Word: tug-of-war
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...Calculating how and when this will happen is a genuinely dismal science, but not without a certain grim fascination. The classic Big Bang theory, refined over the decades since the astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered the expanding universe in 1929, suggests that cosmic destiny will be decided through a tug-of-war between two opposing forces. One is the expansion of space, which for more than 10 billion years has been carrying galaxies ever farther apart from one another. The other is the mutual gravitational force exerted by those galaxies and all the other stuff in the universe; it acts...
...might still be there, lurking in empty space and urging expansion along, like an usher politely shooing playgoers back into the theater at intermission's end. Some observations of exploding stars in distant galaxies suggest the presence of just such an ongoing inflationary impulse. If so, the tug-of-war over the future of the universe involves not only expansion and gravitational braking but also the subtle turbocharging of lingering inflation, which acts to keep the universe expanding indefinitely...
...notes University of Colorado atmospheric scientist Brian Toon, it tends to grow larger and last longer, providing a shiny white surface that bounces sunlight out to space. Indeed, one reason the earth has not yet warmed up as much as many anticipated may be due to the tug-of-war between industrial aerosols like sulfuric acid (which reflect heat) and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (which trap it). Ironically, then, the cost of reducing one kind of pollution may come at the price of intensifying the effects of the other...
Mention the word "Cuba" in the United States and many people will immediately think of Bacardi, Montecristos and Guaguanco. To others, Cuba conjures images of Elian Gonzlez, the poor boy who has been the focus of an emotional tug-of-war. And to those who look forward to his deportation, perhaps images of Fidel Castro, Ch Guevara, and the wonders of Communism parade in their minds...
...going to be that kind of family reunion. Elian's grandmothers--his abuelas--spent 90 minutes last Wednesday chatting with and hugging their six-year-old grandson. But they might as well have grabbed one of his arms and not let go: this family gathering was a diplomatic tug-of-war. When it ended, the abuelas, Mariela Quintana and Raquel Rodriguez, said Elian had seemed a "completely different boy." The meeting hardened their resolve to take him home. "I feel angry and impotent," a tearful Rodriguez told TIME. "What is happening is inhuman." But Elian's Miami clan...