Word: strained
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...think not. The problem with both events, in my mind, is that the girly bits overshadow the athletic parts. Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics involve such copious amounts of cosmetics that they make a Texas beauty pageant look sedate. Yes, thighs strain with effort, but I'm distracted by the twirling toes and the bleached teeth framed by rictus smiles. And the accoutrements of rhythmic gymnastics - the hoop, the swirling ribbon - divert from the balletic grace of the athletes...
...time he was released in 1953, Solzhenitsyn's belief in communism was gone, but he had found a fervent Russian Orthodox faith and rediscovered his purpose as an author. At first he wrote for himself, but by 1962, when he was 42, the strain of remaining silent had grown unbearable, and the cultural climate had warmed enough that he was able to publish his novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, an account of an innocent man's experiences in a political prison camp, enduring brutal conditions without self-pity and taking solace from tiny pleasures, like...
...growing problems. A light-rail system, needed to ease congestion in the city, was first proposed in 2003 but construction still hasn't begun. Labor advocates have demanded the government further restrict competition from foreign workers, build public housing and raise the minimum wage to alleviate the financial strain in the working class. Ho's administration was also brushed by scandal when his former Transport and Public Works Secretary, Ao Man-long, was sentenced to 27 years in prison in January for taking kickbacks on construction projects...
Just how many bowling pins can Ehud Olmert juggle at once? The embattled Israeli Prime Minister is fighting off a corruption probe, negotiating prisoner swaps first with Hizballah and now Hamas, and simultaneously orchestrating indirect negotiations with Syria and direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. And the strain is starting to show. On Tuesday, Olmert told a parliamentary committee that an accord with the Palestinians on the future status of Jerusalem is unlikely by the end of this year, which would deny President Bush the in-principle Middle East peace agreement he hoped to achieve before leaving office...
Without question, the rapid decompression of the Qantas Boeing 747 that landed in Manila on July 25 was bizarre. Fortunately, large gashes do not often appear in passenger jets. When they do, they tend to happen where there is structural strain (like at door hatches), not in the forward cargo compartment, as in this case with Qantas. (The cause of the accident remains a mystery, and the U.S. is sending a team from the National Transportation Safety Board to assist in the investigation in the Philippines...