Word: rakings
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...lady's sentimental education. Just now Valmont has two pupils in mind: a naive, eager teenager (Uma Thurman) and the beautiful, pious Mme. de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer), who keeps resisting Valmont's purring declarations of love. And then, to his astonishment, he realizes that he means them. In a rake, sincerity is lethal. He who has lived by the word will die by the sword. And Mme. la Marquise will founder with him. Their game is over...
...repudiation of Johnson, who had become a symbol of executive greed after first proposing to buy out RJR (1987 sales: $15.8 billion) for $75 a share. Company directors were outraged when they read accounts, leaked by insiders, of how much Johnson and his seven colleagues planned to rake in from the deal: as much as $2.6 billion. Though Johnson later insisted he had planned to share the potential gains with 15,000 RJR employees, the battle lines were clearly drawn -- not just between Johnson and KKR but between Johnson and his board of directors...
...congressional races, Democrats rake in the largest share of PAC monies, despite the common perception that corporations lean toward Republicans. The reason is that Democrats hold majorities in both the House and Senate, and incumbents always have a better chance of winning than newcomers. Says one PAC manager: "The core of our business is access to legislators. We can get shut out if we give to challengers who lose." This year PACs have contributed $66 million to congressional incumbents, an increase of 29.4% over 1986, while handing challengers only $7 million, about the same as in previous elections. Democrats have...
...development of a throwaway, convenience culture helped create this mess; a real solution may require cultural change. For example, more than 20% of U.S. garbage comprises grass clippings and leaves stuffed into plastic bags and left for collection. Householders should simply leave that grass on their lawns or rake - it into a mulch pile, ignoring and thus revising the cultural demand for a golf green-neat lawn. Another cultural change would be required to get Americans to recycle 50% of their trash, as Japanese do. Cultural change is notoriously slow, but it might be speeded up in this instance...
...currency-hungry China, the pandas are more popular ambassadors than Ping-Pong players. China rents out the animals for as much as $500,000 apiece for six months, while zoos rake in huge profits from increased attendance and souvenir sales. Says A.A.Z.P.A. Executive Director Robert Wagner: "If we don't watch what we're doing, we could love the giant panda into extinction in the next five years." Although Toledo will probably get its pandas, future short-term loans are in doubt...