text:
Welcome to bayareakiteboarding.com
San Francisco Bay Area kiteboarding safety, access, information, reviews, forums, and classifieds.
Alameda/Crowne Beach
Alameda kiteboarding guidelines can be viewed here. Location and directions can be found at the East Bay Regional Parks page which can be viewed here. Photos showing the hazards can be viewed
"Alameda is the best location I've seen in the world to learn to kiteboard"
Christo Tasti, kiteboard world champion
Many good things can be said about Alameda as a kite-boarding destination. Generally mild conditions and friendly community spirit await the kite boarder. An array of park facilities are available making Crown Beach a great family getaway. With its location in San Francisco bay, Alameda enjoys nice weather year around.
Crown Beach is a sandy oasis in the rock lined bay area. The launch/land area sits on the point of Crab Cove. A beach shack marks the location of the designated launch area and many kiters congregate during good days. Two miles of down wind beach allow kiteboarders safe haven to come ashore. Few hazards are known in the waters off Alameda, the most prominent have been clearly marked by locals.
Winds vary seasonally and are known as the mildest in the San Francisco Bay Area. The "season" extends from spring to fall with kiteable days to be had year around. Mild thermal winds are generated from cold waters off San Francisco. In peak season fog spills over "The City" drawn by hot conditions in the East Bay. Warm winds in the range of 10 to 15 mph fill in each afternoon when conditions prevail.
Extreme conditions are rare at Alameda and are confined mostly to storm events. During strong storms Alameda's placid waters become roiling white water. South winds cross thirteen miles of bay water generating chop up to three feet. Onshore winds coupled with powerful gusts make for potentially dangerous conditions, leaving only advanced and foolhardy kite boarders on the water. Lots of jumping and spectular wipeouts attract "gawkers" to the mayhem. Easterly winds of great strength are rare, and offshore conditions make them unridable. Hot easterly winds are very turbulent and the few kiters that have attempted these conditions met disastrous results and required rescue.
Considered safe for learning, Crown Beach has been the training ground for many bay area kite boarders. A school operates out of the shack in summer training lots of newbie's. Beginner to intermediate lessons are available, but reservations are a must!
A number of traveling professional kite boarders have visited Alameda beach showing locals the hottest new tricks. Some pros came to Alameda to learn the advanced technical tricks now required in the highly competitive world circuit.
In response to the growing number of kiters using Alameda beach, local riders and the park system developed mutually acceptable kiter guidelines. † The beach can become congested so kiters need to work together to keep things flowing smoothly. Downwind kiters coming ashore often find crowds of beach users and shallow conditions encourage lots of swimmers and waders. Avid kiters encourage strict adherence to the posted guidelines on "The Shack". Irresponsible behavior threatens restrictions on kiting. Please remember "kite boarding is a privilege not a right"!
Contributed by L.M.G., 2004here.


text:
Congress' shenanigans to shut down the government for 16 days this month has many Americans rightfully concerned about their personal finances."If you don't want to be affected by the actions—or lack of actions—in Washington, you and you alone are going to have to save yourself," insists Suze Orman.
Although a temporary deal has been reached to end the shutdown, the country's financial state is still up in the air until at least February, when a decision must be made about America's debt ceiling. In the meantime, Orman offers these Dos and Don'ts to protect your finances.
—By CNBC's Sakina Spruell. Follow her @SakinaCNBC.
Posted 28 Oct. 2013

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A group of Baldwin firefighters has teamed up with Lynbrook resident Kristie Lengel, 23, owner of Baldwin's LEARN fitness, to get serious — not about fire prevention or the latest firefighting techniques, but rather about their own health and wellness.
Ten firemen have signed up for a full three-month belly-busting program, though their ranks swell to 15 or more on a class-to-class basis. The firefighters weigh in at the start of every other session — they meet three times a week — and then proceed through a variety of nontraditional drills and exercises aimed at helping them improve the fitness they need to battle blazes.
As is the norm at LEARN — Learning Exercise, Activity and the Right Nutrition — working out isn't the only item on the firefighters' schedule. They are also figuring out what to eat, how to count calories and how to make better nutritional choices throughout their lives.
Lengel said she was moved to offer the program — which is available at a discount to BFD members and their families — by her father's and brother's experiences as firefighters.
"I was inspired by my father and brother, who are in the Fire Department in Lynbrook," she said. "I know Fire Department guys can have poor habits in terms of eating and drinking. [Former chief] Kevin Smith is a good friend of mine. He does a lot of bartending. He's always visiting people. He and the others decided it was time to start getting serious about their health."
Fitness, Lengel says, is important to everyone, but for firefighters it can be a matter of life or death. They carry heavy equipment into burning buildings, and need to be in shape to ensure not only their own safety, but the safety of those they are protecting. She has designed their program with these goals in mind.
"We're not a gym," Lengel explained of the LEARN approach to overall wellness. "We don't use machines. There's no bench-pressing going on. But believe me, the guys are getting their butts kicked."


