Word: buffeting
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...boxes. The engineers have been up so long on this frazzled assembly line because their boss--Bill Gates, a man whose tolerance for failure is minuscule--needs to demonstrate his company's tentative entry into the games-console market. "It's like we're cooking a big buffet," an engineer explains, "and the guests are arriving in two hours...
...foreign companies now forging ahead, nearly all have joined forces with solid local firms with existing factories or other hard assets. And nearly all have chosen corners of Russia where the investment climate seems better protected from the political storms that buffet the country at large. Leningrad Oblast, the province surrounding St. Petersburg, is a favorite. In the town of Tosno, 30 miles south of Russia's second city, Caterpillar has just completed its biggest investment in 25 years in Russia--a $50 million factory to make component parts for its European assembly plants and also put together tractors...
...walk off the casino floor and out into Rainmaker Square, the complex's main concourse. At three past eight in the morning, the only thing longer than the line for the buffet is the line for buffet reservations. Despite the crush, some seem relatively uninterested. Among them is a young blonde man, clad in light blue jeans, a sweatshirt and a pair of construction boots, sitting with his head in his hands. He doesn't seem the high-roller type, nor does it seem that his luck has been all that good. Sitting by himself on a set of steps...
...return to Rainmaker Casino, I find the casino floor jam-packed with players. Families replace the Swingers wannabes from last night, but the end result is the same: high minimum bets and a long wait for a place to play. I make my way through Rainmaker Square, past the buffet hordes and to the high-stakes bingo game. It's a capacity crowd and a serious one inside. Despite the simplicity of the game, the players make of it both art and science. Watching multiple cards while smoking, eating, drinking a cup of coffee, the players eschew idle chitchat...
Overall, the second half of life should be viewed not as a blue-plate special but as a buffet, advises University of Akron gerontologist Harvey Sterns. "People can approach the table and make all kinds of choices." To help you work up a healthy appetite, we offer you a taste of the future, based on the experiences of folks who have already bellied up to the table...