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Editor's Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. For full details visit the disclosures page.
I recently came across the Miracle Bamboo Pillow as I was perusing the "As Seen on TV" display at a local Walmart. It was located on the bottom shelf next to the "Kitty Shack" and below "Bright Time Buddies" and adjacent to the Muscle Milk cooler. But, since I'm always on the lookout for new sleep products, this caught my attention. I also just reviewed the Miracle Bamboo Seat Cushion which I'm not a fan of.
Rather than purchase it from Walmart, I thought I would try purchasing it through the website. miraclebamboopillow.com. And what a fiasco that was.
What seemed like an easy purchase led me down the road of multiple checkout screens asking me to add extra pillows, pillow cases and sheets. The pillow listed at $29.95. The fine print is that you also pay $9.95 shipping & handling. At one point I was asked to upgrade to the deluxe for an extra amount which I did.. Below is the total amount I paid, $48.85. You also have to pay for return shipping if you don't like it which will push the cost close to $60 if you return it.
Also, check out the $1 "Web Service Fee" since when did it cost extra money to buy something online?
If you want a "free" return shipping. You are asked to sign up for a program where you pay a MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION fee of close to $13/month! It's free for 30 days but if you forget they will start billing you. Why doesn't this company accept free returns?
I haven't received the Bamboo Miracle PIllow yet but I did feel it at Walmart and I wasn't impressed at all.
Here's a picture of the pillow out of the packaging:
And here's a side view of the pillow.
Finally, here's a peek at the inside cover of the pillow:
UPDATE February 22, 2016
I finally received the Miracle Bamboo Pillow today so it has been almost a month now. Below is my video and initial reactions. I'm not that impressed with this pillow especially given all the hassle.
This company is now offering the Miracle Bamboo Cushion for your office chair or car seat. It's the same annoying checkout process as the pillow and inundated with upsells. Here's my final bill after trying to get the 2 for 1 offer that they are promoting. I paid $46.85. I still don't know what the "Web Service Fee" is.
If after reading this you are still tempted to purchase the Miracle Bamboo Pillow, I recommend using Amazon. Amazon has hassle free returns.
A pillow I like more is the COOP Shredded foam Pillow.
Disclosure: We aim to highlight products and services you might find interesting, and if you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue. I do not have an affiliate relationship with Miracle Bamboo Pillow.
5 thoughts on "Miracle Bamboo Pillow | Totally NOT worth it"
I totally agree, the pillow is not anything special. I feel I wasted my money. I bought it at Walmart so didn't have the ordering hassle. I would not buy another one.
I bought one from WalMart. It doesnt conform to anything and my sleppless nights are still sleepless. I have still awoken with neck, arm and shoulder pain. Also more headaches than normal. It was totally a waste of money.
I purchased this pillow at Marshalls for 19.99 and all I can say is, I ran back to buy another!
This pillow is the best ever! It is the perfect pillow I have been looking for something like this forever, I like to mold my pillow to how I sleep on my side and this is the one, it took me so many pillows till I found this one! Very very very happy with Miracle Bamboo pillow!
I agree , I bought this pillow just to try it from Marshall's or some random place and it's hands down best pillow I've ever had and I sleep so comfortable and I get made fun of cause I bring it with me if I go out of town🤷🏼♂
I brought two king size pillows at a flea market, $20 a piece,I love them. Nice and firm, fluff right up just like I want my pillow to.


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Here are four possible futures based on two variables: Team Velocity and Team Alignment
- Quadrant: Heaven- High Team Velocity and High Team Alignment
- Quadrant: Hell- Low Team Velocity and Low Team Alignment
- Quadrant: Purgatory- High Team Velocity and Low Team Alignment
- Quadrant: Limbo- Low Team Velocity and High Team Alignment
The Process:
- Break into small teams (or do together) and describe if you walked into each of these quadrants five years from now, what it would be like in terms of: Employees, Leadership, Teams, Process, Technology, Customers, Suppliers, Etc.
- Repeat for each of the four scenarios and share the stories together.
- Return to each quadrant and discuss what would have to happen for you to get from where you are today to that particular future. Again, share the stories.
- Finally, brainstorm from what you've learned what you really want to have happen this year and for the next four years.
- Over time break these ideas into projects with owners.

subset: commoncrawl


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D'Oyly's Tearoom
D'Oyly's Tearoom is in a superb location on a family-run mid-19th century farm in the picturesque village of Bolton Percy, close to both Tadcaster and York.
As soon as you arrive at the café you can tell they take real pride in providing you with some of the best home baking in Yorkshire and whether you arrive by foot, bike or car, the staff are always welcoming. The outside terrace is great for large groups of hungry cyclists in summer, and in winter the huge tearoom is perfect to take shelter from the cold.
What would have been the front room is now the pretty tearoom. All the food is homemade and traditionally baked in the farmhouse kitchen Aga. Tea is served in fine china and the coffee is served piping hot, just the way it should be.
The menu includes daily specials, soups, brunches, scones and toast, platters (some gluten free), sandwiches both hot and cold, and to end there is an amazing choice of homemade cakes. It is essential to book for larger groups.
Note: Cycles can be left safely in the farmyard area behind the gardens.
By Ann Fugler, Yorkshire editor


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An aviation general liability insurance policy (AGL) may be used to supplement commercial general liability (CGL) insurance coverage for airports, according to a recent report issued by insurance broker Assurex Global titled, "Aviation General Liability for a Holistic Risk Management and Insurance Program."
A number of airport-specific liability risks may be excluded from standard CGL insurance through the use of an "airport and aircraft exclusion," reports Assurex. As a result, risk managers for all types of airports may want to consider adding five specific types of insurance coverage identified by Assurex:
- Premises liability
- Hangarkeeper's liability
- Products and completed operations liability
- Personal and advertising injury liability
- Contractual liability
The additional aviation general liability insurance coverage is intended to protect the airport owner in the event of injuries or damage on airport property, including slip and falls, aircraft damage, or contractual matters with airport suppliers.
Aviation general liability insurance may help airports address a number of unique liability exposures, but comprise only one element of an airport's overall risk management program.
Types of Airports in the U.S.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifies and defines four primary types of airport categories, as listed below.
- Commercial Service Airports. These are publicly owned airports with at least 2,500 passenger boardings each calendar year and receive scheduled passenger service. This category is sub-divided into non-primary and primary commercial service airports, depending on traffic levels.
- Cargo Service Airports. These airports are served by aircraft providing air transportation of only cargo with a total annual landed weight of more than 100 million pounds.
- Reliever Airports. These airports are designated by the FAA to relieve congestion at Commercial Service Airports and to provide improved general aviation access to the overall community. These may be publicly or privately-owned.
- General Aviation Airports. These are public-use airports that do not have scheduled service or have less than 2,500 annual passenger boardings.
Bill Hager's Airport Liability Insurance Policy Expertise as an Insurance Regulator.
Mr. Hager has extensive and substantive experience relating directly to aviation general liability insurance policies (which are sold by property casualty insurance companies and by licensed property casualty insurance agents) including interpreting policy language and determining the insurer's obligations under such policies.
As a regulator for eight years in five positions ((i) Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Department of Insurance, (ii) First Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, (iii) Iowa Commissioner of Insurance, (iv) Administrative Law Judge, and (v) Executive and Member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners), Mr. Hager, along with his staff, approved (or disapproved) of the language of airport liability insurance policies used by each of the 1,000 property casualty insurance companies doing business in the state of Iowa, selling among other coverages, airport liability policies.
This regulatory action also included the approval of most all policy application forms and policy forms themselves in use today. In addition, Mr. Hager regularly served as an Administrative Law Judge in matters relating directly to airport liability insurance policies.
Click on the link to read more about Mr. Hager's experience as an airport insurance policy expert.
Material for this article was taken from a collection of industry sources relating to the subject.
In all of the general statements here, see the state law of the controlling jurisdiction. Every case is different and circumstances vary widely depending on the governing state law, policy provisions, and related considerations.
This blog is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice or an opinion in regard to any topic discussed. The blog should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state.


