Mr Obama's surprise appearance on the stage to embrace his running mate sent the hall into predictable paroxysms.

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Or singing chipmunks modulated to send Fido into paroxysms of holiday howling (with the potential to spawn scores of excruciating YouTube videos)?

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Koltai steers away from dramatic climaxes and paroxysms of violence, but he cannot help tipping the balance with the very lushness of his filmmaking.

NEWYORKER: Fateless

Talk of a bail-out brought some calm to financial markets, though there is a risk that the lack of detail may trigger fresh paroxysms.

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What this allows us to do of course is to go off into paroxysms of speculation as to what might be on the new systems.

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It is just this sort of argument that sends Peter Eigen, the founder of Transparency International, an anti-corruption pressure group based in Berlin, into paroxysms of high-minded rage.

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Given that I am an environmentalist, one who wants a cleaner, greener world for our children, I get driven into paroxysms of rage by some supposedly on the same side.

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Few outsiders know the paroxysms Japan goes through in trying to reconcile its constitutional vow to not field a military with the reality of having one of the world's biggest and best-armed forces.

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This drives greens into paroxysms of pious rage.

ECONOMIST: Plenty of gloom

The company that kept its workers on during the Depression of the 1930s still goes into paroxysms of anguish over issues, such as how to deal with third-world workers, that other firms barely think about.

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