Word: roughnesses
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Country musicians aren't born dull, but they're quick studies. It is a generally held country principle that rough edges translate into lower sales, so record labels often send their most promising acts to media-training schools for a good dulling down. The stars of the future are then taught how to smile with lots of teeth, tilt their hats at the proper roguish--but not too roguish--angle and repeat variations on the "I'm just so glad to be making the music I love" palaver that plays between videos on Country Music Television. On her first...
...political color charts give way to emotional venting against ecotourists who, "at an individual level, cannot be relied on to minimize the social and economic impact of their own vacationing." Duffy assails these novelty-seeking visitors for their "hedonistic pursuits" and, quite often, snobbery as they pretend to rough it. "[T]heir travel acts as a marker of social position, which separates them from conventional tourists," she fumes. "Their self-denial of the luxuries of conventional travel is motivated by a need to demonstrate to themselves that they can cope with the hardships that they do not have to face...
...spring of 2001, Afghanistan was as rough a place as it ever is. Four sets of forces battled for position. Most of the country was under the authority of the Taliban, but it was not a homogeneous group. Some of its leaders, like Mullah Mohammed Omar, the self-styled emir of Afghanistan, were dyed-in-the-wool Islamic radicals; others were fierce Afghan nationalists. The Taliban's principal support had come from Pakistan--another interested party, which wanted a reasonably peaceful border to its west--and in particular from the hard men of the ISI. But Pakistan's policy...
...Tatamailau, as the maps label it, was once the highest point in the Portuguese empire. Located in East Timor's central region, about 30 kilometers north of Maubisse, the 2,963-m-high peak can be reached by turning off the main road to Ainaro and negotiating a rough trail to the town of Hatu Buliko, built at its base. It's easy to feel like an intrepid explorer in this backcountry. Foreign faces are seldom seen and the villagers linger to watch you pass...
...Swiss facing a rough ride? "In its present format, yes," Moser says. "This airline was created on a purely emotional wave of nationalism, with no sound business plan. One key shortcoming is that with 41 long-haul destinations, Swiss is too big for a small country." But Garelli says Swiss chose the right strategy. "There is no future for a small country if it cannot guarantee a certain number of international point-to-point routes," he says...