"We're now seeing stability in the C and D blocks, " says Arbogast.

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And when you'd think it was going to run out, there'd be four or five damaged houses in three or four blocks, you thought, well, you'd kind of come to the end of it, then the next 15 blocks there'd be nothing.

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And the first rumblings of a rights-management system for controlling the sharing of physical things are appearing: The IP-hoarding firm Intellectual Ventures received a patent in October for a 3-D printer feature that blocks the creation of verboten objects.

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The spectrum is being auctioned off in five blocks, labeled A, B, C, D and E.

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The D is situated directly on the busy Fremont Street Experience, five blocks of pedestrianized bliss under a huge arched canopy of computerized lights and sound, with escalators running straight from the outdoor mall into the second floor casino.

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"They just ran out of the starter's blocks and beat us down the floor, " Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said.

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