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Author Michael Gerber, in his famous "E-Myth" book series,
stresses the idea of working "on" the business instead of
just "in" the business. Does it ever seem like you are always
"putting out fires" instead of working on the really important
things that will grow your business and increase its value? Do you ever
feel overwhelmed? Do you find yourself bouncing from one problem to another,
as your managers delegate work to you, instead of the other way around?
It may be time to implement some systems.
The most successful companies establish systems and processes to standardize their work, to enhance productivity, and to ensure consistency in all they do. Systems and processes are often best developed by those doing the work, rather than imposed from the top down.
Designing and documenting systems and processes can be a daunting activity. It is not something that can be accomplished overnight. You are attempting to "reverse engineer" and document a dynamic web of activities and interactions. The amount of detail that you decide to take on as a business owner will depend on your own strengths, the size of your business, and the size of your team. When possible it's best to involve the people actually involved in carrying out each activity. The design and documentation of systems and processes for each business is necessarily unique, and if your business is large enough, you may want to appoint someone to work solely on this task.
The first step is to develop a timeline within which you would like to complete a framework for your systems and processes. Include some preliminary organizational and brainstorming time. Designing and describing your business systems is a detailed and time-consuming process.
Next, you will need to list all the activities in the business for which
a process must be developed and documented. This exercise alone could
become a system for developing processes! As the owner, you mentally have
a big picture of your business. Start with a blank sheet of paper, and
start drawing an overview of all the things that are taking place in your
company. A process flow chart creates the visual image of how work flows
through your organization and helps highlight the key communication and
decision points in the process. Color coding or different shaped boxes
are common ways to designate different departments or different decision
points. Departments, employees, client processes, outsourcing partners,
technology, or back-office systems are all things that need to be considered.
Each big-picture item will then get its own sheet of paper with which to dig deeper. When you get to the task level, you should pass the process on to the person who actually does that task if possible. The end result will be a series of pictures and lists moving from macro to micro levels of detail. Ultimately, you want to account for every activity taking place in the business, including what input comes in to enable that activity, and what output flows from that activity.
Just thinking of and listing all the possible processes in your business could take a few days. For example, consider just the receptionist position. You may have a process for answering the phone, a system for processing the mail, another process for greeting guests, another process for handling files, and so on. You should try to approach this as an ongoing exercise and something that doesn't need to be perfect in the first draft. The value in your systems and processes will come from refining them on an ongoing basis.
Also, there are numerous places to go for advice about designing and describing your business systems. Just Google "documenting business processes" and you'll find blogs, books, and software templates. And if you haven't already, be sure to read the seminal business book on systems and processes mentioned above – E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.
The guidelines and manuals you create are working documents that will change as the business grows. By having them in writing, you or the people involved in the actual tasks can continually improve and refine them. Using, combining, and modifying processes will increase the efficiency of every employee, and allow you to spend more of your time thinking about your business at the macro levels.
Your systems and processes will undergo constant evolution. Make a note each time you see yourself or an employee deviating from what has been documented. Ask if the document needs to be updated or if the workflow needs to be clarified so that the system is being followed.
When it's time to review a process, there are two types of possible updates: an update of what has changed in the process since it was documented, and/or an analysis of what needs to change to improve productivity and efficiency. Process manuals should be frequently updated so that your documentation continues to be a relevant resource for you and your employees. A properly maintained process description can serve as the ideal training tool for a new employee.
You should also create a system for implementing changes to individual
processes. For example, in weekly team meetings you might review small
changes that have been made. Small changes may not require much discussion,
so it might be sufficient to point them out and move on. The annual review
could result in larger changes that impact several employees or departments.
These changes will need to be reviewed and discussed in more detail. Discussion
should include both what is changing and the reasons for those changes.
Your team will appreciate your efforts to continuously improve the business.
When you are in the process of building your business the majority of time is spent on doing rather than documenting. During this time, the few employees you have figure out how to get the job done by asking questions, and through trial and error. But you've established a rhythm of sorts, and things seem to be working.
Any number of things, however, can destroy this equilibrium. The loss and replacement of one of the employees may cause you to discover that they were the only one in the company who knew how to accomplish a particular task. Documenting systems and processes will help you not only in training new employees, but also in gaining efficiency, improving consistency, and being prepared if you lose someone who knows how everything works! In addition, this documentation will add value to your business as you grow and transition. If your business is repeatable and systematized it is easier to predict results, and is therefore more valuable to a potential buyer.


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Raw food is one of the healthiest food options available. It's food as close to nature intended as possible.
To get technical, the term 'raw food' refers to food that hasn't been cooked, treated, or processed in any way, above 115°F. Food cooked above this temperature starts to lose vital vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.
At NAMA, you get all of those vitamins, all of those minerals, and all of those enzymes. This means that you'll leave our place full up (but never bloated) and full of energy.
And everything on our menu is as fresh as can be, and seasonal, not least because we source all our fruit and veg from the nearby farmer's markets of Notting Hill and Queen's Park.
So, all in, our food is 100% meat, wheat, dairy, and gluten free. It's vegan, unprocessed and – it's worth saying again – just as nature intended.
Aside from that, eating raw also offers a whole new range of food choice. So, frying, grilling, and boiling are out, but blending, marinating, and dehydrating are all in.
Refined sugar is out, but our desserts are full of natural sugars, cacao, and fruit. They are also completely guilt-free (yup, true story) and full of antioxidants, to boot. You don't get that from your local sweet shop. This is not to mention our pizzas, Thai curry, salads, wraps, juices, and protein shakes. Yes, we want our food to be health-enhancing, but also mouth-wateringly delicious!
And when we say health-enhancing, here are some of the things you can expect from consuming a diet high in raw foods; increased energy levels, radiant skin, better levels of immunity, improved concentration, improved sleep pattern.
In short, by adding a little more raw food to your diet, your health will improve, you'll have more energy, and your belly will be full of yummy, organic goodness – what's not to like?


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Purchase or Repair Player Pianos in Cincinnati, OH
Pianos are a joy to play and listen to and a beautiful centerpiece for any home. But in order to provide the pleasurable sound expected of them you need to find a quality built piano. You also need to have them maintained correctly as repairing and tuning a piano is not something just anyone can do.
There are specific items which should be checked, cleaned and repaired with each service appointment. Only a skilled technician will take the time and care to do the work appropriately. When you are purchasing a piano all of these facts need to be kept in mind, both to judge the quality of the piano you are purchasing and to ensure you have the resources available to keep it in the appropriate condition.
When you purchase a piano from BHA Pianocenter you can rest assured you are purchasing a quality piano which has been thoroughly inspected and tuned. The team at BHA has been in the business for over 60 years and have used that time to learn about pianos from top to bottom.
If you have been looking for Player Pianos in Cincinnati, OH they are the source to contact. They sell a large range of pianos, including all the major brand names including player pianos. They can deliver to anywhere within the United States. All of their pianos come with a 10 year warranty. This will cover all repairs except for regular tuning and maintenance.
All of their pianos are tuned to concert quality before sale and only their own private movers are utilized to deliver any purchases. If you are interested in their assistance for finding someone to maintain your out-of-state piano, they can arrange for the president of your local Piano Technician's Guild to come and perform the service for you.
So, whether you live in the area or not or if you are looking to buy Player Pianos in Cincinnati, OH or just have one repaired, contact BHA today. They can be found at Pianocenter.com. You can take a virtual tour of their location and see the wonderful pianos they have in stock.


