Maximum pressure combined with minimum stress produces passion, and passionate organizations full of passionate people will accomplish well-nigh anything.

FORBES: Job One for Leaders

Even if our basic theory is that economy is elastic in response to nominal stress and plastic in response to real stress, a sudden change in rigidity combined with a large nominal shock could cause a very large plastic deformation in the economy.

FORBES: NGDP in the Long Run and Economic Plasticity

That, combined with signs of increased funding stress in Europe, helped drive the U.S. dollar to the highest since January, which did not bode well for gold.

FORBES: Still A Bull Market for Gold -- Gartman

The United Nations predicts that by 2025, forty-eight nations with a combined population of 2.8 billion will face fresh water stress or scarcity, according to Water.org.

FORBES: What Turkey, Football and Beer Have in Common (It's Not Just Thanksgiving)

Global economic growth, combined with a booming world population (passing 7 billion last year), has put unprecedented stress on fragile ecosystems.

UNESCO: Social and Human Sciences

That, combined with the constant pounding Ware endured through an entire season of basketball, may have created small stress fractures in the tibia and fibula bones in his lower leg, causing his bone to snap when he took a bad step.

FORBES: Kevin Ware And Vitamin D Deficiency in African-Americans

Mr. Brannaman's techniques stress kindness (how you treat a horse reflects how you treat your family and other people in your life) combined with firmness. (Like Cesar Millan, TV's "Dog Whisperer, " he teaches humans how to be an animal's parent, not its friend.) Ms. Meehl's own techniques include astute showmanship and, in one instance, a shocking illustration that some horses remain immune to humane ministrations.

WSJ: Buck | Green Lantern | City of Life and Death | Mr. Popper's Penguins | Champion Tale of a Horse Guru | Film Reviews by Joe Morgenstern