If you are working as a lawyer or an engineer or something like that, your annual threshold for meeting the exception is the greater of 750 hours or the amount of time you spend on your day job.

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The Assassin's Creed video game series -- beyond its trademark murderous historical fiction -- is known for arriving in annual installments. 2013 is no exception, with French publisher Ubisoft recently revealing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, a pirate-centric next entry in the long-running franchise.

ENGADGET

Continuing on a recent positive trend, as of June 2012, pending home sales in the U.S., on average, increased by 9.5% (seasonally adjusted) and 8.4% (not seasonally adjusted) respectively on a year-over-year basis with increases experienced across all four regions, with the slight exception of the West on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, of the country.

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The company typically generates more than 100% of its annual profits in the holiday quarter, and 2010 was no exception.

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It should be noted that, with the exception of Michigan these states are also in the states with the highest annual household incomes.

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