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I've made an image to describe Common Lisp method composition (or CLOS method composition if you want):
Tag: Common Lisp
Another simplistic solution, with SCons
SCons is a program designed to replace make and autotools. SCons being a new tool is built with all the knowledge of what problem really this kind of tool should be solving, while make and autotools were built while discovering the real problem. It is natural to expect SCons to have a better design that covers the big picture. Continue reading "Another simplistic solution, with SCons"
Solving Lisp's problem: a simplistic solution with make
I recently stated what I believe is the biggest problem with Lisp, you can't make programs with it. In my quest, my first solution is a very simplistic Makefile that does the job using cl-launch, a very interesting program that can turn a Common Lisp program into a Bash script. Other solutions are likely to use cl-launch as well.
So, we'll play with this little program:
(defun main () (format t "Hello world!~%")) (main)
Very trivial indeed. And to "compile it", we'd use this trivial Makefile:
%: %.lisp cl-launch --output $@ --file $&< hello-world: hello-world.lisp
All we have to do now is run make:
$ make cl-launch --output hello-world --file hello-world.lisp
And we now have a runable hello-world:
$ ./hello-world Hello world!
It run! it worked! it's portable! Isn't it great?
Obviously all the logic is hidden inside cl-launch (thank you Fare Rideau). The problems with this simple solution is that using only make makes programs harder to port and package for different distributions and operating systems. That's why the autotools where invented. Remember those days when to compile something we had to open a Makefile and set up variables? well, this simplistic solution is going back to those days. We can do better, I hope I can do better.
Now, for the curious, this is how the hello-world script looks like (I'd say its quite remarkable):
#!/bin/sh #| CL-LAUNCH 2.03 CONFIGURATION SOFTWARE_FILE=. SOFTWARE_SYSTEM= SOFTWARE_INIT_FORMS= SYSTEMS_PATHS= INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/share/common-lisp/source/cl-launch LISPS="cmucl sbcl clisp ecl openmcl gclcvs allegro lisp gcl" WRAPPER_CODE= DUMP= RESTART= IMAGE_BASE= IMAGE_DIR= IMAGE= # END OF CL-LAUNCH CONFIGURATION # This file was generated by CL-Launch 2.03 # This file was automatically generated and contains parts of CL-Launch # PROG="" . /usr/share/common-lisp/source/cl-launch/wrapper.sh launch_self "$@" ABORT # |# (load "/usr/share/common-lisp/source/cl-launch/header.lisp" :verbose nil :print nil) ;;;; CL-LAUNCH LISP INITIALIZATION CODE #-cl-launched (cl-launch::run :load :self) ;;;; END OF CL-LAUNCH LISP INITIALIZATION CODE ;;; 65bcc57c2179aad145614ec328ce5ba8 SOFTWARE WRAPPED BY CL-LAUNCH BEGINS HERE: (defun main () (format t "Hello world!~%")) (main)
The problem with Lisp
I'm not really going to talk about the problem with Lisp, but only a problem. And I'm not really going to talk about Lisp, but Common Lisp. So this post should be called "A problem with Common Lisp", but the current title is more catchy, isn't it?
You are still with me? nice. Because I believe I have something important to say. A problem with Common Lisp is that you can't make programs with it. That may have been another nice catchy title: "You can't make programs with Lisp". Continue reading "The problem with Lisp"
Lisp macros feel like cheating
Common Lisp macros feel like cheating. I've reached chapter 9 of Practical Common Lisp, where the goal is to build a unit test framework, and you can see right away how the patterns are easily abstracted out with macros. It's so easy it feels like cheating.
Getting a text representation of the test code to be able to point what when wrong, to show the piece of code failing, is supposed to be a hard task. Well, it is a hard task, sometimes impossible, in most programming languages. In Common Lisp it's so trivial, it feels like cheating.
If you want to know what Lisp is about, read up to chapter 9 of PCL (Practical Common Lisp), at least. I used to tell people to at least read chapter 3, but it seems not to be enough, sadly, to impress the average programmer (either because they just don't see it or chapter 3 is still too basic).
Comments at the original blog
Nubis Says:
Hey, good point. You know what also feels like cheating to me? The loop language.
I mean, from the 99 lisp problems:
Flatten a tree of lists:
(defun flatten (list) (loop for i in list if (listp i) append (flatten i) else collect i))
or, remove duplicated values from a list
(defun makeset (list) (loop for i in list unless (find i set) collect i into set finally (return set)))
At first it looks like cheating, but then i realized that the loop language is to lists what regular expressions are to strings, and it's better than having a bunch of different people writing their loops and boilerplate in different ways.
best regards
A programmer's favourite language
I've discovered something recently. Most programmers have a favourite programming language. No, that's not it, there's more to my discovery. Whenever those programmers have an idea they open a text editor and start coding and/or they start playing with a REPL, if they are lucky to like a programming language that provides one.
You watch them code and they do it fast, with little errors. They don't program fast because it's a good language, they program fast because they know it, and they know it because they use it often, and they do that because they like it. That was the first part of my discovery. Continue reading "A programmer's favourite language"


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Easing into it slowly
Though New Year's Day is a (bank) Holiday, and many folks are too hungover to know which way is up, I think we have to face the fact that with the number change comes the end of our time off and vacations, and going back to the 'old grind'.
And I think it's best to ease into that slowly… Especially this year, as we have to factor in that Apocalypse we just miraculously survived.
Apocalypse surviving is not easy, you know. (Wonder if they're gonna turn it into a reality show…. Hmmm.. think they already have.)
Okay. Let's do a little "fess up" time: how many Mayan Apocalypse jokes did you hear?
How many did you tell?
In the spirit of "easing in slowly", my big challenge today is going to be remembering to write "13" and not "12".
That's because I didn't really make any "resolutions" this year. (I don't have to. I'm already perfect. ) In fact, I only have one: remember and live the (original) Golden Rule.
I'd like to hammer that concept into a few people's heads.
So. Here we go. 201213 is here. Like it or not. Fasten your seatbelts and ease into it slowly. And, don't lament the passing of the holidays. They'll be here again before you know it.
Today's quote: "It's deja vu all over again" ~ Yogi Berra
Copyright 2007-2013 © "Tech Paul" (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
8 Comments »
With reflection on my Holidays…on this New Years Day…I'm remembering/sharing this proverb:
To many people… Holidays are Voyages of Discovery and Rituals of Reassurances.
Happy Voyage and Happy 2013.
Comment by Gaia | January 1, 2013 |
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." ~~~Albert Einstein
I jump in here randomly—not every day [Sorry]. But whatever day that is, it is always very good here…..
Thank you TP, for the past year, as well as in advance for the year to come. May your value continue to grow. Many Happy's to you and yours.
Comment by holmwel | January 1, 2013 |
So begins a new year. It's not really a new years resolution, but I am going to be a happy person this year. It's a selfish goal. But happiness is a collaborative infectious action that affects other folks. The "Pursuit of Happiness" is a guaranteed right in America. I for one am going to enjoy that gift every waking moment. Come "heck" or high water.
A very Happy New Year to you Paul…
Comment by kstinman | January 2, 2013 |


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Shipping & Returns
Baumgarten Di Marco's items are delivered through the Swedish Post with the service Posten Varubrev First class within Sweden and with FedEx for international orders.
Delivery of the Product(s) in stock will be delivered within 3-5 business days within Sweden, outside Sweden 7-10 business days. Fine Jewelry and special orders will be delivered within approximately 6-8 weeks.Business days are Monday to Friday. Saturday, Sundays and holidays are excluded.
- *Free shipping on all purchases above 1000 SEK
- Purchases less than 1000 SEK, shipping cost 50 SEK
- Denmark and Finland 150 SEK
- Europe 250 SEK
- Outside Europe 350 SEK
Deliveries outside the EU (e.g. Norway, USA) are shipped on a DDU (Delivery Duty Unpaid) basis meaning that VAT, taxes, duties or other surcharges involved in imports to your specific country may apply. Please consult your country's customs or other proper authorities for such information.
Under no circumstances do we label shipments as "gifts" or downgrade the value on items.
You will be notified when the package is ready for pick up at your local service center, or, if it is possible to deliver to your mailbox, your package will be delivered direct to you. Make sure your contact details are correct so you will receive your shipment in good order.
Baumgarten Di Marco AB may adjust the freight rates and service fees in accordance with price increases.
Unclaimed packages will be returned to us and you will be debited all fees in connection with the return delivery.
Special Offers - Products on sale or with discounted prices cannot be returned. Unless the product is faulty in some way.
Reguarly Pricing - During 14 days following the delivery of your order, you may request an exchange or a refund of items, which you must return to us in perfect condition, accompanied by the original packing list. Shipping charges on returned merchandise are at the customer's expense. Baumgarten Di Marco will not charge additional shipping on exchanges.
Refunds for returned merchandise will be made within two weeks of the return of the product. Returns will only be accepted if the product is in its original condition and with its packaging.
You are responsible for the shipping of returned items back to Baumgarten Di Marco. Items lost in transportation will not be compensated for. Shipping charges on returned merchandise are at the customer's expense. Note that additional duties and/or taxes will not be refunded. Neither will shipping costs. For countries within the EU, VAT will be included in the refund.
All exchanges are subject to availability.
Faulty items will be exchanged to the same type of product, subject to availability. Refunds for faulty items can be made within the 14-day period following delivery.
Exchanges and returns can only be made as described in Baumgarten Di Marco instructions.
How to proceed with an exchange?
If you wish to exchange your product, send us a mail to firstname.lastname@example.com with your order number, what you wish to send back, and what you would like to exchange it for. Send your piece back in its original package with the delivery note and we will exchange it as soon as the package returns to us. If you have any questions regarding the exchange process, please contact us on firstname.lastname@example.com
Remember that items bought on a sale will not be exchanged.
How to proceed with a return?
If you wish to return your product, send us an email to email@example.com with your order number, what you wish to send back and why. Then send your piece back in its original package with the delivery note. If you have any questions regarding our return process, please contact us on firstname.lastname@example.com
Send Return/exchange items to:
Baumgarten Di Marco AB, Södermannagatan 28 , 116 40 Stockholm, Sweden


