The Bruins won their first NCAA title that season, 30-0, and if you were Don Saffer, averaging 26.1 points for Westchester High School, you could look into the bleachers some nights and see UCLA's John Wooden or USC's Forrest Twogood and sometimes a coach from Stanford and Cal.

Sum]]> The timing couldn’t have been any better than to grow up 15 miles from UCLA’s campus and to be a high school basketball star in the winter of 1963-64.

The Bruins won their first NCAA title that season, 30-0, and if you were Don Saffer, averaging 26.1 points for Westchester High School, you could look into the bleachers some nights and see UCLA’s John Wooden or USC’s Forrest Twogood and sometimes a coach from Stanford and Cal.

Summoned to Wooden’s small office in the days before Pauley Pavilion, Saffer remembers how proud he was to go home and tell his working-class parents that he had been offered a scholarship.

"The meeting was typical of coach Wooden," says Saffer,discount tiffany necklaces, a retired Tucson educator. "Low key. No pressure and no promises."

Unburdened by a UCLA ultimatum, Saffer chose to take a final recruiting visit, to Cal, which happened to coincide with UCLA’s annual visit to the Bears’ Harmon Gym. Saffer spent halftime in Cal’s locker room, listening as coach Rene Herrerias gave final instructions. By happenstance, when the teams returned to the court, Saffer literally bumped into Wooden and the UCLA coaching staff.

Saffer, 64, laughs at the memory: "A few days later, my high school coach gave me a message from coach Wooden. It was basically,Beads necklace, ‘Are you going to be a Bruin or not?’"

He would.

"I wanted to play for the best and UCLA was the best," Saffer says. "But I had no idea of just how good we would be and that it would last for a lifetime."

By the time Saffer graduated from UCLA in the spring of 1969, the Bruins had won four more national championships, Pauley Pavilion had been built and Wooden had become a national legend.

And yet if you ask Saffer about memories of his former coach, who died Friday at 99, he talks not about the championships or the big games. He talks about respect and gratitude.

"Did you know I wore jersey No. 25?" Saffer asks. "That was Gail Goodrich’s number. If anyone should have had his number retired, it was Gail. As a freshman, I would sit and watch the varsity practice and I would just marvel. Sometimes Gail would shoot 20 shots and make 19 of them. He was an amazing talent."

After Goodrich led UCLA to back-to-back NCAA titles,shop for tiffany key rings, Saffer somewhat uncomfortably inherited No. 25.

"Coach Wooden treated everyone the same," Saffer says. "There was no star system. He expected us to be gentlemen and treat our opponents with respect.

"When we won the national championship my sophomore year, 1967, there was no big celebration. Coach Wooden wasn’t a celebrator. We had a low-key gathering in a hotel suite in Louisville. Coach was a gentleman."

Here’s what Saffer means by "gentleman": In 1970, my old school, Utah State,buy tiffany bracelets, reached the Elite Eight, matched against Wooden and the Bruins in Seattle. Because I was the team manager and a reporter for the student newspaper,necklaces, I made the NCAA tournament trip.

UCLA was bigger than life in those days, and nobody had a larger presence than Wooden. After the Bruins pulled away to beat the Aggies 101-79, I was commiserating in the losing locker room. Wooden walked in.

No one said a word.

He approached our star player, Nate Williams, a future NBA standout who had injured his ankle in the first half and was unable to play much. Everyone in the locker room watched.

"Young man," Wooden said, "don’t let this get you down. You will have better days and so will your teammates. Congratulations."

Everyone in uniform and even those carrying water bottles lined up to shake John Wooden’s hand. It almost felt like we had won.

Ten years ago, Saffer received a call from a former UCLA teammate, Mike Warren, informing him of a fundraising endeavor that would endow college scholarships for Wooden’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Wooden’s career ended long before college basketball coaches were paid millions of dollars. He had not had enough money to contribute financially to the education of his extended family. The coach told Warren, privately, that it was the one unfinished aspects of his life.

A few months later, Saffer and about 300 people connected to the UCLA basketball family traveled to the San Fernando Valley to honor Wooden and present him with the scholarship money.

