Perhaps the end of the Olympic drain on National Lottery funding will return to public projects elsewhere.

BBC: What grand projects come next?

CareFusion nurse educators work mostly at hospitals, where they teach nurses how to use the company's products, like the Alaris Smartpump, which pushes medication through a catheter, or the PleurX catheter system, through which end-stage cancer patients drain body fluids.

FORBES: Careers

The end result could be a net-drain on our defense resources at a time when we are overstretched and need all the help we can get.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Freedom Flame 2013

Since consumers typically must forfeit unused funds by year's end, they often ended up scrambling in December to drain their funds by loading up on aspirin, antacid and the like.

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In the private sector, businesses sold off their products during Q4 but declined to replace those items, which while a drain on the economy, spared tens of thousands of auditors from dreadfully monotonous year-end inventory counts.

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"These products are often referred to as upgraded accounts, but if you end up paying for an element you cannot claim on, it is money down the drain, " said Sheila Nicoll, FSA director of policy.

BBC: Bank rules seek to prevent account mis-selling