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Most of us cringe when we hear 'organizational politics,' because we imagine catty women fighting in the break-room and annoying co-workers weaseling up to the boss to get what they want. We associate organizational politics with 'sucking up' and 'hidden agendas,' giving it an inherently bad connotation. If you feel the same way, then you're limiting your own effectiveness in the workplace by operating with a negative mindset. By automatically assuming that organizational politics are a bad thing, you'll go out of your way to avoid them. However, just because you avoid them doesn't mean they aren't there. It's kind of like gravity — you can ignore it all you want, but it's still there whether you like it or not, and working with it rather than against it makes life a whole lot simpler.
At the core of their being, organizations are not computers; rather, they're human systems, built, maintained, and operated by humans, who don't always operate logically or rationally. Given that nature, you can't expect that any idea, regardless of merit, will make it through an organization without organizational politics coming into play. How many times have you had a great idea, only to have it fall on deaf ears? We've all been there, and once you learn to get actively involved in the political dynamics of your workplace in a positive way, you will greatly increase your own effectiveness and ability to get things done.
So, how can you positively participate in the political process in your workplace?
- Have a positive mindset. Remember: politics aren't a bad thing! They're simply the way that power and interest intersect to affect how decisions are made in an organization.
- Be sensitive to the way the organization works and how the people within it function. Think about who the stakeholders are in your organization. Who has power? Develop those key relationships, and work hard to consistently build your credibility. By establishing yourself as a trustworthy employee with a solid work ethic, you'll go much further in the political process.
- Cultivate influence. Influence is the proper use of power, communication, and strategy. In cultivating influence, it's crucial that you remain flexible, adding your approach to a situation, rather than trying to dominate it. Be sure to think through your words/actions carefully, and think about which stakeholders will be affected and what the potential repercussions are.
- Remember your ethics and what they mean to you. It's very easy to undertake in actions that go against our personal code of ethics and justify them later, so be sure you're constantly putting the good of the organization first, without doing so at your own personal expense. When everyone works toward the greater good, good things happen.
- Take an active role in the political process. Don't just sit idly by and watch politics happen around you – get involved! It's your responsibility to both your team and yourself to make sure that you and your subordinates are fairly represented in the political matters of the organization. You can't be a truly effective leader if you're not willing to have a positive impact on the organization's politics.
While many of us instinctively shy away from anything having to do with workplace politics, we can actually be more effective when we get involved in a positive way. By playing an active role in the political process and maintaining a positive mindset, you can assert influence and make sure that your ideas are heard, without burning any bridges.
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The movement of the mudcloth pattern on this clutch is as abstract art. Clutched or shouldered, the rich, earthy tones sung into the textile are beautifully concluded with black leather.
Featuring a magnetic button enclosure and removable leather strap, the Zoblazo bag can be comfortably worn crossbody or over the shoulder.
4-pockets total; 2 of which are zipped
Interior lined with cotton
Leather ethically sourced from Morocco
Mudcloth ethically sourced from Mali via Senegal
The Zoblazo ZB Bag Traditional Triangle was built with people like you in mind. Something to keep you happy. Every. Single. Day.


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Now that I'm back from TechEd, it's time to continue my series of "How To Unit Test" posts. In this post, I've decided to have a quick look into Linq to XML and how that could be unit tested. I've decided to pick the nice standard sample for Linq to XML – A Rss Reader :). This also follows on nicely from my previous post on How To Unit Test Using SubSonic and Rhino Mocks.
Unit testing Linq to Xml is no great big secret. The fact that you are performing Linq queries under the covers doesn't really affect your unit tests, but it's still quite interesting.
To start with, I'm going to be using the BBC News feed as my sample xml feed to query. My first test is to return an RssChannel object which had a url and title. Note, I'm not implementing all the properties as that would get very boring very quickly.
public void GetRssChannel_StandardRss_ReturnDataRssChannel()
RssProcessor rss = new RssProcessor();
RssChannel chan = rss.GetRssChannel(TestHelper.url);
Assert.AreEqual(TestHelper.url, chan.Url);
Assert.Contains(chan.Title, "BBC");
The implement on the method then simple queries a XDocument, creates my RssChannel object and returns it to the caller.
public RssChannel GetRssChannel(string url)
XDocument x_Feed = XDocument.Load(url);
var feeds = from f in m_Feed.Elements("rss").Elements("channel").Take(1)
select new RssChannel
Title = f.Element("title").Value,
Url = m_Url
return feeds.First();
The next method does a similar function but returns a RSSItem for the position in the document (Linq to XML is great for doing queries like this).
public void GetRssItem_RssFeed_ReturnsASingleRSSItem()
RssProcessor rss = new RssProcessor();
RssItem item = rss.GetRssItem(TestHelper.url, 1);
The query would be:
var feeds = from f in m_Feed.Elements("rss").Elements("channel").Elements("item").Skip(itemPosition – 1).Take(1)
select new RssItem
Title = f.Element("title").Value
Instantly we can see from the tests that we can do a bit of refactoring. Firstly, we can move the creation of the RssProcessor into a [Setup] method. We can also give the Url for the feed as a parameter in the constructor. This makes our test code cleaner as there is less duplication, but also more readable as we are focusing more on the intent of the tests.
The complete solution can be downloaded at the end of the post, however there is one more test which I want to refer to.
The following returns an RssFeed object which has a reference to the RssChannel and a List
public void GetRssFeed_EntireFeed_ReturnsChannelAndItems()
RssFeed feed = m_Rss.GetFeed();
Assert.Contains(feed.Channel.Title, "BBC");
The test works fine, however based on the implementation on the existing tests, each method loads their own Rss feed/XDocument. This is great for isolation, but doesn't work well when you put it all together as loading a single feed will cause it to actually be loaded three times – that simply doesn't scale.
The solution was to have a LoadFeed method on the RssProcessor which would be called before GetFeed(). This could also allow for a single object to be used for returning multiple feeds. Note for future: My first test should really have been for this method to make sure I can actually receive an object to work with before querying it.
Having this single method as the way to load and return the Xml makes mocking very easy. Following the approaches in previous posts, I created myself an IFeedGetter object, with a property to injection a mock if required on my RssProcessor. The load method then simply passes it's call onto the IFeedGetter object.
public XDocument LoadFeed(string url)
m_Url = url;
m_Feed = m_FeedGetter.GetXDocument(url);
return m_Feed;
I can then create a stub feed getter to be used during unit testing.
public class StubFeedGetter : IFeedGetter
public System.Xml.Linq.XDocument GetXDocument(string url)
return XDocument.Load(System.Xml.XmlReader.Create(new System.IO.StringReader(GetFakeXml())));
So that's it, we have now unit tested our complete Rss implementation using mocks and Linq to XML! If you need support in getting this to work, please give me a shout.
Download Solution: HowToUnitTest_MockLinq-ToXml.zip


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Below is this week's installment of positive life quotes. As always, you can find all of the quotes in the Positive Life Quotes section of the blog.
"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." ~Jim Rohn
"I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine." ~Bruce Lee
"Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other." ~Brian Tracy
"Positive anything is better than negative thinking." ~Elbert Hubbard
"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." ~Arthur Rubinstein
"A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug." ~Patricia Neal
"The impossible can always be broken down into possibilities." ~Author Unknown
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." ~Winston Churchill
"Nothing is impossible to a willing heart." ~John Heywood
Image courtesy of papaija2008 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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This innovative service allows you to pay one flat monthly fee to accept an unlimited number of credit card transactions for free. That's right, you keep 100% of every payment made, and the funds are deposited into your account within two business days. Pretty great, right?! Click the button below for more.
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Insurance - Life
Make it easier for your insureds pay, and keep their policies current with Xpress-pay and our revolutionary Site Fee Program.
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Enroll in our Non-Profit Outreach Program today, and begin realizing the positive impact it will have on your ability to continue helping others.
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Kent Chiu, Direct Care Staff, West Bay SLS
Kent Chiu was chosen for employee of the year 2019 because of his commitment, compassion, reliability, and hard work as a direct services professional. Kent has been with Omelagah for over 3 years and during that time he has worked with almost all our clients.
Our clients and staff appreciate the work that Kent does and his work has not gone unnoticed. Kent's work with our most challenging clients is an example of what we want to provide to all our clients and he is a good role model to our other staff. Showing up to support our clients even when our clients are experiencing tough times and being patient with them to give them support is definitely one of Kent's strengths.
Congratulations to Kent on this outstanding accomplishment! May he continue to grow and share his strengths with his clients and fellow staff.