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[9 Posts]
Joined: 22 Jan 2011
Posts: 815
Location: Toronto
Posted: Sun 29 Apr 2012, 13:39
Post subject:
Sharing your Compiling Configurations
I've been doing some compiling here and there for a couple of months now and wish for a system where compiled configurations for pets can be easily shared amongst compilers.
Yes, there is the "Compiling" section in this forum, but if one goes there, you will find that there is only currently 2 pages of info in that thread, compared to the plethora of pets that have been compiled for Puppy. There were a few instances, while reading the forum I came across a message similar to: "The pet was compiled by ...so and so, but we cannot tell what compiling options he (or she) used."
Without knowing these compiling options, for the previously (well-built) pet, it leaves other compilers with the task of:
- doing the research, looking at all of the availiable compiling options
- enabling and disabling various compilation options
This is basically re-inventing the wheel.
While this process is great when you are starting out and learning, after time it becomes a chore.
And considering the amount of linux apps out there, I see this as incredible waste of time.
I think that if we adopted some sort of system, where compilers share their options/techniques, productivity for the entire community would be increased, as we wouldn't be spending so much time re-inventing the wheel.
So, by what method(s) can we adopt to encourage sharing of this information? Please see the next post...
Last edited by Tman on Sun 29 Apr 2012, 14:24; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 22 Jan 2011
Posts: 815
Location: Toronto
Posted: Sun 29 Apr 2012, 13:41
Post subject:
I propose for compilers who are interested, to place their compiling options/configurations inside of the
scripts of their pets.
Example #1:
here is the pinstall.sh code for my dillo-3.0.2
Xdialog --beep --center --title "Setup" --yesno "Do you wish to make Dillo the defaultbrowser?" 0 0
if [ $? -eq 0 ];then
[ ! -f $defaultBR-old ] && mv -f $defaultBR $defaultBR-old
echo "#!/bin/sh
exec dillo \"\$@\"" > $defaultBR
chmod 755 $defaultBR
By adopting the new method, it would be something like this:
#Tman - compiled in Exprimo 5.X.13.5 as follows:
# src2pkg -VV -e='--sysconfdir=/etc localstatedir=/var --docdir=/usr/share/doc/dillo --enable-ssl=yes --enable-ipv6=yes --with-jpeg-lib=/usr/lib' dillo-3.0.2.tar.bz2
# Added Dependencies: fltk-1.3.x
Xdialog --beep --center --title "Setup" --yesno "Do you wish to make Dillo the defaultbrowser?" 0 0
if [ $? -eq 0 ];then
[ ! -f $defaultBR-old ] && mv -f $defaultBR $defaultBR-old
echo "#!/bin/sh
exec dillo \"\$@\"" > $defaultBR
chmod 755 $defaultBR
Example #2 - Firefox-12.0 pinstall.sh
# Tman - compiled in ...pup with:
# ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --disable-dbus --disable-libnotify --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-debug --disable-crashreporter --disable-tests --disable-xinerama --disable-gnomevfs --disable-gnomeui --enable-safe-browsing --disable-accessibility --disable-logging --enable-strip --disable-necko-wifi --enable-application=browser --disable-warnings-as-errors
# Added Deps: Yasm-1.2.0
# ask to remove old firefox settings
if [ -d $configDIR ]; then
Xdialog --center --title "Setup" --yesno "Remove previous Firefox saved settings?\n( Recommended , but your bookmarks will also be removed )" 0 0
[ $? -eq 0 ] && rm -rf $configDIR
I could go a step further and add the url for the source, to make it easier to find.
Last edited by Tman on Sun 29 Apr 2012, 14:26; edited 4 times in total
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Joined: 22 Jan 2011
Posts: 815
Location: Toronto
Posted: Sun 29 Apr 2012, 13:45
Post subject:
- with an extra few bytes of text, we have included very important info that will always remain with the pet and not get lost
- others stuck on compiling that particular app can refer to this info
- you can view other people's compilation options for pets in which you couldn't compile successfully
- you can make various pets with different options, and test out which compiles smaller, more stable ..etc and with the options included inside of the pet, you can refer to them, if you get confused as to which options you enabled and/or disabled.
- when installing the pet,it doesn't take up any extra space inside of the filesystem
- in the long run, it will save compilers time when the information is shared
- others may be willing to help more with compiling, leaving you more time to do other things
- even noobs can start contributing, as long as they know how to make a pet
- when the pets are processed by woof, the compilation options/settings won't be found in the distro
- it takes a little bit of extra time
- more experienced members may laugh at your puny compiling skills
For example, please see this post in Barry's Blog:
Well I would love to help you Barry, I would, but those are a lot of apps; most of which I've never compiled before. Lets say I go through the trouble of compiling some and getting them to work...but I used less optimal settings than you did; would you be pleased with that? hmmm. If I had your exact setttings, then I that would take the guess work out of it and, I could get more apps compiled.
Do you guys see my point?
What do you compilers think? Do you think that it is a good idea to adopt this new method, I am proposing?
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Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 4309
Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: Sun 29 Apr 2012, 18:23
Post subject:
No one will do it if it has to be done manually.
Something like this added to new2dir would be better.
if [ -f config.log ] ; then
mkdir -p "${EXE_TARGETDIR}/usr/share/doc"
head config.log > ${EXE_TARGETDIR}/usr/share/doc/${EXE_PKGNAME}.config
This obviously only works for automake. It could probably be extended to work with other tools.
Barry would need to make this change to if is is to catch on.
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Joined: 22 Jan 2011
Posts: 815
Location: Toronto
Posted: Sun 29 Apr 2012, 19:34
Post subject:
Automating the task would be even better. The Puppy name and version that the software was compiled in, could be collected from /etc/DISTRO_SPECS. The only drawback I see by putting it in the /usr/share/doc folder is that non-compilers would see all of these documents as extra bloat..I think putting the automated files in the devx.sfs would be good. I have privately messaged Barry about this, but he hasn't read it yet.
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Joined: 02 Apr 2007
Posts: 2647
Posted: Mon 30 Apr 2012, 00:44
Post subject:
Tman, you are using src2pkg, so why not just use, save and share your src2pkg script -you can't get much more universal and explicit than that.
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Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 713
Posted: Mon 30 Apr 2012, 04:41
Post subject:
I think it would be a great idea and it would encourage people to get to understand their OS better and give them some confidence in creating new applications that can be shared with others.
I've only started compiling myself and have been encouraged that others have used some of the applications I have uploaded.
From memory I think I asked
for some instructions and was given the basic information I needed.
Whichever method is used, I think it would a positive step forward.
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Joined: 16 Sep 2009
Posts: 2631
Location: UK
Posted: Wed 02 May 2012, 08:34
Post subject: Re: Sharing your Compiling Configurations
Tman wrote:
Yes, there is the "Compiling" section in this forum, but if one goes there, you will find that there is only currently 2 pages of info in that thread, compared to the plethora of pets that have been compiled for Puppy.
It's probably because of 2 things - lack of interest in sharing to beginners, and because the compiling section still does not allow users to edit their own posts - which is annoying... I PM'd the admins about it, but nothing changed...
I agree with jemimah about new2dir, although not everyone compiling for puppy knows or uses new2dir - I didn't at first, until I wanted to know how to easily split into DEV, NLS, DOC pkgs...
Maybe Barry should look into integrating something like that into Woof - then the vast majority of pkgs will have a corresponding .config in /usr/share/doc/ next time he builds a Puppy... It's a real quick way to jump forward and make some progress in this area..
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Joined: 22 Jan 2011
Posts: 815
Location: Toronto
Posted: Thu 03 May 2012, 10:50
Post subject:
Thanks Everyone for your feedback,
I think Jemimah is right; Barry would need to itegrate this somehow for it to become popular. If a savvy coder could create an automated routine, I am sure others would be more eager to share their settings.
The only problem is that there are different methods to compiling and the difficult task would create a package that can encompass these different methods.
I think that keeping the compiling options inisde the pet is the best place for them not to get lost. The compiling section is good if you need to ask others for more advanced help.
In the meantime, I think I will add them manually to the future pets that I create. But I will place them in the
folder instead of the pinstall.sh.
My reasoning is that maybe if I start doing it, some others do so as well. There are so many apps to compile out there. I just don't see the sense of everyone trying to figure out the .configure options for each app, independently each time.
I figure if I do this, then I will save time for other compilers and, hopefully vice-versa. The accumulated saved time is potentially enormous.
Tman wrote:
Well I would love to help you Barry, I would, but those are a lot of apps; most of which I've never compiled before.
Does the statement above come across as being somewhat rude? If so, it wasn't meant to be: I respect Barry very much.
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text:
Tue, 19 August 2008 at 2:01 am
Miley Cyrus: Peace Out!
Miley Cyrus flashes her ever-present peace sign as she visits the Disney offices to talk business in Los Angeles on Monday.
The DVD release of Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert: The 3-D Movie drops on Tuesday and the 15-year-old entertainer was most likely discussing promotions for the release.
Miley has been taking some downtime with her family after a few weeks of hard work. She was left seen on Sunday riding a bike with her family!
Just Jared on Facebook
Photos: SplashNewsOnline Posted to: Miley Cyrus
Sponsored Links by ZergNet


text:
Pace cars have to be fast around a track as the race cars behind them suffer under a certain speed. There have been many great ones throughout the years.
It's hard to tell what's cooler, the current SLS AMGs in F1 or the Dodge Viper prototype back in 1991 at the Indianapolis 500 with Carroll Shelby behind the wheel. What's certain though is that the Tatra 623 was pure awesome.
These rear-engined V8 wonders were used as rapid assistance vehicles, pace cars and even runway testers, with latter incarnations having a stripped interior and their engines bored from 3.5 to 3.8 liters, producing 174 horses.
Good effort from Czechoslovakia there, but which is your favorite pace car of all times?
Photo credit: Hugo90


text:
Wielding the olive branch of diplomacy and a face that may have been carved from a mountainside, NBC's Bob Costas basically called the new Olympic sport of slopestyle stupid on the 'Today' show.
"I think the president of the IOC should be Johnny Knoxville, because basically, this stuff is just 'Jackass' stuff that they invented and called Olympic sports," Costas told Matt Lauer, laughing.
Slopestyle is a winter sport where the goal is to perform tricks while getting the most height from a jump using either skis or snowboards.
The sports anchor's comments weren't appreciated among the slopestyle community, including fellow NBC snowboarding commentator Todd Richards, ESPN reports. Richards posted the following on his Facebook page.
"Let me get this straight: All the sacrifices of body and mind I and countless others have made to progress the discipline of slopestyle have now been reduced to the byproduct of an MTV show … by someone that is 'hosting' the Olympics? On behalf of NBC's snowboarding coverage team I apologize to everyone in the sport. This does not represent the feelings of the people that work hard to bring you the snowboarding broadcasts."
During the interview, Costas told Lauer he meant his comments in the "kindest possible sense." The segment has since been pulled from NBC's site and replaced with a blue "usage restrictions" slate.
Below, you'll find pictures of the first day of the U.S. Snowboarding and Freeskiing Grand Prix in Colorado.
(h/t USA Today)


text:
What time is it in Porter?
Porter world timeCurrent Time Standard time zone: Daylight saving time in 2013
Time zone abbreviation: United States Local time
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Weather Porter Weather overview | Two-week forecast | Hour-by-hour | Past week
Duration of day: 24 hours, 27 minutes (1 minute, 4 seconds shorter than yesterday)
Sun in north above horizon
What time is it in Porter
Find sunrise and sunset-times for Porter other dates
See current position of the Sun
Dialing Codes International United States country code.
See other cities near Porter
Calculate distance from Sucre to another location forecast
Current local time in Porter
International country code: + 1 (U.S.A.)


