Word: top
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...look has clawed its way to the top for reasons topical and technological. For one thing, a decade ago fake-fur coats were lumpy modacrylic numbers that clever designers dismissed as "mama coats," garments that conservative women bought to keep out the cold. Now refined techniques allow realistic animal patterns to be printed on more vibrant and active fabrics, such as Lycra, stretch velour and even sheer silk mousseline...
...fitted out his tennis courts with high- speed cameras, sensors and other gadgets that feed data into computers. His goal is to discover what really happens while an athlete is in action, and to use that knowledge to improve performance. An example: although Braden is a foremost advocate of top spin in tennis, he has proved, contrary to conventional wisdom, that tennis players who roll their racquets "over" the ball to impart top spin not only waste energy but also unnecessarily risk "tennis elbow." His high-speed film shows that the ball is in contact with the strings for only...
What the sport needed, Braden decided, was some good research. With sponsorship from the Aspen Skiing Corp., he began interviewing skiers and instructors. "I started hearing some horror stories," he recalls. "Arrogant ; ski instructors got inexperienced people to the top of the mountain and said, 'If you want to have lunch with us, ski down.' " Braden was aghast. Even with good instructors, he says, "skiing is the most intimidating sport. It surfaces childhood fears faster than anything: fear of abandonment, fear of falling. People haven't fallen for 30 or 40 years, and now they're down in the snow...
...Brazil's composer-performers add spicy blends of European melodies and unique harmonies. Maria Bethania, 43, first achieved prominence in 1965, when she substituted for the ailing star of a Rio musical. Her dark, husky voice shares a certain androgynous quality with those of some of Brazil's other top performers. Bethania's brother, Veloso, 47, is -- along with Gilberto Gil -- one of the main exponents of tropicalismo, the buoyant music of the student generation that emerged during a period of military dictatorship after 1964. That style advocated the rights of blacks, reintroduced strong Afro-Brazilian rhythms and made prominent...
Discussion went up the line to the President's top advisers. By Sunday night, according to a senior Defense Department official, "the basic conclusion was that if ((Giroldi)) was going to do it, he would have to do it largely alone." At 2:30 a.m. Monday, Powell was awakened by a phone call from a U.S. military officer in Panama. The rebel soldiers, Powell was told, wanted Southcom to assist the uprising by blocking two access roads near Fort Amador and the Bridge of the Americas, but otherwise wanted no U.S. involvement that might discredit them. Through Monday, as they...