail is a potential question on the quiz, and a player can’t afford to be inattentive. To find the Mole, they look for the player who is actively trying to subvert the successful completion of the group challenges...
...Afghan officials suspect that Hekmatyar made his peace overture to Karzai only after getting a nod from the Pakistani military establishment. Pakistani officials are keen to demonstrate to the Obama Administration that reconciliation between Karzai and the insurgents can succeed, but only if Pakistan makes it happen. That may also explain the recent arrests of 14 senior Taliban commanders in Pakistan - according to the U.N. and Afghan officials in Kabul, some of those held by Pakistan had been engaged in secret talks, and were more open to a peace deal than their hard-core brethren inside the movement...
...write off Aceh yet. Thanks largely to four weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur operated by the budget carrier AirAsia, tourists are trickling into Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, and for good reason. The city itself is leafy and slow-paced, while Acehnese people are proud, hospitable and keen to make up for years of isolation. Drive out along the west coast and you'll find white-sand bays studded with jungle-clad islands, beaches where 900-kg turtles lay their eggs, and forests where tigers prowl and gibbons peer down from the trees...
...Particularly keen on conversation are the elderly, who account for more than one-fifth of the Japanese population and are increasingly living alone. Customers 65 and up make up a majority of Table-Mono's business. "This is one of the main reasons for [Table-Mono's] success," says Yamazaki. "Many older people can't walk to the supermarket; some have no friends and stay alone in the house all day." (See historical pictures in "Japan and the World...