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Masonic hats worn by the Master of the Lodge signify his authority of his rank and status...the origins of which go back over many centuries.
The wearing of a hat by the Worshipful Master alludes to the crown that adorned the head of King Solomon.
In the United States, a Stetson Homburg or Fedora style hat is quite popular and is often chosen by the Master of the lodge. Other hat brands and styles are also worn.
Albert Mackey, Masonic researcher and historian had this to say about Masonic hats in his Revised Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, 1929:
To uncover the head in the presence of their superiors has been, among Christian nations, held as a dutiful obligation.
Among Eastern nations, it is their custom to uncover their feet when they enter a place of worship.
Historically, Kings wore crowns to denote their rank, while the courtiers standing around him removed their hats in deference to his superior status.
Ancient Romans
We are told that the ancient Romans prayed with their head covered or veiled.
The woolen cap, called a pileus, was allowed to be worn only by the free-by-birth or manumission (papers with which one is formally released from slavery), but it was forbidden for Roman slaves to wear this cap.
House of Commons - London
Historically, it was customary that a member of the English Parliament, London's House of Commons, wear a hat when he addressed the membership of the House. If he were to have risen to speak without his hat, other members would greet him with cries of "Order, Order"!
In France, it was the custom of monks at the Sorbonne, (previously called the University of Paris which was founded in 1257 by Robert de Sorbon) to remove their cap when a member did not wish to speak or was in token of agreement with the others.
(End of Mackey quote from Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 1929)
Masonic Hats: United States:
Today, Masonic hats are worn, ceremonially, in the United States during the time when the lodge is in session. Some Grand Lodges require that the hat be constructed with a brim. Others simply decree that the Worshipful Master remains covered at all times.
In different jurisdictions around the world, it is also common to see many different styles of Masonic hats.
Masonic hats are the privilege of the Master of the Lodge, and only his. To remain with his head covered to signify that his is the position to which the greatest respect should be paid.
If in doubt, however, contact your Grand Lodge for more information about your specific jurisdiction.
The Worshipful Master of a Lodge holds the most honored, prestigious and sacredly held chair of office during his term.
The Worshipful Master's position (not the man, himself) is one of the 3 Lesser Lights
The 3 Lesser Lights of a Lodge are the Sun, the Moon and the Worshipful Master.
As the highest ranking officer within the lodge, it is the duty of the man holding this office to preserve the solemnity and respect of this ancient and historic position, symbolic of his duties as one of the Lesser Lights.
While Masonic hats differ within jurisdictions around the world, Masonic hats are a visible symbol of the Master's authority, and as such, should reflect a respectful, classic or traditional style.
There are numerous styles of Masonic hats are worn by the Worshipful Masters in different areas of the United States and in various jurisdictions around the world.
There are satin top hats, the satin collapsible folding top hat, felt top hats, men's fedora hats, derbies, bowlers, and many more. Other jurisdictions around the world wear different varieties of Masonic hats, caps and tams.
Many Prince Hall Affiliated Freemasons wear a white top hat, black top hat or white fedora hats.
While most Freemasons are aware that ritual and a few officer duties and Masonic symbols vary somewhat around the world;..."From many, one;...and from one, many."
...A brotherhood of many, ...who speak different languages, who reside possibly half a world away...who each wear different hats...come together as one....within the brotherhood of Freemasonry.
Black Top Hat with Red Feather
Adjustable Camoflage Embroidered Masonic Cap
Black Masonic Baseball Cap - Golden Masonic Order Symbol, with adjustable strap on back of hat.
from: Mason Zone
Duties of the Worshipful Master of the Lodge.
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Scottish Rite Carpet
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Masonic Mosaic Pavement
5' x 7' Throw Rug
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Masonic Throw Blanket
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The Masonic Wife E-book helps to separate the facts from the myths about Freemasonry
Embroidered, Belted Master Mason Apron
on Amazon.com
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Duck Cloth Apron
from: Mason Zone
Masonic Neck Ties
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Masonic Wallets
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Masonic Car Emblems
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Window Decal
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Masonic Pen Gift Set
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Masonic Bracelets
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Order of the Eastern Star Watches
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O.E.S. Car Emblem
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O.E.S. Pen Gift Set
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Masonic Candy or Masonic Ice Molds - Fundraiser Idea
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The kvikne.no-site is a collection of information about and from Kvikne, Norway.
Kvikne is a small community 120km south of Trondheim town. It is a part of Tynset township. The site is made and maintained by voluntary work, and therefore so fare only in Norwegian. We have, however, made a short presentation in English, and for further information, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Kvikne encompasses a total area of approximately 950 km2. About 800 km2 consists of mountains and wilderness (approximately 10 km2 of rivers and lakes). On the eastern side of the Kvikne valley lies the famous Forelhogna region with the Forollhogna National Park, on the western side is the equally renowned Knutsho region of the Dovre Mountain plateau.
Kvikne is situated on the fertile mica/slate area known as "Trondheimsfeltet". This enriched lime soil produces an abundant and diversified vegetation. Rare plants which require a high concentration of lime, such as "nigritelle nigra", "pinguicula alpina", "peducilaris oederivahl" and "astragalus alpinus", are found here. Due to its extensively rich vegetation the mountains and wilderness offer an abundant and diversified bird and animal life. It is here that the country's renowned wild reindeer herds of Forelhogna and Knutsho are to be found. Kvikne also has some of the country's best ptarmigan biotopes. Kvikne's wilderness with its rich assortment of flower and fauna, its sloping plateaux, tranquil and friendly mountains, is a particularly rich and exciting adventureland for hikers both in summer and winter. There is a minimal danger of avalanches in winter. Kvikne's wilderness contains many large and small fishing lakes (about 70 in all) where fishing licenses may be purchased. Kvikne's many fine ice fishing lakes and the excellent fishing on the Orkla River guarantee genuine excitement for the wilderness fishing enthusiast.
Steatite Open Pit Mine
The largest steatite open pit mine is in the Kvikneskogen Forest. Here in the mountain one can witness traces of incomplete stone pottery from an industry dating back over 2500 years ago. The stone used for the restoration of Nidaros Cathedral is taken from here. A smaller steatite open pit mine is found on the west side of Kaltberget in Kvikne valley, not far from the Copper Mine.
Kvikne Copper Mine
Kvikne Copper Mine was started before the Røros Mine, about 1630, and is one of the oldest copper mines in the country. The mining venture ended suddenly in 1789 when the "Storofsen" flood completely filled the mine with water. There is a road to the mining area around Odden which stile bears traces of the 200-year-old mining industry.
The large Vollan farm, with its own chapel, is closely associated with the mining era. Today Vollan has been renovated and presents a museum as well as hosting the National Park Center. Several arrangements are presented through the year.
Kvikne Church
Anyone driving along Rv3 (state highway 3) through Kvikne can not avoid noticing its beautiful church. The cross church, dating back to 1652, is one of the few preserved churches of this period. Kvikne Church is famous for its beautiful carvings and rose painting. Guiding is available throughout the summer season.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was born at Bjørgan's old vicarage in Kvikne and was christened in the venerable Kvikne Church. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson is one of Norway's greatest national poets. He has written, among other things, Norway's national anthem. His father was the minister at Kvikne around the 1830's. Guiding is available.