Says Saffer: "At the end of the evening, Mike Warren asked coach Wooden if he felt he had left anything unfinished. Was there anything else we could do for him?

"Coach stood up, very sincere, and said, ‘I am still working on one goal. I am trying to be a better human being.’ He was 89. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room."

The sold-out event drew 200 women who were there to teach or learn about Muslims, the pillars of their faith and how they recognize Ramadan, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar, which is a time marked by fasting, prayer and repentance. The evening included t]]> Women of different faiths joined together at Christ Church Cathedral downtown Thursday night to shatter negative stereotypes of Muslim women and to observe the traditions of the Ramadan iftar.

The sold-out event drew 200 women who were there to teach or learn about Muslims, the pillars of their faith and how they recognize Ramadan, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar, which is a time marked by fasting, prayer and repentance. The evening included the iftar — a full meal that marks the breaking of the fast at sunset. Three dozen local Muslim women of diverse backgrounds were recruited to sit at the dining tables to discuss their unique life experiences with their guests.

A true picture

Kafah Bachari Manna of Houston, co-founder of the committee that organized the program, said the event was the first of its kind in Houston focusing on the Islamic faith and was designed to present a true picture of Muslim women. Those Muslims heading discussions at the dining tables Thursday included doctors, lawyers, associate professors, engineers, authors, writers and mothers.

"We’re simply here to present ourselves as we are," said Manna, a corporate attorney and writer. "We are outspoken,pendants, independent,Charm bracelet, strong-minded, successful, professional women from all walks of life."

Rose Ashraf of Spring,necklaces, an American Italian who converted from Catholicism to Islam 36 years ago, was among those leading the table discussions. "This was my very small way of reaching out to non-Muslims to really help depict a different light about Muslims," she said. "It’s so frustrating for me to see how Muslims are painted as these terrible, criminal terrorists — it’s heartbreaking because I know that it’s not true. It is a few people who have hijacked the name of Islam for their own agenda.

"We’re not here to convert anybody," said Ashraf, executive director of food services at Aramark/Houston Independent School District. Of her own conversion experience, she said,Charm pendant, "I don’t feel like I’m praying to a different God. We share so much of the same doctrine between the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims. And we are truly of one Abrahamic faith. We may pray in a different language and we may have different styles, but the message is absolutely the same."

A major difference is that Muslims view Jesus Christ as a prophet, she said.

Baptist wants to learn

Anneliese Davis of Houston, a Baptist, said she attended the event to learn more about Islam, particularly in light of today’s cultural events. "With everything that’s going on now, I think things like this are more important than ever so we can understand each other," Davis said of the educational event. "I think it’s such an opportunity to learn about another culture and religion, and that’s the only way we’re going to get to any kind of understanding."

Manna echoed that need for understanding. She told the audience the image of Muslim women in the media never matched up to her own self-image.

"Today in the shadow of 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Israel-Palestine conflict and all the other ailments that plague humanity, including the current controversy over Park 51, we find ourselves overcome by the differences and difficulties we find in each other,rings," Manna told the audience. "It’s often too easy to (confine) ourselves within a narrow belief system … rather than reach out into the unknown certainty of the other. Tonight is about looking beyond stereotypes and shedding our fears."

A DISTRAUGHT mother whose son died in a busy indoor swimming pool last night asked: "How could this happen?"

Kaimen Ward died after getting into difficulties during a visit to Hambleton Leisure Centre,bracelets, in Northallerton, North York]]> Mother’s torment after son, eight, dies in swimming pool tragedy

A DISTRAUGHT mother whose son died in a busy indoor swimming pool last night asked: "How could this happen?"

Kaimen Ward died after getting into difficulties during a visit to Hambleton Leisure Centre,bracelets, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, on Wednesday afternoon.

His mother, Caroline Ward, who was not at the leisure centre when the tragedy happened, at about 4pm,rings, was told of her son’s death by police.

The 41-year-old wept last night as she asked: "I want answers as to how this was allowed to happen."

