Word: terrain
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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There's at least one place in Iran where citizens dare speak their minds. It is referred to as Weblogistan, and in this rapidly expanding virtual terrain, there are an estimated 100,000 active Iranian blogs, so that Persian now ties with French as the second most used language in the blogosphere. Iranians generally use pseudonyms online to discuss taboo topics and criticize the government in a way no other news outlet would allow. Even some high-profile politicians have joined in, such as President Mohammad Khatami's former Vice President, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who offers candid insights into...
...scene is a future battlefield. On the ground, driverless tanks advance and fire with deadly accuracy, while insect-like vehicles scurry across all but impassable terrain. Overhead, pilots guide their aircraft by talking aloud in the cockpit and aim missiles with the movement of their eyes. Higher still, orbiting jets blast satellites back to earth. All this is surveyed from computer consoles by commanders who refine their strategies and issue new orders as the fighting rages...
Though the strike was fought over such accountants' terrain as TV-revenue shares and profit-loss sheets, the real issue was the shifting balance of power between the players and the owners. For about a century the players were professional gladiators, glorified by the fans and the press, to be sure, but held in bondage by the owners. Until the early '70s, players had little alternative to taking what was offered except to become a holdout. Salaries were relatively low, even for established stars. In 1954 M.V.P. Willie Mays earned $25,000, about the equivalent of what a utility infielder...
...blaze moved toward Santa Cruz, a nudist camp in its path was evacuated, scores of animals were rescued, including a wildly oinking 600-lb. sow, and lone fire fighters in the hilly terrain made desperate last stands against the flames with garden hoses. Nine helicopters churned overhead, dumping water when necessary and lowering equipment to the fighters below...
Their final confrontation, a running vehicular battle, is spectacular enough, but it traverses terrain that George Miller and the rest of Max's creators have fully charted before. Once again, as they did in The Road Warrior, they have flirted with greatness. The question that remains for Mad Max IV to answer is, Can they embrace it? And not go all solemn when they do? --By Richard Schickel