Word: contraction
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...price of oil reported in the news is actually the price of oil in the futures market. In this market, traders do not exchange physical barrels of oil, but instead trade contracts which obligate them to exchange oil at a quoted price at a specific date in the future, usually months in advance. Such a contract allows companies to hedge positions by locking in prices early. Airlines might buy futures contracts to reduce their exposure to rising fuel prices. Conversely, oil companies might sell futures contracts to assure a profit against future price drops. It's all about reducing risk...
...futures markets is a closed book that needs to be opened beyond price transparency to participant transparency. After each contract has expired, NYMEX and other exchanges should reveal the participants in each trade. Tear down the wall of anonymity, and long positions will, we believe, connect back to oil suppliers, who should theoretically be sellers of oil, not buyers...
Elite sprinters are not, however, simply improved versions of the average Sunday runner. They are physiologically different. For example, a typical human has in his skeletal muscles an equal balance of "fast-twitch" muscle fibers (quick contracting, easily fatigued muscle tissue that generates high power) and "slow-twitch" fibers (the muscle mass that uses oxygen - aerobic, rather than anaerobic), on which endurance runners rely. Slow-twitch muscle can contract for long periods of time with less fatigue, which helps some distance athletes run up to 60 mi. per day. Sprinters legs are genetically blessed with 70% fast-twitch...
...Amid these early signs of success, even some union members think their representatives have taken hostilities too far. One group of teachers has started an online petition for an immediate contract settlement, and more than 300 teachers have signed it. Many of these teachers believe the district's offer is not perfect but reasonable enough. "The union's position just does not make sense to me - it appears to be opposition for the sake of opposition," says Chrisanne Lahue, 47, an English teacher for 22 years and a signer of the petition. Both sides, she adds, "should just roll...
...Vladimir Putin personally authorized the passport granted to J.R. Holden, a journeyman American guard who never made it to the NBA but who has been a catalyst for the Russian national team. But the real sniping began with the "defection" of Becky Hammon, a WNBA star who signed a contract with a Russian club that helped her gain citizenship and a spot on the national team for these Games. Like Holden, the South Dakota native has no family links to Russia, and she can't read the Cyrillic on her new red passport. But as she was the 2007 runner...