Christmas tree

In oil drilling and petroleum engineering, a christmas tree or Well head is used in rigs and platforms. Jack enjoys playing golf, a sport at which he has become quite good although there is no resemblance in his game to Tiger Woods or other notable persons. In computer networking jargon, a Christmas tree packet is a packet with all the options turned on. He returned to work full time in September of the same year and also adopted a exercise schedule. The christmas tree as a whole is used to count down to the start so that the drivers can accurately judge the start. Welch underwent triple bypass surgery in May 1995. Each side (because drag racing is a contest between two vehicles) of the christmas tree has seven lights: two small yellow lights at the top and then in this order below them: three larger lights, green, and then finally a red light. [4] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3992381.stm).

Drag racing also has what is called a Christmas tree, so named because of the large number of lights that it has (and the branches which the lights are on). The second marriage is widely known as Jane cleverly included a provision to neutralize a prenuptial agreement that would have protected Welch's wealth in case of a divorce. The name (an example of "verbing") comes from one popular pattern, which resembles a Christmas tree. She married Jack in April 1989 and they divorced in 2003. Reasons for Christmas treeing a test include boredom, rebellion, and desperation (for students who are not prepared for the test). They divorced amicably in April 1987 after 28 years of marriage. His second wife, Jane Beasley, was a former mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer. For students, to Christmas tree a test (specifically a computer-graded multiple choice test) is to fill in the answer sheet randomly, or in such a way as to form a design. He had four children with his first wife, Carolyn.

This tradition seems to be limited mostly to the United States. Welch has had a slight stutter since childhood. Flocking can be done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or the manufacturer if it is artificial), or at home from a spray can, and either can be rather messy. There was a lengthy and well-publicized succession planning saga prior to his retirement. While this is rather unrealistic, it still adds to the effect of a wintry fantasy. So that a more clear analysis of the cause of GE market value and revenue increases would overwhelmingly credit the market going up and inflation. While real snow settles in clumps atop branches, flocking is often sprayed all over the tree from the sides. During this period 1980-2000 (of Jack Welch being GE Chairman) GE revenues increases similarly were almost all due to inflation increases (which increased prices 100-200 % during this 1980-2000 period).

Although much less popular than in the 1980s, fluffy white flocking is sometimes sprayed on trees before decorating to simulate snow. would show that 95 % ++ of the results as GE were simply due to the market going up. A plain mat of fabric or plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water. A careful analysis of what results were simply from the increased values due to the rise of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) from 500 in 1980 to 12,500 in 2001 and today 10,500 .. Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the tree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to the outside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. Through its strong earnings and future growth estimates it was valued at $400 billion at the end of 2004, the world's largest corporation, up from America's tenth largest by market cap in 1981. A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt, along with gifts (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "White Christmas"). In 1980, the year before Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of roughly $26.8 billion; in 2000, the year before he left, they were nearly $130 billion.

What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, some having embroidery or being put together like a quilt. Nevertheless, Welch has lead the company to massive revenues. Even when dripless candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a mat is still usually used as a decorative feature. bond-trading scheme of the early 1990s that generated bogus profits" ([3] (http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b3581001.htm)). Since candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or "skirt" (US) was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping candle wax, and also to collect any needles that fall. Critics also say that the pressure Welch imposes leads some employees to cut corners, possibly contributing to some of the defense-contracting scandals that have plagued GE, or to the humiliating Kidder, Peabody & Co. Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed-covered suet cakes. Jones.

Conversely, trees decorated by professional designers for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominant colors, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be more complicated to set up correctly. Also, Welch did not rescue GE from great losses; indeed, the company had 16% annual earnings growth during the tenure of his predecessor, Reginald H. Individuals' decorations vary wildly, typically being an eclectic mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a small unattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerable emotional value and be given pride of place on the tree. Wright worked to effect a turnaround at NBC, leading it to five years of double-digit earnings and the No.1 position in prime time ratings. Baubles are another extremely common decoration, and usually consist of a fairly small hollow glass or plastic sphere coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, and then with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide colouration. Wendt led GE Capital to contribute nearly 40% of the company's total earnings and Robert C. Strands of tinsel may be hung in groups from longer branches to simulate icicles, though this trend has gradually fallen off since the late 1970s. For example, Gary C.

