31.   And competition among the ECNs themselves is rising, prompting widespread predictions that only a few of the current crop will survive very long into the new century.

32.   And energy deregulation was intended to increase competition among utilities and generators, not open up a national casino that treats kilowatts like pork bellies.

33.   And they have been driven even lower in Atlanta by minimal gasoline taxes, intense competition among retailers and the convergence of two major pipelines.

34.   And there has been fierce competition among the three cellular-telephone operators that have been in service here for about a year.

35.   And such accidents are on the rise around the country, at least partly as a result of the competition among telecommunications companies to set up fiberoptic networks.

36.   And they must do this at precisely the time when the competition among wireless communications is rougher than ever before.

37.   And the competition among search engines has become intense.

38.   And with thousands of amateur and professional surf photographers, the competition among cameramen is almost as intense as the competition among surfers.

39.   Apparently, the competition among principals in robotic warfare is quite intense, with web page spying on the Internet a routine occurrence.

40.   Another layer of competition among all candidates has been through televised debates.