The first is the administration's use of "disparate impact, " a statistical divining rod deployed in a widening array of federal antidiscrimination lawsuits.

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And then, almost as if what he held was a divining rod, the staff in his hand pointed to the sky westerly.

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In trying to guess which ones will come through, I've been guided, in four out of five cases, by the divining rod of established talent.

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He does however rely on microscopes to study samples and has been known to carry an L-shaped divining rod, which he holds over his head until it points him toward water.

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Next week brings the May nonfarm payrolls report, which many market watchers will use as a divining rod to ascertain whether the Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke could actually start tapering their asset purchases before the summer is out, perhaps as early as late June.

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