Anyone with a home office, computer or kids in need of school supplies is most likely familiar with a store called OfficeMax. The company was founded in April 1988 and the first OfficeMax store opened in Cleveland, Ohio in July of that same year. The superstore chain now has over 900 locations in the United States and Mexico with just about every kind of office supply item you’d ever need from electronics, furniture and software to post-its and pencils.
Over the years, OfficeMax has taken on business ventures with several well-established companies such as Hewlett-Packard. Their goal is to provide consumers with the highest rated state-of-the-art services and products.
In addition to their partnership with Hewlett-Packard, another undertaking OfficeMax took on was a business venture with the Earthlink internet provider service in 2001. The two companies decided to hook up and market a wide variety of internet services to focus on the small business customer. As a result of this enterprise, Earthlink became the preferred provider of internet services to OfficeMax’s customers. Web hosting, dial-up and broadband connectivity are some of the Internet services the two companies offer by what OfficeMax refers to as ‘an interactive store-within-a-store’. They have made it available at all of the OfficeMax locations and online through the Business Services area of OfficeMax.com.
OfficeMax's chairman and chief executive officer, Michael Feuer said basically, that they chose EarthLink because of it strong customer focus. OfficeMax was further impressed by Earthlink’s operation because they stand behind their customer service commitment and constantly offer new technology to help small business customers become more efficient and effective. Additionally, EarthLink agreed to and continues providing training to OfficeMax employees on concepts that are designed to provide both of their customer bases with awareness and accessibility to the latest internet services.
OfficeMax and Earthlink view their combined business venture a win/win opportunity for both the companies and their customers. Earthlink feels that through their agreement with OfficeMax, they will be achieving a solid, retail-level method for reaching millions of small business customers. Both corporations also have the opportunity to provide their customers with new services they can use for accessing the internet which will increase productivity for their businesses.
Whether you are a small business owner, home-based professional or regular, all-American family with office and computer supply needs in addition to internet services, you can depend on OfficeMax for quality products and services. Check them out at www.officemax.com.
American Success Story: Office Max Part 2
Acting – Bringing a story to life
Since ancient times men and women have practised the art of acting- playing the role of a character in a story, for the entertainment of an audience. Why simply read a story when you can take part in it, playing the roles and turning it into a display of skill?
Actors have found various mediums over the centuries, from voice acting on radio, theatre acting and cinema. From the Latin word agĕre meaning “to do” (see Wikipedia), actors literally play a role, speaking written dialogue and physically performing in a way that the character would. In most acting, a director is present, whose job is to tell the other actors what to do and make sure that the whole act is going smoothly and as the writer of the scenario wanted.
Actors are required to possess many skills such as physical strength and dexterity, vocal imitation and charisma. The modern cinema industry employs thousands of actors to play the roles of characters in movie scripts, recording them for show on the silver screen. Acting in cinema is rarely done before an audience, but has the added pressure of being seen by millions on the later screen release.
Acting is a traditional art form and many actors learn by going to established academic institutions. Famous institutions include the London Academy of Film, Radio and TV and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Some actors train at a variety of different places, learning classical acting techniques and modern ones such as Method Acting. This is a style of acting in which the actor strives to be as realistic as possible, drawing on personal experience of emotional situations rather than dramatising.
The tradition of acting goes back to ancient times, with ancient Egyptians and Greeks performing either for religious purposes or more so in the case of the Greeks, for entertainment. A man named Thespis is acclaimed as being the first recognised actor way back in 560 BC, and his name inspired the term thespian as another word for actor (see New York Film Academy website). He is claimed by some to be among the first to personify a character for the purpose of story telling, using masks to discern between identities.
A Business Franchise Philippines Success Story
A Business Franchise Philippines Success Story
In the Philippines, the term fast food is pretty much synonymous with the Jollibee brand. It took more than just one man for it to become that way, but all it took to start was a man name Tony Tan Caktiong. The humble beginning for Tony was working with his father to operate a kitchen in Fujian, China. In 1975, Tony began his entreprenuerial journey with simply a pair of two ice cream parlors in Cubao, Quezon City.
