Word: sure
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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NASA has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure the RTGs are safe. Each of the 144 plutonium pellets in the generators, designed by General Electric, is surrounded by an iridium shell. Coated pellets are then encased by two graphite shells and finally by an aluminum shroud. The U.S. Department of Energy has spent $50 million testing the generators. In one experiment, engineers fired shrapnel traveling 700 ft. per sec. at the iridium casings. None was pierced. In another test, scientists tacked an RTG to a solid rocket booster and blew it up. No damaged graphite shells were detected...
...subtle and expensive ways, jungle patterns, with their hint of sensual mystery and animal sexuality, have mostly been associated with the showier side of show biz; the imitable Zsa Zsa, for example, recently turned up in a Beverly Hills courtroom wearing a vast spotted-print number. To be sure, it has always been O.K. for mainstream dreamers to be tigresses in private: catty underwear remains a steady seller. Now, after a drab decade of swathing for success in somber tones, slender stripes and severe lines, it seems that women are once again letting part of it, at least, hang...
Gage relives his father's American Dream more passionately than his own. The author's exploits are subordinated to the old man's: his struggles to sustain his clan and make sure that his daughters find suitable (meaning Greek) husbands. Gatzoyiannis' death at age 90 provides a classic resolution. Surrounded by his children and grandchildren, he drifts off on old memories. It is a scene that evokes Chekhov and his observation that "any idiot can face a crisis. It is this day-to-day living that wears...
...kill order. Dozens of senior wildlife-department personnel have been interrogated, and some have been relieved of their duties. These measures seem to be working. In the past month not one fresh carcass has been found. "Everyone is keen as mustard," says Woodley, beaming. "We'll win for sure." It is too early, though, to declare victory. After a similar crackdown in 1978, the price of ivory soared and poaching resumed...
...Texas decision, which affects the nation's second largest school system after California, is sure to breathe new life into the struggle for more uniform school financing around the country. But by calling for a basic shift in the way schools operate, the court changed the terms of the debate, emphasizing that inequities in funding are linked to inequities in the quality of education...