Unlike batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, still playing at 41, Muralitharan does not want to force the selectors to drop him, preferring to bow out under his own terms.

BBC: Muttiah Muralitharan to retire from Test cricket

The next it was the humpbacks again, as two detached themselves from the main pod to give us the once over, drifting first down one side of the ship, then the other, and finally surfacing right under the bow as we watched with increasing incredulity.

BBC: Cruising into Gold Rush country

There are straights and curves and switchbacks and even, at one ridiculous point, a loop where the road curves back, around and under itself like a bow.

BBC: In search of the perfect road in Mallorca

"It was all I could do to not take a bow, " the soldier, who writes under the name Army J, said in a phone interview.

WSJ: Prank and File: These Military Reports Are Out of Line

So, saying all is well when the, you know, the bow of the Titanic seems to be going under water isn't necessarily the most reassuring message.

NPR: McCain, Obama Battle In Campaign Ads

Moving forward, it is likely the Fed under chairman Bernanke will continue to bow to political pressures to stimulate the economy, allocate credit, and distort relative prices.

FORBES: The Limits Of Monetary Policy Call For Moral, Sound Money

Fifa, aware that football's presence in the Olympics has long been a source of discomfort both within the game and among other sports, has been keen to find an alternative to the under-23 model, and will not have been happy to bow to pressure from the IOC.

BBC: Olympic football keeps under-23 rule as Fifa relents