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Commercial Debt Recovery
Timely and Cost Efficient Commercial Recoveries
Ison Harrison's Commercial Recoveries team has grown into one of the most efficient in Yorkshire due to its strong organisation, intelligent case management systems and the collective experience of its members . The team acts for a variety of commercial clients – a number of small businesses through to large PLCs including a number of well-known national names.
Our Services Include:
- Court proceedings
- Insolvency matters
- All forms of enforcing outstanding Judgments
- Pre-action proceedings including Injunctive actions where appropriate
- Contested Debt Recovery
- Fixed fees
Why You Should Choose Ison Harrison:
Friendly professionals - Louise Nichol who heads the debt recovery department is a highly experienced lawyer and genuine person who will listen and guide you through the legal procedure.
One point of contact - you will be assigned one member of the debt recovery team who will learn your circumstances and give you the professional support you need.
Computerised case management system - we are constantly updating and improving our case management system to become evermore efficient.
Strong reputation - we are trusted by our clients who recommend us to others and also return for repeat business.
Contact Us
If you are looking for legal advice or representation don't hesitate to contact us on 0113 284 5000.« Go backContact us »


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In the world of business and services, we can't deny that you will often see misunderstandings happening. As much as you want to keep the communication channel smooth, it happens to people. In the end, what can we say, just be careful next time and make sure you don't repeat it again!
But that's not the case where you are hiring a wedding photographer Dublin. There won't be the next time because you won't be getting married multiple times with the same person! You've got one shot to get it right and that's it. No, undo, no repeat, just that one chance for your photographer to capture it. But photographers are often faced with ridiculous situations that they couldn't complain about!
What are those?
1. Supposedly 'interview' questions
When you first meet a wedding photographer, you ask them questions about their qualifications. Because each photographer has different characteristics, what looks good to others may not be so much to you. But did you know that some of your questions might not be necessary and may even only confuse you more?
Remember to keep your interview questions within a boundary that you understand. There is no need to ask technical questions such as their equipment models. Better equipment is not always the same with better pictures.
2. Understanding a professional
Some clients want to understand that professional photographers don't like to be treated like they don't know what to do. They want to let the people they hire do what they are best in without interrupting them. But it is not the same as not being involved!
A professional wedding photographer Dublin from www.olgahoganphotography.com explains that clients' support is necessary. They need information, open communication to ensure that both know what is needed from each other. In order to not disappoint yourself, you have to tell what does to your photographer!
3. Supposedly helping
Because we all forget things, we cannot always rely on the fact that our photographer will remember to capture everything. Yes, sometimes, they need a small reminder as well! Emphasize on small because what happens often is not small at all.
There are clients who come up to their photographer with a paper filled with checklists of things they want to be captured. There are people, objects, even sceneries inside it and the photographer has to supposedly carry that around. This won't help, trust us, you will believe this.
4. Going as plan
At your last meeting, the both of you had talked about the plan, makes sure that the photographer knows when to arrive and where to go. You also promise to get ready at the right time, so no time is wasted. But, well, things can happen and you might just have to oversleep a little.
A change of plan can really affect your wedding pictures, such as losing the chance to take better dress-up pictures. Knowing that it's going to be your wedding day, it's best that you have enough rest and wake up early to get ready. You didn't summon your wedding photographer Dublin to have him help clean your room or prepare!

subset: commoncrawl


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Robert Brinkerhoff (Faculty, RISD Illustration, Dean of RISD Fine Arts division )
Ireland: The Burren, Dublin
4 weeks: June 16- July 14, 2018
3 studio credits (RISD Illustration)
No one tells a story like the Irish, and Irish narrative tradition walks a fine line between fantasy and reality—between myth, folklore and history. This four-week course, based in the studios of the Burren College of Art in Western Ireland, will explore Irish myth and legend as fodder for illustrated work. Students will engage in studio practice through inspiration provided by the unique landscape of the Burren Mountains (an ancient limestone sea bed, long revealed and eroded by the elements and tectonic rumblings), the Irish countryside and wildlife, its charming people and their stories and artistic traditions. Independent exploration of the region alongside regional field trips to explore ruins and prehistoric sites will serve as bucolic inspiration for image making. A two-day trip to Dublin City and its National Museums, and a three-day trip to the striking, remote Aran Islands will provide dramatically different views of Irish culture. The class will provide many hours of time in the studio, and will conclude with an open studio reception at the Burren College of Art.
Cost: $6,000 (includes tuition, accommodation, field trips, local transportation, group dinners + some meals, museum entrances, health and travel insurance).


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A spot of Heat Embossing reminded them of traditional Stampin', coupled with a spot of colouring. A real time to switch off and chillax. Adult colouring has become very popular, so blender pens are just perfect for doing just that.
I made some cute little table favours using the Envelope Punch Board and the Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper. I so love the colour, Mint Macarron … it beautifully compliments the amount of Pink in this ensemble.
This first card was a happy mistake, in that I'd previously stamped with a black ink and clearly hadn't cleaned it properly, before stamping again with Whisper White.
The few spots of black ink that remained, just highlighted the flowers all the more, but in a beautifully subtle way. It was very hard to recreate this happy mistake again mind.
I just love the subtle tones that the vellum helps to create.
He did a spot of Heat Embossing on this second card, having stamped on Shimmer Cardstock, which adds a beautiful sheen.
The one thing that I loved about this class, was how no flower created, looked the same. The strength of colour was achieved by each lady … some very soft in shade and others strong … and all looked equally beautiful.
I'd not really used the Baker's Box Die much, so decided to simply stamp and embellish it to create this gorgeous little gift box, that's a super size for a small gift of truffles or similar.
The variety of textures used in this class, ranged from shimmering cardstock to glitter paper, sequins, wooden pegs and vellum …. a real textural experience.
If you like this stamp set then you could be doing a spot of adult colouring of your own if coupled with a some blender pens. Take a look at the supply list below and colour your flowers in a shade that you favour. Be sure to use my current Hostess code at check out for any online orders.
Mikaela x


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I have always been a reluctant blogger. I understand that the Social media including blogging has become the central nervous system of our information technology generation. I always had the sense of understanding that I have a greater responsibility to communicate effectively to the broader audience within Microlucid and outside the organization. In past I did interact and communicate within the organization and outside too but now I have realized that the social media is inescapable tool for an effective communication with a wider audience. Today there is no doubt about the power and effectiveness of the social media.
So finally I decided, let's do it.
Currently, we live in a rapidly changing world. The world around us is changing faster than ever. The change is not happening only in terms of technology. Today we can sense the change in every aspect of life. We can see a new trend in world economy. The old world economy from just few decades ago has completely been revised and we can see emerging countries as new economic power houses like India, Indonesia, Brazil and China has taken their respected position. We can also see unrest within many countries changing the world faster than ever.
Recently we encountered one of the biggest rescission in US and across the world since the great depression of 1930s. Still many world economies are struggling especially in Europe. Asia is doing comparatively well but the bad economy in Europe and stabilizing economy of United States has a greater influence in Asian countries sustainability and growth.
We in Microlucid had also gone through some tough time during recession and came out with the flying colors. We hold our nerves and focused on the commitments/deliverables to our clients, employees and vendors. Recently we decided to revisit our growth policies and after the in-depth analysis we realized that in rapidly changing world we need to take some tough decisions to overhaul the processes and the policies. As we all know change is always tough but for the growth and the expansion of the organization we had to take the tough calls.
So we decided, let's do it.
Finally we need to look forward. As we steadily are coming out from the recession, we have a sea of opportunities available across the world. We as an organization is very well equipped with the talents and technologies to provide a unique experience and the excellent services. To provide unique experience and the excellent services, it requires a lot of understanding, commitment and consistency.
So we as an organization has decided, let's do it.
CEO, Microlucid.