As a police investigation continued last night, Hambleton District Council, which runs the pool, said the accident happened despite a higher than usual number of lifeguards.

The authority said Kaimen died while a public swimming session was ending and a lesson was beginning – meaning the pool had a large number of lifeguards and expert swimmers on hand.

The 25-metre pool was patrolled by three lifeguards, with two instructors preparing to supervise the swimming lessons also at the poolside.

Ms Ward, of Ashlands Road, Northallerton,necklaces, paid tribute to her "perfect" son, who celebrated his eighth birthday a week before he died.

Birthday cards could still be seen yesterday at the home she shared with Kaimen and his twin sister, Hope-Ella.

Ms Ward said: "What I want to know is, where the hell were the lifeguards?

"It is peak season at the pool, so how did he go unsupervised?

"I want answers as to how this was allowed to happen. I want to prevent this happening to another child."

Ms Ward, who also has a 19year-old son, said: "Kaimen was such a lovely boy – his sister doesn’t know why he hasn’t come home.

"He was a lovely little chap – he loved his gadgets.

"He was perfect in my eyes."

In a statement released by North Yorkshire Police, Kaimen’s family described him as "the best son and brother anyone could wish for".

The statement said: "We are struggling to come to terms with what has happened. It has left us completely devastated.

"We would like to thank everybody for all the love and support we have received."

Floral tributes to Kaimen have been left outside the leisure centre, which remained closed yesterday as police and Health and Safety Executive investigations continued.

It is expected to remain shut until Sunday at the earliest.

A card on one bouquet read:

"Deepest sympathies. Forever in our thoughts and prayers.

Sleep well."

Councillor Peter Wilkinson, the district council’s cabinet member for health,key rings, said there were about 35 to 40 people in the pool at the time of the incident.

He said nothing like this had happened at any of the four swimming pools the council operates since the authority was created in 1974.

Coun Wilkinson said: "We are co-operating fully with the investigation, staff are making statements and we are carrying out our own investigation into this tragic incident.

"It is not clear exactly what happened and it is important that we get to the bottom of it.

"This is a tragedy,money clips, whichever way you look at it, and everybody sends their condolences to the family."

|An inquest into Kaimen’s death is expected to be opened and adjourned early next week. Anyone with information is asked to call police, on 0845-60-60-24-7.

Just about every discount offer raises the same question, since it is genuinely difficult to assess what a fair price really is. In most cases, discounts are intended to ent]]> Sometime this fall,earrings, Target will begin offering a 5% discount to customers who use its credit card for their purchases at the chain. So is this a good deal — or not?

Just about every discount offer raises the same question, since it is genuinely difficult to assess what a fair price really is. In most cases, discounts are intended to entice us to spend more, not less. Target says,tiffany, for instance, that it hopes its offer will prompt its "better and best" customers to buy more at its stores, boosting its sales.

Therein lies my conundrum: My family buys most of its groceries at SuperTarget, and we spent close to $5,000 at the chain’s discount stores in 2009. So the offer would save us money — close to $250 a year — and I might be able to avoid trips to other stores.

Switching cards, however, would mean giving up the benefits of our travel-rewards card, which we estimate are worth $80 to $100 a year on our Target purchases. It also requires carrying around another credit card, paying another bill and — worse — trying to resist the temptation to buy extra, unnecessary stuff because of the discount.

While saving money is important, many discount offers have a darker side. Here are some of the ways we get lulled into thinking we are getting a good deal when we may not be:

– Membership has its delusions. In a 2007 paper on membership fees such as those charged by Costco, Harvard Business School professor Michael I. Norton and Columbia Business School professor Leonard Lee found that consumers equated the fees with especially low prices, even when the prices weren’t all that great. Assuming they were getting great deals, shoppers tended to stock up, spending more than they planned and buying "enough pasta to outlive a nuclear winter," according to the professors.

