Word: swelling
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...mechanism that only helped skew the market. The Australian Wool Corporation, a quasi- official body, bought all unsold stocks at a guaranteed price. When natural fibers became the fashion rage of the late 1980s, the AWC lifted the price by 71%, to $3.35 per lb., which encouraged farmers to swell their flocks. So dominant was Australia in the fine-wool market that its minimum price kept the stuff expensive amid overproduction and shrinking demand. One result has been a turn by Japan to improved synthetic fibers, which are smoother and more lightweight than their forerunners...
GoodFellas Martin Scorsese's Mafia wiseguys rob decent folks, kill crippled kids, snort and sell coke -- and have a swell time together -- in this dark farce that blazes through its 2 1/2 hours like a hit man on a contract high...
...taxpayers' revolt of the 1980s. Proposition 13, the 1978 referendum that froze property taxes at 1% of assessed value, depleted county treasuries, leaving the state to pick up the bills for things like schools and welfare services. Now California faces a $1.5 billion budget gap that is expected to swell to $6.5 billion by 1994. Incoming Governor Pete Wilson is refusing to rule out the possibility of higher taxes. But he also wants more freedom from constraints imposed by the state constitution and voter initiatives and laws that earmark much of the budget in advance for such purposes as education...
Advanced materials are just now starting to show up in commercial products. Examples: ceramic scissors that never rust or get dull, plastic lumber that is water-resistant and does not swell or warp like wood, and "metal" windows that keep excessive light and heat out of a house in summer and trap them inside during winter. In the U.S. the aerospace industry, including the military, is the biggest consumer of engineered materials, accounting for more than two-thirds of all use. The substances, used in door panels and floors, account for about 14% of a typical airplane's weight...
...alcohol. Even in the absence of insulin, certain cells, such as those in the lens of the eye, continue to absorb glucose. But without insulin, glucose cannot be processed in the usual way; the cell instead converts it to sorbitol. The abnormal accumulation of sorbitol causes cell membranes to swell and leak. It also interferes with vital biochemical processes...