A remarkably delicate balance between the small scale phenomena of atomic and nuclear physics and the large scale phenomena of astronomy and cosmology is required for the Universe to be hospitable to chemically based life. Efforts to prove that this must be so are sometimes dignified by the name anthropic principle.

the bump of veneration; the bump of acquisitiveness

Strap in, he said, sternly. My bird, my rules. No one freeballs it when I'm doing the flying.

The ultimate consensus was to keep the de-Whited river Green to its Tukwila junction with the Black, the outlet of Lake Washington, then make it Duwamish the rest of the way to the saltchuck.