31.   Rie Tanaka is one of millions of ordinary Japanese defying the laws of foreign-exchange rates.

32.   Skeptics, on the other hand, maintain that the Internet does not defy the law of physics and probability.

33.   Still, until recently, the common wisdom was that the whole idea of hollow communications fibers defied the laws of physics.

34.   That defies the laws of physics.

35.   The American economy may be defying the laws of the business cycle, but American churches are falling on financial hard times, with no relief in sight.

36.   The Episcopal Church accepted women priests only after a few maverick bishops, defying church law, ordained enough of them to force a change in legislation.

37.   The New York Islanders may sometimes play as though they are from outer space, but they do not defy the laws of gravity.

38.   The school board defied state law and exempted non-English-speaking students from taking the statewide achievement test, which is written in English.

39.   Then, the stock that was defying the laws of gravity was Future Communications, a Dallas-based cable television company with only three dozen employees.

40.   There are events that cast shadows so enduring they defy the laws of nature.