Pyongyang launched a rocket ahead of the last anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth, which was the centennial, but the holiday this year has been much more low-key, with Pyongyang residents gathering in performance halls and plazas and taking advantage of subsidized treats, like shaved ice and peanuts, despite unseasonably cold weather.

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Yael Lustmann, 42, says she runs her own daily deals through Facebook and Yelp for her shaved-ice shop so she can cut out the middleman.

WSJ: Make Daily Deals Work Long Term

She artfully negotiated her scraper spoony thing around the ice cream and shaved off way more than two thirds, leaving me with the undernourished, poor cousin of what was once a giant gelato cone.

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