Word: rube
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...only visible effect of Ev's new-found role as a pop recording star is that his hair, which was duplicated, ringlet by unruly ringlet, in a recent sculpture by Rube Goldberg, now cascades over his ears and down his neck with Joanie Phoanie abandon, and the great wave atop his head looks as if it had been locked in place with Living Curl. In a certain light, there even seems to be a new tint of gold among the silver threads-though only his hairdresser knows for sure...
...made a science of measurements. Consider Walter Norton of Norton & Sons, who tailored a shooting suit for Bing Crosby with "plus twos" and also suits for Jack Paar and ten U.S. ambassadors. First, Norton snaps Polaroid pictures of the client front and side. Then, he drapes him in a Rube Goldberg contraption made out of wire rods, cloth tapes and spirit levels (to spot a dropping shoulder); it takes eight minutes just to get the rig on, after which Norton spends up to half an hour taking 25 separate measurements. "If they were standing at attention at the beginning, they...
Blood is such a complex of substances that its viscosity changes unpredictably with changing conditions. Walder and his colleagues built elaborate, Rube Goldberg devices to measure viscosity changes against such variables as temperature, pressure and the rate of blood flow...
...achieve underground paving, the M.S.U. researchers designed a tractor-pulled Rube Goldberg device that lifts a 2-ft.-deep strip of earth from the field, sprays warm liquid asphalt underneath it, and then allows the soil to settle back in place. The asphalt solidifies immediately into a 34-in.-wide, ⅛-in.-thick ribbon. Adjacent ribbons are overlapped to ensure that the entire layer will be watertight. To reduce costs, Engineer Hansen is now working on a machine that will lay down lO-ft.-wide strips...
Those who pursue this detective story to its finish may be reminded of a Rube Goldberg invention, not because it is comically ingenious but because the elaborate machinery of its plot does not justify the picayune results. The awesome bulk of Author Thorp's contraption is achieved by extraneous detail; he is one of those authors who, having informed the reader that some character has picked up a phone, cannot get on with the story before informing the reader that the character has put the phone down. Thorp, his publisher and the Literary Guild (whose June selection...