As it puts more on its start-ups' table, Charles River is demanding more in return.
A limitation of this approach is that it depends, perhaps heavily so, on its starting point.
In Safe Mode, the Mac runs a directory check on its start-up drive and temporarily disables unnecessary components so that just the basic operating system is running.
After spending more than $5 billion on a system that promised to communicate "with anyone, anytime, virtually anywhere in the world," Iridium could muster only about 55,000 subscribers, not enough even to pay interest on its start-up costs.
Yet a country's progress depends as much on its starting point as its effort.
When he returns, the Yankees will have yet another reliever to shut down the end of games, reducing the team's reliance on its starting rotation.
"I'm most pleased with the starting pitching, because the bottom line is, this team is built on its starting pitching," General Manager Brian Cashman said.
The catch is that the evolution of a chaotic system depends very sensitively on its starting conditions, which leads in the long term to behaviour that is ultimately unpredictable.
I'm going on general principles – and Dan's admonishment – rather than concrete calculation: the enemy king stuck in the middle, his rooks not yet in play, king's bishop still on its starting square, kingside pawns broken.