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One day in the old Mhamid elghizlane
Mhamid elghizlane is not only Desert .it is a very charming oasis inside a huge desert in the south of Morocco.
If you would like to discover Mhamid elghizlane you are kindly requested to have one day visiting the old kasbah of Mhamid elghizlane which was established about 4 decades ago.
Your visit starts in the morning with one of our knowledgeable guides who is going to give you a hint about the kasbah while you are walking. When you get there you are going to have a tea inside one of the oldest houses of that kasbah. Just after you will discover the kasbah by taking some pictures to it .and walking around. When you finish you are going to have a traditional meal called Coskous.when you finish you are going to come back to the center of Mhamid elghizlane and decide whether to stay in one of our partner hotels or to go to our camp.0


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To Educate
To Educate Canadians, with an emphasis on youth, about the role of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment and the impact of military events in the development of Niagara and Canada, and its participation in international military and peacekeeping events.
To Remember
To Remember and honour the sacrifices of members of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment and its forebears at home and abroad in the defense of our nation and freedom by telling their stories and creating a Memorial.
To Preserve
To Preserve artifacts and archival material of the military and peacekeeping history of Niagara and Canada, with an emphasis on The Lincoln and Welland Regiment.


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Louisville City takes on Rochester in USL eastern conference final
With a trip to the 2015 USL Championship on the line, Louisville City FC travels north to take on the regular season champion Rochester Rhinos. It's the third time this season the two clubs have met, but neither of the previous two meetings have come close to carrying the weight this Eastern Conference Final will when it kicks off at 7:05 PM at Sahlen's Stadium.
A 2-0 thrilling win over the Charleston Battery in front of 8,517 fans at Slugger Field got Louisville City FC through to the Eastern Finals. After a scoreless 105 minutes, the match entered the second period of extra time where a Matt Fondy brace ignited the crowd on Saturday night. The first of his two goals came on a corner kick from Aodhan Quinn that Fondy blasted into the back of the net with his forehead. The second came moments later when the Battery's keeper was forced into a save leaving the net open for Fondy to slide in and get a touch on the ball to clinch the Louisville victory.
The league's top team, the Rochester Rhinos, got it done in regulation against the New York Red Bulls II. After having a player sent off early in the match New York played down a man for most of the match. They kept the game level at 0-0 until Steevan Dos Santos got one of his two goals in the second half. The best defense in the USL notched another clean sheet, with goalkeeper Brandon Miller having to make just one save in the 2-0 victory.
The first match between Rochester and Louisville ended in a 1-1 draw back on April 16 at Slugger Field. The Juan Guzman goal in that match was the only time Louisville would find the scoresheet versus the Rhinos this season. In the return trip, Rochester scored once in each half for the 2-0 win.
The winner of the match will host the 2015 USL Championship. If Louisville City is to win on Saturday tickets will be available at LouisvilleCityFC.com/playoffs.


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Choose from our range of Sydney holiday packages below that each include your flights, accommodation, and often special bonuses like tours and free upgrades. If you can't find the package you're looking for, contact one of our friendly consultants on 2830 2899 and don't forget to ask about customising a package to suit your needs.
Looking for Sydney Holiday Packages?
We can't find any online Sydney holiday deals at the moment but one of our helpful Travel Experts can help you find what you're after! Send us an online enquiry or call us on 2830 2899.
Sydney Airport (SYD)
For helpful information about getting to and from the airport, check-in information and more have a look at our Sydney Airport Guide.
Airport Accommodation: There are a number of hotels located within close proximity to Sydney Airport. Book your Sydney Airport Accommodation.
Airlines that fly to Sydney
Airlines that offer cheap flights to Sydney from Hong Kong include:
Sydney is undeniably Australia's most famous and most visited city, and for good reason. It is home to a seemingly endless collection of must-see attractions, is a short drive from the famous Bondi Beach and offers some of the best shopping, dining and entertainment Australia has to offer.
Many visitors to Sydney go primarily to experience the picturesque Sydney Harbour. Exploring this iconic precinct will uncover the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Luna Park, the Sydney Aquarium and the Australian National Maritime Museum, just to name a few.
Food lovers will appreciate the diverse array of cuisines on offer throughout Sydney. Soak up the tantalizing tastes and aromas of authentic Thai and Vietnamese eateries, or put on your Sunday best and visit one of the many world-class fine dining restaurants dotted around the city. For a meal with a view, book a table at Quay and take in the sights of the harbour while you dine.
You might also be interested in our international airline guide.