Despite his success with the ice cream parlors, Tony didn’t stop there. He looked around the world and saw the kind of success chains like McDonalds were having. Instead of opening a franchise for an existing fast food chain like Burger King or Wendy’s, he decided to expand with the opening of his own chain of hamburger-serving fast food restaurants named Jollibee in 1978.
Since McDonald’s hadn’t yet entered into the Philippines, Tony capitalized on this fact by establishing his brand among the Filipino people. Instead of trying to learn everything from scratch, Tony traveled to the United States to learn the tricks of the trade from the already established chains such as McDonalds. By implementing these tried and true business practices back in the Phlippines, Tony’s hard work began to pay off when his business began to rapidly expand. The division of Jollibee Philippines really tries to serve the specific needs of the Filipino people and its culture by focusing its product development as well as its marketing and advertsing to target the unique and traditional Filipino family.
Today Tony Tan Caktiong serves as a success story and a role model for entreprenuers around the world. This was solified in 2004 when Tony was voted the Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. The chairman of Ernst and Young, James S. Turley said, “These awards are about celebrating global entrepreneurship and the desire to continually innovate and expand. Tony’s story is a truly inspirational one, on both these counts. We are delighted he has been selected to receive this year’s award.”
Bingo History: Story of the Game Bingo
The origins of contemporary bingo go back to 16th century Italy, where the lottery game Lo Giuoco del Lotto dItalia was introduced. The popular chance game was introduced to North America in the late 1920s by the name of Beano. A toy salesperson of New York was responsible for changing the name of the game into Bingo and to the increase of its popularity throughout the US.
In the late 18th century, the original Italian lotto game made its way to France. Historical evidence shows that a game called Le Lotto was popular among the French high society who used to play the game in parties and social gatherings.
Le Lotto used to be played with special cards that were divided into three rows and nine columns. Each of the three columns consists of 10 numbers, while each column had five random number and four blank spaces in it. Each player had a different lotto card where he used to mark the number announced by the caller. The first player to cover one row won the game.
By the 19th century, the lotto game spread around Europe and started to serve as a didactic childrens game. In the 1850s, several educational lotto games had entered the German toys market. The lotto games purpose was to teach children how to spell words, how to multiply numbers, etc.
By 1920s, a similar version to the lotto game, known as beano was popular at county fairs throughout the US. In beano, the players placed beans on their cards to mark the called out number. The first player who completed a full row on his card, used to yell out Beano!, until one night in December 1929, when a New Yorker toys salesperson by the name of Edwin S. Lowe visited a country fair outside Jacksonville, Georgia.
On his way back to New York, Lowe had purchased beano equipment including dried beans, a rubber numbering stamp and cardboard. At his New York home, Lowe has been hosting friendly beano games. During one game, one excited winner who had managed to complete a full row stuttered out Bingo, instead of Beano. Listening to the excited stuttering girl, Edwin S. Lowe thoughts went away. Lowe decided to develop a new game that would be called Bingo.
While Lowe’s Bingo game was making its first steps in the market, a Pennsylvanian priest asked Lowe to use the game for charity purpose. After a short tryout period, the priest had found out that the bingo game causes the churches to lose money. Since the variety of bingo cards was limited, each bingo game ended up in more than five winners.
In order to develop the game and to lower the probabilities of winning, Lowe approached Prof. Carl Leffler, a mathematician from Columbia University. Leffler was asked to create bigger variety of bingo cards that each of them will have unique combination of numbers. By 1930, Lowe had 6,000 bingo cards and Prof. Leffler went insane.
Since then, the popularity of the bingo game as a fundraiser continued to grow. In less than five years, about 10,000 weekly bingo games took place throughout North America. Lowe’s company grew to employ several thousands of employees and to occupy more than 60 presses 24 hours a day.
Now, bingo is one of the most popular chance games in the world. It is played in churches, schools, local bingo halls and land based casinos in the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world.
