IMPORTS CLOSING FACTORIES AND SAA STRIKES

WIM’s DESK
Chinese Pipe & Indian Round Bar… Save those frequent flier miles and hold onto your job.

The Global Economy as a Movie

The plot may seem familiar, as globalization threatens to drive down wages everywhere. But that sad outcome has a happy alternative

Movie directors sometimes shoot two endings to a film, undecided about which to use until the very last minute. Jaws, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Bride of Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the 2004 film The Terminal all had alternative endings. In the Casablanca everyone knows, Ingrid Bergman leaves Humphrey Bogart, but in another ending Bogart got the girl.

In some ways, it feels like we're in the middle of a movie made by some deranged economist, and we don't know yet if we're going to get the happy ending or the sad one. Does the rise of China and India supercharge global growth, or will all the new competition pull down wages in the industrialized world? Is this period going to be titled the The Bright Dawn or The Big Squeeze?
Click here to go to this story.

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KNOW YOUR STAINLESS
Can stainless steel be used at very low and very high temperatures?
Answer: Yes. Stainless steel has excellent properties at both extremes of the temperature scale. Stainless steel can be used down to liquid nitrogen temperatures and up to about 1800° F.

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SELF IMPROVEMENT
Ten Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills
We all have people with whom we have to work to get things done. Our ability to communicate with clients, customers, subordinates, peers, and superiors can enhance our effectiveness or sabotage us. Many times, our verbal skills make the difference. Here are 10 ways to increase your verbal efficacy at work: (One per day)
10. Enunciate your words – Speak clearly. Don’t mumble. If people are always saying, “huh,” to you, you are mumbling.

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NICKEL PRICE
LME Official Prices (US$/tonne) for 19 July 2005
CASH BUYER - $ 14170
CASH SELLER & SETTLEMENT - $ 14175
3 MONTHS BUYER - $ 13900
3 MONTHS SELLER - $ 13905
LME Official Opening Stock (in tonnes) NICKEL = 6804

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COMPUTER TIPS
The Key To Print Preview
Many of us find the Print Preview option in MS Word a very useful feature.
It's an excellent way to double check your layout before you waste paper and ink/toner printing something that really isn't ready to go.
I don't know about you, but I usually get to the Print Preview window either through the File menu or by using the button on the Standard Toolbar.
But today I stumbled across a keyboard shortcut that my readers who prefer to go mouseless will want to know about.
Next time try Ctrl + F2.
You should be taken straight to the Print Preview window. No fuss, no muss.
Want to return to your regular editing window in Word?
Try Ctrl + F2 again.
Bam! You're right back to where you started.

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THE ASTUTE JAMMY LEXICON EXPLICATED
"Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care." William Safire
Explained: Does indiscriminate use of the Thesaurus relate to unawareness of the right click of the mouse on the expression, or, indifference to the fact that synonym and antonym are often displayed? Acquaintance with this information could be bothersome and incommodious.