Borders (retailer) and Swan: Difference between pages

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Revision as of 18:17, 21 November 2005

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{{Infobox_Company |

company_name = Borders Group Inc. |

company_logo = [[Image:Borders.jpg|250px]] |

company_type = [[Public company|Public]]|

company_slogan = |

foundation = 1971 [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]]|

___location = [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]]|

key_people = [[Gregory Josefowicz]], CEO & Chairman<br \>[[Edward Wilhelm]], CFO|

industry = [[Retail|Retail (Specialty)]]|

num_employees = 15,005|

products = [[Books]], [[Maps]], [[Compact Disc]]s, [[DVD]]s, [[Calendar]]s|

homepage = [http://www.bordersgroupinc.com/ www.bordersgroupinc.com/]|

revenue = [[image:green up.png]]$3.903 billion [[United States dollar|USD]] ([[2004]])

}}

'''Borders Group''' {{nyse|BGP}} is an international bookseller based in [[Ann Arbor]], [[Michigan]]. Borders is a [[Fortune 500]] company, and is (as of 2005) the second-largest bookstore chain in the [[United States]] (after [[Barnes & Noble]]), selling a wide variety of [[books]], [[Compact disc|CD]]s, [[DVD]]s, [[periodical]]s, as well as gifts and stationery. Borders recently bought a majority stake in Paperchase Products Limited, a leading gifts and stationery retailer in the [[United Kingdom]], and showcases their products in their stores. In 2004, Borders reached an agreement with [[Starbucks]] subsidiary [[Seattle's Best Coffee]], and is converting all their in-store cafes to the new brand.

{{Taxobox_begin | color = pink | name = Swans}}

The original Borders bookstore is located in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]], where it was founded in 1971 by brothers [[Tom Borders|Tom]] and [[Louis Borders]]. The Borders brothers' inventory system tailored each store's offerings to the community it was in. This may have contributed to the chain's rapid expansion nationwide. [[K-Mart]] acquired Borders and its rival [[Waldenbooks]] in [[1994]], but a stock buyback enabled Borders and Waldenbooks to form its own corporation, the Borders Group. There are now approximately 462 Borders stores across the United States, and around 700 Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores in malls across America. Borders also has another 44 international stores outside the country in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], [[Puerto Rico]], and [[Singapore]], and 35 Books etc. stores throughout Britain. In April, 2005, Borders Group opened its first franchise store with [[Malaysia]]'s Berjaya Group Berhad in [[Kuala Lumpur]]. It is located in [[Berjaya Times Square]], which is arguably the worlds biggest mall with 7,500,000 square feet (700,000 m&sup2;). Incidentally, the store in [[Berjaya Times Square]] is advertised as being the worlds biggest Borders at 60,000 square feet (5,600 m&sup2;). This is almost twice the next largest bookstore in Malaysia, [[MPH Bookstore]] at [[1 Utama]], [[Bandar Utama]] 40,000 square feet (3,700 m&sup2;).

{{Taxobox_image | image = [[Image:Swans.jpg|250px|Mute Swan]] | caption = [[Mute Swan]]}}

{{Taxobox_begin_placement | color = pink}}

{{Taxobox_regnum_entry | taxon = [[Animal]]ia}}

{{Taxobox_phylum_entry | taxon = [[Chordate|Chordata]]}}

{{Taxobox_classis_entry | taxon = [[bird|Aves]]}}

{{Taxobox_ordo_entry | taxon = [[Anseriformes]]}}

{{Taxobox_familia_entry | taxon = [[Anatidae]]}}

{{Taxobox_subfamilia_entry | taxon = [[Anserinae]]}}

{{Taxobox_end_placement}}

{{Taxobox_section_subdivision | color = pink | plural_taxon = Genera}}

'''''Cygnus'''''<br>

'''''Coscoroba'''''

{{Taxobox_end}}

'''Swans''' are large water [[bird]]s of the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Anatidae]], which also includes [[goose|geese]] and [[duck]]s. Swans are grouped with the closely related [[goose|geese]] in the [[subfamily]] [[Anserinae]].

Swans usually mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur, particularly following nesting failure or the death of a partner (this can be due to 'capsizing': overturned swans lack the ability to right themselves and therefore drown). The number of eggs in each clutch varies both within and among swan species, typically between 3&ndash;8 eggs.

The [[essayist]] [[Sven Birkerts]] worked at the flagship Borders store on State Street in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]] during the [[1970s]] and wrote about his experiences in ''[[The Gutenberg Elegies]].'' Writer [[Benjamin Cheever]] also wrote about his brief tenure as a Borders employee in ''[[Selling Ben Cheever]]''.

Young swans are known as ''cygnets'', from the Latin word for swan, ''cygnus''. The male and female adults are known as ''cob'' and ''pen''.

[[Image:Borders flagship store.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Store #1 in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]], [[Michigan]].]]

The [[Northern Hemisphere]] [[species]] of swan all have pure white plumage, but the [[Southern Hemisphere]] species are all patterned with various amounts of black. The [[Australia]]n '''Black Swan''' (''Cygnus atratus'') is black all over except for the white flight feathers on its wings, and the [[South America]]n '''Black-necked Swan''' has, as its name suggests, a black neck; finally, the '''Coscoroba Swan''', also from southern South America, has black tips to the primary feathers.

==Diversity==

The legs of all swans are dark blackish grey, except for the two South American species, which have pink legs. Bill colour varies rather more; the three far northern species have black bills with varying amounts of yellow, and all the others varyingly patterned red and black. The Mute Swan and Black-necked Swan have a lump at the base of the bill on the upper mandible.

