Word: ruler
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...smoothness with which Bashar Assad is being elevated to his late father's job as ruler of Syria must be generating some envy in the two other prominent heirs waiting to succeed a parent as head of state--Prince Charles and George W. Bush. Of the three countries involved, Syria, which is supposedly a socialist republic, seems to be the only one that still observes the monarchical line of succession in unreconstructed form. Bashar Assad is in line for the top job simply because his elder brother was killed several years ago. The only other person claiming...
...other hand, the custom of treating succession as a birthright obviously goes way beyond countries that actually label themselves monarchies. The other ruler-by-inheritance in the news lately is Kim Jong Il of North Korea. He didn't have to go through any of that nonsense either...
...Bashar, might display at least a tad more flexibility than his father. But it seems likely that Bashar's first task will be to consolidate his power. The same weeping parliamentarians who mourned Assad pere found time on Saturday to lower the minimum age for the country's ruler from 40 to 34, not coincidentally Bashar's age. But now that he's legal to rule, Bashar will still face a blistering few months of on-the-job training. Among his key tasks will be reaching out to the Syrian military, intelligence agencies and other pillars of his father...
Back in the 1940s, when plain old X rays were considered high tech, shoe salesclerks would often determine children's shoe size by X-raying their feet. Never mind that the same thing could have been done with a wooden ruler. Fluoroscopes, as the X-ray devices were called, were promoted as the scientific way to guarantee a proper fit. By the mid-1950s, however, it was clear that many fluoroscopes were badly maintained and ended up subjecting customers--not to mention salesclerks--to potentially dangerous amounts of radiation. Soon the machines were banned...
...Pioneers is not an anthology to kick back to and enjoy from beginning to end in one fell swoop; for hard-core fans looking for favorite tracks and hard-to-find singles in a neat little 2-CD case whose design recalls memories of your elementary school ruler with the moving dinosaurs, however, this anthology will not entirely disappoint...