American Success Story: Office Max
A very popular resource for purchasing office supplies such as computers, furniture, hardware and software in addition to copy and print services and much, much more is a store you’ve undoubtedly heard of called OfficeMax. OfficeMax came onto the retail scene in 1988 and has since grown from a single outlet to one largest office products superstore chains in the country.
OfficeMax actually materialized into the largest American office products superstore in operation in terms of the number of stores they opened and their vast geographical coverage. In January 1997, OfficeMax set a national record by exceeding $3 billion in sales making them the fourth company in United States history ever to achieve that amount of success in less than nine years.
It all began on April 1, 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio when OfficeMax was founded by Michael Feuer, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, along with seven other of the company’s associates. The first store opened its doors to the public in Cleveland on July 5th of the same year and by the end of that year, there were a total of three stores in the suburban Cleveland area.
The year 2000 was huge for OfficeMax because during that time, the company implemented their Enterprise Resource Planning software which is the largest program of this type. The software was designed for use in American retailing to provide real-time, integrated information throughout their organization. Also during 2000, OfficeMax combined eCommerce business, catalog operations and its commercial sales groups into what they now call their OfficeMax.com / Direct Business Unit.
OfficeMax also gives back to the communities that helped them achieve their success. In 2000, The OfficeMax Charitable Foundation was established to donate more than $300,000 for worthwhile causes. One foundation the company sponsored was a National Kids N Need Resource Center Cleveland, Ohio which was the first of its kind.
Through its partnerships with companies like Hewlett Packard and introductions of its FurnitureMax, CopyMax and TechMax ventures, OfficeMax provides the public with complete, state-of-the-art services through all of its associations with a supply chain network and high-tech computer system. Presently, you can find an OfficeMax store just about anywhere you travel in the United States. They have over 900 convenient locations throughout America which include operations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In 1996, they opened their first international store in Mexico and by the year 2000, a total of 27 OfficeMax (OfficeMax de Mexico) stores were open for business there.
Go to www.officemax.com to find out more about the history of this company and also the extensive products and services they have to offer.
The Story of Sexy Lingerie
Summary:
Throughout the ages, what's been fashionable for the shape of the feminine body has gone from one extreme to the other. However, the charming feminine body has always been subject to what happens to be covering it and history shows us that it's been covered in many different ways.
Keywords:
sexy lingerie,underwear,brassiere,bra,corset
Article Body:
It is well known that the feminine shape varies a great deal. History tells us that it has always been so!
Throughout the ages, what's been fashionable for the shape of the feminine body has gone from one extreme to the other. However, the charming feminine body has always been subject to what happens to be covering it and history shows us that it's been covered in many different ways. Also, different parts of the feminine form have been intensified, obscured, reduced, increased by the style of the current fashionable adornments.
We've witnessed some unimaginable extremes, from devices that required a small army to coerce the unlucky fashion victim into, to the flimsiest, most whimsical mere flutter of a garment. Let's take a look back in time at how sexy lingerie has developed and how it got to where it is today.
First of all, let's get some terminology sorted out. Thanks to the world's most amorous language, we now almost always refer to feminine 'underwear' as 'lingerie' - unless we're being derogatory in which case, depending on where you reside, you can fill in the blanks!
When we (at least us of the male persuasion) think of lingerie, we think of a flimsy material embellishing the feminine body in a way that gives us a hint of the delights that lie underneath. But the 'first' lingerie, probably from one of the Ancient Greek islands, was far different. These captivating Greek women used a boned corset fitted tightly around the midriff, not for support or even for a 'slimming' effect, but to attract their men by showing their thrusting breasts in a most conspicuous way. Probably not what we would call lingerie today but with much the same desired effect.
As time rolled on, the feminine form took on new 'perfect' shapes dependant on the in thing. As each 'perfect' form emerged, adornments were designed and brought out to embellish and accentuate that desired shape. The culture of the society dictated whether the breasts, the bottom or both would be highlighted and revered. You could argue that nothing much has changed!
