Word: traits
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...trust, approve of or admire it, nor do we wish it for ourselves. In late 16th century England, a literary genre developed called the comedy of humors, which was at base the comedy of consistent thought and action. A humor, as Elizabethan playwrights defined it, was an exaggerated human trait, a leaning of disposition so severe as to create a caricature. Thus a character in a comedy of humors would be called Squire Downright, and only downright would he act. In 1900, Henri Bergson proposed an elaborate theory of laughter based on just such a condition. Bergson held that...
...glance back at the last Dukakis term should also cultivate caution along with optimism. His administration was impressive in its efficiency--a trait that is certain to be enhanced this time by the governor's three years teaching and preparing for a new race at the Kennedy School of Government. But policy development often goes beyond mere number-crunching "decision-making," and last time around, Dukakis made some wrong decisions. Cuts in human services spending were among the most grievous. This time around, he should seek to be more creative in dealing with budget deficits, and should...
...sort of biological alchemy that abounds in science fiction. Take a trait from one species, genetically transfer it to another species, and voilá!: a hybrid emerges that nature could never have produced. In last week's issue of the British journal Nature, scientists at four American institutions announced that they had actually accomplished this remarkable, first-of-its-kind feat. A gene carrying the DNA code for growth hormone was taken from rats and incorporated into mouse embryos. The result: mice that grew to be nearly twice the normal size. The super-mice not only produced large quantities...
...from this distance that Richard Nixon's conspiratorial bent helped him understand the dark maneuverings of America's adversaries around the world. But that was the very trait that snared him in Watergate. He thought he could conspire his way out of political quicksand...
That was, sadly, a glimpse of Johnson rearranging the facts, the one trait that probably did more to force him into retirement than anything else. Too bad that Johnson could not have brought himself instantly to the good-natured confessional he offered years later: "What I was trying to say was that my ancestor was in a fight at the Alamo-that is, the Alamo Hotel in Eagle Pass, Texas." But that was just the way L.B.J...