Word: sleight
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...conjurer, showman, crusader and America's most implacable foe of flummery. The props and the techniques are those used by the so-called psychic surgeons of the Philippines, who promise miraculous, painless, lifesaving surgery to lure desperately ill people to their clinics. But what the sufferers get is sleight of hand, not surgery, and Randi's goal is to spread that message. "These people go to the Philippines," he explains, "they spend their money, and they return home, in most cases...
...Wilson's sleight of hand escaped the notice of most members of Congress, as well as of President Reagan, who signed it into law. And no wonder: the legislation that included the provision was 2,100 pages long, and it lumped together 13 appropriations bills that should have been passed individually. In one gargantuan gulp, the omnibus bill amounted to $603.9 billion, or nearly two-thirds of the total funding for Federal Government operations in fiscal...
Long known for his dazzling sleight of hand on the basketball court, Earvin ("Magic") Johnson outmaneuvered his competition in the ballot box last week as he was named the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player. The 6-ft. 9-in. Michigander is the first guard in 23 years to win the award and only the third to do so in N.B.A. history. Receiving 65 first-place votes and a total of 733 points from the selection panel, Johnson, 27, streaked past Chicago Bull Michael Jordan (ten votes) and Boston Celtic Larry Bird (one vote), who had been named...
...weapons such as lasers and particle beams. Senators savaged Sofaer for relying heavily on the negotiating record, ignoring assurances made to the Senate during ratification. Special irritation was reserved for the way Sofaer quoted documents and sources out of context. In a courtroom, says Georgia Democrat Sam Nunn, such sleight of hand would warrant an "admonition from the judge, maybe a contempt citation...
...squabble? The grandparents of little Tawny argue that the girl should be taken away from her widowed father, a punk-rock singer known as Lord Nasty, whose stage antics include biting the heads off live hamsters. (The father wins custody after revealing that the hamster trick is done by sleight of hand...