Factual nuances matter in this kind of mud-wrestling, but so do legal maneuvering and just plain savvy.

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The spectacle of the bulky, dark-haired Mr Nickels mud-wrestling with the diminutive, honey-haired Ms Gregoire has not been edifying.

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Jeremy Brown, who was graduated from MIT in 1995 and got a PhD there in 2002, remembers when a student broke her arm in a mud-wrestling pit at a party.

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At that point the fluid-dynamics equivalent of a titanic arm-wrestling match will get under way, with the surface vessels' pumps trying to push the mud down the well while the rising oil tries to push it out.

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