Word: spasm
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...heart in cardiac arrest, says Zipes, "looks like a bag of squiggly worms, totally uncoordinated, disorganized, with no effective pumping." In a normal heart, the pumping chambers beat 70 times a minute or so, while an organ in cardiac arrest can spasm anywhere from 400 to 600 times per minute. Unless a regular rhythm can be restored, brain death and ultimately death can result...
...which families are smaller and parents actually have the luxury of micromanaging their children. I think one day we are going to be deluged with memoirs about how my life was screwed up because my mother managed every inch of it. I think what you are seeing is a spasm of a response to that, though. I think that there are lots of parents who would agree that you've just got to chill a bit more...
...government has few good options to counter this threat. If it moves to purge suspect elements within the Sahwa, it could face a violent backlash and claims of sectarian prejudice, deepening already tense ties with the Sunni community. The weekend's spasm of street violence in Fadhil, a central Baghdad neighborhood once completely under al-Qaeda control, may be a harbinger of things to come. Iraqi forces clashed with members of the Sahwa movement in the neighborhood after they moved in to arrest its leader Adil al-Mashhadani. Fierce fighting ensued, leaving four dead. Mashhadani was detained on a litany...
...fear that their country is once again in the grip of authoritarianism, a phase most thought was relegated to the years of terror dealt out by Daniel arap Moi, who led the country from 1978 to 2002. The coalition government that was meant to restore normality after a spasm of postelection violence in early 2008 has done little to make life better, and the fact that so few police officers have been prosecuted or, indeed, have resigned after being accused has reinforced a sense that the élite are above the law. (See pictures of the postelection violence in Kenya...
...assumption that I would work in Boston or Hartford after college. Unfortunately, pondering a life here raises more questions: What will I do next summer? Should I try someplace else? Wasn’t summer when I was supposed to ignore these things? I keep waiting for a spasm of homesickness, when the violins trill, the clarinets wail, and I suddenly remember how much I miss home. But it never comes. And the most frustrating fact is that I can’t pinpoint what I like about the city. Maybe that’s part of the appeal...