Word: vital
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...eyes bulge outrageously. Even its character seems less than admirable: the cod submits meekly to any fishhook in sight. Yet the lowly Gadus morrhua is hardly friendless. Indeed, for the third time in 17 years, Great Britain and Iceland have deemed their attachment to the fish so vital that they are engaged in another "cod war" against each other...
...weeks of debate that have followed the Mather vote, a general agreement seems to have been reached on several points. First, the structure and procedures of the CRR are inequitable, and can lead to a denial of protection of vital rights of students. Few would argue that CRR, as presently structured, provides for due process. Second, nearly all agree that the boycott of CRR has been largely ineffective. It has not caused meaningful change in the CRR, and the organization continues to function and discipline students despite the boycott. Third, change in the CRR might be more plausible today, given...
...alarmingly, its military power. Neither the Senate nor the House adequately debated the strategic implications of the dollars-and-cents decisions that they were making. When next year's budget is prepared, Congress would do well to examine much more thoroughly how the proposed expenditures would influence the vital balance of military power between the U.S. and the Soviet Union...
...putting the M.P.L.A. capital safely out of range of Chinese 130-mm. artillery manned by white Portuguese Angolans fighting with the F.N.L.A. The M.P.L.A. also recaptured the important road junction of Caxito, northeast of Luanda, and was closing in on the coastal city of Ambriz, which has been a vital supply center for the F.N.L.A. At the same time, the northward thrust of a combined F.N.L.A.-UNITA force, spearheaded by mechanized armor, was stopped along the coast, 150 miles south of Luanda. Slowed by heavy rains that have turned dirt roads to quagmires, those forces are now giving ground...
Such pleasures are romantic, visceral, even spiritual; they need not be labeled existential. By so doing, the author forces a comparison with Robert M. Pirsig's bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a volume far richer, more vital and, ultimately, more interesting. Florman's book is weakened by its argumentative tone. Still, it is clear, erudite and occasionally eloquent, valuable reading for engineers given to self-scrutiny and a stimulating one for the layman interested in the ancient schism between machines and men's souls...