Word: precious
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...There are precious few of these in print. And fewer on the web, where scanning the sites - with all their gaseous nattering and gossiping - can give one the sense of being trapped in a Tower of Hollywood Babble...
There is one big exception to the tendency to redefine what can remain confidential, and that is in the world of business, where trade secrets are increasingly perceived as precious commodities that need protection. The global economy relies more and more on companies that create and sell knowledge, but their employees are less inclined to keep the boss's secrets, owing to either diminished loyalty or the high rewards for selling out. The FBI has put the cost of industrial espionage at more than $100 billion annually. Of the first 24 cases prosecuted under the Economic Espionage Act, 18 involved...
...decided it was time for some serious mid-summer cleaning. Just like my new hero, the good prince Jefri, I am going to embrace minimalism: Good-bye to the extraneous belongings cluttering up my life. Adios to the stacks of unread magazines. So long to the furniture taking up precious floor space. I will catalogue, tag and drag my possessions out into the sunlight, and await bids from the public...
...cloned human embryos for any purpose and punish violators with 10 years in jail and a $1 million fine. The alternative amendment, introduced by Republican Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania, would also bar reproductive cloning but would allow "therapeutic cloning," in which scientists create embryos in order to harvest the precious stem cells that can be derived from them. Shut that research down, argue the scientists, and the most promising frontier in medicine is suddenly off limits. Let it proceed, say opponents, and you have crossed a line toward the manufacture of humans as tools, and there is no going back...
Experts say public-subsidy schemes often give water to farms and industries for as little as $16 an acre-foot when it's worth as much as $400 to municipal water systems. That encourages uneconomic uses of the precious resource. Water consumption in the U.S. averages 100 gal. a day per person, nearly three times the European average. Coy predicts that once private buyers and sellers are allowed to determine a market price for water, international trade in the commodity will boom...