Word: spectacularisms
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...none of these is guaranteed, he admitted, and he warned of possible developments that could be a harbinger of failure. A "spectacular attack by al-Qaeda" could spark a wider spiral of violence that would be hard to extinguish, he said. "They have tried it before, and they will try it again." He also fears a significant increase in Iranian support for those fighting U.S. forces. Finally, he noted that the shaky government of Nouri al-Maliki could just implode...
...Either way, Jefferson's fate has become something bigger than the man himself. He rose from a dirt-poor rural childhood to attend Harvard law school and became, in 1990, the first African-American elected to Congress from Louisiana since Reconstruction; his equally spectacular fall, if it comes, would be a bitter disappointment to many constituents. Some of them have already organized in his defense; a group calling itself the Justice for Jefferson Committee issued a statement less than a week after the indictment accusing the federal government of using "vast financial resources to manipulate the media" and calling...
...like global warming—we’ve made more progress in the last century than in the previous two million years. Until the 1700s, mortality rates were static, population growth was slow, and unmitigated poverty was the norm, but since then, we’ve enjoyed a spectacular improvement in humanity’s general well-being. Worldwide life expectancy has spiked from 31 to over 67 since 1990, while global average annual income has tripled since 1950, and the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 400 million—more than a quarter?...
...Some of the attrition is due to the nature of science itself. For me, the joy of science in high school was its rigorous approach to knowledge, its entertaining parlor tricks, and a few spectacular teachers. At Harvard, I learned that science has less to do with classroom stink bombs and more to do with performing tedious lab work, deciphering tedious journal articles, and pouring out dozens of lines of tedious algebra. The basics are difficult to learn. Even the smallest headway in research requires enormous personal dedication. And, of course, the field is inherently cumulative, so advanced study necessitates...
...remember the night I decided to come to Harvard. My other choice was Carleton College, off in the cold woods of Minnesota, a spectacular environment not unlike the one where I’ve since spent most of my life. Harvard was too close to home, a 15-minute bus ride from Lexington where I’d grown up. I was leaning against, opting for adventure...