Word: ballast
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...decided to become a model. Paul was already svelte and stunning, but despite a near maniacal exercise regimen she couldn't shed a few stubborn pounds. So she abandoned her strict fruit-and-vegetable diet, cut back on carbohydrates and gobbled proteins. Before long, she had dropped the extra ballast and was turning away modeling offers...
...base near Marrakech, Morocco, Branson had expressed higher hopes. "We are about to embark on a great adventure," Branson said shortly before setting off to claim "the last great aviation record left on earth." But the planned 18-day flight of the helium hot balloon was ended by "a ballast-versus-helium problem," said project manager Mike Kendrick. In February, the 46-year-old Virgin emperor had postponed the same voyage because of unsuitable weather; this glitch may well cost Branson his shot at the record. A two-man Swiss team and American millionaire Steve Fossett--on a solo mission...
Well, do we need the ballast of expert opinions and attributions to inform and justify our tastes in art or literature or music or--in the late 20th century--in all the electronic entertainment available at the push of a remote-control button? The snap answer is, hell no, we don't. But that is not really true. Aesthetics, for all the millions of words that have been written on the subject, remains an inexact science. We cannot say why a painting once supposed to be by Rembrandt loses face when its connection with the master is disputed or disproved...
...media moguls? Ted Turner, Robert Maxwell and now RUPERT MURDOCH have all made news on the water. Murdoch, an avid sailor, helped Oracle CEO Larry Ellison win Australia's most prestigious yacht race, the Sydney to Hobart. Although he described his role as "acting as a bit of ballast," Murdoch also took turns at the grinder, in the galley and at the helm during the three-day race. And all this while injured. A few days before the race, Murdoch caught his right index finger between the sail and the boom and was whisked away to the hospital. A quick...
...support Fried's avid defense of free speech, but his libertarianism extends to a degree favored most by arch-conservatives. Fried's support of capital punishment also makes us queasy. Weld called Fried "ballast to the right" and "a Scalia on the court." If there's anything we don't need it's another Justice Antonin Scalia, whose teaming with Justice Clarence Thomas has given a far-right tinge to Supreme Court opinions of late...