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#SmartConnectedCity Series: A Smart Move for City TransportGovernment
If we ask why we have traffic, we find that studies show roughly 30% of all traffic congestion in urban areas is caused by drivers circling and struggling to findRead More
Cisco and Streetline Innovate for Smart Parking: Introducing Camera Based Detection and an Integrated Streetline IOT Gateway with Cisco WiFiGovernment
Parking is one of those universal challenges most people can relate to. Parking causes congestion on our city streets, contributes to pollution, and causes motorist frustration in most cities aroundRead More
Parking Gets IoE SmartDigital Transformation
Ooh! That gal's pulling out…Wait, Wait! If I can just get over 2 lanes…Ahhh, quit yer honking! NO WAY!!! That hotshot in the red convertible just stole my spot! Now…Read More


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Leading your agile team through the storm
All Agile methods are predicated on strong teamwork. This is not an Agile invention, of course; bringing diverse skills and viewpoints to bear may indeed increase aggregate performance. From an Agile standpoint, teams are also useful because human beings make mistakes. In fact, one fundamental belief of Agile is that collaboration in self-organizing teams mitigates the risk of employing humans better than managing them. Thus, teams both increase the upside and mitigate the downside.
However, before a team actually starts acting like a team, they'll be "storming," which, in technology teams, may take months. That time is characterized by members mostly looking after their own interests, working on "their own" tasks, tiptoeing around others, experiencing unhealthy conflict, and occasionally disengaging. In this stage, their productivity is likely less than the sum of individual outputs. Graduating out of it is not guaranteed, and many teams get stuck in it.
To move out of Storming, teams need the benefit of good leadership, and it doesn't have to come solely from the designated leader (e.g., ScrumMaster or manager). If you're their PM, product owner, sponsor, even stakeholder, your actions may help or hinder their successful evolution. Allow me to share three strategies and my favorite techniques to help teams graduate from Storming.
Strategy 1: Plain old team building
At the very least, each team member needs to make the individual decision that they're willing to tie their fate with their colleagues. Several team building techniques help here, starting with the most basic human connector -- eating together. In an Agile setting, I also like the following:
- Facilitate team meetings: Even collaborative, self-organizing teams might need help with their decision-making. Facilitation provides process and structure; it increases participation, clarity, and the value of communication.
- Lead an Appreciations activity: At the start or end of retrospectives, people appreciate colleagues for impactful actions they took during the iteration. This five-minute exercise –- basically a public "thank you" -- helps teammates feel recognized and important.
- Plan for quick wins: Organize the first few iterations around meaningful deliverables they are likely to produce successfully. That gives evidence of accomplishing goals together.
- Get good at delivery: Since teams exist to deliver results, the easier and better delivery gets the more motivated members will be to stick together and succeed together.
Strategy 2: Manage the organization
Even though a team is self-contained, it doesn't operate in a vacuum -- there's an entire organization around it. The organization's bigger goals, narrow interests, history, culture, and management system may draw team members' allegiance and focus away from their team and shared objectives. If this happens, they'll never leave "storming" and their deliverables will suffer. Two techniques I like best here are:
- Reach out proactively to stakeholders: Keep everyone in the loop and feeling their concerns and needs are taken seriously. Don't wait for anyone to get mad or feel ignored.
- Stop the back-channels: Route every request through the backlog so no team member gets "shoulder-tapped" to do skunkworks or the bidding of certain stakeholders.
Strategy 3: Help everyone deal with the experience of change
The journey from Forming through Storming to Norming is an experience of change. A team working in an Agile way experiences another form of change through its "inspect and adapt" cycles. If they're also transitioning to Agile from some other method, that's a third change. Along the way, the team will not only experience reduced productivity; there will be chaos, self-doubt, coping, and other human responses. Help every member work their way through these at their own pace. Two brilliant models for people's response to perceived challenges are the Satir Change Model and the Responsibility Process.
The way I see it, growing a solid team is the prime responsibility of an Agile leader. The time of greatest need for the leader's support and service is during the team's storming. Common to all these strategies and techniques in an assumption of availability: leadership is not an activity you can schedule. You need to be around for your team's successful evolution.
If you're a ScrumMaster, team lead, or functional/team manager, come learn the soft skills of Agile servant leadership at "Grow A Solid Agile Team."
Register for the next workshop in Copenhagen, BestBrains Academy (April 24-25, 2017).
You'll learn to:
- Support your Agile team all the way from Forming to Performing (every stage requires different actions and strategies from you).
- Build up your confidence and skills as a servant leader (all the more so if your organization doesn't entirely understand servant leadership).
- Put team autonomy, empowerment, and self-organization in your context.
- Develop ways to share your expectations, needs, and experience without being seen as interfering or micromanaging.
- Get through to even the most resistant people without being "touchy-feely".
- Discover how to coach both individuals and teams, and practice that in a safe environment.
- Lead useful, collaborative meetings (even if you can't be a neutral facilitator).
For information and registration see http://www.GrowASolidAgileTeam.info or https://www.academy.bestbrains.dk/kurser/2017/24/25/april/grow-a-solid-agile-team
Gil Broza
Agile Development Mentor, Coach, and Author.
Gil Broza helps software organizations build and lead engaged, solid, high-performance Agile development teams. He guides teams and their leaders in creating effective, humane, and responsible work environments so they truly delight their customers and make a positive impact. He is an "all-rounder", working at all organizational levels and coaching people in both technical and leadership behaviours.
Gil's recently published book The Agile Mind-Set exposes how practitioners think about work to get amazing results. His previous book The Human Side of Agile is the definitive practical guide to leading Agile teams in the real world. He has been a regular contributor and coaching track chair for the Agile series of conferences, a sought-after speaker for other industry events and groups, and a host of numerous public webinars about Agility. For a taste of his approach click here.


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#5Reasons to see La Bohème/
This opera's in English.
No squinting to read the surtitles & no missing the jokes because you don't speak French. The comic elements of this hugely popular production heighten its tragic ending, with audiences saying this 21st century Bohème affected them like no other, thanks to its stark relevance to modern day issues. Robin Norton-Hale has created a truly thought-provoking libretto and directs the piece with vigour and pace.
The story.
Puccini's Bohème is the world's most-loved opera weepie with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments too. As one of the most accessible and moving operas ever written, it's a perfect introduction to the artform. We focus on the storytelling in our productions without ever compromising on the musical standards so both seasoned opera-goers and complete newbies will enjoy.
It's cheap as chips (or as cheap as a night out!).
We make sure our tickets remain affordable for everyone by downsizing the opera but not the quality. Our singers have performed at the Royal Opera House and ENO, here you're seeing them for a fraction of the price.
The Reviews.
You don't need us telling you it's amazing when our audiences and press do such a good job of it! This is the production that beat Royal Opera House & ENO to an Olivier Award, so whether you're an opera-buff or a complete newbie, it will knock your socks off!
Madly Brilliant
The Times
A Masterstroke
Puccini without a safety net
Evening Standard
Opera with the gloves off
Sunday Express
Daily Express
a huge artistic success
New York Times
It's Up Close.
Get a good seat 'Up Close' where you will see that opera singers can act & experience the phenomenal power of their voices!


