For a slightly more in-depth explanation of professional tasting, consultant editor Michael Jackson, an expert modest enough to recognize that his word on the subject was far from Gospel, shared his approach in Whisky Magazine.

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One possible explanation is that professional investors are selling stocks to goad the Fed into rate cuts, since Bernanke specifically identified weakness in the financial markets -- assuming he meant equities more than commodities -- as a threat to economic growth.

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But a board member at that retailer contradicted the former COO's explanation, telling the search firm that he left because "he crossed the professional line in how he dealt with women subordinates, " Mr. Crist remembers.

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