When we pay for something in advance, we want to get the full value. So those who subscribe to Amazon.com’s Amazon Prime service, paying $79 for a year’s worth of two-day shipping, are more likely to spend more on the website, just as we might pig out at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

– Loyalty is expensive. My own wallet is full of loyalty cards — Chico’s, Barnes & Noble and Staples,necklaces, to name a few — all intended to reward high-volume customers. The average consumer belongs to six such programs, says Joseph Nunes, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. Once we belong, we are likely to spend more to qualify for a coupon or earn cash back — and then forget to spend it.

"All loyalty programs count on a certain percentage of consumers not redeeming," Prof. Nunes notes. In addition, he says, "once you get closer and closer to a reward, you want it more and more" and may spend more to get it.

– Free is seductive. Various studies have found that many people will respond more positively to an offer that appears free, even if it really isn’t. For example, consumers prefer a product that costs $5 and includes free shipping to an item that costs $2.50 and requires $2.50 to ship.

"When something is free, we have an overly excited reaction," says Dan Ariely, a Duke University behavioral economics professor and author of "The Upside of Irrationality." He marvels, for instance, at how long people will stand in line at Ben & Jerry’s on free cone day. But he asks, "How much time would you spend in line to get $1.75?"

In fairness, it is hard to compare an ice-cream cone and cold,pendants, hard cash. A couple of years ago, Prof. Ariely asked about 50 people who were buying a car at a dealership what they would buy if they didn’t purchase a car. Most didn’t have an answer — and none of them saw the cost of the car as equivalent to,rings, say, a tuition bill or multiple vacations.

Prof. Ariely says people should get more comfortable comparing apples and oranges — that is, an impulse purchase with something they truly value. Learning to weigh trade-offs is a good start to becoming a smart shopper.

So is making an extra trip to hunt for specials. Marketing professors Stephen Hoch, at the Wharton School, and Edward Fox, at Southern Methodist University, studied "cherry pickers," people who did most of their grocery shopping at one store, but then went to a second store the same day to take advantage of specials, such as soft drinks on sale. Even factoring in the extra time spent shopping, they found that cherry pickers actually can save big money.

Weighing the hassle involved also is important, of course, whether you are switching credit cards, surfing the Web for discounts or clipping coupons. When it comes to the Target card, I’m not yet convinced that the extra savings are worth the trouble.

Scope of this research:

-- Market expenditure, inflation and volume growth forecast t]]> UK Retail Futures 2014: Clothing & Footwear provides comprehensive insight into sector related issues such as market shares, space expansion and the changing patterns of consumer demand. It combines this with a host of economic, social and political factors to derive thorough sector forecasts over the next five years.

Scope of this research:

– Market expenditure, inflation and volume growth forecast to 2014 as well as data from the last ten years

– Comprehensive analysis covering inflation,necklaces, volume and sales growth split by categories

– Channels of distribution analysis 2009, 2010 and 2014 covering clothing & footwear specialists and non-specialists

Research and analysis highlights:

Despite improved growth,Bead bracelet, 2010 will continue to be tough. We expect higher taxes and weak wage growth to result in consumer reluctance to spend. Inflation has been the main contributor to growth, with VAT and increased cost prices pushing up costs.

Cost price pressures will push up the selling prices of items as retailers will not be able to absorb production cost increases without taking significant hits on margins. Retailers will try to minimise inflation by continuing to negotiate harder with suppliers and adding detail to garments.

Retailers will need to make the store environment, customer service and shopping experience exciting and enjoyable to entice people into stores and encourage discretionary purchases. While creating an emotional attachment with consumers through communication and returning to traditional values will encourage return visits.

Key reasons to purchase this research:

– Plan for the future, using this report to develop strategies that will enable you to compete effectively against rivals in tougher market conditions

– Enhance your understanding of key issues,Beads necklace, trends,bangles, and dynamics in the market, providing a valuable tool to help steer your business into the future

– See how core clothing & footwear categories are expected to perform over the next five years

Key Topics Covered:

OVERVIEW

SCOPE

– Methodology

– Executive Summary extracts

– Principle sources

DEFINITIONS

– Current Prices

– Constant Prices

– Volume Growth

– Inflation

– Total Growth

– Percentage point difference with Total Retail

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/31ebff/annual_forecasting

Source: Datamonitor