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School of Economic Science - Study Forums
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A friend is one before whom I may think aloud
R. W. Emerson
The Golden Fleece
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Mark Stocks
Joined: 28 Jul 2012
Posts: 721
Location: Wood Green, London
Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 7:06 am
Post subject: The Golden Fleece
And as he spoke thru the microphone head that perm he ate all around the room.....All of a sudden his voice melted his skin and the mic used up all of his hair and strength for the good of others. But he didn't forget to wear his mac and sky hat. So then the water of the sky hat dripped down and blessed his head. He then made a joko yoyo. He said 'What's up' as he pointed up to the ceiling while holding his yoyo in his other hand. Everybody looked up with open mouths. It was Spider Man! He was weaving webs of white silk thru holes in his hands with wrists bobbing. And everybody saw that they were dreaming. And Spider Man was removing old cobwebs and making new clothes for everyone including himself. A red and blue suit with a brand new blue spot on top of his head never seen before. And everybody cried in the joy and laughter of the moving diaphragm. Up and down it went and finally settled down. And all the power came back to the people. And there was no disease. And so they all ate sweet candy floss with teeth flossing, white toothpaste with red and blue stripes slushing. And suddenly teeth so fine into needles made of gold making golden clothes with the golden thread of yoyo. And all the clouds were gone.
And a tickling stick
Ken Dodd
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Mark Stocks
Joined: 28 Jul 2012
Posts: 721
Location: Wood Green, London
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:01 pm
Post subject:
As he walked through the door, he hung up north his golden coat on the whoall. And there it was hanging. He sat down. And through the door a golden lady appeared and sat by his side. Then another golden lady appeared through the door of the wall and sat by his other side. Tu ladies side by side they conversed through the spoken lad eee by eck ! And egg by egg they made more ladeees. Eee vent chew wally out of the way and they all turned in tu a tu tu. And they all spun around in gold and spun in tu anada one and anana one. And all the ladies were the same. And after ick up eating the Joy ananas, Ich ng ! like her ! It was time ! And they all went cuckoo ! And holding the door under her winged arm she healed her womb and said lets go up. And completely off the wall and up the wall, she................walked through the door.
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Mark Stocks
Joined: 28 Jul 2012
Posts: 721
Location: Wood Green, London
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 3:50 am
Post subject:
Is it time ! O Tim O thee, to spin, O Sir, spontaneous and serve a spoon !
Wipe the face of the spoon.
And clock his face !
And the moods of the moon shall measure the pleasure of serving a spoon.
On the face of the earth a spoon so spun and stretch to a sphere and reduce to an egg !
An invisible egg, on the spoon.
Walking he gently dropped his spooned position of the spine on the spine as he bent over and picked it up.
He remained behind himself as he walked the earth into the earth.
And he spun and spun his silver spoon around and round until it became an egg.
A crack pot !
Dancing to his tune !
And it turned and turned and pined and pined until it became an apple.
An animal apple !
And the life went round and around it went in everyone's spoon as they ate and ate.
There were big spoons and small spoons, big bowls and small bowls. And they ate and ate until they were full.
But he continued to eat through his medium........................
A golden bowl and a golden spoon !
And he ate pureridge as he melted the boundaries...........
In gold.
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Mark Stocks
Joined: 28 Jul 2012
Posts: 721
Location: Wood Green, London
Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:12 pm
Post subject:
From Here in the Highest...................he re looked down on himself lip bit oh ! and saw a gold toth libido right at the heart of the Mouther. He loved it so much that he came down to polish it. He made himself a ha a hhhhhhhhhhhh a ng ! a chief and a chew ! and all of a sudden it ssshhhhhhhhhhmattered right through his ha hands that he didn't know he ha had. He was astonished ! He saw gold splinters everywhere ! But he soon began to feel pain, hunger and anger ng ! And the force spun round and around and made a sound Ng ! rrrrrrrrrrrrr am ! i ! and a gram of invisible Y am ! His invisible hhhhhhhhh am arm moved up and around to hhhhhhhh ear and made ears that he didn't know he had ! He could hear another ear and they spun round and round into a spiking spike ! Aaaaaaaaah ! So he tried to ng ! ngrab like a crab but he fell off his prop and landed on his bump ssshhhhhhhhhh ock ng ! horror with spikey hair and cactus claws ! Sonaura didn't know weather he was looking up or down and he saw colours of red, yellow, blue and ng ! grrrrrrrrrrr green envy on green earth....
Hhhhhhhhhh h eating the grass for a while...................................
.............he ate Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr t t ! Bitten !
He pic himself.
Up !
Epic in a small space continued and he became a cropper. And the planet hhhhhhhhhhh h eating the plant it. And the animation becoming the animal. And the animal eating the plant enjoying the sun.
And some people !
And golden meanwhile the hum.....................................an and a Being in the Light of Eye Humananda roar rrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh h eating through the golden skin and combing through the golden mane into crop circles of endless golden crowns for the living and the dead. And passing it on and on so they too can know the golden eternal life. Wbritten in the Vision of the Sun and Moo ng ! that follows. And the mark of the feast with albedo so mean that it takes forever..............................................but crop circles crowned n wbritten by the bone mane name deforming and reforming the form of the markytype lock stock and barrel by the fire of the vision on the beautiful earth door. And reflecting back feenominous familili fountain. And star formations came eel lion. A walking talking vortex recooperating and going through the proof seven on the dot.
Universes unfolding with Golden Hereyeson in her mouth and glorious conversations with the Universe...
Then v am ooth and golden sands and a complete mix up and all the gold sand blowing in the mouth. Sssssssi rrrrrrrrrrrssshhhhhhhhhh an and a saharas water L am of garden who shifts away the sand signs of the wirled and happy r roar to hisssssssssss s upper....
Son and dot er th ot
I don't know what this story is a boat but t on land face to face and back to back me chambermate fhoot on skull and through the reflex press the sky through his bright socks and the story went sideways and scattered into bright stars as they returned all around and back into the golden room...
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50 Cent: The Money and the Power
On this page:
50 Cent: The Money and the Power is a canceled reality show that initially premiered November 6, 2008 on MTV and is now regularly aired on MTV2. The show was hosted by 50 Cent and follows the same mold as The Apprentice. It was meant to serve as a "visual companion" to 50 Cent's book The 50th Law, which he co-wrote with Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power.
- begun on and completed on (5 years ago)
- 10 episodes of 60 minutes each
- country: United States of America
- genre: Reality television
- official website: www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/50_cent/series.jhtml
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SHADOW LINES - Strangers on a wintry night
Read more below
- Published 15.05.09
My Kind of girl By Buddhadeva Bose, Random House, Rs 350
Arunava Sinha has chosen to translate one of Buddhadeva Bose's less-known novels. But Moner Moto Meye (1951), rendered with a kind of Yankee flourish as My Kind of Girl, is full of sly surprise, and no less complex than Raat Bhorey Brishti (1967), which earned Bose an obscenity suit, or Tithidore (1949), perhaps his greatest work of fiction. As translations go, this is an admirable effort, though it never quite manages to do full justice to the innate elegance of Bose's original. This is a pity, since the beauty of Bose's prose lay in its subtle inflections, the way he moved from the lyrical to the colloquial with disarming ease, creating unique personalities by making each of his characters speak a distinctive language.
In Sinha's often primly bookish style, these shifting registers get flattened, even become a bit trite sometimes: phrases such as "part and parcel of adolescence" ("chheleboyesher dhoradharjo anga"), or "there was neither hide nor hair of Ramen" ("[Ramen] emon doob dilo je tar aar pattai nei") should have been best avoided. Although the book itself is exquisitely produced, it is not free of typographical errors (a glaring spelling mistake on p. 35), some grammatical oddities ("Everyone knew each other..." p. 61, "Meanwhile, over by the kitchen..." p. 70, "Neither Asit nor I were... p. 124), editorial inconsistencies ("Bordi" p. 109 and "Bardi" p. 112), and far too many inversions, which stiffen the sentences. Sinha could have conveyed a better sense of everyday bilingualism in spoken Bengali had he kept place names like Purana Paltan intact instead of changing it to "old Paltan". After all, for Bose, this name had a particularly intimate resonance. In an achingly nostalgic essay in Hotath Alor Jhalkani, he wrote, "Purana Paltan — as if someone just spoke before me the name of a girl I used to love many years ago" (my translation).
In spite of these occasional slips, the translation, on the whole, is engaging and compels you to read on. Of course, the riveting quality of the work comes more from Bose's genius, in the way he takes on a well-worn theme (unrequited love) with panache, and turns an equally mundane situation (four travellers stranded in a railway station) into something rich and strange. From the moment the third-person narrator introduces the dramatis personae — the four Bengali men huddled in the first-class waiting room of Tundla station on a freezing wintry night — we sense a frisson in the air. The night stretches ahead, there's no sign of their train, and the hour is just ripe for confessions never to be made again, or even acknowledged in broad daylight. As a newly-wed couple walks into the room, hesitates for a moment, then departs, presumably in search of more privacy, the middle-aged men begin to speculate, initially in a mischievous nudge-and-wink tone, then with increasing pensiveness, about the future of this mutually smitten pair: would they eventually outgrow the "amazing illusion" (ascharya phanki) of their just-married love? Or would it last throughout their conjugal life?
Thoughts such as these make the four recount their own experiences of the vagaries of the human heart. What begins as idle musing, soon turns into a game of retrieving memories and spinning them together which, after a point, give way to an artlessly candid, sometimes a bit abstracted, interior monologue. The design is familiar, going back to the great European story-cycles of Boccaccio and Chaucer, but sharpened by that extra edge of sophistication Bose invariably managed to bring into his best work. Bose's quartet form reminds us of Rabindranath Tagore's great four-tiered novels, Chaturanga and Chaar-Adhyay, not just structurally but also for their shared preoccupation with love — ardent, unfulfilled, and destructive.
However, there is a perceptible aura of lightness about Bose's gentlemen, perhaps due to the obvious prejudices associated with their gender. Not too many writers tell us stories about grown-up men reminiscing sentimentally about their heyday; mind you, not bragging about their conquests, but rather bemoaning their travails in love. Two of them are even unshakeably earnest — the burly contractor who tells the story of a sad, fat boy called Makhanlal (Bose must have been as mischievously ironic as the speaker is solemn), and a barmy writer who almost raves tragically about a story of unbearable heartache. The doctor is perhaps the wittiest, with a terse little tale that sparkles with a Shakespearean lightness and grimly-grey Austenesque observations about the fickleness of the female heart and the virtues of the ever-sensible male mind. There is also a bureaucrat, who looks back on the vague stirrings of passion he felt as a young man, partly owing to those sensitive years of adolescence, but mostly because such feelings are expected of teenage Bengali boys when they first discover a yearning for writing verse. He, too, like the doctor, is full of a sense of irony that is starkly absent in the 'uncouth' contractor and the writer with an incurably melancholic disposition. Perhaps it is not just coincidence that both the doctor and the bureaucrat come from privileged families — born into wealth, educated abroad — while the contractor had made his pile without the redeeming grace of a refined upbringing, and the writer is, typically, struggling with penury, and possibly dying of some inscrutable illness.
The clinically detached, and coldly wise, third-person voice that frames these stories tempts us to speculate on Bose's own sympathies. But conjectures turn out to be formidably slippery: Bose never allows us the comfort of either unqualified pity or irreverent humour. We may feel pangs of sorrow for the characters as they confide their sufferings, but taken together, the stories provoke us to read them in relation to one another. Within this charmingly anecdotal structure of events, Bose packs in a novel of ideas, a veritable history of emotions that alludes to some of the most profound testimonies of love in world literature.
It is difficult, for instance, not to be reminded of The Sorrows of Young Werther, an emotional cornerstone of sorts for the young Bose alongside the Duino Elegies and Les Fleurs du Mal (he had translated the last two into Bengali), and of course the romantic exuberance of Tagore, as Bose's writer holds forth on the pains of love. Yet Bose was also deeply aware of how serenely cold and cynically aloof great minds could be. In the introduction to his celebrated anthology, Adhunik Bangla Kobita, even as Bose hailed Werther as an immortal figure of the lovesick hero, he was mindful of Goethe's palpable distaste for plangent romanticism, which the German master regarded as a kind of "disease".
Unlike the verbose young lovers in Love's Labours Lost, solely devoted to weaving an exquisite rhetorical tapestry, the four gentlemen of Bengal are more down-to-earth. Being respectable Bengali gentlemen, some of them have a streak of natural coyness in talking about sex, while others are less diffident, though they prudently avoid any locker-room chitchat. A kiss in the dark is enough to put their hearts in serious peril. Of course, this is 1951, but one cannot help sniggering a bit: would these men have stood a better chance with their lady loves had they not been so convulsively shy, so pathetically doom-laden, so predisposed to abjection, and simply, so inescapably Bengali? While reading the novel nearly 60 years after it first came out, one feels gently bullied by the playful greyness of Bose's imagination.