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As the 21st century unfolds, radically different forms of air and space vehicles will replace the clunky machines of today, whisking passengers at ultra-high speed around the Earth and outward into space. Laboratories scattered around the world are delving into novel and exotic forms of propulsion. Breakthrough physics could well make possible ambitious human treks across interstellar distances.
WORK IS UNDERWAY to harness antimatter as a way to shave travel time to the Moon down to minutes, or between Earth and Mars to a day. Meanwhile, laser and microwave technology is rapidly advancing the idea of beaming people and payloads effortlessly into Earth orbit, making fuel-guzzling rocketry look like the horse and buggy of yesteryear.
Nearly 100 years after the epoch-making exploits of the Wright Brothers — the first successful sustained powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine — visionary scientists and engineers see "far-reaching" ways to turn solar system touring into a Sunday drive.
PARADIGM-BUSTING PROPULSION Speedy, connect-the-dot travel — leaving Earth for a distant point in space — equates to a lot of groundbreaking work, quite literally. That translates into research dollars let loose to fund new avenues for space travel. Last year, a report to President Bush underscored that very issue.
The need to achieve breakthroughs in propulsion and space power was highlighted by the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, chaired by former Congressman Robert Walker. The blue-ribbon group reported to the president:
"The lengthy transit times that result from the use of currently available propulsion systems make human exploration of our solar system difficult, if not infeasible. While propulsion concepts, such as ion and plasma, and power sources, such as nuclear, offer the potential of cutting transit times for space exploration by half or more — they are unable to significantly reduce the duration of deep-space missions," the report explained.
"New propulsion concepts based on breakthrough energy sources, such as antimatter energy systems, could result in a new propulsion paradigm that will revolutionize space transportation," the Commission study advised the President.
A bottom line of the Commission report: "In the nearer-term, nuclear fission and plasma sources should be actively pursued for space applications. In the longer-term, breakthrough energy sources that go beyond our current understanding of physical laws, such as nuclear fusion and antimatter, must be credibly investigated in order for us to practically pursue human exploration of the solar system and beyond. These energy sources should be the topic of a focused basic research effort."
FUTURISTIC PHYSICS If you're casting about for go/no go breakthrough propulsion ideas, you don't have to look too far. Try boundary-pushing study of Heaviside and Slepian forces, quantum vacuum energy, transient inertia, parametrized post-Newtonian gravity geometry, or deep Dirac energy theory.
Clearly, futuristic physics of flight doesn't come easy. But this form of mental gymnastics is home turf for Marc Millis of NASA's John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Over the last several years, through 2002, he served as project manager for the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) Project — a subset of Revolutionary Propulsion Technology work spearheaded at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The BPP effort spent a little over $1.5 million — spread out over seven years — to peer at and peer-review the visionary edge of knowledge. Funding for BPP and the Marshall work, however, was "deferred indefinitely" in 2003, although there's a glimmer of hope the research will be reinstated in the near future.
"My line in the sand is if the physics isn't understood completely, then it's in my camp," Millis told SPACE.com. "If the physics is understood, and it's a matter of technology," then it is in other camps."
Millis said the public is wondering when is NASA going to build Star Trek's Enterprise and warp drive where nobody else has gone before. His answer is short and sweet.
"This is not in the foreseeable future. Today it is still unknown if such visions are even achievable. But new possibilities continue to emerge from science," Millis points out. As for any "hot favorites" in what has been studied in the BPP undertaking to date, there aren't any. "Nor should there be…because that would be premature," he said.
UNEARTHING DISCOVERIES The technical goals of the BPP project are straightforward, bracketed in terms of unearthing discoveries in mass, speed, and energy for space travel:
Discover new propulsion methods that eliminate or dramatically reduce the need for propellant.
Discover how to circumvent existing limits to dramatically reduce transit times.
Discover new energy methods to power these propulsion devices.
These goals are the breakthroughs, Millis explained, that are needed to conquer the presently impossible ambition of human interstellar exploration. Moreover, what is space? That too is part of the BPP quest to seek a tangible reaction mass or energy source.
Manipulating spacetime itself, looking into warp drives and wormholes - all in a day's work for those on the trail of breakthrough propulsion physics. What is of utmost importance, Millis quickly added, is to conduct visionary research in a credible manner.
There are pessimists of the day who assume all of this is now and will be forever impossible, Millis said. "We stand far more to gain by making the attempt than by giving up."
UNIVERSE: A CALDRON OF FORCES There are clues to breakthrough physics out there in the Universe at large, Millis said. For example, recent astronomical observations and discussion centers on such items as accelerated expansion and the lingering dark matter problem.
The Universe is a caldron of forces that offer insight into forms of propulsion considered exotic today. "In looking at it from a different perspective, we might see something that others would overlook," Millis said, be it the whole area of faster-than-light or delving into quantum non-locality entanglement.
"These are things that physicists are observing," Millis said. So we're just asking the question: Is this going to be useful for propulsion or not?"
"We are at the pinnacle of our knowledge ... but we always were. That's the funny thing about pinnacles. They are a momentary illusion that you've got everything you know. You are basing that on what you know rather than what you haven't yet discovered," Millis said.
Anybody looking outward over the next 100 years to venture a guess as to what space travel breakthroughs will occur deserves hazard pay.
"But we must keep pushing that envelope ... to keep trying to make the impossible possible. If we keep doing that, the future will be interesting. If we don't, I think the consequences would be fatal," Millis concluded.
MAKING ANTIMATTER MATTER The goal of Hbar Technologies, LLC of Chicago, Illinois is "making antimatter matter".
The research group is actively studying an antimatter-driven sail for deep space. They are blueprinting a system that could allow probes to be sent to the Kuiper belt and beyond, made possible by funds from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC).
Many think that antimatter is more "mysterium" than real. In fact, antimatter is already being generated at facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.
These labs produce antimatter by accelerating particles, such as protons, near the speed of light and ramming them into targets. The current worldwide, annual production of antimatter is only two billionths of a gram. Dramatic improvements in the production, storage and use of antimatter will be required to make it a viable propulsion alternative.
Although currently produced and stockpiled in small quantities using Penning Traps, antimatter must be stored in much higher densities to be applicable for missions into the outer realms of our solar system.
"In order to solve many of the mysteries of the universe or to explore the solar system and beyond, one single technology must be developed — high performance propulsion, said Steven Howe, co-founder and CEO of Hbar. "In essence, future missions to deep space will require specific impulses of over 50,000 seconds in order to accomplish the mission within the career lifetime of an individual, 40 years," he said.
Only two technologies available to humankind offer such performance: fusion and antimatter. Fusion has proven unattainable despite forty years of research and billions of dollars. Antimatter, alternatively, Howe said, reacts 100 percent of the time in a well-described manner. Development of a suitable propulsion system, however, based on antimatter has yet to be shown.
STAR SAILING "We propose to develop such a system," Howe explained. Along with Hbar Technologies co-founder and partner, Gerald Jackson, the firm is designing "a very straightforward system" that will produce a specific impulse of one million seconds. That system can be throttled, steered, and demonstrated within the next two years, the Hbar researchers report.
Currently, investigations are underway to develop high-capacity storage of antimatter in the form of antihydrogen. However, even if proven successful, no propulsion system has been demonstrated that would convert the antimatter into usable thrust.
The Hbar proposal is to utilize antiproton-induced fission to directly propel a small sail. By illuminating a thin foil of uranium with a stream of antiprotons, a million second propulsion system will be created - with no high temperatures, no magnetic fields, and no massive power supplies.
The researchers envision a lightweight sail that holds a trap of antimatter using a series of lightweight cables. For deep space missions to the Kuiper Belt, early results indicate that only 30 milligrams of antimatter are needed. For a mission to Alpha Centauri, a few tens of grams are required. The antimatter will be in the form of antihydrogen and will be stored as nano-flakes or as distributed atoms.
However, high capacity storage of antihydrogen is work in progress, although that capability appears reasonable to expect in the near future, Howe said.
The sail-mounted trap need only have the ability to release pulses of particles at intervals. The cloud of particles will escape the trap and expand into the vacuum. Striking the uranium-coated sail will cause fissions. The captured fission products will propel the sail forward.
"By pursing this path of research, we hope to develop the one technology that will allow humanity to reach farther than ever before and see what lies beyond," Howe said.
PRACTICAL PROOF Over the last two years, a major gathering of worldwide experts in microwave and laser power beaming has been held — in the United States in 2002 and this year in Japan. A third confab is to take place in Troy, New York in 2004.
The international symposiums on beamed energy propulsion have shown that steady progress is being made, said Andrew Pakhomov, Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
"These are serious scientific meetings," Pakhomov said. Along with the experts from the United States and Japan, scientists and engineers from Russia, Germany, France, Canada, Brazil, Korea and India attend the meetings to share results in power beaming research, he said.
Laser power beaming work is in the lead, with more money being applied to that technology, Pakhomov commented. "Maybe in two or three years, I hope we see a serious breakthrough."
Pakhomov saluted a recent experiment that highlights the increasing intensity of work.
Power beaming has moved a step closer to becoming workable thanks to researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, along with experts at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
The team has repeatedly flown a small-scale aircraft that flies solely by means of propulsive power transmitted via ground-based laser. The laser tracks the aircraft in flight, directing its energy beam at specially designed photovoltaic cells carried onboard to power the plane's propeller.
"It's practical proof ... and that's important," Pakhomov said.
WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON "We're clearly at a threshold," said Leik Myrabo of Bennington, Vermont. He is the just elected President of the newly formed International Society for Beamed Energy Propulsion (ISBEP).
Myrabo is no newcomer to power beaming. On October 2, 2000, after years of study, trial and error, his Lightcraft design rode a powerful shaft of laser light to a world altitude record at the Army's White Sands, New Mexico test site.
That breakthrough experiment utilized a ground-based laser to pulse a cavity of air on the Lightcraft to the point that it repeatedly exploded, propelling the spacecraft forward. In the future, highly energetic fuels could be super-heated in a similar way. A network of power beaming stations on the ground, as well as in Earth orbit, could support skyway and spaceway traffic lanes.
"Power beaming is definitely a worldwide phenomenon. Nobody is getting rich on the research ... but the foundations are being set right now for what I think will become a revolution," Myrabo told SPACE.com. "It's going to change everything. It will change the way we get around the planet and venturing off our world," he said.
Myrabo envisions vehicles of the future dropping by your local neighborhood to pick you up, rather than having to fight traffic en route to any air or spaceport. Individuals can be "tractor beamed" through the sky in these craft, transported anywhere in the world in 45 minutes...or directly into space in a few minutes time.
"I see the Earth-Moon system as being colonized. Beamed energy propulsion will be the way of getting to orbit, to-and-from high orbit, and to-and-from the Moon. Much will change," Myrabo believes. The Moon seems to be a logical place to build communities. Terra firma already exists on the Moon, he added, rather than waiting for the construction of gigantic colonies. Those too will come in time.
GET UP TO SPEED An early objective of ISBEP is to capitalize on big lasers and microwave devices that are already in service around the world. "We want to set these up as user facilities. Researchers can use these facilities, get their data ... all for a reasonable price. This way you avoid the big expenditures that created so many false starts in the past," Myrabo said.
Like the laser beam aircraft tests done at Marshall Space Flight Center, more experiments are needed, Myrabo explained. One idea is use of a platform-mounted laser in orbit, modest in power, to accelerate a vehicle through space "just to make a point that it can be done."
Lab work on the Lightcraft idea and other vehicle concepts is ongoing, Myrabo said. "The Wright Brothers had an edge over everybody else because they could control their machines ... and that's needed now to go to ever-higher altitudes with power beaming."
We have so much in our hands right now, as far as technology, to create a power beam-based revolution, Myrabo said.
"There's a lot of physics today we are not applying to our propulsion and power systems. Many engineers are pre-occupied with chemical fuels. We really are talking about energetics. Imagine turning up the energetics a factor of ten or a hundred. That could radically transform what engines we use with that propellant ... and what vehicles those engines can propel."
"The physics of flight will change. Right now we've got vehicles that by future standards are under-powered. The future ones…you're going to blink and they are gone," Myrabo predicted.
© 2003 Space.com. All rights reserved.