Lighting with candles or electric lights (fairy lights) is commonly done, and a tree topper completes the ensemble. They contend that individual managers are responsible for the company's success. Delicate mould-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of Czech glass factories from the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Some people believe that Welch is given too much credit for GE's success. Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Notable is his record salary of $94 million a year, followed by his record retirement-plan of $8 million a year. Real potted ones are often sold like this, and artificial ones often come with a "root ball" but only sometimes with decorations. In 1999 he was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine ([2] (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,667526,00.html)).

A long-standing and simple gimmick is conifer seedlings sold with cheap decorations attached by soft pipe cleaners. He also made hundreds of acquisitions and made a push to dominate markets abroad. Welch adopted the Six Sigma quality program in late 1995. Past gimmicks include small talking or singing trees, and trees which blow "snow" (actually small styrofoam beads) over themselves, collecting them in a decorative cardboard bin at the bottom and blowing them back up to the top through a tube hidden next to the trunk. During the 90s, Welch helped to modernize GE by emphasizing a shift from manufacturing to services. Some are instead lit partly or completely by fibre optics, with the light in the base, and a rotating color wheel causing various colors to shimmer across the tree. In 1986, GE acquired NBC. Since the late 1990s, many indoor trees now come "pre-lit", with several hundred miniature lights, often the newer type which will stay on even if a bulb is damaged or removed. Of the 112,000 that left the payroll, 37,000 were in sold businesses, and 81,000 was reduced in continuing businesses.

Some skyscrapers will tell certain offices to leave their lights on (and others off) at night during December, creating a Christmas tree pattern. The chapter "the neutron years" in his book says that GE had 411,000 emplyees at the end of 1980, and 299,000 at the end of 1985. A few hotels and other buildings, both public and private, will string lights up from the roof to the top of a small tower on top of the building, so that at night it appears as a lit Christmas tree, often using green or other coloured lights. In the early 1980s he was dubbed "Neutron Jack" (in reference to the neutron bomb) for wiping out the employees while leaving the buildings intact. These lights are usually white, but often are green, red, red/green, blue/white, blue, or multicolor, and sometimes with a small controller to fade colors back and forth. Welch is also known for destroying the nine-layer management hierarchy and bringing a sense of informality to the company. lawns in the 2000s, along with 1990s spiral ones that hang from a central pole, both styles being lighted with standard miniature lights. He also expanded the broadness of the stock options program at GE from just top executives to nearly one third of all employees.

Outdoor branched trees made out of heavy white-enameled steel wires have become more popular on U.S. He would push his managers to perform, but he would reward those in the top 20% with bonuses and stock options. Other artificial trees which look nothing like a conifer except for the triangular or conical shape, are also used as tabletop decorations, such as a stack of ornaments. He earned a reputation for brutal candor in his meetings with executives. More recent tinsel trees can be used fairly safely with lights. Each year, Welch would fire the bottom 10% of his managers. They were instead lit by a spotlight or floodlight, often with a motorized rotating color wheel in front of it. Welch's strategy was later adopted by other CEOs across corporate America.

They were aluminium-coated paper, meaning that they also posed a great fire hazard if lights were put directly on them (warnings to this effect are still issued with most christmas tree lights). Although he was initially treated with contempt by those under him for his policies, they eventually grew to respect him. The first trees which were not green were the metallic trees of the 1950s and 1960s. Welch worked to eradicate inefficiency by trimming inventories and dismantling the bureaucracy that had almost led him to leave GE in the past. Around 2003, some trees with molded-plastic branches started selling in the U.S., intended to look more realistic, but at this stage still falling short in most cases. He also pushed the managers of the businesses he kept to become ever more productive. Better trees also have more branch tips, the number usually listed on the box. He shut down factories, reduced payrolls, cut lackluster old-line units.

