Word: patchwork
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Even to scientists of the day, these theories seemed patchwork: they dealt with nagging questions, but in an artificial and contrived way. Yet they contained seeds of truth. Science was groping toward the answer to the ether dilemma and the limitations of Newtonian physics. And even without Einstein, someone eventually would have solved the puzzle...
Just as Washington was unable to forecast accurately the events of Iran's recent past, it also appears powerless to influence the country's immediate future. The basic goal of what Administration officials concede is no more than a patchwork policy is to support Bakhtiar's efforts to restore order. The U.S. backing for the Prime Minister, these officials hasten to add, is based not on preference but simply on the fact that he is, for the moment, the legal head of government. Says a State Department specialist: "We are not trying to push Bakhtiar...
Housing for other oil workers is a miserable patchwork, almost as if patterned on the primitive mud huts of the Iranian countryside. Open sewers flank the area, while dogs nose their way through mounds of exposed garbage. The smell of filth permeates the air. The only sign of 20th century amenities is a spate of television aerials atop most of the homes. "They tried to buy us with television," says one of the local strike leaders, who would identify himself only with the nom de guerre Hossein. "My father used to tell us about this land with tears...
...waning decade has remained elusive, unfocused, a patchwork of dramatics awaiting a drama. Here on the brink of the '80s, it would still be risky to guess what people will mean when they speak of the '70s ten years from now. Why have these times seemed so indefinite...
...court clearly decided on strict limitations on a reporter's right to withhold the names of his sources in 1972, Lewis said, disagreeing with Porterfield's contention that the nation has been left with "a patchwork of conflicting laws and decisions...