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20110910 1. TRAINS have a particular symbolism in Britain, which invented the railway and exported the technology to the rest of the world. So it is understandable, particularly at a time of sluggish economic growth (see article), that the threatened closure of the country’s only remaining trainmaking factory has provoked an outcry. 2. Demand for new trains has always been prone to peaks and troughs, but that inconsistency has worsened. 3. Aerospace companies have found an alternative source of profit: servicing the goods they make. Rolls-Royce already gleans 51% of its revenue from servicing its engine fleet. For Bombardier’s global transport division, by contrast, the share of revenue from services went down between 2007 and 2010, from 21% to 14%. 4. Superficially, the aerospace industry is similar to train manufacturing: both involve large but occasional deals to make bulky, pricey goods. In the past decade both have been pounded by recession, rising fuel prices and demand for greater energy efficiency. Yet the outcomes for the two operations in Derby are strikingly different: Rolls-Royce has become the world’s second-largest maker of jet engines; Bombardier can’t persuade the government to buy the trains it makes in Britain. 5. Bombardier blames its troubles in Britain on Whitehall bungling. Demand for new trains has always been prone to peaks and troughs, but that inconsistency has worsened. 6. Despite the popular stereotype that continental Europeans favour their own national suppliers, protectionism is loosening 7. Meanwhile Rolls-Royce has sought to insulate itself from the quirks of procurement by applying its design to other industries 20110909 1. Dr Potti and Dr Nevins answered the queries and publicly corrected several errors, but Dr Baggerly and Dr Coombes still found the methods’ predictions were little better than chance. 2. In light of all this, the NCI expressed its concern about what was going on to Duke University’s administrators. 3. I find it ironic that we have been yelling for three years about the science, which has the potential to be very damaging to patients, but that was not what has started things rolling 4. The whole thing, then, is a mess. Who will carry the can remains to be seen. But the episode does serve as a timely reminder of one thing that is sometimes forgotten. Scientists are human, too. 20110908 1. The polls corroborate the baleful economic portents 2. Individual purchasing power, which is thought by many analysts to have more bearing on election results than any other economic indicator, actually fell by the government’s last tally. 3. AS BARACK OBAMA sinks into the plumped pillows of his king-size maple-wood bed each night, one thought may help lull him to sleep: incumbent presidents are hard to beat. 4. It is departing from the realm of plausible re-election prospects, in other words, and moving towards a Jimmy Carterish netherworld. The preponderance of voters say that if given the chance they would trade in Mr Obama for a Republican. 5. we are seeing signs that the initiatives put in place by this administration…are creating the conditions for sustained growth and job creation 6. The White House, doubtless expecting a Reagan-like vindication, noted that this was the biggest four-month drop since 1984. 7. But the glimmers of a new morning in America proved a false dawn. Growth has stalled. Unemployment has crept back up to 9.1%—a level the administration itself concedes is “unacceptably high”. 8. The continuing wobbles in Europe and Japan only further darken the outlook. 9. There is little Mr Obama can do to change any of this, despite all his dogged talk of repairing roads and bridges. The Republicans in Congress will continue to insist on fiscal rectitude, knowing full well that their parsimony not only precludes the most effective job-creation measures, but is also leading to the loss of public-sector jobs. They propose remedies that the president will never accept, such as repealing his “job-killing” reforms to health care and the financial system. Mr Obama could respond by railing against Republican obduracy. But that, in turn, would probably lessen his standing among all-important independent voters, who are said to be looking for a president who defuses partisan tensions, rather than inflaming them. 20110907 1. Why am I making a video, what am I making a video of, what I did for a living, and he asked me, what's my hobbies? 2. I hadn't done anything wrong. I wasn't doing anything wrong, according to them even 3. 'Listen, mister, we can do this any way you want: 4. "We are definitely the No. 1 attraction in Minnesota, one of the biggest attractions in the United States," she says. "So the government officials have asked us always, since 9/11, to be on the watch." 20110904 1. She seems content for now to remain on the periphery of the presidential race, feeding the hopes of her supporters, and keeping her own counsel. 2. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin offered her supporters no hint of her political plans during a speech Saturday at a Tea Party rally in Iowa. 3. The atmosphere was that of an end-of-summer county fair. There was plenty of food, lots of T-shirts for sale even some country music. But for the 2,000 or so people gathered on a soggy field in Indianola, south of Des Moines, Palin was the main attraction 4. Palin sounded every bit the candidate. She unveiled a five-point economic plan, what she called "a bona fide pro working man's plan that deals in reality, that deals in the way the world really works." 5. Between bailout for Wall Street cronies and stimulus projects for union bosses, security and green energy giveaways, he took care of his friends and now they're on track to raise over a billion dollars so they can do it again 6. they also raise mammoth amounts of cash and we need to ask them to what if anything do their donors expect in return for their investments, We need to know this because our country can't afford more trillion dollar thank-you notes to campaign backers 7. This is why we must remember that the challenge is not simply to replace Obama in 2012, but the real challenge is who and what we will replace him with. Because it's not enough 1. Walking into Walter Reed's old hospital building feels like going back in time, as the building changes from concrete and glass to brick and radiators. 2. The remnants of Hurricane Irene moved north Monday into Canada, leaving behind a path of destruction after raking the mid-Atlantic and northeast, where residents faced damaging floods triggered by hours of torrential rains. 3. While Irene's maximum wind speed might not compare with other legendary hurricanes, the storm had tremendous reach. 4. A couple of days after it beat up on North Carolina, it still had enough strength to pummel Vermont and other parts of New England. |
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