Then, a couple of years ago, my stepdaughter Kate told me two simple things about how to get a Sudoku started: what to look for first and how to proceed.

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As you may know, I like to keep things relatively simple in my analysis of both the economy and the markets.

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"The nurses were so busy, I couldn't get them to help with simple things like turning down my bed, " says 50-year-old Kim.

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As mortgage transactions go, my re-fi was about as simple as things get.

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But I know from my visit with the man in October 2001 that he liked to keep things simple.

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The point of this shaggy-dog story is simple: how in the world were my friends supposed to know all the things they needed to know to keep that system running safely and reliably?

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