During Medieval times it was thought that the natural form and shape of a woman should be constricted and that the breasts should be firm and small. This state of affairs was probably fine for those built naturally that way but perhaps not so good for those of a more ample construction. Many different sorts of corset were worn with the single purpose of flattening the breasts and/or the bottom. It has been said that, in order to draw attention to that part of the anatomy that shouldn't draw attention, some women wore tinkling bells around their neck to remind the men folk of the delights that still lay beneath.
The 'modern' corset is attributed to Catherine de Médicis, wife of King Henri II of France. She enforced a ban on broad waists at court attendance during the 1550s and had a questionable effect on women for the next 350 years.
The Renaissance saw another change in the preferred feminine shape. Women now required cone shaped breasts, flat stomachs and slim waists. In order to realize this look, they also needed to employ maids or family members to dress them because the cinching up of their corsets was done from behind and required much effort.
Due to this unnatural method of acquiring 'perfection', Doctors and other notaries made the case that these corsets confined women's bodies so tightly that their internal organs were being damaged and their ribs were being permanently misshapen. Around that time it was common for women to blackout or fall into a swoon. This was usually put down to their delicate nature but, in fact, it was because they simply found it very hard to breathe! There are many accounts of women dying because of fatal punctures to vital organs due to this practice.
In the early 18th century the whalebone corset still kept women tightly bound but the artistry that reflected the times was painstakingly incorporated into clothing and the corsets were decorated with charming ribbons, lace and embroidery. A part of this lightening up was the fact that it became fashionable for the breasts to be pushed upwards to the point of almost popping out.
Towards the end of the 18th century the corset was being worn by gentry, the burgeoning middle class and even by nuns in convents. It was often proudly displayed by its wearer because it was a visible outer item of clothing at that time. In itself it was an object of beauty and ornamentation and its display was part of social courtesy.
However, as people became more educated and aware, they started to question and critique many things including art, politics and, you guessed it, in thing. Backed up by professional people like doctors, public opinion became such that boned corsets were actually outlawed in many countries.
By the early 19th century, a much softer approach to the feminine shape became popular. The in thing still required the support that the old corset had given so it returned with more elaborate methods of construction. Boning was still used in small sections which allowed for better and more comfortable movement.
The in thing at the time was for a more separated look for breasts and a corsetiere by the name of M Leroy (who designed the wedding corset for Marie Luise of Austria when she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810) designed a model which he called a 'divorce', allegedly because of the 'separation' involved. The most significant aspect of this perhaps, was the fact that women were able to dress and undress themselves due to more elaborate lacing methods.
During the 1840s the extremely exaggerated shape for women caused whalebone to make a comeback with huge hoops and crinolines that were covered with all kinds of fabric and fineries. Unfortunately for women, it became the in thing to have waists small enough for a man to put his hands around and the need for even harder waist-cinching became the feminine nightmare of the day.
It wasn't long before hoops and crinolines were replaced by the soft 'S' silhouette. This style still used the corset but added a bustle to the back creating an exaggerated posterior. Once again it was the women who had to suffer for in thing, needing to stand most of the time due to the cumbersome bustle on their posteriors. Obviously men found this appealing because it gave them more opportunities to stare at the sexy women with their large bustles.
As more innovation came to in thing design, greater varieties of corsets were brought out. During the morning, a lady could wear a lightly-boned corset for promenading, an elastic corset for riding sidesaddle, a boneless corset for a trip to the beach and a jersey corset for riding her penny farthing. The corsetry industry was in its heyday!
Towards the end of the 19th century the corset supported not only the breasts but also the newly developed stocking. Stockings were held up by garters and suspenders which were then attached to the corset. These devices, although a triumph of design, probably added yet another frustrating dimension to the in thing-conscious feminine of the day.
By the beginning of the 20th century, corsets were being laced down as far as the knee. But many people didn't like that style, and in thing designers were leaning towards an uncorseted, more free-flowing style. Sexy lingerie was about to take a whole new dimension. With the advent of the industrial revolution, and the introduction of the sewing machine, Germany and France opened the first corset factories.
