The Columbus Blue Jackets even reported that season ticket holders have gone up slightly since the start of the lockout.

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Meanwhile, the overall number of start-ups has "held steady or even edged up since the recession, " according to the study.

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Even though the currency, the real, has strengthened by 35% against the dollar since the start of last year, making imports cheaper, consumer prices have risen by 5.2% in the past 12 months.

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Similarly, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has been open in his view that a further devaluation of sterling, on top of the 20% depreciation since the start of the global financial crisis is needed to further rebalance the economy even while warning that other countries risk triggering competitive depreciations.

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Major donors in non-tech fields typically start even later, since it can take longer to amass the requisite fortune.

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Even Texas Instruments, which has had facilities in Bangalore since 1985, has felt the pinch of this start-up bug: some half a dozen of its top Indian engineers recently left to strike out on their own.

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In investor jargon, it therefore has huge operating leverage: the initial start-up costs for hardware and software were high, but since break-even each new client's revenues have been almost pure profit.

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