She looked down to see that her hand lay upon a pile of silk stockings.

VOA: special.2009.09.05

My strategy worked for more than two decades until you found the broken down, shadowy pile of virtual flesh and bones that is me on Facebook.

FORBES: We're Not Exactly "Friends"

If a large amount of material is reviewed by fresh eyes -- I mean, this -- I think this would apply to -- you know, any intelligent people sitting down with this pile of intelligence, looking it over, reading it over, has a chance of finding certain things in it.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: DOD Briefing on Intelligence Matters

But no one can say with any certainty just how long it takes to reach that day of reckoning when the debt pile comes tumbling down.

MSN: As debt talks break down, clock ticks toward crisis