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This post won't have much words as I decided to take on blog event! I believe that events like that are better recorded as it's the only way to show thermal vibes, and believe me: Stradivarius delivered a VIP event that gathered many celebrities from Hailey Baldwin to a Caroline Flack! I was kindly gifted an outfit but as it was last minute, it only arrived a next day but I still took some snaps by phone for now, but I will make sure I have a decent photoshoot like the one I did for a Kurt Geiger 😉
and few more snaps from the event!


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Indian Express did a coverage of the Indie game studios in India. We (Pinaka Interactive) got a teeny tiny mention too ^_^
Click here for the article.
The article is super big. So just posting my two cents that was printed/published:
"Startups are probably sprouting even as we speak," says Purnima Iyer, who runs a game design consultancy, Pinaka Interactive, along with Deepti Raavi, in Navi Mumbai. "With mobile game development becoming so easy, everyone I know seems to be starting their own company."


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"Merlot Skincare was founded by Wayne Beckley after he became interested in research showing that the French have lower rates of heart disease due to the fact that they consume at least one glass of red wine per day. Wayne Beckley decided to do some detailed research into the benefit of grape seed polyphenols and this research gave him the inspiration for the Merlot Skin range. All of the skin care products in the range contain grape seed polyphenols and there are a number of anti-aging products within the Merlot Skincare range."
Natural grape seeds extract has been known for its healing power. It was associated to have substances that protect the cells from damage and help bring back the smoothness and beauty of the skin. Drinking a green seeds extract is generally safe based from medical studies so applying them by means of skin care product is not an exemption.
That's what Merlot skin care can boast, there products are free of fragrance and great for sensitive skin. Based from the site , "the procyanadolic oligimers (PCO) contained in grape seed polyphenols have been found to be 50 times more powerful than Vitamin E and 25 times more powerful than Vitamin C" which means it's more powerful than a regular skin care products that i have used before.
Imagine my delight when i was granted to review their products. I choose the Merlot Microdermabrasion Body Scrub since I love to have a body scrub once in a while , so I thought it would be a nice opportunity to scrub at home. The purple color and the light smell can definitely doze you to sleep and the smoothness it can leave your skin is something i truly needed.
On the other hand, the Merlot Divine Perfume is definitely true to its name, divine. It doesn't have a fruity smell instead it's a bit musk , might be the scent of the grapes and i feel like i'm on a fields of grapes enjoying the beautiful scenery and fragrance of the fruits.
I also love the idea of its bottle, it's a real catch since after i finished them, i can still use the bottle as a flower vase because of it's slim and dainty figure, that's where recycle products came to view.
And i so love the thought that they also included a night moisturizer since the last night cream I have used doesn't do me justice and since I have Merlot skin care , i would definitely check its further results after several usage.
So, tell me your thoughts? Merlot products are also available at Walgreens stores and through drugstore.com, as well as a number of winery and dermatologist's gift shops. Check out Merlot Skin care today and learn about how they can give you beautiful skin. Sign up with their newsletter to learn the latest deals and updates. Follow them on Facebook and don't forget to join the giveaway below to get a chance to try this wonderful skin care collection.
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September 2, 2014
1:30 pm
In an (in)famous study of elementary school students, researchers tested their intelligence and reported to teachers which ones had performed exceptionally well. But their findings came with a warning: don't treat these students differently, and don't tell anyone about the results. The teachers were even observed to make sure they didn't spend extra time with the superstars.
By the end of the year, the students were still performing exceptionally well – but there was a catch. Their test scores from before had been merely average. The experimenters had lied to the teachers, but their lies came true.
"The belief the teachers had in the students' potential had been unwittingly and nonverbally communicated. More important, these nonverbal messages were then digested by the students and transformed into reality," writes Shawn Achor in The Happiness Advantage.
The idea that people fulfill the expectations we have of them is called the Pygmalion effect, and it's not restricted to the classroom. The same thing can happen at work. But the reason it's so insidious is that the teachers would probably have said that they weren't treating the special students any differently. That means that, as a manager or CEO, you may be shaping your employees' potential without knowing it.
Achor urges managers to think about three questions:
- Do you believe your employees have fixed or malleable skills and intelligence? Believing they can improve will help them do so.
- Do you believe they want to improve and find meaning and fulfillment in their jobs?
- How are you conveying these beliefs in words and actions?
It may be hard to admit that you have low expectations for some team members, and even harder to admit that those expectations might be self-fulfilling. The good news is that the Pygmalion effect works both ways. As cliche as it sounds, when you believe in people, they're more likely to succeed.
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Right after the Crested Butte event, we had 48 hours before the turn around to head to Taos, New Mexico and beyond. We packed for the rest of the road trip as we will not be back in Summit County, Colorado for a few months.
As we pulled into Taos, we glanced at the thermometer and read 60 degrees... Ahhh shit, well that means we have 2 options for snow, either slush on a southern aspect or ice if the venue is on a northern aspect. We pulled into Taos Ski Valley for the evening meeting before the comp started. The cooks at Taos whipped us up some food and we ate like kings as over 100 athletes devoured the buffet. Good start! The next day was a 2 star event, which neither of us was doing, so with only 45 min of inspection in the morning we did not get to inspect very long. It didn't take long to realize what the conditions were like and what needed to be done to score well. With the majority of the venue in the shade and the heat glaring down on the competitors, we all knew it was going to be slippery and controlling your speed was the name of the game... again.
Day 1: Qualifier
The day started off at the Austing Haus B&B with a crafted breakfast and a waffle bar. After fueling up for the day, we loaded the chair at the 8am early athlete load and both got two laps to inspect the venue on West Basin 1 and experienced the first real sense of the conditions. Mostly a mixture of hard packed crust and "punchy" rotten bottomless facets. Over the next few hours we discussed line options in our snow couches near the finish and sorted out some runs.
We both had a relatively good idea of our line options ahead of us. Brian was the first of 32 riders and laid down a respectable quick run through the gut of Stauffenberg with a handful of sizable airs along the way to the finish. Zach ended up running 7th and ran upper Zdarsky with a air into a technical rock area with a large high speed exit air into the open. Made a few controlled turns into an unexpected bump which threw off his groove...
Brian Stenerson qualified 4th and Zach didn't end up making Finals for Day 2.
Day 2: West Basin 1
Due to extremely poor conditions, a slide for life, and a death from the public the day before, the infamous Kachina peak was closed. Unfortunately this area could no longer be considered for the finals venue. Finals were held on the same West Basin 1 venue, which again made for interesting conditions for a freeride competition event as now all the chokes, take offs, and landings were destroyed from the last few days of competitions on it. As if there wasn't enough to worry about with sketchy snow conditions as a result of weather and it's melt/freeze cycling. Due to Zach's unfortunate and uncharacteristic fall at the end of his run, Brian was the only one to make finals and so he felt greater pressure to perform even with the bruised ligament on his right ankle from Crested Butte.
"I'm running for 2 of us today!"
Because Brian scored well enough yesterday and didn't want to push his ankle too much more today, he decided for a similar line choice but with a little extra trickery. On the last feature, Brian went for his standard front flip. But as he was rolling off the cliff he knew one thing was wrong, he was going way too slow to get the rotation around. Not thinking clearly and really wanting to finish strong he still went for it. Brian popped of the nose of the board to start the rotation and immediately knew it would not be enough.
"I came up a little short and very back foot heavy (the bruised ankle from CB) and right when I landed I knew, I did more damage to my right ankle. I barely made it to the bottom with out screaming in pain so I sat down to ice and to watch the rest of the comp".
Brian normally likes to give the injuries a few days to see how they heal on their own with the help of some at home remedies. So with uncharacteristic finishes from both Brian and Zach, we took to the road and drove to Salt Lake City with a few scenic stops on the way so we could enjoy the journey and break up the 10.5 hours of driving.