text:
Nick Price has plenty of options and no experience
NEW YORK (AP) — The Americans have a 7-1-1 record in the Presidents Cup, and it looks even more lopsided on paper.
Consider the options of the two captains.
This is the final week for players to earn a spot on the teams before Fred Couples and Nick Price get two captain's picks.
If nothing changes in the U.S. standings, Couples will have to choose from among Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker, if he can persuade Stricker to take a break from his semi-retirement. And that list doesn't even include 20-year-old Jordan Spieth. Whenever a guy starts a season with no status and is headed to the Tour Championship, odds are he's playing pretty good golf.
For Couples, that's a nice problem to have.
International captain Nick Price has a short list that doesn't resemble a "Who's Who" as much as a "Who's That?"
Move past Tim Clark at No. 11 and his choices include Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat. There are three Aussies, just not the names you're used to seeing — Marc Leishman, Brett Rumford and Marcus Fraser. There's George Coetzee and Brendon de Jonge, both from southern Africa. And don't overlook Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan, who this year became the only player to miss the cut in all four majors.
What binds them is not the contrived International flag under which they hope to play. It's that none has competed in the Presidents Cup.
"There's a lot of rookies," Price said Tuesday morning.
He wasn't talking about potential picks, but players already on the team — Branden Grace and Richard Sterne, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Graham DeLaet of Canada, who is holding down the 10th spot going into the Deutsche Bank Championship.
The International team has not looked this outmatched since 1998 at Royal Melbourne, the year one of its players (Carlos Franco of Paraguay) tuned up for the matches by going through Q-school. Another (Joe Ozaki) only made the team because his big brother (Jumbo Ozaki) decided not to play.
What happened?
They gave the Yanks their biggest spanking in team competition. It was such a rout that when Price won the clinching point, the staff was still clearing breakfast off the tables in the clubhouse.
"If you look back at Melbourne in '98, and the draw in South Africa in '03, our guys played their (tails) off," Price said. "That's what we need."
The Presidents Cup needs a new winner, even if that means new faces. It needs emotion, which has been missing since Chris DiMarco ran screaming into the arms of Jack Nicklaus after making a putt on the final hole in 2005.
It needs one of the most distinguished characters in golf breaking a club over his knee in despair.
"That really was embarrassing for me," Price said.
Yes, that was him.
The Presidents Cup in South Africa was so tight in 2003 that Price knew every point — every half-point — could be the difference. Playing against Kenny Perry, he twice rallied from a three-hole deficit. On the final hole at Fancourt, Price missed a short birdie putt to halve the match and snapped the putter in two as he walked off the green.
No apologies were necessary, though he still offers them.
"A freak reaction," Price said. "But I'll tell you what it's turned into. A guy phoned me from South Africa and said, 'Tell us about the time you walked off the green and broke your putter in front of (captains) Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.' It was totally unintentional. But it showed how much I cared."
Price still cares enough to challenge PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem over the points structure.
Unlike the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, there are five matches (instead of four) in the team sessions, and thus 32 points available for the week instead of 28. The idea is to have more players on the course. Nice thought, but is this supposed to be like Little League with the emphasis on participation?
Price realizes the Americans have greater depth. Playing for fewer points gives him a better chance for a close contest. Even when the Americans had better players in the Ryder Cup a few generations ago, it always was close because there were fewer points available and Europe could hide its weaker players.
Finchem rejected the proposal presented to him by Price and former captain Greg Norman.
"I understand his thinking," Finchem said a month ago. "But I think we have a nice history that's built up already in the Presidents Cup. I increasingly feel like unless it's broke, don't really mess with it. And the Presidents Cup has been very, very successful."
Successful by what measure?
The fact the Americans have lost only once in two decades? That the last three cups haven't even been close? One more blowout and this will be bordering on a biennial exhibition, if it's not already.
"I was listening yesterday to the European coverage of their tour, and the guys are already talking about the Ryder Cup next year," Price said. "Obviously, the Ryder Cup will be there (at Gleneagles). But I wish we could hear that about the Presidents Cup. The only way that's going to happen is if it's closely contested."
Even if that means having players hardly anyone knows.


text:
Library Video Company's DVD website and catalog are now being run by Cerebellum Corporation, a leading producer and distributor of educational media. Please make a note of the new URL of LibraryVideoCompany.com for even more selection!
"I feel confident that our DVD business in Cerebellum's hands will be well supported and DVD will continue to have a vital role in education, while we have turned our focus to our digital platform, SAFARI Montage." – Andrew Schlessinger, Founder, Library Video Company
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text:
Edith Riemer
Born: April 22, 1930
Berlin, Germany
Hela Pinsker and Elimelech Riemer were married in 1928. Two years later the Jewish couple's only child, Edith, was born. The Riemers lived in a comfortable apartment in Berlin, in a building that also housed offices of the Communist Party of Germany.
1933-39: Hitler banned the Communists, so their offices in our building were shut down. When these offices were later broken into, the Gestapo blamed it on "the Jews." Though our family wasn't involved, they said that if the culprit was not found within 72 hours, my family would be punished. My father quickly sent my mother and me to Poland, where my parents were born. We left Berlin with only a little cash from the bank, and Father joined us later.
1940-45: In 1942 my mother was killed in Poland by the Germans. I was smuggled to the Tarnow ghetto to live with an aunt. From Tarnow I was deported to Auschwitz, and was lined up to be gassed. The entrance to the gas chambers had double doors, and as we were being pushed in, I hid, curled up in a ball between the two doors. The German in charge of closing the outside door found and beat me. But since the chamber's interior door was already sealed, it was too late to put me in the gas chamber.
Edith was assigned to forced labor. In 1945 she was liberated at the Bergen-Belsen camp. The next year she immigrated to Palestine, where she was later reunited with her father.


