Word: phenomenon
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Summoned by e-mails, random strangers have been gathering at specific times in predetermined places this summer to engage in miscellaneous collective action. If this sounds vague, that's because it is. Whether the phenomenon, referred to as a "flash mob," is a cure for the ennui of the wired generation or an incipient form of social protest may be open to debate. But what is clear is that flash mobbing is global, and it's spreading. One mob recently gathered in New York City's Central Park, mimicked bird calls and chanted "Nature, nature" for 20 seconds...
Dean has been running for more than a year, but his campaign did not crystallize into a full-blown phenomenon until the last 10 days of June. It's instructive to look at those days because it is possible to see both the perils and the potential that lie ahead (see box). He repeatedly took risks--from publicly challenging his donors to ante up more money to putting up early ads in Iowa--and showed that what might kill another politician in the big leagues seems only to make him stronger. Even his rather mealy-mouthed performance with Tim Russert...
When Houston is hit by a sudden storm, the city may be partly to blame. Increasingly, urban centers don't merely endure bad weather; they help create it. Researchers believe the phenomenon may be more common now than ever before...
NASA and the University of Arkansas have been using satellite mapping and ground-based temperature readings to determine how widespread this phenomenon is. This spring researchers got a surprise when they turned their attention to Houston. Because it's near a coast and sea breezes tend to cool and disperse hot air, Houston was thought to be comparatively safe from homemade rain. Now it appears that the opposite may be true. "The sea breeze may exacerbate the rainfall," says research meteorologist Marshall Shepherd of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The warm air and sea air collide, he explains...
...someone please tell me which country I'm living in? Last week I sat down and watched a popular new television phenomenon. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy turned out to be a hilarious reality show in which five New York City homosexuals fix a hapless straight guy's home, hair, clothes and culture in order to win the heart of his female love interest. Here was a wonderful example of straight men and gay men communicating, laughing and getting along. And the gay guys were all about affirming the straight guy's relationship. At one point, the straight...