Word: rubes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
...Thursday is a straightforward document that addresses anything-but-straightforward issues. Despite deep enmities, the parties have committed themselves to abide by "annexes" that fill more than 150 pages of typescript, and range from vague promises to "make strenuous efforts to cooperate with each other" to constructing a Rube Goldberg government with a bicameral legislature and a three-person executive presidency. "There's been a very obvious demonstration of the difficulties to come in the fact that many of the the Serbs in Sarajevo are packing their bags," says Graff. For details and an explanation of the major points...
...Hubble's innards was crucial. Even so, installation of a complex array of corrective mirrors--essentially fitting the Hubble with a set of eyeglasses--was a high-cost ($700 million), high-risk venture, and some astronomers were dubious. "They considered the whole thing to be rather a Rube Goldberg creation," says Spitzer. On top of that, the list of tasks assigned to the astronauts who flew the repair mission--not just installing the new optics, but replacing an outdated camera, two wobbly solar-energy panels and three faulty gyroscopes, among other balky components--seemed too long. "I don't think...
...Ronald Reagan sang the nightingale's song of patriotism and military pride and honor and sacrifice, a traditional American hymn of duty and manhood that Vietnam had silenced, or turned obscene. Timberg thinks three of the five men--North, Poindexter and McFarlane--got tangled up in the Rube Goldberg contraption of Iran-contra in part because the scheme (arms for hostages, profits going to the freedom fighters of Nicaragua) gave them back some of the lost notes, a snatch of the melody they had been denied...