text:
|Top mascots
|Top supermarket chains in Asia
|Top companies named after people
|Public (NYSE: WMT)
|Rogers, Arkansas, U.S. (1962)
|Sam Walton
|Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.
Latin American headquarters: Miami, Florida, U.S.[1]
|Area served
|Key people
|Mike Duke
H. Lee Scott
(Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board)
S. Robson Walton (Chairman)
|Discount Stores
Neighborhood Markets
|▲ US$ 404.16 Billion (2009)[2]
|Operating income
|▲ US$ 22.80 Billion (2009)[3]
|Net income
|▲ US$ 13.400 Billion (2009)[3]
|Total assets
|▼ US$ 163.234 Billion (2009)[4]
|Total equity
|▲ US$ 65.285 Billion (2009)[3]
|approx. 2,100,000 (2009)[5]
|www.walmartstores.com www.walmart.com
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (branded as Walmart) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500.[6] The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer[7] and the largest grocery retailer in the United States. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.
Walmart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.
Sam Walton, a businessman from Arkansas, began his retail career when he started work on June 3, 1940, at a J.C. Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa where he remained for 18 months. In 1945, he met Butler Brothers, a regional retailer that owned a chain of variety stores called Ben Franklin and that offered him one in Newport, Arkansas.[8]
Walton was extremely successful in running the store in Newport, far exceeding expectations.[9] However, when the lease came up for renewal, Walton could neither come to agreement on the existing store's lease renewal nor find a new location in Newport. Instead, he opened a new Ben Franklin franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas, but called it "Walton's Five and Dime." There, he achieved higher sales volume by marking up slightly less than most competitors.[10]
On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City store located at 719 Walnut Ave. in Rogers, Arkansas. The building is now occupied by a hardware store and a pawn shop. Within five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales.[11] In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.[12]
The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. In 1970, it opened its home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of $44.2 million. It began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1, 1970, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first stock split occurred in May 1971 at a market price of $47. By this time, Wal-Mart was operating in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma; it entered Tennessee in 1973 and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. As it moved into Texas in 1975, there were 125 stores with 7,500 employees and total sales of $340.3 million.[12]
In the 1980s, Walmart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987 there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates.[12] This year also marked the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. At the time, it was the largest private satellite network, allowing the corporate office to track inventory and sales and to instantly communicate to stores.[13] In 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Glass.[14] Walton remained as Chairman of the Board, and the company also rearranged other people in senior positions.
In 1988, the first Walmart Supercenter opened in Washington, Missouri.[15] Thanks to its superstores, it surpassed Toys "R" Us in toy sales in the late 1990s.[16] The company also opened overseas stores, entering South America in 1995 with stores in Argentina and Brazil; and Europe in 1999, buying Asda in the UK for $10 billion.[17]
In 1998, Walmart introduced the "Neighborhood Market" concept with three stores in Arkansas.[18] By 2005, estimates indicate that the company controlled about 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business.[19]
In 2000, H. Lee Scott became President and CEO, and Walmart's sales increased to $165 billion.[20] In 2002, it was listed for the first time as America's largest corporation on the Fortune 500 list, with revenues of $219.8 billion and profits of $6.7 billion. It has remained there every year, except for 2006.[21][22]
In 2005, Walmart had $312.4 billion in sales, more than 6,200 facilities around the world—including 3,800 stores in the United States and 2,800 elsewhere, employing more than 1.6 million "associates" worldwide. Its U.S. presence grew so rapidly that only small pockets of the country remained further than 60 miles (100 km) from the nearest Wal-Mart.[23]
As Walmart grew rapidly into the world's largest corporation, many critics worried about the effect of its stores on local communities, particularly small towns with many "mom and pop" stores. There have been several studies on the economic impact of Walmart on small towns and local businesses, jobs, and taxpayers. In one, Kenneth Stone, a Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Wal-Mart store opening.[24] However, in another study, he compared the changes to what small town shops had faced in the past — including the development of the railroads, the advent of the Sears Roebuck catalog, as well as the arrival of shopping malls — and concluded that shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail market can thrive after Wal-Mart arrives.[24] A later study in collaboration with Mississippi State University showed that there are "both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates."[25]
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, Walmart was able to use its logistical efficiency in organizing a rapid response to the disaster, donating $20 million in cash, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals, as well as the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers.[26] An independent study by Steven Horwitz of St. Lawrence University found that Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe's made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies and reopen stores well before FEMA began its response.[27] While the company was overall lauded for its quick response – amidst the criticisms of the Federal Emergency Management Agency – several critics were nonetheless quick to point out that there still remain issues with the company's labor relations issues.[28]
In October 2005, Wal-Mart announced it would implement several environmental measures to increase energy efficiency. The primary goals included spending $500 million a year to increase fuel efficiency in Wal-Mart's truck fleet by 25% over three years and double it within ten, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in seven years, reduce energy use at stores by 30%, and cut solid waste from U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs by 25% in three years. CEO Lee Scott said that Wal-Mart's goal was to be a "good steward for the environment" and ultimately use only renewable energy sources and produce zero waste.[29] The company also designed three new experimental stores in McKinney, Texas, Aurora, Colorado, and Las Vegas, Nevada. with wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, biofuel-capable boilers, water-cooled refrigerators, and xeriscape gardens.[30] Despite much criticism of its environmental record, Wal-Mart took a few steps in what is viewed as a positive direction, which included becoming the biggest seller of organic milk and the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world, as well as reducing packaging and energy costs.[31] Wal-Mart also spent nearly a year working with outside consultants to discover the company's total environmental impact and find where they could improve. They discovered, for example, that by eliminating excess packaging on their toy line Kid Connection, they could not only save $2.4 million a year in shipping costs but also 3,800 trees and a million barrels of oil.[31] Walmart has also recently created its own electric company in Texas, Texas Retail Energy, and plans to supply its stores with cheap power purchased at wholesale prices. Through this new venture, the company expects to save $15 million annually and also lays the groundwork and infrastructure to sell electricity to Texas consumers in the future.[32]
In March 2006, Walmart sought to appeal to a more affluent demographic. The company launched a new Supercenter concept in Plano, Texas, intended to compete against stores seen as more upscale and appealing, such as Target.[33][34] The new store has wood floors, wider aisles, a sushi bar, a coffee/sandwich shop with free Wi-Fi Internet access, and more expensive beers, wines, electronics, and other goods. The exterior has a hunter green background behind the Wal-Mart letters, similar to Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets, instead of the blue previously used at its supercenters.
On September 12, 2007, Walmart introduced new advertising with the slogan, "Save Money Live Better," replacing the "Always Low Prices, Always" slogan, which it had used for the previous 19 years. Global Insight, which conducted the research that supported the ads, found that Walmart's price level reduction resulted in savings for consumers of $287 billion in 2006, which equated to $957 per person or $2,500 per household (up 7.3% from the 2004 savings estimate of $2,329).[35]
On June 30, 2008, Walmart unveiled a new company logo, featuring the non-hyphenated name "Walmart" followed by a stylized spark, as it is referred to on store advertisements. The new logo received mixed reviews from some design critics, who question whether the new logo is as bold as competitors such as the Target bullseye or as instantly recognizable as the former company logo, which was used for 18 years.[36] The new logo made its debut on the company's walmart.com website on July 1, 2008. The new logo will eventually replace store logos at the company's US locations throughout the year.[37] Wal-Mart Canada started to adopt the logo for its stores in early 2009.
On March 20, 2009, Wal-Mart announced that it is paying a combined $933.6 million in bonuses to every full and part time hourly worker of the company. An additional $788.8 million in profit sharing, 401(k) contributions, and hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and contributions to the employees' stock purchase plan is also included in this plan. While the economy at large was in an ongoing recession, the largest retailer in the U.S. reported solid financial figures for the most recent fiscal year (ending January 31, 2009), with $401.2 billion in net sales, a gain of 7.2% from the prior year. Income from continuing operations increased 3% to $13.3 billion, and earnings per share rose 6% to $3.35.[38]
On July 16, 2009, Wal-Mart announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index.[39]
On February 22, 2010, the company confirming it was acquiring video streaming company Vudu, Inc.for an estimated $100 million.[40]
Wal-Mart's operations are organized into three divisions: Wal-Mart Stores U.S., Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart International.[41] The company does business in nine different retail formats: supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, bodegas (small markets), cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants.[41]
Wal-Mart Stores U.S. is Wal-Mart's largest division, accounting for 67.2% of net sales for financial year 2006.[41] It consists of three retail formats that have become commonplace in the United States: Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets. The retail department stores sell a variety of mostly non-grocery products, though emphasis has now shifted towards supercenters, which include more grocery items. This division also includes Wal-Mart's online retailer, walmart.com.
In September 2006, Wal-Mart announced a new pilot program to sell generic drugs at just $4 per prescription. The pilot program was launched at stores in the Tampa, Florida area, and expanded to all stores in Florida by January 2007. While the average price of generics is $29 per prescription, compared to $102 for name-brand drugs, Wal-Mart maintains that it is not selling at a loss, or providing as an act of charity – instead, they are using the same mechanisms of mass distribution that it uses to bring lower prices to other products.[42] While it's little known outside of the drug industry, many of Walmart's low cost generics are imported from India and made by drug makers in that country including Ranbaxy and CIPLA.[43]
On February 6, 2007, the company launched a "beta" version of its new movie download service, mediadownloads.walmart.com, which sells 3,000 films and television episodes from all major studios and television networks.[44] This service was discontinued on December 21, 2007.[45]
Wal-Mart Discount Stores are discount department stores with size varying from 51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 224,000 square feet (20,810.3 m2), with an average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2).[41] They carry general merchandise and a selection of food. Many of these stores also have a garden center, a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store and a fast food outlet. Some also have gasoline stations.[46]
The first Wal-Mart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962.
In 1990, Wal-Mart opened its first Bud's Discount City location in Bentonville. Bud's operated as a closeout store, much like Big Lots. Many locations were opened to fulfill leases in shopping centers as Wal-Mart stores left and moved into newly built Supercenters. All of the Bud's Discount City stores closed or converted into Wal-Mart Discount Stores by 1997.[11][47]
As of December 2009, there were 810 Wal-Mart Discount Stores in the United States. In 2006, the busiest in the world was one in Rapid City, South Dakota.[48]
Wal-Mart Supercenters are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 square feet (9,104.5 m2) to 261,000 square feet (24,247.7 m2), with an average of about 197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2).[41] These stock everything a Wal-Mart Discount Store does, and also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Wal-Mart Supercenters also have a garden center, pet shop, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical center, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, local bank branches (newer locations have Woodforest National Bank branches), and fast food outlets — usually Subway, but sometimes Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's or Blimpie. Some also sell gasoline distributed by Murphy Oil Corporation (whose Wal-Mart stations are branded as "Murphy USA"), Sunoco, Inc. ("Optima"), or Tesoro Corporation ("Mirastar").[46]
The first Supercenter opened in 1988 in Washington, Missouri. A similar concept, Hypermart USA, opened in Garland, Texas a year earlier. All of the Hypermart USA stores were later closed or converted into Supercenters.
As of December 2009, there were 2,737 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the United States.[48] The largest Supercenter in the United States, covering 260,000 square feet (24,000 m2) and two floors, is located in Crossgates Commons in Albany, New York.[49]
Since the introduction of the new Wal-Mart logo in 2008, the company has been phasing out the "Supercenter" portion of the name on these stores, simply referring to these stores as "Walmart."
Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets are grocery stores that average about 42,000 square feet (3,901.9 m2).[41] They offer a variety of products, which include full lines of groceries, pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, photo developing services, and a limited selection of general merchandise.
Neighborhood Markets are used to fill the gap between Discount Stores and Supercenters.
The first Neighborhood Market opened in 1998 in Bentonville, Arkansas. As of December 2009, there were 151 of them in the United States.[48]
Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market now has the same logo as Wal-Mart does. However, this change took place a few months after the new logo was introduced on June 30, 2008.
Wal-Mart opened "Supermercado de Wal-Mart" locations to appeal to Hispanic communities in the United States.[50]
Marketside is a new chain of grocery stores opened in October 2008, the stores are said to be less than half the size of a conventional supermarket, as stated in the backgrounder found on Wal-Mart's official homepage. As of December 2009, there were four Marketside stores, all within the state of Arizona.[48] Each of these stores is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sam's Club is a chain of warehouse clubs which sell groceries and general merchandise, often in large quantities. Sam's Club stores are "membership" stores and most customers buy annual memberships. However, non-members can make purchases either by buying a one-day membership or paying a surcharge based on the price of the purchase.[51] Some locations also sell gasoline.[46] The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma [51] under the name "Sam's Wholesale Club".
Sam's has found a niche market in recent years as a supplier to small businesses. All Sam's Club stores are open early hours exclusively for business members and their slogan is "We're in Business for Small Business." In March 2009, the company announced that it plans to enter the electronic medical records business by offering a software package to physicians in small practices for $25,000. Wal-Mart is partnering with Dell and eClinicalWorks.com in this new venture.[52]
According to Wal-Mart's 2007 Annual Report, Sam's Club's sales during 2007 were $42 billion, or 12.1% of Wal-Mart's total 2007 sales.[53] As of December 2009, there were 605 Sam's Clubs in the United States. Wal-Mart also operates more than 100 international Sam's Clubs in Brazil, China, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.[54]
Wal-Mart's international operations currently comprise 2,980 stores in 14 countries outside the United States.[55] According to Wal-Mart's 2006 Annual Report, the International division accounted for about 20.1% of sales.[41] There are wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico (although PR is part of the US, the company's operations there are managed through its international division[55]), and the UK. With 1.8 million employees worldwide, the company is the largest private employer in the US and Mexico, and one of the largest in Canada.[56]
Wal-Mart has operated in Canada since its acquisition of 122 stores comprising the Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc in 1994.[57] As of October 31, 2008, it operates 310 locations, employing 77,500 Canadians, with a local home office in Mississauga, Ontario.[58] Wal-Mart Canada's first three Supercentres (spelled as in Canadian English) opened on November 8, 2006, in Hamilton, London, and Aurora, Ontario. As of October 31, 2008, there are 39 Wal-Mart Supercentres in Canada,[48].
Sales in 2006 for Wal-Mart's UK subsidiary, Asda (which retains the name it had before acquisition by Wal-Mart), accounted for 42.7% of sales of Wal-Mart's international division. In contrast to Wal-Mart's US operations, Asda was originally and still remains primarily a grocery chain, but with a stronger focus on non-food items than most UK supermarket chains other than Tesco. At the end of 2007, Asda had 340 stores, some of which are branded Asda Wal-Mart Supercentres, as well as Asda Supermarkets, Asda Living, George High Street and Asda Essentials stores.[59]
In addition to its wholly-owned international operations, Wal-Mart has joint ventures in China and several majority-owned subsidiaries. Wal-Mart's majority-owned subsidiary in Mexico is Walmex. In Japan, Wal-Mart owns about 53% of Seiyu.[60] Additionally, Wal-Mart owns 51% of the Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), consisting of more than 360 supermarkets and other stores in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.[61]
In 2004, Wal-Mart bought the 116 stores in the Bompreço supermarket chain in northeastern Brazil. In late 2005, it took control of the Brazilian operations of Sonae Distribution Group through its new subsidiary, WMS Supermercados do Brasil, thus acquiring control of the Nacional and Mercadorama supermarket chains, the leaders in the Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná states, respectively. None of these was rebranded. As of August 2006, Wal-Mart operates 71 Bompreço stores, 27 Hiper-Bompreço stores, 15 Balaio stores, and three Hiper-Magazines (all originally parts of Bompreço). It also runs 19 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 13 Sam's Club stores, and two Todo Dia stores. With the acquisition of Bompreço and Sonae, Wal-Mart is currently the third largest supermarket chain in Brazil, behind Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar.[62]
In June 2006, Wal-Mart was excluded from the investment portfolio of The Government Pension Fund of Norway, which held stock values of about US$ 430 million in the company, due to a social audit into alleged labor rights violations in the company's operations in the US and worldwide.[63][64] Although Wal-Mart did not respond to questions from the fund's auditors, the company later claimed the decision "don't appear to be based on complete information".[65]
In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany due to sustained losses in a highly competitive market. The stores were sold to the German company Metro during Wal-Mart's fiscal third quarter.[60][66]
In November 2006, Wal-Mart announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to open retail stores in India. As foreign corporations are not allowed to directly enter the retail sector in India, Wal-Mart will operate through franchises and handle the wholesale end.[67] The partnership will involve two joint ventures; Bharti will manage the front end involving opening of retail outlets, while Wal-Mart will take care of the back end, such as cold chains and logistics.
In 2008, Wal-Mart named German retailing veteran Stephan Fanderl as the president of Wal-Mart Emerging Markets-East in an effort to, "explore retail business opportunities in Russia and neighboring markets." The market is estimated to be worth more than $140 billion per year in food sales alone.[68]