Most of the better trees have branches hinged to the pole, though the less-expensive ones generally still come separately. Through the 1980s, Welch worked to streamline GE and make it a more competitive company. Many trees now come in "slim" versions, to fit in smaller spaces. "old guard" who had contributed so greatly to the success of the Company. These trees have become a little more realistic every year, with a few deluxe trees containing multiple branch styles. To the shareholders chagrin, Moore was abruptly terminated at the height of his value to G.E along with other senior members of the G.E. Many also have very short brown "needles" wound in with the longer green ones, to imitate the branch itself or the bases that each group of pine (but not other conifer) needles grows from. Moore lived at 89th and 5th Avenue in Manhattan and had built his reputation on the price fixing scandal that G.E was embroiled in during the 1950's.

Those first trees looked like long-needled pine trees, but later trees use flat PVC sheets to make the needles. By 1982, Welch had managed to disassemble much of the earlier and successful management put together by Jones, most notably Douglas Moore, Vice-President of Marketing and Public Relations and previously general counsel of the lamp division in Cleveland, Ohio. Each row of branches is a different size, color coded at the base with paint or stickers for ease of assembly. Jones. The bases of the branches were then twisted together to form a large branch, which was then inserted by the user into a wooden pole (now metal with plastic rings) for a trunk. Welch became GE's youngest chairman and CEO in 1981, succeeding Reginald H. They were made the same way, using animal hair (mainly pig bristles) and later plastic bristles, dyed pine-green colour, inserted between twisted wires that form the branches. He moved up the ranks to become senior vice president in 1977 and vice chairman in 1979.

The first modern artificial Christmas trees were produced by companies which made brushes. Welch was named vice president of GE in 1972. in 1913, in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. "But then he said to me--and this is vintage Jack--'I'm still going to have the party because I like parties, and besides, I think they have some little presents for me.'" Some 12 years later, Welch would audaciously write in his annual performance review that his long-term goal was to become CEO ([1] (http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b3581001.htm)). The first feather trees came to the U.S. "It was one of my better marketing jobs in life," recalls Gutoff. Originating in Germany in the 19th century to prevent further deforestation, these "minimalist" trees show off small ornaments very well. "I'm glad to be on trial," Gutoff said. "To try to keep you here is important." At daybreak, Welch gave him his answer.

The first artificial trees were tabletop feather trees, made from green-dyed goose feathers wound onto sticks drilled into a larger one, like the branches on a tree. "As long as I am here, you are going to get a shot to operate with the best of the big company and the worst part of it pushed aside." "Well, you are on trial," retorted Welch. They may also be necessary for people who have an allergy to conifers. "Trust me," Gutoff remembers pleading. Artificial trees are sometimes even a necessity in some rented homes (especially apartment flats), due to the potential fire danger from a dried-out real tree, leading to their prohibition by some landlords. Gutoff vowed to work to change the bureaucracy to create a small-company environment. In most of Europe, artificial trees are still considered very bad taste, although even there electrical lights have replaced the candles in most households. He took Welch and Welch's former wife Carolyn out to dinner at the Yellow Aster in Pittsfield, and spent four hours trying to convince Welch to stay.

In the U.S., about 70% of trees are now artificial. However, Reuben Gutoff, a young executive one level higher than Welch, decided that the man was too valuable a resource for the company to lose. Some people simply store the whole decorated tree covered in a large bag, ready for the next year. He planned to leave the company to work with International Minerals & Chemicals in Skokie, Illinois. Artificial trees are very popular, particularly in the U.S., where despite their lack of realism (both in looks and scent), they are considered more convenient and (if used for several years) eventually less expensive than real trees. Welch was displeased with the $1000 raise he was offered after his first year, as well as the strict bureaucracy within GE. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. He worked as a junior engineer in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at a salary of $10,500.

