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Ah, what a difference a preposition makes…for instance, if you say something like you’re chilling on K2, you could be said to be relaxing on the second-tallest mountain in the world, K-2 in the Kashmirs.  But if you say that you’re chilling with K2, someone well-versed in popular culture will probably understand you to mean that you’re relaxing with an herbal incense that’s been increasingly popular with upscale yoga studios and rowdy night clubs alike.  See the difference?  No?  Well, it’s probably the kind of thing that would only make sense if you were to relax with some K2 yourself!

Check out their front window and you’ll agree that On Off Digital World seems to have all the latest in consumer electronics, though the one thing really keeping them in business is their photography department and all the specialized items they keep in stock there. After all, the store is practically in the heart of the city, near most of the major attractions. Naturally, folks on vacation aren’t going to spend their precious time bargain hunting for specialized photographic equipment and supplies and therefore often pay whatever the price is in order to get on with their holiday.

What’s so interesting about On Off Digital World to me is that it suggests a certain time in New York. Well, the eighties, really. It was a time when a token was necessary to use the subways, when pizza was a dollar a slice and comic books in the same neighborhood. It was a time before Neflix and video on demand, when, in fact, cable was still trying to take off in terms of mass appeal. Back then was an innocent time, in a way — a time when mom-and-pop operations like Montgomery Ward were where you went for electronics. That’s what today’s On Off Digital evokes.

The ancient Mongols have been caricatured as a bunch of short swarthy guys riding horses and living out of a camping tent while hacking their way around the world, but the truth is relatively different.
Far different, in fact; for one thing, the ancient Mongols were most proficient with the bow and crossbow, though of course they also knew how to work a sword and ax like every other self-respecting marauder!

And that camping tent…isn’t.
They’re yurts, that are like Native American tipis, only more open and likely even hardier, tougher, capable to withstand the strong wind-swept steppes of Eurasia.
Furthermore, though they did not achieve the high degree of civilization for instance many of their Chinese, Arab, and Indian subjects did, they were not stereotypical barbarians, either, but fairly enlightened as conquerors went in those days, fierce only in war but comparatively easy-going as rulers.

Actually, ancient Mongol rulers easily traded their nomadic lifestyles for the settled living of their subject peoples.
From Persia and Babylonia to India and China, many Mongol rulers gave up the “camping tent” and lived the remainder of their lives in opulent palaces.
Such soft living may have precipitated the eventual breakup of their empire into a series of smaller successor-states.
Over not much time at all, Mongol conquerors adopted the culture of the natives and would then become a part of the locals’ own histories, such as the Mughal Empire still fondly were recalled by Indian chroniclers or the Il Khanate still remembered in modern-day Iran.

Indeed, the Manchu elite of China could have had their Mongol relatives in mind when insisting on regularly scheduled hunts to keep their royals and nobles reminded of their hardy heritage!
For it was an imperial Manchu decree, no less, that institutionalized the traditional hunt so that you can counteract the results of palace life – not to mention the soft culture of subject native peoples!

Really want a family trip? don’t we all! but shall we admit it a getaway can be high priced. I’m sure in these challenging economic times the majority do not have the additional money sitting around to find the money for a trip. But we should not overlook that a getaway does not consistently need to be a huge cost. There are smaller getaways one can take to retain their sanity while still enjoying themselves on a great trip. One of the main travel sites to supply great discounts and special discounts is Travelocity. They have superb deals and bargains and you may also find Travelocity Coupons to make the value even better. So the very next time you’re about to pull your hair out, halt and consider taking a good getaway, even if the spending budget is restricted.

An electronic cigarette presents a rare example of truth in advertising, for these gadgets are plainly as the name suggests, where nicotine is supplied via battery power and not a burning flame! Yes, it’s the Twenty First Century, and utilizing a match is so old-fashioned. After all, does anyone still rise up from their seats simply to switch the channel? ( Or more so, do people today still watch television or are they more regularly surfing the internet and watching content using Netflix and so on?)

As a consequence of technological advances, these smokeless cigarettes – another name by which they are often referred – provide nicotine devoid of the combustion, perhaps delivering a less dangerous alternative for users. In point of fact, they are oftentimes sold as the most effective path to eventually quit smoking! But although carcinogenic substances may be absent, many producers even so furnish warning labels with their items because of the existence of nicotine. Indeed, in the United States, they’ve been identified as drug delivery devices by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and therefore subject to the agency’s regulation as such.

But as this is the United States, the case has ended up in the courts, though the most current decision on record moved against the Food and Drug Administration. As an end result, electronic cigarettes are commonly, though not always, banned for sale to minors along the local level, whether state, county, or municipal. For example, it’s actually legal in New Hampshire inspite of a formidable movement in opposition to it from the legislature.

The scientific community continues to be practically as divided, too, with a 2010 Boston University School of Public Health study suggesting that such items really are less dangerous than classic cigarettes and thereby possibly of aid in stopping smoking even though the World Health Organization announced exactly the opposite 2 years prior. Most tellingly, however, consumers appear to have been making ecigarettes increasingly popular all along!

Have you seen the Rihanna Only Girl in the World video yet? At approximately the half-minute mark the Caribbean singing sensation can be seen in a Number 213 plunge lace longline brassiere from Carnival Bras, of National Mills, Inc. This is an well-known ladies’ intimates company that sells to the likes of Macy’s and other famous department stores and fashion outlets. Noting celebrity attire is an offshoot of the general celebrity watching hobby, but observations are usually reserved for dresses and so forth, not intimates – which, by the way, Rihanna is wearing as a non-intimate in her Only Girl in the World video!

