Word: hugeness
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...escaped the biggest financial meltdown in decades unscathed. The firm was a prominent player in the trading of credit default swaps, and that market for bond insurance has been battered by the rising defaults in home loans and other debts. Worse, some politicians and regulators, irked by the huge losses rung up by AIG in CDS contracts, have talked about creating a central exchange, much like the New York Stock Exchange, where the bond insurance would trade. Some have proposed doing away with CDS all together. Those changes would significantly curtail, or wipe out, Cantor's profits...
...resurgence in the rhino population because they were listed as endangered and protected. De-horning programs and relocation programs met with great success and the anti-poaching laws were working, but recently that has changed. Within the last 2-3 years you've seen a huge resurgence in rhino trade. Organized crime is getting involved in the rhino horn trade. They use them for daggers in the Middle East and for traditional Chinese medicine...
When you think of maple syrup, whose 2009 season is just now wrapping up, the first image that pops into your mind is probably a huge tree trunk with a few metal buckets strapped on. Maybe you picture workhorses slogging through the snow, a sleigh laden with tree sap in tow. Maybe there's a little wooden shack with a chimney emitting a plume of steam. What you might not picture are the dollar signs many are seeing around this surging agricultural commodity - maple syrup producers are celebrating high yields and record retail prices this year. (See the photo essay...
...These days, most serious sugar makers have foregone labor-intensive buckets, in favor of tubing systems. The holes bored in sugar maples in early spring are usually made with a cordless drill. Sugar makers insert small plastic spouts into the holes and connect the spouts to huge webs of plastic tubing that route the precious sap into large tanks. Many of these sugar bushes even have vacuum systems that suck the sap out of the trees to increase yield, along with oil-fueled furnaces and reverse osmosis filters that remove some water prior to boiling. The technology has changed dramatically...
...opposition it drew from teacher unions and school board members. Both groups decried Bersin's "Blueprint for Student Success" plan - which placed an emphasis on basic math and reading programs and a single curriculum - as limiting (and even, said some extreme critics, "fascistic"). By the time he left, a huge rift had opened between teachers and San Diego principals, over 80% of which he hired during his term...