In 1910 New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob brought out a new type of brassiere. Not satisfied with the corset stiffened with whalebone which she was meant to wear under a new sheer evening gown, Mary worked with her maid to stitch two silk handkerchiefs together with some pink ribbon and cord. It was much softer and shorter than a corset and it allowed the breasts to be shaped in their natural condition.
Mary Phelps Jacob was the first person to patent an item of underwear named 'Brassiere', the name derived from the old French word for 'upper arm'. shortly after, she sold the brassiere patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for $1,500 (over $25,600 today).
In 1917 the United States War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to free up metal for the production of war materials. This step released some 28,000 tons of metal, sufficient to build two battleships.
Allegedly the success of the brassiere is due primarily to The Great War. The Great War changed gender roles forever, putting many women to work in factories and wearing uniforms for the first time. Women needed practical, comfortable undergarments. Warner went on to rake in more than 15 dollars from the brassiere patent over the next thirty years.
The other thing to consider in the downfall of the corset was that The Great War had taken its toll on the number of men. This meant more competition for finding a man so women needed to look their sexiest!
With the Roaring Twenties and its sophisticated parties, in thing was turned on its head, the boyish look was in. The pursual of flat chests and stomachs along with straight hips and buttocks led to the creation of the liberty bodice, the chemise, and bloomers which were loose-fitting and light. For the first time pastel-colored underwear appeared to replace plain old-fashioned white. To enhance the boyish look the first brassieres were designed to flatten the breasts. What happened to the corset? The posterior part that held up the stockings was shortened and became the suspender belt.
The full-figured look came back in the 1930s. The feminine look once again became the in thing. Women were encouraged to look well-proportioned with a full-figure while remaining fairly slim in the hips. Now women had a full set of underwear to help with the image: breast-enhancing brassieres, elastic suspender belts, not forgetting the girdle, which kept all the curves in their designated place.
The 1930s also saw one of the biggest advancements in the underwear industry when the Dunlop Rubber company developed Lastex, an elastic, two-way stretch textile made from the fine thread of a chemically modified rubber called Latex. This could be interwoven with fabric which allowed the industry to make underwear in a multitude of sizes to appropriately fit a woman's body.
The arrival of World War II and its shortages meant that Germany was unable to import the fabrics they had used before then and their industry failed. Forever inventive, people started making underwear knitted at home out of materials to hand. Not the sexiest of lingerie but at least they kept warm.
After the war underwear consisted of basic brassieres and suspender belts. This was acceptable to many women but the teenage girl, just coming out of the hardship of the war years, became a target market. These young women couldn't wait to blossom into women and wearing lingerie was a fantastic step towards achieving that goal. The German underwear industry brought out lingerie sets that appealed to these young girls and the industry never looked back.
In the U.S., the underwear industry was trying to create something new and cutting edge. Women were bombarded with all kinds of undergarments and top clothing to help them look sexy. The film producer Howard Hughes brought out a new brassiere, a special wire-reinforced design for Jane Russell. This caused the censors throw a tantrum about miss Russell's breasts being blatantly exposed all because of Hughes' terrifically innovative brassiere improvements.
The 1960s was a bad decade for the underwear industry thanks to the rise of women's emancipation movements. Feminists burned their brassieres and many lingerie manufacturers were forced out of business. However Lycra had just been developed and women began to wear tight-fitting leggings. The iconic in thing item of that decade however, was arguably the sexy little mini-skirt and the demand for bikini briefs. Famously, for a scant moment in time, topless swimsuits and topless dresses were the rage. But, unfortunately for most men and fortunately for the in thing industry, they were merely a 'flash-in-the-pan'!
The 1980s saw the wire-reinforced brassiere become the number one best seller. While these are still very popular today, the best seller at the moment is the push-up bra. Statistically the average woman from the USA owns six brassieres, one of which is a strapless bra and one is a color other than white.
The modern feminine shape varies and is not as susceptible to fashion trends as in previously. However, the charming sex will always looks breathtaking in sexy, slinky lingerie!
So, there we are. From the push-up corsets of ancient Greece to the push-up brassiere of today. Sexy lingerie? Nothing ever really changes!