Consequently, Rollet was promoted to Colonel. Rollet spent a fair amount of time abroad, including serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. To stand out from the others, Lincoln did one better when it redesigned the Navigator. Plus, it’s always good to have at least one ball in hand when the wooden ball gets close to your goal. Anytime's a good time to visit Austin, but be forewarned that hotel rooms can be difficult to come by during the month of March (South by Southwest), during UT football home games, and during the Austin City Limits Music Festival (September). How can catfish grow so big? Do you think you can match the cars to their makers? From now on, he declared, Ford would build great cars and trucks, period. But certain rivals, notably the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, now had a slight edge in ride ­quality, a big one in build quality -- and were fighting fiercely for Taurus's number-one sales spot.

Yes, Kobe is one of the NBA's reigning superstars, but should any man make 120 times more than the president of the United States for chucking a ball through a hoop? Ford also promised new vehicles that "people will ­really want." To execute the plan, Ford installed Mark Fields, the architect of a recent turnaround at Mazda, as president of the Americas, with Anne Stevens as his chief operating officer. Models comprised two sedans and a wagon at first, a single sedan after 1999. All aimed to provide nothing more than economical yet stylish transportation at a low price, which was all many people needed. During the early 1900s -- and even earlier -- many of these brands were already in the market, but they had yet to embark on a cooler kind of "selling technique." At a time when brand advertisements were very much about hard selling, there were times that people got turned off by these styles. And there was worse. Sure enough, the focus was developed "over there" and brought to North America with minimal change for local production. Though light on many specifics, this "Way Forward" plan called for closing 14 North American plants by 2012, thus erasing some 30,000 jobs and cutting build capacity by more than a fourth.

An afternoon tea held outdoors is simply called a garden party. It seems like such a relaxing, simple activity. Cardiff wasn't recognized as the capital city until 1955, but it has always been a hub of industrial activity. We see this as a great opportunity to learn what the future entails in terms of transparency, political news faster processing and operational simplifications, and will use a bond as the first stepping stone before expanding the use of the platform to other asset classes," says Anna Sjulander, Head of SSA DCM (sovereigns, supranationals and agencies debt capital markets) at SEB. For that amount of money you can get quite a few typical family board games that will probably have a bit more replayability. Answering competitive SUV challenges, Ford soon fielded the F-150-based Expedition and, a bit later, the jumbo Excursion and compact Escape. Three years later, the first Camaro had a top speed of 140 miles per hour. After asking at least three times whether I'd heard correctly, I realized it was indeed named "cornhole" and that it was as simple -- and fun -- as it looked.

In 1999 these four makes were combined with Lincoln and Mercury into a new division, Premier Automotive Group (PAG). So did a string of recalls and launch glitches involving the new Escape, 2001 Thunderbird, redesigned '02 Explorer, and the small Focus, Ford's latest attempt at a "world car." Other new models like the Lincoln LS and sister Jaguar S-Type didn't sell as expected. So did the Ford board, who sacked "Jac" in October 2001. A reluctant Bill Ford took command. Aside from enormous pension and health-care expenses, both companies had to contend with "job banks" of laid-off workers who still drew most of their former pay, thanks to lush contracts negotiated with management in palmy days. Nineteen ninety-nine also witnessed historic changes in top Ford management. We'll look at how the MINI has evolved in a series of small changes and a couple of big transformations and we'll examine the culture that has sprung up around the car. Fields admitted. "We lost touch with our customers, particularly our car customers." One result was that Chevrolet became America's top-selling nameplate in 2005, finally wresting the crown from Ford after 19 years.