Word: muchness
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...Despite the growing political influence of China, try asking an American to name a Chinese company and you're not likely to get much of an answer. While South Korea has Samsung and Hyundai, and Japan has Sony and Toyota, in the U.S., China is largely associated with the mass production of low-end goods, with few of its own international brands. To battle China's reputation for cheap imitations, Li Ning has hired top designers from Portland's rich pool of shoe-design talent and placed its high-end sportswear in an airy showroom in a Portland's chic...
...back into the Olympic spotlight - literally - during the opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Games. Suspended by cables, Li soared into the air and ran a slow-motion aerial lap around the Bird's Nest before lighting the Olympic cauldron in front of an estimated 4 billion television viewers - much to the annoyance of Adidas, which had spent some $80 million to sponsor the Games. (See pictures of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies...
...amount such a levy would raise is unclear. If the Germans use the U.S. plan - which calls for a tax of 0.15% on liabilities at about 50 banks and other financial institutions - Germany could raise as much as $12 billion a year. Would that be enough to protect banks in the case of another meltdown? Of course, proper government and regulatory scrutiny can guard against a repeat of the recent crisis. But in the event of a disaster on a similar scale, "you're never going to get a fund big enough to cover all that," says Simon Maughan...
...other countries don't have children not because of the adverse effects of spaceflight but because they have intentionally delayed getting pregnant. Female astronauts who want to have kids tend to put it off early in their careers because of unpredictable flight schedules and because much of their training is forbidden if they're expecting. "Most prefer to get at least one spaceflight in before pregnancy," says Jennings, and are approaching their early 40s by the time they begin trying for children, when the risk of genetic defects and miscarriage is much increased...
...This remedy, however, is not likely to be of much interest to China, whose one-child policy demonstrates the nation's ongoing commitment to curbing - not encouraging - population growth. Beijing, it seems, is not so much concerned with disrupting family planning - if it were, it might consider astronaut applications from women who are certain they do not want children or broaden the prerequisite to include spacemen - but with the image of the women it recruits to represent it on the galactic stage. In China, being a married mother is, arguably, as much a mark of excellence as sweet-smelling breath...