In January 2009, the company acquired a controlling interest in the largest grocer in Chile, Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA.[69]
In February 2010, the company agreed to buy Vudu, a Silicon Valley start-up whose three-year-old online movie service is being built into an increasing number of televisions and Blu-ray players. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a person briefed on the deal said the price for the company, which raised $60 million in capital, was over $100 million.[70]
In the mid 1990s wal-mart tried with high financial investment to get a foothold in the German retailer market. In 1997 wal-mart took over the supermarket chain "wertkauf" with its 21 stores for 750,- million DM (375,- mil €) and in 1998 wal-mart took over 74 interspar stores for 1.3 billion DM (750,- Mil €) . Several reasons lead to wal mart's failure in the german market.
The German market at this point was a oligopoly with high competition between the companies who also used a similar low price strategy like wal-mart. Due to this wal-mart had no competitive advance with it's low price strategy in the German market. On the other hand wal-mart's corporate culture was not taken positive among employees and customers in Germany . Especially wal-marts "statement of ethics", which restricted the relationship between employees lead to a public discussion in the media and a bad reputation for wal-mart among the customers. Also wal-mart's "Big Box – Low Price" Model, a price strategy that works well in the U.S., was not successful in Germany.
In 2006 wal-mart withdraw from the German market, the 85 stores where sold to the metro AG. Wal-mart kept the losses that were made in the German market confident but they were estimated around 3 bil €. On the other hand wal-marts competitors in Germany like kaufland and rewe were able to increase their market share.
About 40% of products sold in Wal-Mart are private label store brands, or products offered by Wal-Mart and produced through contracts with manufacturers. Wal-Mart began offering private label brands in 1991 with the launch of Sam's Choice, a brand of drinks produced by Cott Beverages exclusively for Wal-Mart. Sam's Choice quickly became popular, and by 1993 was the third beverage brand in the United States.[71] Other Wal-Mart brands include Great Value and Equate in the US and Canada, and Smart Price in Britain. A 2006 study talked of "the magnitude of mind-share Wal-Mart appears to hold in shoppers' minds when it comes to awareness of private label brands and retailers."[72]
Wal-Mart's business model is based on selling a wide variety of general merchandise at "always low prices."[41] The company refers to its employees as "associates". All Wal-Mart stores in the US and Canada also have designated "greeters", who welcome shoppers at the store entrance.[73]
In June, 2007. Wal-Mart announced it was retiring the blue vest its 1.5 million associates wear, and replacing it with khakis and polos. The replacement was to help Wal-Mart increase sales.
Unlike many other retailers, Wal-Mart does not charge a slotting fee to suppliers for their products to appear in the store.[74] Instead, it focuses on selling more popular products and often pressures store managers to drop unpopular products, as well as asking manufacturers to supply more popular products.[74]
On September 14, 2006, the company announced that it would phase out its layaway program, citing declining use and increased costs.[75] Layaway ceased to be offered on November 19, 2006, and required merchandise pickup by December 8, 2006. Wal-Mart now focuses on other payment options, such as increased use of six- and twelve-month, zero-interest financing. The layaway location in most stores is now used for Wal-Mart's Site-To-Store program, which was introduced in March 2007. This enables walmart.com customers to buy goods online with a free shipping option, and have goods shipped to the nearest store for pickup.[76]
For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2009, Wal-Mart reported a net income of $13.6 billion[5] on $404 billion of revenue[2] (3.4% profit margin). For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2006, Wal-Mart's international operations accounted for about 20.1% of total sales.[41]
Wal-Mart is governed by a fifteen-member Board of Directors, which is elected annually by shareholders. Robson Walton, the eldest son of founder Sam Walton, serves as Chairman of the Board. Michael T. Duke serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Lee Scott, formerly CEO, serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board. Other members of the board include Aída Álvarez, Jim Breyer, M. Michele Burns, James Cash, Roger Corbett, Douglas Daft, David Glass, Gregory B. Penner, Allen Questrom, Arne M. Sorenson, Jim Walton, Christopher J. Williams, and Linda S. Wolf.[77]
Notable former members of the board include Hillary Clinton (1985–1992)[78] and Tom Coughlin (2003–2004), the latter having served as Vice Chairman. Clinton left the board before the 1992 U.S. Presidential Election, and Coughlin left in December 2005 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wal-Mart.[79] On August 11, 2006, he was sentenced to 27 months of home confinement, five years of probation, and ordered to pay $411,000 in restitution.[80]
In North America, Wal-Mart's primary competition includes department stores like Kmart, Target, ShopKo and Meijer, Canada's Zellers, The Real Canadian Superstore and Giant Tiger, and Mexico's Comercial Mexicana and Soriana. Competitors of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division are Costco, and the smaller BJ's Wholesale Club chain operating mainly in the eastern US. Wal-Mart's move into the grocery business in the late 1990s also set it against major supermarket chains in both the United States and Canada. Several smaller retailers, primarily dollar stores, such as Family Dollar and Dollar General, have been able to find a small niche market and compete successfully against Wal-Mart for home consumer sales.[81] In 2004, Wal-Mart responded by testing its own dollar store concept, a subsection of some stores called "Pennies-n-Cents."[82]
Wal-Mart also had to face fierce competition in some foreign markets. For example, in Germany it had captured just 2% of German food market following its entry into the market in 1997 and remained "a secondary player" behind Aldi with a 19% share.[83] In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal from Germany. Its stores were sold to German company Metro.[66] Wal-Mart continues to do well in the UK, and its Asda subsidiary is the second largest chain after Tesco.[84]
In May 2006, after entering the South Korean market in 1998, Wal-Mart withdrew and sold all 16 of its South Korean outlets to Shinsegae, a local retailer, for $882 million. Shinsegae re-branded the Wal-Marts as E-mart stores.[85]
Wal-Mart struggled to export its brand elsewhere as it rigidly tried to reproduce its model overseas. In China, Wal-Mart hopes to succeed by adapting and doing things preferable to Chinese citizens. For example, it found that Chinese consumers preferred to select their own live fish and seafood; stores began displaying the meat uncovered and installed fish tanks, leading to higher sales.[86]
In addition, under heavy pressure from the Chinese government, Wal-Mart accepted a form of organized labor in China. Chinese labor unions do not negotiate contracts but simply pay dues to the government, "to secure the social order." However, Chinese consumers may be more open to Americana than shoppers in Europe.[87]
Each week, about 100 million customers, nearly one-third of the U.S. population, visit Wal-Mart's U.S. stores.[88] Wal-Mart customers give low prices as the most important reason for shopping there, reflecting the "Low prices, always" advertising slogan that Wal-Mart used from 1962 until 2006.[89] The average US Wal-Mart customer's income is below the national average, and analysts recently estimated that more than one-fifth of them lack a bank account, twice the national rate.[90] A Wal-Mart financial report in 2006 also indicated that Wal-Mart customers are sensitive to higher utility costs and gas prices.[91] A poll indicated that after 2004 US Presidential Election 76% of voters who shopped at Wal-Mart once a week voted for George W. Bush, while only 23% supported senator John Kerry.[92] When measured against other similar retailers in the U.S., frequent Wal-Mart shoppers were rated the most politically conservative.[93]
In 2006, Wal-Mart took steps to expand its US customer base, announcing a modification in its US stores from a "one-size-fits-all" merchandising strategy to one designed to "reflect each of six demographic groups – African-Americans, the affluent, empty-nesters, Hispanics, suburbanites and rural residents."[94] Around six months later, it unveiled a new slogan: "Saving people money so they can live better lives". This reflects the three main groups into which Wal-Mart categorizes its 200 million customers: "brand aspirationals" (people with low incomes who are obsessed with names like KitchenAid), "price-sensitive affluents" (wealthier shoppers who love deals), and "value-price shoppers" (people who like low prices and cannot afford much more).[89] Wal-Mart has also made steps to appeal to more liberal customers, for example, by rejecting the American Family Association's recommendations and carrying the DVD Brokeback Mountain, a love story between two gay cowboys in Wyoming.[95]
Wal-Mart is one of the largest corporations in the world.[21] Studies have found both positive and negative effects on local businesses, jobs and taxpayers.
Kenneth Stone, Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, in a paper published in Farm Foundation in 1997, found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Wal-Mart store opening.[24] However, he compared the changes to previous competitors small town shops have faced in the past—from the development of the railroads and the Sears Roebuck catalog to shopping malls. He concludes that shop owners who adapt to the ever changing retail market can thrive after Wal-Mart comes to their community.[24] A subsequent study in collaboration with Mississippi State University indicated that there are "both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates."[25]
A June 2006 article published by the libertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute suggested that Wal-Mart has a positive impact on small business.[96] It argued that while Wal-Mart's low prices caused some existing businesses to close, the chain also created new opportunities for other small business, and so "the process of creative destruction unleashed by Wal-Mart has no statistically significant impact on the overall size of the small business sector in the United States."[97]
A Loyola University Chicago study which suggested that impact a Wal-Mart store has on a local business is correlated to its distance from that store. The leader of that study admits that this factor is stronger in smaller towns and doesn't apply to more urban areas saying "It'd be so tough to nail down what's up with Wal-Mart".[98]
For the concern of jobs, a study commissioned by Wal-Mart with consulting firm Global Insight, found that its stores' presence saves working families more than US$2,500 per year, while creating more than 210,000 jobs in the U.S.[99][100] Alternately the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 196,000 jobs were lost between 2001-2006,[101] and 68% of jobs lost were manufacturing jobs. Another study by Global Insight has found that Wal-Mart's growth between 1985 and 2004 resulted in food-at-home prices that were 9.1% lower and overall prices (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) that were 3.1% lower than they would otherwise have been.[102]
Another study at the University of Missouri found that a new store increases net retail employment in the county by 100 jobs in the short term, half of which disappear over five years as other retail establishments close.[103]
Studies of Wal-Mart show consumers benefit from lower costs. A 2005 Washington Post story reported that "Wal-Mart's discounting on food alone boosts the welfare of American shoppers by at least $50 billion per year."[104] A study in 2005 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology measured the effect on consumer welfare and found that the poorest segment of the population benefits the most from the existence of discount retailers.[105] A 2004 paper by two professors at Pennsylvania State University found that U.S. counties with Wal-Mart stores suffered increased poverty compared with counties without Wal-Marts.[106] They hypothesized, to explain their results: This could be due to the displacement of workers from higher-paid jobs in the retailers customers no longer choose to patronize, Wal-Mart providing less local charity than the replaced businesses, or a shrinking pool of local leadership and reduced social capital due to a reduced number of local independent businesses.[106] Dr Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System, said in a lecture at the University of Melbourne on 18 September 2007, that a study in Nebraska looked at two different Wal-Marts, the first of which had just arrived and "was in the process of driving everyone else out of business but, to do that, they cut their prices to the bone, very, very low prices". In the other Wal-Mart, "they had successfully destroyed the local economy, there was a sort of economic crater with Wal-Mart in the middle; and, in that community, the prices were 17 per cent higher".[107]
Labor unions, Christian organizations,[108][109] and environmental groups[110] have criticized Wal-Mart for its policies and/or business practices. In particular, several labor unions blame Wal-Mart workers' unwillingness to join their organizations on the company's anti-union stance. Others disapprove of the corporation's extensive foreign product sourcing, treatment of employees and product suppliers, environmental practices, and use of public subsidies, and the impact of stores on the local economies of towns in which they operate.[111][112][113]
In 2005, two labor unions launched campaigns portraying Wal-Mart negatively. These included Wake Up Wal-Mart (United Food and Commercial Workers) and Wal-Mart Watch (Service Employees International Union). By the end of 2005, Wal-Mart launched Working Families for Wal-Mart, an operation managed by Wal-Mart to tell the company's side of the story. Additional efforts to counter criticism included a PR campaign in 2005, managed through its PR website walmartfacts.com,[114] as well as several television commercials. The company retained the PR firm Edelman to respond to negative media attention,[115] and started interacting directly with bloggers by sending them news, suggesting topics for postings, and sometimes inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.[116]
In the past, Wal-mart has been accused of locking night-shift workers in at night,[117] paying employees below minimum wage, and exposing employees to health hazards.[64] Wal-Mart's own "Standards for Suppliers" reports document extensive problems of this kind among the company's "directly-sourced" factories.[118] Full-time Wal-Mart employees earn an average of $10.78 per hour, but critics point out that the starting pay can be far lower — placing some employees with children below the poverty line — and that payrates do not rise as quickly as with unionized companies.[119] Others decry low levels of health coverage or overpriced health insurance, though the company reports that it offers rates as low as $5 per month in some areas ($9 per month nationwide) and that 92% of its associates are insured (though not necessarily through Wal-Mart).[120] Other grievances regard poor working conditions, unfavorable employer-employee relationships, and anti-union policies. Many suggest that Wal-Mart's high annual turnover-rate of ~70% shows that workers are dissatisfied and maltreated.[119]
In response, Jay Nordlinger of National Review argues that Wal-Mart is attacked simply because it is a leader of the Fortune 500 list or the largest employer in America, and a "free-market success story".[121] Penn & Teller devoted an episode of Bullshit! to an analysis of Wal-Mart criticism as a social movement. They theorized that despite the noble rhetoric, the real motivation of "Wal-Mart haters" was rooted in human psychology. They suggested that hating Wal-Mart permits a person "to feel better about themselves" for three main reasons: They "don't run a greedy international conglomerate", they aren't Wal-Mart workers, widely considered "low-skilled, minimum wage drones", and they aren't Wal-Mart customers thought of as "toothless, welfare-getting hillbillies".[122] Wal-Mart stores are unionized in every country outside of North America.[123]
Wal-Mart has opposed the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier for workers to unionize by removing the employer's ability to demand a secret ballot in union elections, and which would require mandatory arbitration of labor disputes. In mid-2008, the company required store managers and department heads to attend meetings at which opposition to the EFCA was used as a fulcrum for criticism of Democratic candidates in the elections for the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as of the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama. At these meetings, Wal-Mart human resources managers warned that Democratic victories might result in passage of the EFCA and hence more unionization. At one meeting, a Wal-Mart customer service supervisor from Missouri stated, "I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union.[124] A Wal-Mart spokesman, while acknowledging that the meetings were taking place nationwide, said, "If anyone representing Wal-Mart gave the impression we were telling associates how to vote, they were wrong and acting without approval."[124] Several labor-rights groups including the AFL-CIO have asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether Wal-Mart broke federal election rules by advocating against Democratic candidate Barack Obama in meetings with employees.[125]
Wal-Mart is currently facing a gender discrimination lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., which alleges that female employees were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. If the class action is certified, it would be the largest such lawsuit in history, covering 1.5 million women according to the plaintiffs.[126] A December 2007 United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 2–1 ruling[127] affirming the class certification has been vacated by the court for en banc review.[128][129] According to a consultant hired by plaintiffs in a sex discrimination lawsuit, in 2001, Wal-Mart's EEOC filings showed that female employees made up 65% of Wal-Mart's hourly paid workforce, but only 33% of its management.[130][131] Just 35% of its store managers were women, whereas 57% were at comparable retailers.[131] Wal-Mart says comparisons with other retailers are unfair, because it classifies employees differently; if department managers were included in the totals, women would make up 60% of the managerial ranks.[131] Others have criticized the lawsuit as without basis in the law and as an abuse of the class action mechanism.[132][133][134] In 2007, Wal-Mart was named by the National Association for Female Executives as one of the top 35 companies for Executive Women.[135]
Wal-Mart's rating on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a measure of how companies treat LGBT employees and customers, has fluctuated widely during the past decade, from a low of 14% (2002) to 65% (2006). They were praised for expanding their antidiscrimination policy protecting gay and lesbian employees,[136] as well as for a new definition of "family" that included same-sex partners.[137][138] However, they have been criticized in other areas, such as not renewing its membership in the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which is reflected in their 2008 rating of 40% (compared to Target at 80% and Kmart at 100%).[139]
In January 2006, Wal-Mart announced that "diversity efforts include new groups of minority, female and gay employees that meet at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville to advise the company on marketing and internal promotion. There are seven Business Resource Groups: women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Gays and Lesbians, and a disabled group."[140]
| Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
|Discount department store/Public (NYSE: WMT)
|Rogers, Arkansas (1962)
|Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
|Key people
|Sam Walton (1918–1992), Founder
H. Lee Scott, CEO
S. Robson Walton, Chairman
Thomas Schoewe, CFO
|Discount stores, grocery stores, and hypermarkets
|File:Green Arrow Up$315.654 billion USD (2006)
|Net income
|File:Green Arrow Up$11.231 billion USD (2006)
|1.6 Million (2006)
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is a company created by Sam Walton in 1962. It is one of the world's largest companies, behind Exxon Mobil. Wal-Mart stores are large department stores that sell many different things. There are more than 8,000 Wal-Mart stores around the world, and over 2 million people work for Wal-Mart. [1]
Wal-Mart is criticized for having a poor record on labor rights, especially regarding anti-union activity. It has also been criticized for once promoting "made in America" for its' products but now largely importing the products it sells, from developing nations. Many of these jobs replaced manufacturing jobs in the U.S. along with the fact that Wal-Mart retail jobs replaced many "mom and pop" stores in the U.S.[2] In 2005, movie director Robert Greenwald made a documentary movie called Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Cost that criticized Wal-Mart. After this movie was announced, director Ron Galloway made a film that ended up being released at the same time called Why Wal-Mart Works; and Why That Drives Some People C-R-A-Z-Y. This movie had a positive view of Wal-Mart. [3]