These trees must be kept inside only for a few days, as the warmth will bring them out of dormancy, leaving them little protection when put back outside into the midwinter cold in most areas. Welch joined General Electric in 1960. Some trees are sold live with roots and soil, often from a nursery, to be planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. However, the combination of root loss on digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health, and the survival rate of these trees is low. and Ph.D at the University of Illinois in 1960. The long-needled Eastern White Pine is also used there. He went on to receive his M.S. Virginia Pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however it has poor winter color and sharp needles. He attended Salem High School and later the University of Massachusetts, graduating in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering.

Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as Giant Sequoia, Leyland Cypress and Eastern Juniper. Welch was born in Peabody, Massachusetts to Irish-Catholic parents John, a Boston & Maine Railroad conductor and Grace, a housewife. Several other species are used to a lesser extent. John Francis "Jack" Welch Jr. (born November 19, 1935) was CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. and in North America:. Commonly used species in Northern Europe (including the UK) are:.

The best species for use are species of fir (Abies), which have the major benefit of not shedding the needles when they dry out, as well as good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genera are also used. In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. The shearing also damages the highly attractive symmetry of natural trees. European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally-grown, unsheared trees (as in the photo, above right), while in North America (outside much of the Rockies) there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.

In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London where the City of Oslo presents a tree to the people of London as token appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the 20 m tall main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. Many cities, towns, and department stores put up public Christmas trees outdoors for everyone to enjoy, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and many others. In Europe, private Christmas trees are not usually put up until at least the middle of December and are always taken down by the 6th of January. In more northern climates and into Canada, the tree (if not too dry) and other decorations are left up well into January.

homes is to put the tree up right after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November) and to take it down right after the New Year. The most common tradition in U.S. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December), and then removed the day after twelfth night (i.e., 6 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck. Modern crass commercialisation of Christmas has however resulted in trees being put up much earlier; in shops often as early as late October (which every year attracts adverse comment from much of the shopping public). Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularise the Christmas tree in Britain and among the anglophile American upper class.

In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced by King George III's German Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but did not spread much beyond the royal family until the royal family Christmas centered round Prince Albert at Osborne House was illustrated in English magazines, and copied in the United States at Christmas 1850 (illustration, left). Princess Henrietta von Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchess of Orleans. In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. It was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Catholic majority along the lower Rhine, and was spread there only by Prussian officials who were moved there in the wake of the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

The Christmas tree remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long time. Wax candles are attested from the late 18th century. By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. One Strassburg priest, Johann Konrad Dannerhauer, complains about the custom as distracting from the word of God.

During the 17th century, the custom entered family homes. Another early reference is from Basel, where the taylor apprentices carried around town a tree decorated with apples and cheese in 1597. Its origins can be traced to 16th century Germany: Ingeborg Weber-Keller (Marburg professor of European ethnology) identified as the earliest reference a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day. The modern custom, however, cannot be shown to be descended from pagan tradition directly.

According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance. According to Adam of Bremen, in Scandinavia the pagan kings sacrificed nine males of each species at the sacred groves every ninth year. Among early Germanic tribes the Yule tradition was celebrated by sacrificing male animals, and slaves, by suspending them on the branches of trees. A branch of flowering Glastonbury thorn is still sent annually for the Queen's Christmas table in the United Kingdom.

Medieval legends, nevertheless, tended to concentrate more on the miraculous "flowering" of trees at Christmastime. In Roman mosaics from what is today Tunisia, showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek god of wine and male fertility, Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a life-death-rebirth deity), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree. The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. One of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree is normally an evergreen conifer tree that is brought in the house or used in the open, and is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas.

Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees). Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris. Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii. Red Fir Abies magnifica.

Noble Fir Abies procera. Fraser Fir Abies fraseri. Balsam Fir Abies balsamea. Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris.

Serbian Spruce Picea omorika. Norway Spruce Picea abies (generally the cheapest). Noble Fir Abies procera. Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana (as in the photo).

Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species).