Word: sisyphus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Disciplining wrongdoers with arduous physical activity stretches as least as far back as the ancient Greeks - and it's always really sucked. Homer's Odyssey recalls the plight of Sisyphus, the Corinthian King consigned to nudging a boulder up a hill for all eternity; according to the gods' twisted decree, when he neared the top of the hill, the rock would come tumbling down. Rehabilitation in 19th century England took a page from the Greeks' prescription for soul-crushing drudgery: inmates would be forced to trek endlessly on treadmills, pass their days turning purposeless cranks for thousands of revolutions...
...This all smells like a putsch rather than a new beginning," Joschka Fischer, former foreign minister and Green Party leader wrote in the weekly Die Zeit. "Compared to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Sisyphus would be happy. It will be a tough journey for him and his party, presumably into opposition...
...game had changed entirely. "Up to now, we were Sisyphus," says the ICC official, who asked not to be named. "We would go with our fantastic evidence, facts that say Haroun has committed crimes and is in a position to commit new crimes. They'd listen, go back and then forget." This time Costa Rica vowed to put forth a resolution, which would require 9 out of 15 Security Council votes. With the Olympics approaching and the international focus on its handling of Tibet, China did not want to be seen as accommodating the Sudanese. Nor did Libya or Russia...
...full of memorable characters, like Omar (Michael Kenneth Williams), the principled bandit who robs from drug dealers; Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), the boozy, dogged cop trying to work cases the city won't pay for; and Bubbles (Andre Royo), the recovering junkie fighting his addiction like Sisyphus pushing a boulder of dope up a mountain...
...This has left the two outsider tickets as well as some of the electorate wondering if the newcomers will have a chance—or if, like the Sisyphus of Greek myth, the pairs are condemned to an impossible uphill battle...