Showing results by narrator "Dave Courvoisier" in All Categories

When Ivan Dmitritch's wife, Masha, invests her money in the lottery, he can help but feel it is a foolish waste of time. However, having read through the rest of the paper, he agrees to check the numbers for his wife at her request. To his astonishment, the series number of Masha's lottery ticket matches the winning series number. Without checking the rest of the number needed to win, both husband and wife quickly begin to fantasize about what they would do if they won the lottery.

Olga Ivanovna, a beautiful young woman floating around in a famous and fabulous social circle, falls in love with a simple man who does not belong to the same social group, Osip Dymov. Dymov worked at the same hospital as her father. When her father fell ill, Dymov was captivated by Olga's dedication to her father, and she soon returned the romantic notions. As they settled into married life, Olga continued to frequent with her artistic friends, visiting them every day and continuing to live a fun, exciting life.

Pavel Vassilyevitch finds himself meeting with an unwanted visitor one day after lunch, an odd woman beseeching him to give him just a half hour of his time. Madam Murashkin wants Pavel to critique a play that she has written before she sets off on a voyage, and insists it will take only a half hour of his time. Unable to deny her relentless pitiful pleas, Pavel gives in and Madam Murashkin launches into her play - which turns out to take much longer than half an hour to get through.

About Love is the musings of several friends about love and the great mystery surrounding it. After trying to figure out the love existing between an abusive, ugly cook and the lovely girl that doted on him, one of the men, Alehin, begins sharing his story of love and heartbreak. He recounts the tale of his love for the beautiful Anna Alexyevna, a young woman married to his friend. Alehin describes the way in which their relationship developed, returning again and again to the strange mysteries of love.

Late one evening, tragedy strikes when the town doctor, Kirilov, is unable to save his dying son from diphtheria. As he and his wife mourn their only son's death, a stranger, Abogin, arrives at the doctor’s home, begging him to come save his dying wife. The doctor, who is still shocked from his son's death of five minutes ago, declines Abogin's pleas. However, Abogin refuses to give up, trying desperately to save his wife.

Three friends, Mayer (a medical student), Rybnikov (a student of the arts), and Vassilyev (a law student), decide to go out one night to get some girls. Mayer and Rybnikov had to spend some time convincing Vassilyev to come along, as he was far more fastidious and cautious than his friends. Vassilyev himself is envious of his friends, who live their lives in a much more carefree fashion.

On an early October morning, Psyekoff, the right hand-man to Lieutenant Marcus Ivanovitch Klausoff, informs the inspector of police that he suspects Klausoff has been murdered. Immediately, the inspector and his team head to Klausoff’s home to investigate the matter. After examining the outside of the house, the inspector sends word to the magistrate, asking him to come investigate the case. When the magistrate and his assistant arrive, they check Klausoff’s room, only to find that he is not in there.

When Stepan Ivanovitch Kutsyn, the mayor of a town, learns that a Persian magnate is visiting, he instantly becomes intrigued. The mayor had already received various medals and badges, such as the badge of the Red Cross and the badge of the Society of Saving from Drowning. He also had made an impressive looking badge for himself to add to his jacket. The presence of the Persian magnate, Rahat-Helam, created the possibility that the mayor could receive the order of the Lion and the Sun, without having to perform any of the services generally required to receive such an honor.

A manufacturer and his lawyer decide to drink in the public room of a restaurant after a ball they had just attended. They are having a merry time drinking vodka and eating oysters. The manufacturer drinks more and more and becomes angrier with each drink. He later turns to his lawyer and confesses a secret to him that he has never told anyone before.

When several employees of the bank are arrested for corruption, the merchant Avdeyev doesn't give the ordeal much thought, figuring the men going to jail deserve it. His opinion changes however when he returns home to find his wife and son very upset - his house had just been searched by officials in connection to the bank corruption. Avdeyev had signed papers for the bankers without knowing what they were and so had essentially signed his life away by his carelessness.

Three men, Mihailo the porter, Nikandr the fish merchant, and Stepan the coachman, sit around a table in the coach-house playing a game of "kings" with Stepan's eight-year old grandson, Alyoshka. While each card player competitively tries to win the coveted position of "king" in the game, a more serious atmosphere casts a sad shadow over the estate in which the coach-house is situated. The man of the house, for whom the porter and coachman work, has attempted suicide, and he lies in the estate house struggling somewhere between life and death.

On a quiet, still night when the stars speckle the sky, two shepherds, one old and one young, watch over their flock of sheep. While the two shepherds are laying down keeping watch, a wealthy overseer pays them a visit. The overseer, who has come from Kovylyevsky fields, reminds the old shepherd of the evil and mysterious man who died there. While talking about the evil man, who seems magical, the overseer and young shepherd learn that there are treasures buried in the lands surrounding them.

Nikolay is tired of his dull life working at a railway station and his loveless marriage. When he accidentally breaks a champagne bottle on New Year’ s Eve, his wife is convinced that it is an omen of bad luck to come. Nikolay, already dissatisfied with his life, thinks his wife is overreacting. His feels that not much more could go wrong in his life. Then, in the brink of his despair, a young and beautiful visitor, his wife’s aunt, arrives unexpectedly.

On October 20, 1973, in San Francisco, a White couple strolling down Telegraph Hill was set upon and butchered by four young Black men. Thus began a reign of terror that lasted six months and left 15 Whites dead and the entire city in a state of panic. The perpetrators wanted nothing less than a race war.

A young aspiring male student finds himself in a difficult situation. While working on his dissertation he is interrupted by a young women, asking him to walk her home. He decides it is best and complies with her request. It is later decided the two should marry but it is against the young man's wishes. A great idea comes to the man regarding their marriage, but it is a little too late.

At the end of September 1941, more than a million German soldiers lined up along the frontline just 180 miles west of Moscow. They were well trained, confident, and had good reasons to hope that the war in the East would be over with one last offensive. Facing them was an equally large Soviet force, but whose soldiers were neither as well trained nor as confident. When the Germans struck, disaster soon befell the Soviet defenders.

The story is set on a Russian ship which is filled with ill and injured soldiers heading home after a trip to the Far East, as it follows two very different passengers aboard. One is very ill and delirious and can only envision his life on his family's farm, and is also consumed with the concern for the well-being of his family. The other is stubborn, rude and in denial of his current illness.

As two friends are sharing stories together, the story of the man in the box comes up. The man in the box, Byelikov, was an eccentric professor who often made his coworkers feel uneasy. One day, Byelikov finds himself enamored with the sister of a new teacher at the school, Kovalenko. The prospect of a relationship between Byelikov and the sister, Varinka, excited his colleagues as they thought it might help to make him more normal and approachable. However, when someone takes it upon himself to draw a humorous caricature of the couple, things fall apart.

A tragic father, Old Musatov, finds himself lucky to have very dedicated children. Musatov is a drunkard and is constantly seeking out money from his sons, which they routinely give to him over and over again. Musatov is drunkenly relating the pride and appreciation he feels for all of his sons to one of his sons, Boris, while also admitting his own flaws.

Companies make headline news all the time for decisions that make many of us scratch our heads in wonder, even companies that are smart and successful. Here, Neil Smith, with more than 20 years of experience leading large-scale performance improvements, reveals the hidden barriers that cause excellent companies to do dumb things, and smart people within companies to act in dumb ways. Smith has identified 8 barriers that prevent organizations from achieving and maintaining sustainable success.