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Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman has devoted his career to documenting a wide variety of fascinating institutions of American life -- from high schools and hospitals to department stores and dance companies -- and he places his focus on the nuts and bolts of democracy in his 2007 documentary State Legislature.
State Legislature offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of nearly every aspect of the daily functions of the Idaho Legislature, following everyone from the veteran elected officials down to the volunteers who help sort the paperwork.
Wiseman allows us to eavesdrop as elected representatives debate legislation, meet with reporters and lobbyists, visit with constituents, and grapple with frequent questions of what laws are needed and how far the hand of government should reach into the lives of its citizens.
The film also depicts the complex debates that can be prompted by seemingly simple issues, and the degree of care and concern Idaho's lawmakers show towards their work.
Produced in cooperation with PBS, State Legislature received its American premiere at the 2007 Silverdocs Film Festival, a festival for documentary cinema sponsored in part by the American Film Institute.
|Frederick Wiseman


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Front Crease Pants
Added Mar 5, 2012
Munich, Germany
Wide legged front crease pants sewing pattern. Easy to sew pants with a stylish look.
Material Notes
Silk crepe, fabric width: 135 cm (53 ins), length: 2.05 2.10 2.20 2.30 2.30 m (2 1/4 2 1/4 2 1/2 2 5/8 2 5/8 yds). Waistband interfacing. Elastic, 2.5 cm (1 in) wide: 0.35 0.40 0.40 0.45 0.45 m (14 16 16 18 18 ins). 1 invisible zip, 22 cm (9 ins) long, and special presser foot.
5 Comments Sign in to add a post
Feb 19, 2015, 10.12 AMby edwin0089
Check out here for discounted prices. http://fifa15hack.skyhack.net
Mar 13, 2014, 06.07 AMby maggiemc
I might stitch one but a little shorter.
Mar 22, 2012, 12.39 AMby Nikki Hozack
Great styling, great job on the construction, I want to make these now!
Mar 6, 2012, 02.20 AMby patti-r
Love the pants great classic style, they would also look great as Walking Shorts or Bermuda Shorts.
IMHO Must agree all the advertising drama distracts and poses sometimes distorts the appearance of the actual sewing pattern.
Mar 5, 2012, 10.50 PMby peaches2218
Those are lovely. I wish the magazine photos would better feature the garments that represent the patterns available. It's starting to look more like a fashion magazine than a sewing one, and that's frustrating. What I like about the earliest issues I picked up (June and July 2010) were that the garments were clearly visible and photographed in such a way that their details weren't left to my imagination.
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Members of the House of Delegates are allocated an annual scholarship budget which may be awarded to residents of their legislative district. The amount of the award is determined by the delegate, who may select students on any basis. The maximum award for attendance at any Maryland independent college or university may not exceed the value of tuition and fees charged by the University of Maryland, College Park. Application is made directly to your state delegate.
More specific information on financial assistance from the State of Maryland is available at www.mhec.state.md.us, 410-676-3300 or 800-974-0203.
Manage My Financial Aid


