It mattered because of all the hard work and money I invested in my studies thinking a good job awaited me. (Instead I found a pile of dirty dishes and a small tip.) But it was better than being on the unemployment line collecting benefits.

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"They exposed the small tip of a very large iceberg" of bad practices that are costing small investors large sums of money, he said.

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The IBM team's innovation to create the first single molecule picture, of a molecule called pentacene, was to use the tip to pick up a single, small molecule made up of a carbon and an oxygen atom.

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Mr. Pai, moistening the tip of his finger in a small bowl filled with water which he kept on his desk just for this purpose, counted the notes afresh.

NEWYORKER: The Elephant

Acting on a million-dollar tip from a dying man in Naples, Guy Van Stratten (Robert Arden), a small-time international intriguer with a Flatbush accent, tracks down a feared global potentate, Gregory Arkadin (Orson Welles), who hires him to do a sensitive job: to investigate Arkadin himself.

NEWYORKER: Mr. Arkadin

My first stop was volunteering on an organic farm in a small village outside of Timisoara, Romania, thanks to a tip from a traveller I had met in Spain a few months earlier.

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While this tip sounds like common sense, many small business owners do not have a concrete financial plan in place.

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The foot-friendly furry rug makes the floor exciting. (Money-saving tip: Use a large, inexpensive sisal rug as a base, and layer it with a small version of the pricier rug you love.) Windows with wow factor: Embroidered Roman shades add warmth and contrast and function as art against understated blue walls.

CNN: Amazing room makeovers