Mr. Burgess was hardly announcing a Warren Commission for modern times, but his astonishing request heartened proponents of the murder theory, as well as throwing a small crumb of legitimacy, perhaps, to those who believe that the 1969 lunar landing took place on a Hollywood back lot and that Elvis lives (with Diana, maybe!) in a Florida trailer park.
"Respected Sir, I have ventured to send you the accompanying article for your perusal and opinion," the letter began, and after explaining the scientific goal of the paper, it closed with an astonishing request, that Einstein translate the English manuscript into German for publication.
A report issued last March by the Justice Department's inspector general found that between 2003 and 2005, the F.B.I. issued an astonishing 143,000 requests using the letters, often in violation of the bureau's own regulations, and sometimes in violation of the law.
However, a list of goods brought to the temple that may have been established in the first half of the 20th century illustrates that there is an astonishing congruence between the request list and the actual delivery list (see Hauser-Schäublin 2008b).
Since 2008, when Google first reported takedowns, the site has seen an astonishing 550,000,000% increase in requests: that year, it received just 68.
With such an ideologically stacked crew, it's not surprising that the Examiner has become a transmitter of conservative misinformation: -- An editorial claimed that "Obama has demanded that the Pentagon trim its budget request by an astonishing 10percentt," failing to note that Obama's budget target is still $14 billion above the Pentagon's current budget.
"But what was particularly astonishing was that despite the requests by the EU, Norway, Iceland and Russia for the Faroese to table an offer of a new and more realistic quota level, this was not forthcoming from the Faroese and they had absolutely nothing to offer".
Mr. Gonzales's memorandum, which leaked with astonishing speed, recommended rejecting an unusual request by Mr. Powell that Mr. Bush reconsider his decision.
And, of course, doctors can just say no, as they do in the Netherlands with astonishing frequency; fully two-thirds of requests by Dutch patients are denied.
The variety of requests they've received is astonishing: ranging from "a picture of my family in St . Louis to "a gray and white horse rearing in weather cold enough to see its breath".
As with other agencies, the Department of Energy's budget request for science is modest, not astonishing.
