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164 ON WRITING WELL Even a child knows that dinosaurs aren't around anymore. With the inevitability of good detective work, the article builds to the outcome that has been the whole point of the investigation: the discovery that Iraq, "not limiting itself to producing weapons-grade materials, was concurrently struggling to build a deliverable weapon around the material, a daunting task known as weaponization." First we are told what options exist for anyone attempting that task: The two basic types of atomic bombs are gun devices and implosion weapons. The latter are much more difficult to design and build, but provide higher explosive yields for a given amount of fissile material. IAEA investigators have found no evidence that Iraq was actively pursuing a gun device; it is clear, they say, that they concentrated their money and resources on an implosion device, and had even started work on fairly advanced implosion designs. What's an implosion device? Read on: In an implosion device the fissile material is physically compressed by the force of a shock wave created with conventional explosives. Then, at just the right instant, neutrons are released, initiating the ultrafast fission chain reaction—an atomic blast. Thus the main elements of an implosion device are a firing system, an explosive assembly, and the core. The firing system includes vacuum-tube-based, high-energy discharge devices called krytons that are capable of releasing enough energy to detonate the conventional explosive. The explosive assembly includes "lenses" that precisely focus the spherical, imploding shock wave on the fissile core, within which is a neutronic initiator. The IAEA had amassed ample evidence that the Iraqis had made progress in each of these areas.
Science and Technology 165 Speaking of compression, that paragraph is a gem of tight linear writing, successively explaining the implosion device and its three main elements. But how (we now want to know) was the I.A.E.A. s evidence amassed? Iraq's attempts to import krytons from CSI Technologies, Inc., San Marcos, Calif, made news in March 1990, when two Iraqis were arrested at London's Heathrow airport after an 18-month "sting" operation involving U.S. and British Customs. Several years before that, however, Iraq did manage to get weapons-quality capacitors from other U.S. concerns, and also produced its own capacitors... . I rest my case—or, rather, I let Spectrum rest it for me. If a scientific subject of that complexity can be made that clear and robust, in good English, with only a few technical words, which are quickly explained (kryton) or can be quickly looked up (fissile), any subject can be made clear and robust by all you writers who think you're afraid of science and all you scientists who think you're afraid of writing.
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On Writing Well
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On Writing Well cssao THE CLASSIC G
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C O N T E N T S osso INTRODUCTION 1
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INTRODUCTION CSSQ When I first wrot
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INTRODUCTION xi writers worse. Good
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P A R T I -esee- Principles
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4 ON WRITING WELL Absolutely not, h
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6 ON WRITING WELL of gimmicks to "p
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8 ON WRITING WELL struction that le
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10 ON WRITING WELL is too dumb or t
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14 ON WRITING WELL typical of hundr
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16 ON WRITING WELL think there's mu
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QSSSO Style So much for early warni
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20 ON WRITING WELL unique. The read
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22 ON WRITING WELL I realize that t
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24 ON WRITING WELL aging boxers don
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26 ON WRITING WELL tion or sleep. N
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28 ON WRITING WELL who fill the air
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30 ON WRITING WELL religion and the
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32 ON WRITING WELL and it allows fo
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34 ON WRITING WELL someone is forev
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36 ON WRITING WELL instance, and yo
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CSSSO Usage All this talk about goo
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40 ON WRITING WELL Mumford that the
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42 ON WRITING WELL Just where Webst
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44 ON WRITING WELL Meanwhile the ba
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46 ON WRITING WELL back, though I'd
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8 CSS30 Unity You learn to write by
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Unity 51 Such fatal mixtures are co
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Unity 53 When your zest begins to e
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csso The Lead and the Ending The mo
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The Lead and the Ending 57 I've oft
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The Lead and the Ending 59 One reas
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The Lead and the Ending 61 warehous
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The Lead and the Ending 63 general
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The Lead and the Ending 65 (lia and
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The Lead and the Ending 67 Somethin
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Bits & Pieces 69 sive-voice writers
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Bits & Pieces 71 tences become long
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Bits & Pieces 73 pistol might be lo
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Bits & Pieces 75 go." Look for all
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Bits & Pieces 77 The common reactio
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Bits & Pieces 79 who are so busy th
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Bits & Pieces 81 of thought. Compar
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Bits & Pieces 83 This still leaves
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Bits & Pieces 85 eral different way
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Bits & Pieces 87 which sick people
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Bits & Pieces 89 It's no longer nec
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Bits & Pieces 91 know that about ho
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P A R T I I I OBSO Forms
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96 ON WRITING WELL midst, and none
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98 ON WRITING WELL Magazines were s
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1 2 CSSO Writing About People The I
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102 ON WRITING WELL building turned
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104 ON WRITING WELL roommate. With
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106 ON WRITING WELL Obviously the t
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108 ON WRITING WELL used words and
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110 ON WRITING WELL call the person
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112 ON WRITING WELL revelation by J
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224 ON WRITING WELL sion, said, "We
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226 ON WRITING WELL does it flirt w
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228 ON WRITING WELL said I would te
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PART IV Og&O Attitudes
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234 ON WRITING WELL There is a kind
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236 ON WRITING WELL meet it. A woma
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238 ON WRITING WELL will not only s
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240 ON WRITING WELL obsession with
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246 ON WRITING WELL ful. I'm often
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248 ON WRITING WELL Also remember t
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250 ON WRITING WELL machine that sa
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252 ON WRITING WELL much as you see
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254 ON WRITING WELL WOODPECKER, APR
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256 ON WRITING WELL failure—aren'
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258 ON WRITING WELL write. She said
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260 ON WRITING WELL room. A man wou
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262 ON WRITING WELL larger part of
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264 ON WRITING WELL Writing is rela
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266 ON WRITING WELL from one senten
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268 ON WRITING WELL Gordon Laing in
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270 ON WRITING WELL serving quotes
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272 ON WRITING WELL a certain way a
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276 ON WRITING WELL acter. As a tee
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278 ON WRITING WELL knew nothing ab
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280 ON WRITING WELL within a hundre
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282 ON WRITING WELL happened to fin
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284 ON WRITING WELL When you get su
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24 -esse- Write as Well as You Can
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288 ON WRITING WELL erosity and wis
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290 ON WRITING WELL submit an artic
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292 ON WRITING WELL repeated, and h
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294 ON WRITING WELL moving in grace
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296 SOURCES 66 "Coolidge," by H. L.
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298 SOURCES 188-90 Confessions of a
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I N D E X osao Aciman, André, 136
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Index 303 Eisenhower, Dwight, 239 E
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Index 305 Lin, Maya, 130 Lincoln, A
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Index 307 Satire, 209 Saturday Even
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