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Sounds good to me!SisMorphine wrote:Patch O' Pits wrote:She is mad that I had to work on her b-day so I have to make it up to her today
It's like when a holiday lands on a weekend so on the calendar they put in a day off on Monday and called it "blah blah blah (observed.)" So this can be her Birthday (Observed).
It is a long stretch of b-days as everyone of them is either a spring or summer baby. I have all April , May and June babies. Party all the time it seems LOL


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This Is Detroit And We Will Come Squat In Your House If You're Not Home: They Are Stealing Houses!
Interview by Andrea Isom via myfoxdetroit
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Richard Neal Lane, 75, of Morganton, died unexpectedly, Monday, April 1, 2013, at his residence.
Richard Neal Lane, 75, of Morganton, died unexpectedly, Monday, April 1, 2013, at his residence.
A family graveside service will be at 11 a.m., Friday in Burke Memorial Park by Roger Patton.
A gathering of friends will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at North Morganton United Methodist Church.
He was born on Nov. 23, 1937, in Burke County to Edward Benson Lane Sr. and Angie Lee Hawkins Lane. Richard attended Morganton City Schools and went on to graduate from Appalachian State Teachers College (now ASU). His teaching career began in Burke County at Salem School and Mull School followed by several years in the Polk County School System. He spent the remaining years of his teaching career at Southmont Elementary School in Davidson County. During his tenure at Southmont, Richard was chosen as the Davidson County Teacher of the Year, and was twice selected as the regional finalist for the North Carolina Teacher of the Year. While in Lexington, he served as president of the Davidson County Historical Society. He and his students created a local historical magazine called "Homespun" which featured local genealogy and historic tales. Richard was a professional genealogist who helped many families trace their roots in both Davidson and Burke County.
He was an enthusiastic artist who created landscapes and still life with his brush. He also made unique characters out of paper maché that were sold in stores at Old Salem and across the United States. His work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, Early American Life and McCall's magazines.
Richard was successful in everything he set out to do. He had a profound respect for history and tradition, and a deep love for his country and the land around us. Richard donated his time and resources to environmental and humanitarian efforts. Most of all, Richard was a friend to many people and will be sorely missed.
He is survived by sisters, Nina Belle Lane Hogan and Mary Frances Bradley and husband Bob, all of Morganton; a sister-in-law, Betty B. Lane of Rutherfordton; nieces Martha Hogan Jump, Debra Lane Bradley, Kimberly Ann Bradley and Mary Bradley Ayers, all of Morganton, Linda Hogan Snell of Flat Rock, Angela Lane Wilkerson of Monroe and Edie Lane Crook of Gastonia; and 10 great-nieces and nephews.
Richard was preceded in death by his parents; brother Edward B. Lane Jr.; and a brother-in-law, Harry D. Hogan.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Burke Historical Foundation, 102 E. Union St., Morganton, NC 28655; or to the Burke History Museum, PO Box 416, Morganton, NC 28680.
Sossoman Funeral Home and Crematory Center is serving the Lane family.
Condolences may be made online at www.sossomanfuneralservice.com.


