Word: peculiar
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Like birds, which evolved independently 70 million years later, pterosaurs had bones that were hollow and lightweight. (One scientist refers to pterosaur skeletons as "Styrofoam and mailing tubes.") But of all the trademarks of a pterosaur, one of the most peculiar was its hand, which boasted three clawlike fingers of normal size and a fourth digit that was outlandishly long. It was this fourth finger that provided structural support for the wings. Made of a skin-like membrane, the wings were supported by thousands of microscopic fibers that acted rather like the ribs of a folding umbrella, creating a flexible...
...scriptural difficulties. Both approaches were developed as aids to the believer: they worked from the assumption that God's logic was impeccable; only man's understanding was wanting. But readers may miss a chance to identify with the patriarchs' vibrant humanity and to sharpen their own faith against the peculiar abrasiveness of the Biblical characters...
...line, others are complete nonsense. The majority of his work, as in the following excerpt from "The Object Lesson," is a combination of the two: "At twilight, however, no message had come from the asylum, so the others retired to the kiosk, only to discover the cakes iced a peculiar shade of green...
...whatever else I can get my hands on for even the most esoteric scraps of information. Stanley Kubrick is tossing around the idea of moving back to the United States? Eddie Vedder got a new cat? Even though I keep my ear to the ground, I have the peculiar habit of going into bookstore and record stores for the sole purpose of scanning the titles of my favorite artists and authors. Even when I know damn well that a new work isn't coming out for months. Even when I have no reason to believe that anything new is coming...
Swallowing the first capsule, I wondered how exactly it would kick in. Within minutes my mouth dried up, as if I had swallowed a handful of cotton balls. Water and chewing gum soon solved that problem. Then halfway through Letterman, around the time of my nightly kitchen crawl, something peculiar happened. I zoomed in on a bowl of green pippin apples, fixating on their aesthetic beauty more than their sweet taste. I stared at them intensely, then decided I wasn't hungry after all. Instead, I sipped some cranberry juice and somehow felt satisfied...