In desperation, they are also depleting their own groundwater, causing the entire valley floor to sink and possibly making the aqueducts geologically unsafe.

ECONOMIST: Water in California

Sasha was adjusting her yellow eyeshadow in the mirror when she noticed a bag on the floor beside the sink that must have belonged to the woman whose peeing she could faintly hear through the vault-like door of a toilet stall.

NEWYORKER: Found Objects

The auction system that dominates the NYSE floor operations "will sink or swim on whether it continues to add value, " says David Humpreville, the president of the Specialists Association at the NYSE.

FORBES: Not So Fast, Big Board

Without their fins, sharks cannot swim and they sink to the ocean floor, where they're picked at by other fish and left to die.

CNN: Shark fin soup alters an ecosystem

The faeries vanished before his eye could even register them, but the cheese stayed behind, stacked in sandwiches on the dresser and the windowsill, wedged in the light fixtures and stuck to the bulletin board with pins, piled in the sink and scattered on the floor.

NEWYORKER: A Tiny Feast

The spit sink left a permanent mark on the floor.

FORBES: A Place of Excellence

The post-Cold War benchmark of three percent of GDP constitutes a floor beneath which defense spending should not be allowed to sink.

FORBES: The Pentagon Is The Wrong Target For Deficit Hawks

The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, when the legislation foundered on the Senate floor after an amendment was added to end a temporary worker program after five years, threatening a key priority of the business community.

WSJ: Business, labor close on deal for immigration bill

The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration reform in 2007, when the legislation foundered on the Senate floor after an amendment was added to end a temporary worker program after five years, threatening a key priority of the business community.

NPR: Business, Labor Close On Deal For Immigration Bill