Word: rube
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...stunned by the crass reference to the Russian space station Mir as a "Rube Goldberg contraption" [NOTEBOOK, July 28]. Mir was built and has operated on a virtual shoestring for more than twice as long as intended by its original design specifications. While it is not sophisticated by U.S. standards, it has made valuable contributions to the body of scientific knowledge. By comparison, America's aerospace program has been historically bloated, redundant and rife with its own spectacular failures, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Apollo 13, failed Vanguard launches and, yes, the unfortunate deaths in the Challenger disaster. I applaud...
...model, which he manipulates with rods and wires. Others in the cast wear elaborate headpieces representing the animals they are portraying. Indeed, Taymor's entire production is highly stylized and impressionistic. A rushing waterfall is conveyed simply by a rippling stream of silk. Leaping gazelles are suggested by a Rube Goldberg contraption of wheels and spokes. "The poetry of the theater is that it allows the audience to use its imagination to fill in the blanks," says Taymor. "They become complicit in the theatrical experience...
...agency better known for turning the thumbscrews on tax miscreants is collecting something like $150 billion a year less than the proper amount, and misspending billions doing it. The IRS's mammoth nationwide collection and processing machine is a great, clanking Rube Goldberg contraption, a computer system that has long been disastrously and inexplicably inept--so much so that the agency allowed some 5 million suspect returns to go unexamined...
...Europe. It devolved into amusing in-jokes and tended to preciosity and quirkiness. This grew out of the tiny clique of self-professed illuminati that sustained it. Its sense of humor never grew as robust as the work of the professional funny guys who helped inspire it, like Rube Goldberg or the Marx Brothers. In America the Dadas were plagued by the thought that American popular culture was more Dada than Dada could be. And in fact they were right...
...Dean Lewis has chosen to offend the College community a third time with his very practical decision to ban Hanukkah menorahs from student dormitory rooms. Let's follow his logic. This past December, a first-year creates a Rube Goldberg menorah from a three-hole punch. The candles topple. The desk and computer catch fire. Dean thinks, "What if other desks and computers catch on fire when irresponsible students create defective holiday contraptions? We must prevent all Jewish students from lighting menorahs...