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KDKA News Update PM: August 14, 2019
KDKA News Update PM: August 14, 2019
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Web Extra: New Study Looks At The Heart Health Of Pet OwnersNew research shows our four-legged friends may actually be good for our hearts.
Baby Bear Takes Dog Food From PorchThe beat bandit stole a boxed of dob food off of a porch in Gouldsboro, Pa.
Reporter Update: John Shumway - Downtown Charity ConcertSome big name national music acts are going to shut down Forbes Avenue on Saturday and Sunday, and it's all for a good cause. John Shumway explains.
KDKA News Update 8/23 1pmKDKA's Lisa Washington and Ron Smiley have the latest news and weather for Friday, August 23.
KDKA-TV Afternoon Forecast (8/23)Stay on top of local weather with meteorologist Ron Smiley's forecast!
Bernie Sanders Set To Make Campaign Stop In West VirginiaSen. Bernie Sanders will be making a campaign stop at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place on Monday.
New Construction Plans After Water Main BreakRoute 51 will soon be closed again to pour more concrete after a water main break in West Mifflin; KDKA's Meghan Schiller reports.
Crews Respond To House Fire In McKees RocksFirefighters are still unsure what sparked the house fire.
Car Vandalism Spree In Mt. WashingtonAt least 19 people have been affected by the vandalism spree on a local street in Mount Washington; KDKA's Chris Hoffman reports.
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Washington County Corks And KegsKevin Brogan of the Meadows, along with Matt Petrola from Beverage Distribution Inc. and Carole De-Angelo of the Observer-Reporter stop by to give a sneak peek of this weekend's Corks and Kegs event.
Reporter Update: Meghan Schiller - 51 Is ReopenTraffic is flowing again on Route 51 after a water main break. But how long will it stay that way? Meghan Schiller reports.
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Pittsburgh Today Live Chat: August 23,2019KDKA's David Highfield and Celina Pompeani catch up on all the latest happenings and preview what's coming up on the show.
KDKA News Update 8/23 10amKDKA's David Highfield and Ron Smiley have the latest news and weather for Friday, August 23.
KDKA News Update AM: Aug. 23, 2019KDKA News Update AM: Aug. 23, 2019
Reporter Update: Cars Vandalized In Mt. WashingtonSeveral parked vehicles were vandalized overnight in Mount Washington; KDKA's Chris Hoffman reports.
Reporter Update: Repairs Underway On Rt. 51Crews are working to repair the northbound lanes of Route 51 after a water main break; KDKA's Meghan Schiller reports.
Vehicles Vandalized In Mount WashingtonSeveral parked vehicles were vandalized overnight in Mount Washington; KDKA's Chris Hoffman reports.
KDKA-TV Morning Forecast (8/23)Stay on top of local weather with meteorologist Ron Smiley's 7-day forecast!
Tractor-Trailer Crashes Over Hillside In Elizabeth TownshipA tractor trailer crashed over a hillside in Elizabeth Township and crews spent the overnight hours clearing the scene; KDKA's Chris Hoffman reports.
Crews Repairing Rt. 51 After Water Main BreakCrews are working to repair the northbound lanes of Route 51 after a water main break; KDKA's Meghan Schiller reports.
KDKA-TV Nightly Forecast (8/22)Stay on top of local weather with meteorologist Ray Petelin's forecast!
Work Underway To Repair Mount Washington Sidewalks, Railings and PlatformsA new $800,000 project on Mt. Washington's sidewalks and platforms has been announced.
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It was March 2012…the Mizzou Tigers basketball team was rolling as they began the NCAA tournament seeded #2 in the West. Frank Haith had put behind him the scandals at Miami dealing with Nevin Shapiro as his Tiger team seemed destined for huge success. They were ranked #3 in the USA, 30-4 for the season, Champions of the Big 12 tournament, highest scoring team in the country …. man…like couldn't be any better. But the very next game seemed to send them down a miserable road for the next 5 years! Shockingly, the Tigers were upset by Norfolk State 86-84 in the 1st round of tournament. From that point on….Tiger bball fortunes have staggered…I'm being kind. …the 2011-12 Frank Haith1st team had 7 seniors, they were 4 of the top 5 scorers on the team scoring 67% of the points. Haith was the AP Coach of the Year…Phil Pressley was a terrific point guard, Laurence Bowers & Ricardo Racliffe were the inside muscles at 6-8 and Marcus Denmon was the leading scorer. The shocking upset sent these Seniors…who had dominated the playing time… packing with a horrible taste in their mouth as well as many sour attitudes
…the 12-13 team still had one starter, Presley, returning but a heavy influx of transfer players (Alex Oriakhi, Earnest Ross, and Keion Bell coming into Mizzou. This trio was expected to contribute immediately. Some did…some did not. Haith's 2nd team…now in the SEC…Tigers went 23-11, 11-7 in conference…while this was still a "good" year it was a significant dip from 11-12 year. The Tigers fell in Quarterfinals of SEC tourney to Ol' Miss and again were upset in the 1st round game of the NCAA tournament to Colorado State. But trouble seemed to be simmering…Mike Dixon got removed from school and Laurence Bowers suffered a midseason injury. When he returned later, he really wasn't the same quality player.
….the 13-14 season for Frank Haith again had 1 starter returning (Jabari Brown) so more transfers filed into Columbia. The real excitement centered around transfereea, Jordan Clarkson, Zach Price and Jabari Brown. The Tigers went 23-12, 9-9 in conference. The Tigers failed to make the NCAA and lost their 2nd round game of the NIT to S. Miss. But…more importantly in Dec 2013, NCAA violations on Level I, II, III, IV were charged against Haith and his Mizzou basketball program. Levels I & II are considered serious by the NCAA. Shortly after season ended, Haith asked for a contract extension when Mizzou declined, Haith bolted to Tulsa University. Leaving the violations behind…and completely unknown to his successor Kim Anderson ..who was hired after determined that they couldn't' swallow the asking price for Wichita State's Greg Marshall.
…Anderson, a Sedalia, MO native was living in his dream job after taking his Cen Missouri team to the NCAA –D2 championship, he failed…pure and simple….coaches are hired to win these days…you aren't there to "develop" players into men or women. Anderson's record at Mizzou for 3 seasons was 27-68 and 8-46 in the SEC and required his departure. Was it due to the Peter Principle? Was it an avalanche of restrictions that would prohibited anyone from digging out? Was it poor evaluation of talent? Was it inept recruiting ? Probably it was a combination of all ot them…who knows. While I respect highly Kim Anderson….Mizzou HAD to release him.
….that brings us to Berkeley California and Cuonzo Martin. Martin was raised locally so he has many ties to Missouri. His record @ Cal was 62-39, he finished T-8, T-3 and 5th in his 3 years in the Pac 12. His team lost in the 1st round of NCAA in 2016 and the 1st round of the NIT in 2017. He has demonstrated the ability to recruit and do it legally. He works hard. So from the dismal, dark day in 2012 when Norfolk State upset the Tigers, then the tumultuous 5 years that brought us to Berkeley to hire Cuonzo Martin
….already it appears that the worm has turned for Tiger basketball…how?…well, when Lorenzo Romar was fired…sorry not PC….when Romar was "let go"… in Washington ..a secondary…an important secondary step transpired…Asst Washington Coach Michael Porter (who had only been hired last off season) was released from his contract…importance?….his 6-10 HS Sr son, Michael Porter Jr, is considered the top prospect in the entire USA…and Cuonzo has a good rapport with Porter..in fact.. he's probably already hired Porter….and….you win the bonus prize too…his younger bro. …JonTay (class of 18) also a top 10 USA prospect has already decommited from Washington…yes…Mizzou will change their entire program….in part…due to the Romar firing in Washington…let's hope that the next 5 years continue as well as the 1st week has for Cuonzo Martin and for Missouri and Mizzou fans
…more Mizzou stuff….
….the hottest news in Columbia is the baseball Tigers! After losing the opening game, Coach Steve Bieser has seen his Tigers rattle off 16 straight wins…including 7 by one run!
He coached @ Vianney & SEMO …where he won 3 consecutive Ohio Valley Conferences. Bieser played professionally and made it to the MLB for 2 seasons…a very unusual event for someone drafted in the 32nd round. His versatility kept him playing professional for 9 years and now the all-around knowledge of all positions is being put to good use as a college coach.
….Mizzou women basketball (21-10) are playing in the NCAA tourney this weekend with their 1st round game against S Florida.
….Missouri received $39,382,365 from the SEC network in February. Mizzou's total enrollment (undergrad & post-grad) is 33,266. That means that the income from the sports network was worth $1183 per student. Since the total budget is $3 billion, $39m might seem trivial..but not to me..that's some cash. I would like to raise a yellow flag here about long term payouts from SEC network… ESPN is suffering severe losses in subscribers. In Nov, ESPN dropped 621,000 subscribers – the most in any one month. Will this become a growing issue across the country or any other sports networks? Nothing lasts forever. I remember the days when Friday nights were dominated by boxing.
NCAA tourney thoughts …
…So defending NCAA Champion, Villanova racked up 31 wins…the most of any defending NCAA champ only to lose to Wisconsin in the round of 32
…the inconsistencies in the NCAA approaches to NCAA championships….in basketball, champions of conference or conference tournaments are ensured a spot—in football, conference title are meaningless in the choice of the 4 playoff teams; in basketball, the NCAA tournament lasts 3 full weeks …I would have to assume that players miss classes on 10-12 days—in football, the NCAA says it must limit playoffs to 4 teams so that players don't miss so many classes…and on top of it…the bowls are often during holiday break… reminder…I've proposed 8 teams in football playoff—5 champions of the 5 major conferences and 3 wild card teams.
….Wichita State got the shaft in their placement in the brackets…the Shockers were ranked #8 in KenPom and #29 in the RPI but the committed put them @ #38.…so…..winning game 1 put them up against Kentucky in round 2….how many teams in the country can beat Kentucky? 1 ? 2? 3?
…."play in" games are a joke…does anyone in the entire country think that any of those play in teams has ANY change….ANY change…of winning the title….sure…I know that fans love the underdog in the early rounds but ….gimme a break…isn't 64 teams enough?
….Kansas looks unbelievably strong to me….and to think…at one time…decades ago…Mizzou took a pass on Bill Self
…here's a suggestion…considering that the NCAA owns the NIT tournament and the NIT tournament where reportedly for the next best 32 teams play at the same time as the NCAA…do any of you know more than 5 of the 32 teams in that tournament….I sure don't……here's an idea….bring back the final 8 (elite 8) NCAA teams…to start the next season….This 8 team tourney would be held in a neutral site.
It'd be a fun way to start the next season…sure would beat playing 3 cupcakes to guarantee 3 wins.
…watching all the Aussies playing for St. Mary's was watching a different style of basketball…clearly they weren't as athletic as most of the other teams but their fundamentals made them entertaining to me. They won a play-in game, then beat VCU before bowing to Arizona.
Missouri HS basketball thoughts
….it was a clean sweep for St. Louis in all the Class 4 and Class 5 championships. Vashon won the Boys 4A, Webster Groves the boys 5A titles. On the Girls side it was Incarnate Word in Class 4 and Kirkwood in Class 5….Congrats to all those coaches who reached the top of the mountain in 2017.


