Word: rubes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...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...
...Delicatessen, Jeunet and Caro are fascinated by the Rube Goldberg mechanics of their film, where coincidence is the norm and the unlikely is expected: Watch as the flight of one tear causes strange and dire consequences. See a flea's view of the streets, as it attempts to make the incredible journey home. Experience the incredible luck of an old explorer who wanders the sea floor. Many of the films of 1995 were rooted in the bleakness of humanity, and punctuated by drab exteriors. It's good to see that a great movie about genetic mutants can still come...
DIED. DOUGLAS ("Wrong Way") CORRIGAN, 88, aviator; in Orange, California. The high-flying Corrigan broke no records for air speed or distance but set a new standard for sheer gall. In July 1938 federal officials in New York examined Corrigan's aircraft and, deciding it owed more to Rube Goldberg than Orville Wright, refused to approve his planned transatlantic flight. Corrigan agreed to return to California--but once in the air, headed east. Touching down in Ireland 28 hours later, Corrigan, straight-faced but twinkle-eyed, attributed his detour to a faulty compass. This combination of chutzpah and heroism propelled...