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Has Paris become too crowded? Last summer, we stopped off in Paris for a short visit on our way to Cognac. We were travelling to Cognac so my husband could participate in a week long International Senior Tennis tournament.
In an attempt to avoid the long lineups outside the most popular monuments, art galleries and museums, we each purchased a two-day Paris Museum Pass at a total cost of 90 euros (including hotel delivery). This strategy worked for the most part. However, we were dismayed to find that there were no restrictions on the number of people that were allowed to enter the Louvre.
We found throngs of tourists pushing and shoving their way from room to room, holding their iPhones or iPads high in the air in an attempt to get a "selfie" in front of some famous work of art. Posting a picture of oneself on Facebook seemed to be an obligatory part of the experience. My husband immediately got claustrophobic and said he would wait for me at the museum entrance. Not to be deterred, I continued on through the crowds to try to get a picture of the Mona Lisa.
This turned out to be a poor decision. Against my better judgment. I dived into the midst of the 200-deep "mosh pit" gathered around this famous painting and let the momentum of the crowd push me to the front of the railing. Once in, there was no turning back. Fortunately, I didn't get crushed in the process. Everyone who made it to the front row were allowed 30 seconds to snap a picture and exit through a gate. It was an exasperating experience and we were more than pleased to quickly leave the Louvre and depart the next morning for Cognac.
Cognac is 502 kilometres from Paris and can quickly be reached by either car, plane or TGV train. It is a city with a worldwide reputation for its famous "eau-de-vie," which is bottled as Cognac brandy. It is also a city steeped in history with roots in the Middle Ages. Beyond the remnants of the medieval walls, there is an abundance of historical sights to see and things to do.
To get an overview of the city you can take either a 45-minute tour on what is called "The Little Tourist Train" or a guided walking tour, where you will acquire detailed information about the various monuments, museums and 13th to 18th century mansions once owned by the salt and eau-devie merchants.
A one-hour, forty-five-minute mini-cruise is also available to take you down the Charente River on a "gabare." The gabare is an authentic reproduction of a flat-bottomed boat which was originally used to transport salt and barrels of brandy down the river to the sea.
It is worthwhile to return to the "Old Town" later to leisurely wander around the narrow cobblestone streets, visit the 12th-century Saint Leger Church or tour the castle where King Francis the First was born in 1494.
There are many opportunities to stop and buy pastries and gifts at the quaint shops or purchase fresh, local products at one of the most beautiful covered markets in the region. Cognac also has many unique sidewalk café terraces and restaurants where you can enjoy dining on the best of French cuisine.
Coming to Cognac also means discovering the secrets of "eaude-vie" by taking a tour through the most famous Cognac companies. During the week I spent in Cognac, I managed to visit the companies of Camus, Otard, Hennessy, Martell, Remy Martin and Meukow. Each of these "Houses of Cognac" provided comprehensive guided tours. Although each tour had its own unique characteristics, the complex stages required to produce the eau-de-vie were revealed through a multi-sensory approach.
Visitors first learn about the cultural heritage of the company and the importance of growing specific varieties of white grapes in soil with a high chalk content. The best vines are grown in six growth areas surrounding Cognac. Cognac has a moderate climate, mild winters and an abundance of sunshine, which is an important contributing factor to producing white wines exclusively destined for cognac production.
Visitors continue to progress from room to room where the double distillation process of white wine using a copper onion-shaped charentais pot still is revealed. In the cooperage room, there is a demonstration of how the Limousin oak casks are made by hand using traditional, centuries-old methods. These high quality casks are used for the long-term storage and aging of the eau-de-vie. The oldest cask I saw was dated 1893 and is still in use today.
During the final stages of the tour, the importance of the cellar master was emphasized. The cellar master is an expert in collecting multiple samples of eau-de-vie from many different oak casks then blending them together to produce a unique cognac which is recognized by connoisseurs around the world. Once the eau-de-vie is bottled, it becomes Cognac brandy and will never change.
All tours end with a trip to the tasting room. Usually, three qualities of cognac are offered for tasting. The V.S. quality (aged for a minimum of two years), the V.S.O.P. quality (aged from two to four years) and X.O. quality (aged between 20 to 40 years). I quickly learned to decline the first two tastings to appreciate the brilliant clarity, viscosity, bouquet and aroma of the X.O. All of the companies I visited seemed to invest a great deal of capital in the development of their logo and the labelling and branding of their product. The Black Panther logo of the Meukow company impressed me the most. The over-sized model of the logo placed in the centre of the tasting room was sleek and exotic. This logo had been chosen with the hope that the panther's character traits of strength, elegance and sensuality would be associated with qualities of Meukow cognac. Meukow's exclusive decanters are exquisite and have either a black or solid gold panther embossed in the glass.
Cognac brandy is exported to over 160 countries throughout the world. It is becoming increasingly popular in Singapore, China and Japan.
A trip to Cognac is a great way to escape the traffic and crowds of Paris. If you're looking for the perfect souvenir, purchase some mini bottles of X.O. at the company outlet.


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Over the last three years, Billy Baron has been on a first-name basis with various moving companies as he traversed the eastern seaboard in search of a solid home.
Now, after brief stays at Virginia and URI, the youngest member of the Baron hoop clan has found stability in upstate New York, guiding Canisius College to their best start in nearly 40 years while earning plaudits for on-court excellence.
The third stop in the former Hendricken standout's collegiate basketball career is proving to be the charm, as he currently leads the Golden Griffins in assists with 42, while his 17.7 points per game place him second on the squad.
With Canisius sporting a 6-1 record, Baron was recognized Monday as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's player of the week for his role in victories against Fairfield and Marist last weekend, as the Griffs opened their conference slate in style.
The highlight of the weekend for Baron was his first career double-double in the Marist contest as he racked up 16 points while contributing a career-high 11 assists in a 94-82 win over the Red Foxes.
The biggest test of the season so far for Billy and his father Jim, who took the Canisius job after being relieved of his duties as Rhody's head coach at the end of last season, is this Saturday as the Golden Griffins take on fourth-ranked Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. The tilt against the Orange is part of the Gotham Classic, which will see Canisus also play Temple, Alcorn State and Detroit Mercy, with the latter two contests being part of the consolation round for mid- and low-major teams.
Palumbo off to strong start
Ryan Palumbo is doing his best to ward off the sophomore jinx in his role as one of the starting guards for Roger Williams.
The Hendricken product leads the Hawks in rebounds (36) and steals (16), while his 22 assists are second on the team.
His 17-point and 10-assist performance in a 69-52 win over Suffolk on November 17 was instrumental in RWU's conquest of the Courtyard by Marriott Tip-Off Championship, the first time that the Hawks won their own early-season tournament since 2009.
Roger Williams enters the holiday break with a 4-4 record, returning to .500 with a hard-fought 49-46 victory over the Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday night.
The Hawks return to the hardwood on New Year's Day against Purchase College.


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Wed, 15 December 2010 at 4:20 pm
Katie Holmes: Business Meeting with Jeanne Yang
Katie Holmes wears her hair in a high topknot as she goes to a business meeting on Wednesday (December 15) in Los Angeles.
The 31-year-old actress was checking out designs for her line, Holmes & Yang, with her stylist and business partner Jeanne Yang.
Katie may be heading back to Broadway in Extremities, a psychological drama by William Mastrosimone.
10+ pictures inside of Katie Holmes leaving a business meeting with Jeanne Yang…
Just Jared on Facebook
Photos: GSI Media Posted to: Jeanne Yang, Katie Holmes
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Oct. 22, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Coming into Saturday's game against MIT, Springfield College (16-2, 6-1 NEWMAC) had won 12 of their last 13 games. The Pride had also never lost to the Engineers since the teams first met in 1986 (10-0). Springfield carried that momentum into the afternoon NEWMAC contest at Jack Barry Field and went up 3-0 less than 19 minutes into the game. The Pride never relinquished the three goal cushion and cruised to an easy 3-0 victory. Springfield has now shutout the Engineers in five of their last six meetings while outscoring MIT 27-1 during that stretch.
Senior Jaclyn Galligan opened the scoring for the Pride when she capitalized on a penalty corner pass from junior Janna Prachniak at 2:50. Springfield then went up 2-0 on senior Sarah Brooker's deflection of sophomore Brittany Veazie's shot in front of the net. Senior tri-captain Meghan Bascetta put the Pride up by three at 19:19 of the first half with a blast off a penalty corner that found the back of the cage. Springfield's offense dominated in the opening frame, controlling the flow of the game and allowing the Engineers just four shots.
MIT came out strong in the second half, but Springfield sophomore goalkeeper Emma Kaplan was a force in net. Late in the half, senior Cheryl Texin was awarded a penalty stroke for MIT but was denied by Kaplan, keeping the shutout intact. The Engineers continued to threaten as the game neared the end, but they could not get one by the tough Pride keeper. Time winded down on MIT and Springfield was able to walk away with the 3-0 shutout win, despite being outshot by the Engineers 11-6 in the second half.
Kaplan finished with 10 stops in the win for Springfield, while Alexa Herman denied nine Pride shots in the loss. Springfield outshot MIT 24-15.
MIT has now dropped their last three contests in what is their longest losing streak of the season. During that stretch, the Engineers, still winless all-time against the Pride (0-11), have not scored a goal in 195:58 of game time.
The Engineers finish up the regular season on Tuesday, October 25 when they host Wellesley College (8-5, 3-2 NEWMAC). MIT will need to find their scoring touch fast to finish the year strong and make a playoff push.