The increased humidity was no problem; the startling rise in oxygen was much more difficult to explain.
This queasy oddity seemed to him to have no relation to the startling rise in the dissident evangelical cults through- out the country.
That's a pretty startling rise in booklessness from one in 10 in 2005.
And because the sudden welfare decline follows an equally startling rise, some of the current reduction may simply represent a natural readjustment.
The startling rise in applications since - 130,000 are expected this year - has until recently been met with bureaucratic paralysis.
The numbers of needy are also growing, with a startling rise from 1990 to 2000.
It also goes some way to explaining her startling rise at the City watchdog.
The startling rise is mostly due to the privatisations of state companies, boosted with high-profile advertising and low share prices.
There had been a startling rise in the carnage over the last few weeks.
If criminal behavior of adolescents hasn't increased that much over all, what explains the startling rise in its mortality?