Word: perched
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Gregory cheered visibly each time he spotted a woman driving alone. Whenever one passed, he waved happily and gave the air-horn cable a long, hard pull. Air-conditioned, stereo-equipped cabs keep truckers cool, clean and reasonably contented. From his perch in the sleeping bunk behind the seats, Graves observed: "I know most people think of us as big, brainless, sweaty old men, but today there's a lot of drivers dressed better than most people." Some even wear neckties on the road. Drivers are no longer required to help with the chores of loading and unloading; mechanics...
With Brazilian inventiveness, the victims have devised grimly apt names for the various torture techniques. One of the most widely practiced is called the pau de arara, or parrot's perch. The victim's wrists are tied together and slipped over his knees. After a rod is inserted between his knees and arms, the prisoner is hoisted into the air, where he hangs helplessly, head down. Using electric coils, the torturers shock the victim on the genitals and anus...
Howling Blizzards. On its lofty perch, Mauna Kea Observatory lies above 40% of the earth's obscuring atmosphere and provides its telescopes (an 88-in. reflector and two smaller 24-in. mirrors) with a spectacularly clear view of the stars and planets. Pictures of Jupiter already shot through one of its smaller telescopes are considered among the best ever obtained. Less than 20 degrees north of the equator, the observatory can explore far more of the southern skies than most installations in the Northern Hemisphere. The site is also favored by an unusual local weather condition: a layer...
Egyptian barrages are not as worrisome to Israeli troopers as the sudden single shell that can catch a man in the open, on his way to the kitchen or the latrine. Also worrisome are the "monkeys," as the moles refer to the camouflaged Egyptian snipers who perch in 60-ft. eucalyptus trees across the canal. At one fort, a sniper plinked away whenever an Israeli headed for a shower. The commander knew that artillery would be of little use; 105-mm. howitzers had been tried before, but only made the trees sway. Besides, the shells cost $85 apiece. One morning...
...hence, they may be the highest mountains on earth. Peru itself lies within the "circle of fire," a ring of volcanoes and seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific from New Zealand up through Japan and the Aleutians and down the western rim of the Americas. Because of its precarious perch, Peru suffers an average of eight major earthquakes-and countless minor ones-every century...