Word: normalities
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Also, Thurber needs them in The Last Flower to play off against the rabbits--now normal in size, but fierce, not meek. Note the sequence: war ends; the dogs, symbols of normalcy, abandon man; fierce rabbits descend; with time, natural conditions resume; children chase away the rabbits; the dogs return to man. Nature at the start was inverted both by war and the denial of sex. The rabbits can be viewed as the scourge of the gods (or of nature) after war, and one might add that the "enormous rabbit" itself could be America's fear of warfare...
...drag of gravity forces (far more powerful than the earth's) from the rocket's acceleration piles tip a crushing impact on the spaceman, whose normal weight -say 150 Ibs. -multiplies to three-quarters of a ton. On the outer skin of his capsule, hurtling away from earth at 25,000 m.p.h., the friction of the atmosphere generates temperatures tip to 1,600°F. Beyond the atmosphere, the outside temperature drops to -454°F. -close to absolute zero -and gone is the atmospheric pressure that keeps man's organs from exploding like a blood bomb...
...glow of the mist-shrouded earth and the hard white disk of the sun -invisible, cosmic radiation particles pierce the space capsule -and riddle the pilot -harmfully or harmlessly, who knows? By then the space traveler is weightless -an unearthly state in which he may do himself injury with normal movements of his own muscles. He cannot smoke because of fire and explosion hazards; the cabin pressure is so low that he cannot even whistle to keep up his courage. Yet he needs courage of a very special kind. As great a menace as any lies in his own mind...
...rate of speed provided that it is constant. What hurts is a too-abrupt change in speed or direction. Standard of measurement for such changes is the g (from gravity), which is equal to the acceleration produced by the earth's pull at sea level. Unprotected and in normal sitting position, the body cannot stand more than about 3½ g for more than about 15 seconds. Semisupine, even without a pressure suit, it can stand 6 g for 4½ minutes, as much as 12 g for only six seconds. But in blast-off or reentry, g forces...
Rewards. Yet what Dr. Roth's patients usually need most is reassurance about the vast, puzzling range of normal adolescent development. "Anxieties or problems that seem trivial to others," he says, "are very meaningful to teen-agers." The adolescent constantly fears that his or her body is not following the lines of the "ideal" movie star. A girl worries about small breasts; a boy fears that his are overdeveloped. Most frequent complaints: acne, obesity, menstrual "disorders," lack of beard, the skin striations common to fast growth. Not every doctor cares to worry about such normal minutiae. Dr. Roth disagrees...