Noting that warm air moved up a chimney (which were another Medieval innovation), larger Medieval kitchens had fans installed in the chimney to automatically turn spits by use of a gearingsystem.
Employers--and the Medicare system, which is gearing up to cover 35 million elderly people in 2006--will have to decide whether to pay a big premium to lower cholesterol by a few extra points, or just push most people toward cheap generics.
The demise of the investment banks, with their far higher gearing, as well as deleveraging among hedge funds and others in the shadow-banking system will add to a global credit contraction of many trillions of dollars.