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This is the lowest priced two bedroom condo on the island. It features two bedrooms with one full bath. It rents insanely well. The kitchen is full size with an eating area. It comes with one parking space.
Full details for this property are available. Click here to request full details.


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Posts tagged with 'ship'
Unique dazzle ship installation – for one weekend only!
8 September 2015 by Sam
Last year when OMD played two sell-out gigs at the Museum of Liverpool, concert-goers were also treated to a special installation on the Edmund Gardner pilot ship. For one weekend only, we are offering visitors another opportunity to experience this, as curator Ben Whitaker explains:
"Join us on 3 and 4 October when we will take you on a tour deep inside the Edmund Gardner Dazzle Ship to experience a unique audio visual installation.
Called 'Dazzle Ships (Parts I, IV, V & VI)', the installation uses music, sound and lighting to immerse you into the world of a dazzle ship under attack Read more…
Dazzling tea cosies for the Edmund Gardner
3 September 2015 by Sam
This summer Chris Moseley, shipkeeping and models conservator, took over responsibility for the Edmund Gardner pilot ship – the largest item in our collections and probably the brightest since it was dazzled last year.
Along with 700 tons of ship he also inherited a couple of old tea pots and had a tea pot polishing competition with George, one of the volunteers on the ship. The results were so good that they decided they needed two new tea cosies, so they asked if National Museums Liverpool's knitting group, the Knitwits, could help.
One of our knitters, Gina Couch, jumped at the chance to help, as she had a family connection to the Edmund Gardner. Her late brother Gerard, who was known as Sam by most people, worked for the Pilotage Service from 1949 to 1988, so he had worked on the Edmund Garner when it was used as a pilot vessel between 1953 and 1981. Read more…
Restoring the Falaba painting
30 April 2015 by Sam
This is the last of a series following the conservation of the painting 'Falaba' by Gerald M Burn, to prepare it for display in the Lusitania: life, loss, legacy exhibition. In previous posts I have described the structural treatment, cleaning and lining of the painting.
Once the painting was safely re-stretched onto the wooden stretcher, the two main things left to do were to fill in the paint losses and then inpaint (or retouch) the losses to match the surrounding original paint. Filling was carried out with fine chalk mixed with a water soluble synthetic resin, giving a paste that could be applied the areas of paint loss – this was done with a small palette knife which helped to imitate some of the texture of the original paint.
Once this had dried out, the excess filler could be removed with small cotton wool swabs wetted with water. After that, I could adjust and improve the fill texture as necessary. Then came the exciting stage Read more…
Help bring the Mauretania home to Liverpool
27 April 2015 by Rebecca
Liverpool writer George Garrett worked in the boiler rooms of Mauretania and called the ship "a big scouse boat". Mauretania and her sister ship Lusitania, were the true 'Monarchs of the Sea' and were later affectionately known in Liverpool as 'Maury' and 'Lucy'.
Mauretania was built by Swan Hunter of Newcastle for the Cunard Line and was one of their most successful liners. Cunard and its ships were a central part of Liverpool's maritime story and the firm was based in the city. Cunard's 1916 headquarters are one of the most recognisable buildings on the city's waterfront and one of the iconic three graces. Read more…
New display on Brunel's SS Great Eastern
18 June 2014 by Jen
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Eastern was, in her day, the largest ship ever built. A truly ambitious project from one of the most famous names in engineering history, the Great Eastern was built to provide a ship that could travel all the way to Australia or the Far East without the need to stop and take on more coal. Despite this she was only used on the transatlantic routes, travelling to Canada and North America as a passenger liner, often departing from Liverpool and playing a part in the emigrant trade.
Queen Victoria in Liverpool
30 May 2014 by Jen
The magnificent Cunard liner MS Queen Victoria arrived this morning at the Liverpool landing stage to spend the night in the city, making her the first Cunard liner to do so since the Franconia in 1968. She is a spectacular sight down here at the waterfront and people have been flocking to see her, bowled over by her size and grandeur! Read more…
Remembering the Empress of Ireland
15 May 2014 by Ben
Lots of people have heard about the sinking of the Titanic and Lusitania. However did you know that more passengers were lost in another major shipping disaster around that time, which had a big impact on Liverpool?
Today is 15 May, and 100 years to the day since the Canadian Pacific Liner Empress of Ireland last set sail from Liverpool bound for Canada. Read more…
Lusitania memorial service remembers Manx rescuers
6 May 2014 by Sam
Tomorrow, Wednesday 7 May, Merseyside Maritime Museum is holding a memorial service to commemorate the 99th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania. As part of this year's service Roy Baker, Curator of Leece Museum, will talk about how a ship from the Isle of Man played a key role in the rescue efforts. Guest blogger Valerie Caine has more details:
"The sinking of the luxurious liner Lusitania in just eighteen minutes off the Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland in 1915 by a German submarine resulted in the loss of 1,198 lives. One of the first rescue vessels on the scene was a small Manx fishing boat PL11 Wanderer, from Peel on the west coast of the Isle of Man. Read more…
Guardians of the dawn: the Liverpool Pilots
27 March 2014 by Ben
Who ensures the safe passage of shipping into and out of the Port of Liverpool? The Liverpool Pilots!
The sea approaches to Liverpool have always been difficult waters to navigate, so the Liverpool Pilot Service was established in 1766 to safely guide ships into the port. For almost 30 years our own ship the Edmund Gardner – the largest object in our collections – provided a base for the service in the Irish Sea. Read more…
Well done James and George!
31 October 2013 by Rebecca
Ben Whittaker, Curator of Port History, has some exciting news to share:-
"Congratulations to two of our longstanding volunteers on the Edmund Gardner Pilot ship, who have been honoured with national awards. James Dulson and George Collinson were awarded the prestigious Marsh Volunteer award which recognises outstanding volunteers in the conservation of historic vessels in the UK. George attended the awards ceremony on HMS Belfast in London which was presented by TV personality Julia Bradbury. Read more…


