Word: rare
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Nicknamed the "goddess of the Yangtze," and long considered auspicious by fishermen, the pale-colored, human-sized dolphins have always been rare: a 1997 survey recorded only 14 left in the river. (A captive dolphin died of old age in a Chinese zoo in 2002). But Pfluger says human pressure pushed the baiji past the tipping point. "The main reason is overfishing. The Chinese still use unsustainable fishing methods like dynamite. There's still a lot of illegal fishing, so the dolphins were competing with humans for food...
...preacher who had no church, and who spent his life preaching to football stadiums full of people he never saw again, the First Families gave Graham the rare chance to be a family pastor. He gave them a sanctuary; they gave him a congregation. He carried the families through times of loss--literal and political; several wanted him to be with them during their last nights in the White House. Richard Nixon collapsed in Graham's arms at his mother's funeral in 1967. Bill Clinton took him to sit at the bedside of a dying friend in 1989. Graham...
...more serious long-term threat: Shi'ite militias supported by Iran. The attack killed, by the U.S. military's count, 30 men allegedly involved in receiving weapons and training from Iran. Attacks of that scale in the militia's stronghold are not unheard of, but they are rare. Since the two sides declared a truce in 2004, the Americans - mindful of the militia's power and of the political clout its political wing wields in the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - have tried to limit the Mahdi Army's influence without provoking an all-out confrontation...
...Part of the dwindling interest can be explained by the overall slump in music sales, but there's no question that MTV has also abandoned a lot of the audience that would once have had an interest in a three-hour-plus music awards show. With videos now as rare as senior citizens on the channel - and yes, even complaining about the relative scarcity marks one's age - the current MTV audience has become intolerant of extensive music programming...
...less wild than others. The Mohmand Agency, just a half-hour drive from the city of Peshawar, had long been known as the calmest and most moderate in the region and over the past few years managed to avoid the Talibanization and violence of its neighbors. It was rare to see people in public carrying guns. Women don't wear veils when they do their daily chores outside their homes or visit neighbors. There were only a handful of seminaries. And it was difficult to find anti-American graffiti or the slogans of Jihad on houses and buildings along...