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Frontpage Interview'sguest today is Robert Zubrin, the president of Pioneer Astronautics and also president of the Mars Society. For many years he worked as a senior engineer for Lockheed Martin.
In addition, he is the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction books The Case for Mars, Entering Space, Mars on Earth; the science fiction novels The Holy Land and First Landing; and articles in Scientific American, The New Atlantis, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mechanical Engineering, and The American Enterprise. He has appeared on major media including CNN, CSPAN, the BBC, the Discovery Channel, NBC, ABC, and NPR. He is the author of the new book, Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil.
FP: Robert Zubrin, welcome to Frontpage Interview.
Zubrin: Thank you for inviting me.
FP: What inspired you to write this book?
Zubrin: For the past two decades, I have devoted most of my engineering work towards advancing the space program. However the events of September 11, 2001 caused me to give pause and think about what I might be able to do to help out here on Earth. Then, as I researched the problem, it because very apparent that the terror cult was being promoted by Middle eastern tyrannies using oil money, which is to say our money, and that this is what had to be addressed if the war on terror was to be won.
You know there is an old aphorism, "there are three things necessary to wage war: money, money, and yet more money." Well, the same is true of jihad. So consider the following. In 1972, the USA paid out $4 billion for oil imports, an amount equal to 1.2% of our defense budget at that time. Last year, we paid $260 billionwhich was half of what we paid for national defense! Over the same period, Saudi oil revenues have grown in direct parallel from $2.7 billion in 1972 to $200 billion in 2006, and this year are likely to exceed $300 billion. And if something isn't done to break the oil cartel, the situation is likely to get much worse, because with China and India industrializing, world demand for fuel is going up, and OPEC is in position to exploit this to effect further radical price hikesin fact they've raised prices 50% this year alone. We are financing a war against ourselves, and the way things are going, we will soon be paying the enemy more than we are paying our own military.
Furthermore, the situation is even worse, because as a result of our dependence on enemy oil, we cannot effectively strike back at them. Take the Iranian nuclear bomb program, for example. We could shut it down in an afternoon just by striking their very vulnerable oil export terminal at Kharg Island. No oil exports = no cash = no nuclear bomb program. But we can't do that right now because of the effect on the world economy of a shutdown of Persian Gulf oil. The same is true in our dealing with the Saudis. In effect, they are using their own fragility as a shield against us, saying "you can't hit us because we have a glass jaw." And, given our dependence on them, the ploy works. But take away that dependence, and we can dictate terms to them.
So the battle for energy security is the decisive front in the war on terror. And that is an area where I, as an engineer, believe I have something to contribute.
FP: Expand for us on how Americans are funding radical Islam by buying gas.
Zubrin: Saudi Arabia is the largest recipient of international oil revenues, over two trillion dollars in the past three decades, and, as documented by numerous sources cited in my book, they have used a substantial fraction of this cash to finance a global effort to spread Wahhabi totalitarian cult ideology. They have funded a whole alphabet soup of front organizations such as the MWL, the WAMY, and the IIRO, for this purpose, as well as to directly fund terrorist groups, and have set up over 20,000 madrasses outside of Saudi Arabia to teach millions of young boys that the way to paradise is to kill Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, animists, humanists, etc. It was the graduates of this indoctrination effort who killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, and thousands of our troops in Iraq in the period since. But they've killed plenty of other people too, in countries ranging from Biafra and the Sudan, to former Soviet central Asia, to Indonesia and the Philippines, where vicious attacks on Buddhists and Christians are ongoing.
Then there is Iran, a terror state which receives the majority of its income from oil. It is oil money that is funding Hezbollah, an Iranian terror asset which is now setting up bases in Latin America, by the way. It is oil money that is funding the Iranian nuclear bomb program, which could give those Hezbollah operatives the weapon they need to inflict mass destruction on their potential victims- which will soon include not only Israeli or European cities, but targets in the Western Hemisphere as well.
Read it all.
© 2008 - 2014, Gabriel Thy. All rights reserved.


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Minimal without being cold and muted without being stark, the Toscana range brings understated style to any wall or floor on which they are installed.
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Contemporary design
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Available in x2 colour variants: Silver / Dark Grey
Ideal for bathrooms and wetrooms, the stunning Toscana range brings clean, minimal aesthetics to any setting. A stylish contemporary design is enhanced by the inclusion of rectified edges for cleaner grout lines whilst a subtle glittery effect matt finish creates a mesmeric shimmer across the face of the tiles. Equally at home in kitchens as they are water closets, Toscana is especially apt at instilling a modern, eye-catching vibe to interiors without being overbearing. Created to give an accurate replication of natural stone, these tiles can vary in shade and appearance, meaning a truly unique finish can be achieved.
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At Home With the Roux Brothers
This volume saw Michel and Albert put aside formality and pass on easily learnt skills that would impress guests. There were recipes for the inexperienced, the practised and the adventurous cook. A book to be found in every home where good food is enjoyed.
Over 170,000 copies sold plus the 13 episode BBC TV series.Buy
Sample Recipe:
Crème de cresson (Cream of watercress soup)
Sometimes the simplest recipes are the trickiest; a watercress soup is a good example of this. The freshness of flavour and appearance are hard to capture and impossible to hold, so delay as little as possible between preparation and serving. In fact, this soup is so quickly made you could start the recipe 30 minutes before the meal, and still have time to fry some diced bread in clarified butter until crisp and golden, to make croûtons to serve with it.
Wash, drain and carefully pick over the watercress, discarding the thicker stalks and any damaged leaves.
The garnish; reserve 18 small, perfect leaves. Blanch them by dipping them in boiling water for 1 second, then immediately transfer them to a small bowl of iced water. Leave for a minute or two, then carefully remove and place on a sheet of absorbent paper and gently pat dry. Leave, covered with a damp cloth, until ready to serve.
To Cook
In a large saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the remaining watercress, the thinly sliced onion or shallots and leek, and the diced carrot. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in 750ml stock or water, followed by the cream and the cubed potato, and cook over a moderate heat for 15 minutes.
Allow the contents of the pan to cool a little, then transfer to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Strain the soup through a fine sieve into the rinsed-out saucepan. Re-heat and adjust the consistency with a little additional stock of necessary, then season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
To serve
Pour the soup into warmed soup bowls or plates and carefully arrange 3 blanched watercress leaves on the soup in each bowl. Serve piping hot.
500g watercress
50g butter
50g onion or shallots, thinly sliced
25g leek (white part only, thinly sliced)
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
750ml to 900ml chicken stock or water
450ml double cream
100g peeled potato, cubed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


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News that Mattel has created a Barbie doll with a computer science ensemble prompted two female executives at the database firm Ingres to reflect on why that had bucked gender stereotypes to make their careers in software engineering — and whether the new doll would prompt other young women to do the same.
"Some teenagers rebel against their parents by getting tattoos, body piercings, having a child out of wedlock, or abusing drugs," writes Emma McGrattan, senior vice president of engineering at Ingres. "I rebelled by acquiring a degree in electronic engineering."
In a delightful post titled "Barbie and Me," McGrattan tells of growing up as a "tom boy" in Ireland who idolized her dad, a mechanical services engineer, yet disregarded his advice when he sought to discourage her from following in his footsteps.
McGrattan recalled that when she was growing up there were separate schools for Irish girls "that didn't even teach math to the level required to qualify to study engineering at the University level."
McGrattan was skeptical about whether a doll would motivate future female engineers but said she would be speaking at a Girl Geek event at the University of Edinburg in March and would ask women there what they thought of "the Barbie thing."
Meanwhile, her Ingres colleague, product management vice president Deb Woods, cheered high-tech Barbie in a post that recalled the time her own daughter, then four years old, had sat in her assistant's chair because — as she told her shocked mom — "that's where girls sit, they get coffee and answer the phone for important men."
Said Woods: "Girls today can be anything they want, they just need to be exposed to all the opportunities open to them . . . Hats off to Mattel for trying a different angle on this one."
– Posted by Tom Abate