Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).

Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

The Internet undermines the quality of human interaction, allowing destructive emotional impulses freer rein under specific circumstances. The reason is a neural fluke that results in cyberdisinhibition of brain systems that keep our more unruly urges in check. […¶] Communication via the Internet can mislead the brain’s social systems. The key mechanisms are in the prefrontal cortex. […¶] In order for this regulatory mechanism to operate well, you depend on real-time, ongoing feedback from the other person. The Internet has no means of allowing such real-time feedback (other than with rarely used two-way audio/visual streams). […] This results in disinhibition: impulse unleashed. [¶…T]his disinhibition becomes far more likely when people feel strong negative emotions. What fails to be inihibited are the impulses those emotions generate. [¶] This phenomenon has been recognized since the earliest days of the Internet…as ‘flaming’: the tendency to send abrasive, angry, or otherwise emotionally ‘off’ cybermessages.

Tics are brief, stereotypical behaviors that are initiated by an unconscious urge that can be temporarily suppressed.