They're volunteers but they are dedicated to shipping professional software, and the deadlines can be brutal, but.... It's a lot of work to have an infrastructure that supports 50 or 60 languages on three platforms all QA'd and checked out on the same day.
The area east of Michigan Avenue and north of the Chicago River had a split personality for much of the 20th century - the northern portion upscale residential, retail, and university uses and the area near the Chicago River and Navy Pier dedicated to shipping and factories.
DeviantArt has many groups dedicated to ships, and you may find some great blogs relating to your ship by browsing around Tumblr (for example, the USS Caryl is a great, well-known Tumblr blog for supporters of the Walking Dead's Daryl and Carol).
Simon Rose, cofounder of Dahlman Rose & Co., a boutique investment bank dedicated to the shipping industry, often is asked how he got involved in seafaring.
Despite the lack of a waterfront monument in honor of the Monitor, there is a statue dedicated to the ship in Greenpoint, Brooklyn ("For a Fabled Ship, Lost at Sea, Chances of Local Honor Fade," Oct. 20).
Another attraction dedicated to the ship is about to open in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ship was built.
"Our audience doesn't really respond to the municipal-level battles or the environmental stuff," said Dan Askin, senior editor at cruisecritic.com, a consumer Web site dedicated to cruise ships.
Thursday's whistle-blowing ceremony downtown ties in to an exhibit dedicated to the ship, "DecoDence: Legendary Interiors and Illustrious Travelers Aboard the S.S. Normandie," at the South Street Seaport Museum.
Also, groups dedicated to piracy, placing shipping routes in danger.
In 1997, the VPA set up the Venezia Terminal Passeggeri, a commercial enterprise dedicated to managing cruise ship traffic in the port.
He showed great valor in intercepting English merchant ships and other ships dedicated to contraband that were infesting the seas of Puerto Rico and the Atlantic Ocean in general.
