Word: start
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...result, any perceived indifference to Honduras on Obama's part could sour his start and make it harder to engage the region on matters Washington cares about, like drugs and trade. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, who tacitly backed a failed coup attempt against Chávez in 2002, promised a new relationship with Latin America, but saw his free-trade plan for the hemisphere die and drug production soar. Now even moderate Latin leaders are decrying Washington's quiet efforts to use military bases in Colombia for U.S. antidrug operations; their pique will increase if they decide Honduras...
This is the time of year - second only to December, maybe - when we're reminded how much kids cost. It's nice when states suspend their sales tax for a week of back-to-school shopping, but it doesn't change the fact that somehow we have to start over in September: new sneakers, new notebooks, maybe a new lunch box, because SpongeBob is so last season. Even in hard times, economists have found, children are "recession resistant." As investments, they are living proof of irrational exuberance, a leading indicator of our loss of fiscal discipline...
...staffers who sift through the 10,000 photos and videos that users submit each day never write their own jokes or even edit users' captions; they simply cull the best offerings. If something is funny but is a questionable fit for an existing site, they'll start a new one. FAIL Blog, for instance, spawned There, I Fixed It, a catalog of such misguided repair jobs as an airplane apparently patched together with duct tape. They're always searching for new memes - jokes or fads that could slip into the virtual jet stream and spread...
...drivers' habits don't appear to be changing. A 2008 Nationwide Mutual Insurance survey found that only 63% of drivers planned to abide by laws prohibiting cell phones. So parents, employers and insurance companies are stepping in to help minimize driver distraction. In the next few months, several technology start-ups will release new products for phones that can detect when a car is in motion and automatically log incoming calls and texts much as a personal assistant would. All the products have provisions that allow both incoming and outgoing calls during emergencies...
Knowing that people will be unlikely to volunteer for a service that takes away their phone privileges, Nationwide has partnered with one of the start-ups and is planning to offer a discounted rate for those who use the distraction reducer. The insurer says its discount will most likely cover the cost of Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist, which will be available next year...