Word: letdown
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...those who are accustomed to watching Bill Murphy dive at the LAB, last night's performances, particularly in the one-meter, were a letdown. Springfield's Fred Laing barely beat Dick Eisenberg in the one-meter, and there was almost a bad mishap when the Chiefs' Mark Donnelly failed to get out far enough and came down just to the right of the board...
...allowed speculation about sensational new offers of breakthroughs to soar. It gave critics time to offer public suggestions that created new pressure and expectations. A few critics expressed such surprising optimism about the speech that they seemed to be deliberately setting the President up for a public letdown. Even if there was no Machiavellian scheming, it was obvious that Nixon himself, perhaps unwittingly, had created a situation in which anything short of a dramatic announcement might lead to disappointment. But repeated White House warnings not to anticipate anything sensational finally managed to lower the pitch of public expectation...
Cornell, riding high after its 41-24 upset win over Harvard, must worry about Yale's defense against rushing. the passing of Eli quarterback Joe Massey, and a psychological letdown...
...lunar sample on display is the show's big letdown. As might be expected, the stuff is displayed dramatically in the center of a dark room, seated atop a black plinth and bathed in a single spot-light. This display conjures up an image of a 21st century altar complete with priceless relic-or a showcase of industrial diamonds at Tiffany's. Unfortunately, the sample contains no more than a few grams of the gray dust, and without a microscope to reveal the amazing green, brown and white colors of the individual glass shards or the weird dumbell and spheroid...
...futuristic coda comes as a letdown. It is too sketchy either as science fiction or as an ending to a novel whose main strength is its meticulous reading of psychic signals. The author's thesis is hardly novel, but it cannot be ignored: in a sick society, the roles of madness and sanity are reversed. This society is sick unto disaster, so alternatives must be sought in areas removed from what passes as reason. Lessing may be a flawed prophet, but as witness she is persuasive and disturbing...