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This article is part 4 of a series on the Aruba 8400 chassis switch, launched in August 2017. See the links section at the bottom of this article for the other articles in the series.
Root cause analysis (RCA) is the art of finding out precisely why a broken thing is broken. In IT, determining root cause of an issue is complicated, in that application delivery is based on a large number of components–both code and physical infrastructure.
Determining the root of the problem—the thing that, once you fix it, the problem is resolved–is a holy grail of network management systems. When goat sacrifices fail, deep human knowledge of a snowflake system's specifics is required to sort through data, decide what is symptomatic as opposed to causal, and filter the information down to the root cause.
Expert systems software, for decades, has promised to deliver RCA to network engineers. For example, 15 or more years ago, Aprisma Spectrum was a monitoring platform that promised to determine the root cause of a network outage. As I recall, Spectrum's RCA functionality was a mostly a dependency tree that the platform operator was required to build. Spectrum could infer where the root cause was based on the breaks in the dependency tree. That was hardly a revolution in software, even at that time.
The Aruba 8400's Take On Root Cause Analysis
Aruba takes a deeper look at the challenge of RCA. They gather an enormous amount of information and feed it to their analytics engine to determine root cause.
The 8400's integrated network analytics engine is the first item to call out, before we even consider RCA. Ponder for a moment that the 8400 is, on board, performing network analytics. Typically, network analytics is performed by an external device running software that was purchased, possibly at an eye-watering price, in addition to the hardware being monitored. The 8400 offers analytics built-in as part of the base license. While Aruba isn't giving the 8400 away, you're getting some bang for your buck here.
How does the network analytics engine work?
Data is gathered via what Aruba calls "agents." That's not an unusual term, but I have a sense of what that word usually conjures up. When engineers hear "agents" they generally respond with, "Yuck." In this case, "yuck" is unwarranted. Agents in this context are Python scripts running on the 8400, and not special software packages that must be loaded onto remote devices.
The Python scripts feature a module (i.e. methods and classes) that make it easier to create agents performing checks. The scripts run in an LXC container with CPU and memory constraints that keep the system from being overrun.
From Aruba's point of view, running agents on the 8400 is key because it grants the agents the ability to gather 8400 data with no gaps. In remote polling situations, a network interruption causes a gap in the time-series data. In addition, Aruba tightly integrates the agents with the Prometheus database running on the box, as well as the web UI.
These Python script agents monitor for and trigger on anomalies. Agents have full access to configuration, protocol state, and network statistics. In other words, agents have access to data which gives them context around the data being gathered. That context is what's required to know when there's an anomaly.
The Prometheus time series database is the data repository for the agents. The data is correlated with configuration checkpoints and diffs, so that changes to the switch configuration can be tied to detected traffic anomalies.
The agents can also grab data from neighbor infrastructure and servers. This is an important detail, as it means agents have more information to work with than simply what the local 8400 knows about.
Let's Consider An RCA Example
On launch day, Aruba demonstrated a VoIP quality monitor running on an 8400. In this demo, the 8400 agent running the monitor was also monitoring two external Aruba 2930 switches.
The agent monitored the traffic in the voice queue, identified as traffic marked with a specific DSCP value. (I can't remember what value they were using, but seem to recall it wasn't the typical EF.) Specifically, the agent monitored the packets-per-second metric and then detected an anomaly, where the polling result of the script was abnormal.
Interestingly, the scripts made a monitoring decision for this specific DSCP value based on the configuration of the 8400. The script author didn't have to explicitly instruct the script to monitor specific DSCP values. Instead, the script looked at the 8400's configuration, observed how particular DSCP values were being treated, and made an inference about the values worth tracking for anomalies.
For the curious, the abnormality detected was a spike in VoIP packets, as opposed to a gradual ramp up. VoIP spikes are unusual, as voice calls require low bandwidth, and therefore should never result in a hard spike. When the spike was detected, the script performed a REST call out to the 2930s, polling the results of an IP SLA monitor running on them.
The remote 2930 SLA data was correlated with the anomaly in the timeline, and presented in the web UI so that an operator could click to drill down. The web UI automatically generated a clickable link over the anomaly, which brought up a list of SLA data points. Each SLA data point could be clicked to find more information. In all of this clicking, Aruba was showing off their correlation of data from multiple sources.
As it happened, the spike appeared to be due to bulk traffic that was incorrectly marked with the VoIP DSCP value. Bulk traffic that shows up in the voice queue during times of congestion is likely to lead to jitter and perhaps dropped packets for the legitimate voice traffic. Now, did the 8400 tell the operator about this conclusion? Not exactly, but the information was present in one interface for a knowledgeable human to make the inferential leap required.
Yes, But Is That Root Cause Analysis?
We could argue whether what Aruba demonstrated is or is not RCA. My takeaway is that it's possible, with well-written agents, to monitor multiple data sources and flag real issues using the 8400 as a platform. This feels like a significant step ahead of staring at scrolling graphs in an NMS and trying to make sense of what happened a half-hour ago that caused the network to burp.
No, you're not getting an expert system in a box that is pre-programmed to recognize thousands of common network issues and flag them for you. Nor are you getting a set of instructions that tell you to take some specific action to ameliorate some bad network juju the system detected. Instead, you're getting a platform you can use to build some specific, customized intelligence into your campus network core. If you know what you're looking for, you can program the 8400 to take care of that for you.
For those intimidated by coding this level of monitoring intelligence, Aruba is not abandoning you to write agents on your own. The Python scripts are consumable via an official Aruba Exchange as well as GitHub. This means that the community will be able to contribute scripts, some of which will eventually become "Aruba certified." Of course, you must exercise wisdom before executing someone else's code on your switch, as we recall the rope Aruba is giving you with the 8400–useful, but also long enough to hang yourself with.
What About Remediation?
For those souls brave enough to seek automated remediation of a detected network anomaly (hey, fix the problem for me), Aruba is glad to extend the long rope metaphor even further. It is possible to script specific actions to take when a specific condition is detected.
Aruba was actually a bit excited about remediation, claiming that their ability to launch a remediation action against a detected anomaly is unique. I found that claim specious. I've been able to launch remediation scripts against a particular detected condition for a long time with the commonplace SolarWinds Orion platform many networkers are familiar with. I suspect other NMS platforms can do the same thing.
That said, Aruba specifically poked at the emerging streaming telemetry (as opposed to NMS) solutions on the market, stating that those other real-time detection engines might find issues, but don't offer remediation. I suppose that might be true, at least for now. Adding a remediation capability to a monitoring platform isn't a terribly difficult feature to add if customers want it.
In Conclusion
The Aruba 8400 chassis switch is a modern, informed, insightful take on the needs of the campus core. The switch is a look ahead to what's coming in IT operations instead more of the same. For organizations attempting to automate their network operations and integrate their network into the larger IT stack, the Aruba 8400 is worthy of consideration.
- Aruba Picks A Fight In The Campus Core With Its New 8400 Switch
- The Aruba 8400 Chassis Switch. Yes, But Why?
- The Aruba 8400 Hardware Highlights
- The Aruba 8400 ArubaOS-CX Network Operating System
- The Aruba 8400 Integrated Network Analytics & Automated Root Cause Analysis
This article underwent a technical review by Aruba Networks to ensure accuracy, which I appreciate. I sat for an entire day during the launch event hosted by Tech Field Day listening to several hours of presentation on this complex platform. I like to be sure I got it right.


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Robert Allen, long time PCUSA camp and conference director and PCCCA Consultant Network consultant, shares his insights on the challenges facing camp and conference ministry today. He provides questions and suggestions along the way on a variety of issues.
No matter what your situation, reading these articles will give you things to think about and a place to bring other people into the conversation.
If you would like to follow up further, there is contact information to reach the PCCCA Consultant Network. They are very talented and willing to field any questions or needs you may have.


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Nothing beats Ford towing, especially with the new 2017 Super Duty lineup leading the truck segment with a whopping conventional towing capacity of 21,000 lbs. Motor Trend's first drive of the 2017 F-250 Super Duty XL 2WD Regular Cab found that the Super Duty takes every measure to make towing as safe and easy as possible.
Technology Features
With the Super Duty's necessary large size, seeing around you to make turns can be hard—so Ford installed seven cameras that tell your computer what's around you. Two side-mirror cameras, a tailgate camera, one on the high center brake light, and two in front. The two front cameras have two duties: one goes directly to the interior camera, and one is part of the lane departure warning system.
Safety Features
Super Duty has unique active safety features tailored to trailering, making it the best truck on the market to buy for safe and easy towing. The Blind Spot Information System is adjustable so you can cover your trailer as well as the truck. Jackknife warning and backup guidance help with some of the most precarious parts of trailering.
With an available turbodiesel engine and standard gas V8, the Super Duty has the power and technology to do any job. You won't find a better heavy-duty truck than the 2017 Super Duty.


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Press Release
Balance worked closely with long-time partner Diebold to create a conceptual ATM experience that placed the user, the customer, and the environment at the center of the process. The result of this effort received plenty of industry attention when it was unveiled at CES this year.
Our overall challenge was to create a terminal that addressed a few, key areas:
- Consumer Security
- Customer Relationships
- Environmental Footprint
We took a look through the eyes of a new generation of potential consumers, and it inspired significant leaps in technology, security, service, and environmental responsibility.
The move to "the cloud" eliminated many of the constraints imposed by existing ATM technology; allowing Diebold to reduce their environmental footprint, simplify user interaction, and redefine the overall ATM experience for both customer and consumer.


