Although its third quarter was less stellar than usual, Wal-Mart
yesterday forecast a cheery holiday season. Declining gasoline prices
are one reason, its CFO said.
Besides beginning holiday advertising several weeks earlier than usual, Wal-Mart is discounting prices on certain products, which has boosted sales of toys, electronics and home furnishings. Taking pages from Target and Neiman-Marcus, the discounter has unveiled a more fashion conscious line called Metro 7 and is offering some expensive gifts, including a diamond ring for $10,000.
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Vine Deloria Jr., author of the bestselling Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, died on Sunday in Colorado. He was 72.
Deloria, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, served as a marine, graduated from law school and divinity school and taught for many years, most recently at the University of Colorado, from which he retired in 2000. He tried, as the New York Times put it this morning, "to demythologize how white Americans thought of American Indians. The myths, he often said--whether as romantic symbols of life in harmony with nature or as political bludgeons in fostering guilt--were both shallow. The truth, he said, was a mix, and only in understanding that mix, he argued, could either side ever fully heal."
He also argued that treaty rights should be the guiding principle in relations between the U.S. and Native Americans, and he worked to strengthen tribal sovereignity.
His other books included We Talk, You Listen: New Tribes, New Turf, God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties and The Metaphysics of Modern Existence.
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Revenues in the third quarter ended September 30 rose 34.2% to $43 million at Varsity Group. Part of the increase in sales comes from the company's acquisition of Campus Outfitters, the uniform supply company. Net income at Varsity nearly doubled to $14.2 million from $7.3 million in the same period a year ago.
Varsity is an online textbook and uniform supplier of "hundreds" of higher education, preparatory and private schools.
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Police have arrested Charles Kochersberger, 26, in the robbery of Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday, according to the News & Observer. Police reports say he gained $167 in the heist. He's also accused of holding up two other businesses and a woman using an ATM, a robbery a day for the past four days.
No motive was given for the robberies, which netted $640 altogether. Kochersberger is the son of a journalism professor and an Episcopal minister.
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Thanks to John Crutcher, publisher of Bloomberg Press, for supplying the full Stewart Brand quotation about information, which we mentioned in yesterday's issue.
"In fall 1984, at the first Hackers' Conference, I said in one discussion session: 'On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.' That was printed in a report/transcript from the conference in the May 1985 Whole Earth Review, p. 49."--Stewart Brand
Click here for the source. (No charge!)
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As noted here last week, some people have been fired up by HarperCollins's decision to airbrush out the cigarette Clement Hurd holds in the illustrator's photograph on Goodnight Moon. People who have vented their feelings to the publisher have received a return e-mail, which said Harper made the change "out of concern that the original picture sent a potentially harmful message about smoking to children--a concern that did not exist five decades ago when the photo was first used."
Good news for those who want to stub out the controversy. Harper will replace the photograph: "As publishers who are trusted with literary treasures like Goodnight Moon, we recognize the concern over adjusting historical photographs, and have therefore decided to print an alternate picture of Clement Hurd in future reprints that does not feature a cigarette."
By the way, as of this morning the non-PC votes on www.goodnightreality.com were slightly ahead of those offended by the butt, 5,439 vs. 5,244.
---
Many apologies! Yesterday's Authorbuzz showcased Alex Kava's contest information for her book A Necessary Evil. Unfortunately the information won't be on her Web site until the week after next. Please check back at www.alexkava.com on Sunday, November 27, for details.
Besides beginning holiday advertising several weeks earlier than usual, Wal-Mart is discounting prices on certain products, which has boosted sales of toys, electronics and home furnishings. Taking pages from Target and Neiman-Marcus, the discounter has unveiled a more fashion conscious line called Metro 7 and is offering some expensive gifts, including a diamond ring for $10,000.
---
Vine Deloria Jr., author of the bestselling Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, died on Sunday in Colorado. He was 72.
Deloria, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, served as a marine, graduated from law school and divinity school and taught for many years, most recently at the University of Colorado, from which he retired in 2000. He tried, as the New York Times put it this morning, "to demythologize how white Americans thought of American Indians. The myths, he often said--whether as romantic symbols of life in harmony with nature or as political bludgeons in fostering guilt--were both shallow. The truth, he said, was a mix, and only in understanding that mix, he argued, could either side ever fully heal."
He also argued that treaty rights should be the guiding principle in relations between the U.S. and Native Americans, and he worked to strengthen tribal sovereignity.
His other books included We Talk, You Listen: New Tribes, New Turf, God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties and The Metaphysics of Modern Existence.
---
Revenues in the third quarter ended September 30 rose 34.2% to $43 million at Varsity Group. Part of the increase in sales comes from the company's acquisition of Campus Outfitters, the uniform supply company. Net income at Varsity nearly doubled to $14.2 million from $7.3 million in the same period a year ago.
Varsity is an online textbook and uniform supplier of "hundreds" of higher education, preparatory and private schools.
---
Police have arrested Charles Kochersberger, 26, in the robbery of Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday, according to the News & Observer. Police reports say he gained $167 in the heist. He's also accused of holding up two other businesses and a woman using an ATM, a robbery a day for the past four days.
No motive was given for the robberies, which netted $640 altogether. Kochersberger is the son of a journalism professor and an Episcopal minister.
---
Thanks to John Crutcher, publisher of Bloomberg Press, for supplying the full Stewart Brand quotation about information, which we mentioned in yesterday's issue.
"In fall 1984, at the first Hackers' Conference, I said in one discussion session: 'On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.' That was printed in a report/transcript from the conference in the May 1985 Whole Earth Review, p. 49."--Stewart Brand
Click here for the source. (No charge!)
---
As noted here last week, some people have been fired up by HarperCollins's decision to airbrush out the cigarette Clement Hurd holds in the illustrator's photograph on Goodnight Moon. People who have vented their feelings to the publisher have received a return e-mail, which said Harper made the change "out of concern that the original picture sent a potentially harmful message about smoking to children--a concern that did not exist five decades ago when the photo was first used."
Good news for those who want to stub out the controversy. Harper will replace the photograph: "As publishers who are trusted with literary treasures like Goodnight Moon, we recognize the concern over adjusting historical photographs, and have therefore decided to print an alternate picture of Clement Hurd in future reprints that does not feature a cigarette."
By the way, as of this morning the non-PC votes on www.goodnightreality.com were slightly ahead of those offended by the butt, 5,439 vs. 5,244.
---
Many apologies! Yesterday's Authorbuzz showcased Alex Kava's contest information for her book A Necessary Evil. Unfortunately the information won't be on her Web site until the week after next. Please check back at www.alexkava.com on Sunday, November 27, for details.