They have put together a spectacular, 50-day Winter in Venice celebration, complete with a first-of-its-kind ice skating rink atop the famed outdoor gondolas, larger-than-life snowflakes, and a signature 65-foot LED holiday tree centerpiece.

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The link between these tales appears to be a tree, the life-giving properties of which have turned it into a grail for those in search of eternity.

NEWYORKER: The Fountain

Green Tree Financial found itself in a life-threatening credit squeeze because the market had lost faith in its mortgage-backed securities and refused to refinance its short-term debt.

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Whether filming hippos in the clear water of Mzima Spring, flamingo chicks in a dried-out soda lake or the complex layers of life within a massive baobab tree, the Roots always let their subjects tell their own stories making astonishing discoveries along the way.

ECONOMIST: Animals in Africa

By the late 1990s he was overseeing a team of 200 analysts who used decision-tree economics to determine the value of a case at various stages along its life cycle, from initial filing to post-verdict appeal.

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