Word: bested
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...third suggestion, the Overpowering Assumption, I think, is best. But not for the reasons he suggests--that the assumption is so cosmic that it might be accepted. It is rarely "accepted"; we aren't here to accept or reject, we're here to be amused. The more dazzling, personal, unorthodox, paradoxic your assumptions (paradoxes are not equivocations), the more interesting an essay it is likely to be. (If you have a chance to confer with the assistant in advance, of course--and we all like to be called "assistants," not "graders"--you may be able to ferret...
...above all, keep us entertained, keep us awake. Be bold, be personal, be witty, be chock full of facts. I'm sure you can do it all without studying if you try. We did. Best Wishes A Grader...
Bush never wanted a new plane. Ronald Reagan never asked for one either. This was a classic case of creation by consortium: a dozen or so offices and agencies doing their jobs as best they know how. Nobody looked up and saw that their individual efforts had created a monster...
...about 1,350,000 miles on it, is too noisy for today's airports, and spare parts are becoming scarce. The Air Force began in 1983 to urge its replacement; not being politicians, the generals naturally were inclined to make the President's plane the safest, roomiest and best. This 747 will combine more self-sufficiency, range (7,140 miles), comfort and convenience than any other airplane ever built. It will contain all the latest communications gear, antimissile devices, nuclear-proofing and self-sustaining maintenance machinery that the Secret Service and White House staff wanted. Everybody from the stewards...
These details establish the absolutely typical Pynchon plot. An evil, well- organized and immensely powerful enemy sows "the merciless spores of paranoia" among a shaggy, lost group of drifting souls who find the real world threatening under the best of circumstances. The intended victims, not all of whom think too clearly anymore, have other problems as well, including the task of making sense out of what is happening to them while knowing that sense, strictly defined, is a weapon of the other side. Caught between these opposing, mismatched factions is a child, Prairie, who would dearly love to find...