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Basic Blinds is a Hunter Douglas Gallery dealer, offering the full selection of Hunter Douglas blinds, shades, sheers and shutters. Come visit our beautiful showroom, conveniently located on the northeast corner of Washington St. and Country Club Dr.
Test drive over 100 working samples to find the perfect blind for you! Our state-of-the-art showroom contains large working display blinds and shades, so you can see, touch and operate all the beautiful window fashions we carry.
Our store mascots Hunter and Douglas are excited to welcome you to Basic Blinds! Our Dad does the best windows in town! Please visit us at 78078 Country Club Dr in Bermuda Dunes or contact us for an appointment.
Basic Blinds offers a large selection of custom Hunter Douglas window treatments, including sheers and shadings, honeycomb shades, shutters, horizontal blinds, vertical blinds, Roman shades, roller shades, and woven wood shades. We serve the entire Coachella Valley, from Palm Springs to Indio. Please contact us, and let us know how we can help you.
Add a sense of nature and permanence to your home with stone.
Make your kitchen a more functional and social place with a kitchen island.
Create a relaxed interior with the color cream.
Sign up to receive our emails with exciting promotions and on-trend design ideas.


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A Woman Among Warlords: Eyewitness to Empire
Featuring Malalai Joya, a female Member of the Afghan Parliament and courageous voice against women's oppression and US occupation.
Malalai Joya rose to fame in December 2003 when, as an elected delegate to the Constitutional Loya Jirga, she spoke out publicly against the domination of warlords. Since then she has survived four assassination attempts, and travels in Afghanistan under a burqa and with armed guards. Her newly published book, A Woman Among Warlords, has been widely praised; Noam Chomsky has written that it "leaves us with hope that the tormented people of Afghanistan can take their fate into their own hands if they are released from the grip of foreign powers".
There will be a book signing following the event.
Please note that this event will take place as part of the Northeast Socialist Conference happening October 23-25 at Columbia University. This event will be Friday, October 23rd at 8pm. Note that the registration and location for this meeting is different from the main weekend registration:
Columbia University
International Affairs Building – Altschul Auditorium (417)
entrance at 117th Street and Amsterdam
Information on the Northeast Socialist Conference:
Join Anthony Arnove, Paul D'Amato, Sam Farber, Laura Flanders, Arun Gupta, Frances Fox-Piven, Robert Gangi, Lawrence Hayes, Marvin Holland, Brian Jones, Miguel Luna, Alan Maass, Fred Magdoff, Mahmood Mamdani, Manning Marable, Scott McLemee, Paul LeBlanc, Jeffrey Perry, John Riddell, Jen Roesch, Heather Rogers, Jeremy Scahill, Michael Schwartz, Helen Scott, Ahmed Shawki, Liliana Segura, Ashley Smith, Dave Zirin and dozens more speakers and hundreds of more participants at...
Crisis and Resistance: Building a Socialist Alternative
Northeast Socialist Conference
October 23-25, 2009
New York City
Columbia University
For more information, including online registration and a full list of workshops and speakers go to:


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On the pulse for Halloween
We are getting excited for Halloween, the costumes, the change in season but best of all the food. This year we are loving recipes using pulses, in particular creamy, heart warming butter beans! Have a look in the Creative Recipe's to plan your meals this half term, and don't forget a pumpkin pie.
Easter Baking!Easter is just around the corner, the daffodils are out and the sun has made an appearance.This year we are all about...
Read more »
Have a go at being a Wok Star!For those of us who are keen to try some Oriental classics but don't have the time to cook them up from...
Read more »


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Holiday Traditions & DARK CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT CAKE
Traditions around the holidays are very important, because they create memories for years to come. Growing up we had quite a few - we cut down our tree, my older sister and I would spend the night at my grandma's before the holidays and make Polish cookies dusted with powdered sugar, with the sound of Nat King Cole in the background and we would swap names for our secret Santa. Since I have gotten older and my family is a bit scattered, I have loved establishing new rituals like cutting down our tree in Connecticut with my in-laws and then enjoying a hot bowl of soup once we got home.
A celebration of the winter solstice calls for a cake - a dark chocolate peppermint cake to be exact! Every once in a while I get an itch to make a layer cake, and colder temperates have put me into nest mode. This cake is delicious but keep at room temperature for best results!
For additional peppermint and chocolate goodness, I recommend this pie!
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup high-quality unseated cocoa, like Valhrona
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup strong hot coffee or espresso
Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch cake pan, set aside. Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together. Pour coffee into a small bowl and add softened butter, stir to melt butter in coffee. In other bowl, beat buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract together with a mixer. Beat until combined. Alternate by adding the coffee mixture and the buttermilk into the flour. Mix until smooth. Divide into two pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife is inserted into the middle and comes out clean. Let cool on a rack in pan until cooled.
14 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped, like Valhrona
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions: Place chopped chocolate into a bowl. Pour cream into a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Pour cream over chocolate and let set at least three minutes before whisking. Stir in peppermint and salt. Let ganache cool completely at room temperature until resembles frosting, about one hour.
To Assemble Cake: Gently remove cake from tin. Place one layer onto a plate. Spread half of frosting onto the top of layer, add the remaining layer and using a spoon glide frosting over cake. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.
Cake Recipe adapted from Food & Wine | Styling & Photography by Alison


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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators gave major banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co the green light on Friday to boost dividends, loosening the reins on the industry 2-1/2 years after the government bailed out the financial system.
The strongest banks, including JPMorgan, are entitled to raise dividends and buy back shares in a matter of weeks, while weaker banks, including SunTrust Banks Inc, were authorized to issue shares and pay back government bailout money.
The Federal Reserve tested how banks would fare if the economy were to come under more pressure, in another round of stress tests nearly two years after the first round. European banks face similar tests.
Banks received billions of dollars of rescue funds from the government in 2008 and 2009 after suffering huge losses in a credit crunch. But in 2010 the banking system turned a profit, emboldening regulators to permit banks to return money to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
"This is one of the final steps in terms of showing the redemption of the banks from 2008," said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Cincinnati-based Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel, which owns bank stocks.
Banks are still recovering from the financial crisis, and the Federal Reserve has still kept some restrictions on their payouts to shareholders.
The central bank said on Friday it was generally restricting dividend payments to 30 percent or less of the company's expected earnings in 2011— a ratio well below the 50 percent level paid out during better times.
But a flurry of banks announced plans to return capital to shareholders on Friday. Wells Fargo & Co, the fourth-largest bank, said it was paying a 12 cent per share dividend for the first quarter, compared with a prior level of 5 cents.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc said it was buying back $5 billion of preferred shares from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, ending a costly deal that shored up confidence in the bank at the height of the financial crisis.
Buying back the preferred stock will allow it to boost the dividend on its common shares, Goldman said.
"This gets the banks some investor credibility. If you're a retail investor, the reason to own these names was the dividend stream, and that was taken away with the crisis," said Jason Ware, a senior analyst with Albion Financial, a Salt Lake City-based wealth management firm.
Albion currently does not own any bank stocks, but Ware said the dividend increases have made the firm more interested in buying into the sector.
In this second round of stress tests, the Fed had banks submit their own analyses of whether they could withstand adverse economic conditions. In 2009, the Fed played a much larger role in analyzing banks' capital.
Banks historically have paid dividends, but often have trouble cutting their payouts when times get tough, for fear of panicking investors. In the years leading up to the crisis, banks paid out billions of dollars to investors, through dividends and share buybacks, even as the financial system grew shaky.
The stress tests are not over. Under the Dodd-Frank law tightening regulation of the financial industry, large banks and other financial firms are required to conduct stress tests at least once a year.
Three of the 19 largest banks have yet to repay the U.S. bailout aid they took at the height of the financial crisis.
But investors hailed plans by two of the three, SunTrust Banks Inc and Keycorp, to do so as another sign of the industry's recovery.
"That's very good," said Marshall Front, chairman and chief investment officer at Front Barnett Associates in Chicago, who owns bank stocks.
"It can't be viewed as anything but positive for them, and reflects trends for the banking sector in general," he said.
Regions Financial Corp, the last remaining TARP holdout in the group of 19, said the company did not propose any capital action in its regulatory review, and will repay TARP in a "prudent manner, on shareholder-friendly terms."
Investors have been eager for banks to restore quarterly payouts after they were suspended or slashed to as little as a penny a share at the height of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
According to the Fed, common equity increased by more than $300 billion at the big banks from the end of 2008 through 2010. (Reporting by Rachelle Younglai in Washington, Maria Aspan in New York; additional reporting by Joe Rauch in Charlotte; Editing by Gary Hill)