Borders received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the [[Human Rights Campaign]] starting in 2004, the third year of the report.

==Species of swan==

[[Image:BordersDubuqueIowa.jpg|thumbnail|350px|right|The Borders Book and Music store at [[Kennedy Mall]], [[Dubuque, Iowa]].]]

Genus '''''Cygnus''''' <small>[[Johann Matthäus Bechstein|Bechstein]] [[1803]]</small>

==Unions==

*'''[[Whooper Swan]]''', ''Cygnus cygnus'' breeds in [[Iceland]] and subarctic [[Europe]] and [[Asia]], migrating to temperate Europe and Asia in winter. Whooper Swan is [[Finland]]`s national bird.

*'''[[Trumpeter Swan]]''', ''Cygnus buccinator'' is a [[North America]]n species very similar to the Whooper Swan (and sometimes treated as a subspecies of it), which was hunted almost to [[extinction]] but has since recovered: it is one of the heaviest [[flight|flying]] animals, at up to 17 kilograms (38 pounds).

*'''[[Whistling Swan]]''', ''Cygnus columbianus'' is a relatively small swan which breeds on the [[North America]]n tundra, further north than other swans. It winters in the [[USA]].

*'''[[Bewick's Swan]]''', ''Cygnus bewickii'' is the Eurasian form which migrates from Arctic [[Russia]] to western Europe and eastern Asia ([[China]], [[Japan]]) in winter. The reserves of the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] and of the [[Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust]] in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] are important for Bewick's and Whooper Swans. It is often considered a subspecies of ''C. columbianus'', creating the species [[Tundra Swan]].

*'''[[Black Swan]]''', ''Cygnus atratus'' of [[Australia]], and introduced in [[New Zealand]]. The Black Swan is the official state emblem of [[Western Australia]], and is also the symbol of the [[Sydney]] beachside suburb of [[Dee Why]].

**'''[[New Zealand Swan]]''', ''Cygnus atratus sumnerensis'' {{StatusPrehistoric}}

*'''[[Black-necked Swan]]''', ''Cygnus melancoryphus'' of [[South America]], formerly ''Sthenelides melanocorypha''.

*'''[[Mute Swan]]''', ''Cygnus olor'', is a common temperate Eurasian species, often semi-domesticated; descendants of domestic flocks are naturalized in the United States and elsewhere.

Genus '''''Coscoroba''''' <small>[[Ludwig Reichenbach|Reichenbach]] [[1853]]</small>

Borders retail employees at two store locations in [[Minneapolis-St. Paul]] and [[Ann Arbor]] are currently represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union ([[UFCW]]). More information about Borders workers union organizing efforts and an employee discussion board can be found at [http://www.bordersunion.org www.bordersunion.org].

*'''[[Coscoroba Swan]]''', ''Coscoroba coscoroba'', also of South America

<gallery>

Image:NPS Wildlife. Trumpeter Swan on Nest.jpg|Trumpeter Swan

Image:flock-of-tundra-swans.jpg|Flock of Tundra Swans migrating near Alma, WI, USA

Image:Black Swans.PNG|[[Black Swan]]s

</gallery>

==Trivia==

*Swans are revered in many religions and cultures, especially [[Hinduism]]. The [[Sanskrit]] word for swan is ''hamsa'' or ''hansa'', and it is the vehicle of many deities like the goddess [[Saraswati]]. It is mentioned several times in the [[Vedic]] literature, and some swans have also been said to have the knowledge of the Supreme Being [[Brahman]]. They are said to reside in the summers in the [[Lake Manasarovar|Manasarovar]] lake and migrate to [[India]]n lakes for the winter, eat pearls, and separate milk from water in a mixture of both. Hindu iconography typically shows the Mute Swan. It is wrongly supposed by many Historians that the word ''hamsa'' only means a goose, since today swans are no more found in India, not even in most zoos. However, [[ornithology|ornithological]] checklists like [http://www.wcmc.org.uk/igcmc/rl_anml/indbird.html this] clearly classify several species of swans as [[vagrant]] birds in India.

*It is almost a [[taboo]] to kill a swan in some countries since they had been used as a symbols or weapon insignia for important families ([[England]] for example has a written law against killing swans), if a swan was deliberately killed that perpetrator will be seriously prosecuted.

*In the [[Greek mythology]] epic [[Helen of Troy]]. Helen is half swan half human due to that her parents was an union of a swan ([Zeus] in swan disguise) and a human female. Helen is said to be so beautiful that she was the reason a 10 year long siege war started in [[Troy]].

*One [[Chinese idiom]] about swan is ''"You are a scoundrel who wants to eat swan meat!"'' . This idiom refer to people who are rude and ask/demand a reward they shouldn't deserve.

==See also==

* [[Wildfowl]]

*[[List of bookstore chains]]

* [[Waterfowl]]

[[Category:Swans]]

==External links==

[[Category:Cygnus]]

*[http://www.seasonofsurprises.com/ Holiday Storybook mini-site & gift recommendation tool]

[[Category:Birds]]

*[http://www.bordersgifts.com/ Borders Holiday Gift Website]

[[Category:Heraldic birds]]

*[http://www.borders.com/ Official Borders site run by Amazon]

*[http://www.waldenbooks.com/ Official Waldenbooks and Borders Express site run by Amazon]

*[http://www.bordersstores.com/ BordersStores.com]. The ''other'' Official Borders Website.

*[http://www.bordersgroupinc.com/about/history.htm History of Borders]

*[http://www.bordersunion.org Borders employees' union website at www.bordersunion.org]

*[http://www.stocktape.com/stocks/bgp Borders Group stock information]

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