People today quite frankly do not take adequate getaways. So when we do take getaways, we generally carry along our work. This tendency of carrying work with you renders us in the mindset of work. The same exact mindset we are attemping to escape from. Vacations deliver many benefits. For 1 it can help us avoid being overworked and burnt out. Also , it will allow us to keep our stress ranges lower. A getaway can also help bring the entire family closer together. In any manner you want to take a look at it, getaways do the trick. If you are concerned about the price tag of a vacation why don’t you use one of the popular travel internet sites like Travelocity. You can also find coupons for Travelocity to assist you in saving a pile of cash on your vacation. I’m not sure about you but I am feeling better already.

A camping tent is a vital piece of equipment, even for just day hikers, for there’s no telling when conditions change and shelter becomes imperative! Mother Nature is notorious for being quite temperamental, after all; any forest ranger can talk about stories of stranded hikers who expected to spend no more than a couple of hours in the woods getting lost for several days as a result of such surprises as unforeseen inclement weather or inaccurate GPS routes.

But a camping tent which is carried along for “insurance purposes” doesn’t have to be bulky, either. The current market features a wide variety of ultra-portable designs which are low on weight while still providing a good list of features. But of course, how can one argue over portability where safety’s concerned? Should it be noted that modern tents also come in a large range of styles?

Certainly there can be no compromise with regards to personal safety. So always carry a camping tent when heading into the woods! It is a proven fact that a lot of people overestimate their ability when it comes to orienteering. Our modern lifestyles have sheltered us from much of nature’s power, however in the wilds we have been completely at her mercy.

At the very least take a sleeping bag. Yes, technically speaking, you don’t need a tent if you have a sleeping bag, and many people would rather just take along a sleeping bag instead as it somehow feels a lot more useful in comparison. Generally, a tent will offer more protection, but it’s better to have some than none whatsoever so do take one or the other (or both, ideally) with you when venturing forth into the wild. You really don’t want to wind up as being a forest ranger’s latest story! While most lost hikers don’t end up a statistic, there’s no reason to take such a chance simply due to laziness.

A backpacking tent is really a necessity even when you expect to do only a simple hike. I learned this lesson the hard way, personally, and it would’ve been at a great cost were I not lucky enough to have been rescued by volunteer forest rangers who dutifully answered to a midnight call.

My friends and I hadn’t taken any gear at all, never mind a backpacking tent. It was meant to be nothing more than a quick enough romp up and down a straightforward mountain of modest height, some two thousand feet above ground level as well as the tallest point in all of the region. It was Mount Buck, near Lake George in upstate New York, the busiest tourist attraction around for miles. Yet as luck would have it, it turned out to be a cloudy, then rainy, day (note to self: check weather forecast day-of).

And yet with no backpacking tent, we decided to proceed anyway. After all, we’d traveled up from New York City hundreds of miles, way over three hours by car; we really needed to stretch our legs! But soon it got dark – just like in the movies, fading to black in mere seconds – and we’d thought we were done for. It was literally black, and we decided to remain in place so that we don’t worsen our predicament.

Luckily, that fateful choice proved to be the right one, as it was through remaining on the trail that volunteer forest rangers, hiking up the trail hours later, were able to fairly easily rescue us. But until that hopeful time, at one or two in the morning, we had to endure the cold – how cold it gets, and how quickly, in a forest! And so in no way leave home without portable shelter: always take your tent along, no matter what.

Unless you have one of them portable Coleman Roadtrip grills, camping meals will probably mean some thing like an MRE, or Meal, Ready-to-Eat. Originally developed for the U.S. military, MREs are self-contained light-weight rations available in a wide range of flavors. They are also produced by other countries for their own militaries, with all the familiar flavors a local would expect!

For example, MREs for South Korean troops feature such regional delicacies as kimchi, while Italians enjoy beef tortellini; Swedes and Norwegians get cod stew with sour cream and potato, and Poles make do with bogracz (beef goulash). And though soldiers in the field can’t use camping grills for obvious security reasons, thanks to the marvels of modern science MREs now offer hot meals flamelessly!

Modern day MREs contain a Flameless Ration Heater, or FRH, that will increase the temperature of an eight-ounce entree by a hundred degrees Fahrenheit in no more than twelve minutes. FRHs use a simple chemical reaction to supply heat sufficient to warm up the precooked contents of an MRE.

The concept is to use the natural oxidation of a metal to generate heat. MREs now reach boiling point within seconds, steaming and bubbling! In ten minutes or so, dinner is ready. As can be imagined, they are not anywhere near the power of your least expensive Coleman Roadtrip grills, but they ain’t any person spending the night outdoors.

No, combat cuisine doesn’t compare to camping fare, but it’s not really that bad, and, frankly, isn’t roughing it part of the overall experience, regardless of whether in the military or living out of doors?

Of course, you could just opt to go totally authentic and hunt game and roast it over a campfire spit! But an MRE is really a nice compromise between that and a Coleman grill.

The NEMO Equipment tent is the main product category of NEMO Equipment, an outdoors business specializing in high-level design and engineering. The business was started by Cam Brensinger while still in school, and was relocated after his graduation to its present location between New Hampshire’s gorgeous White Mountains and RISD and MIT, the Rhode Island School of Design and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From the very beginning, the NEMO Equipment tent was destined to put the new business on the map, targeted as it was to bring significant innovation to the market. Early ideas looked into the possibility of creating an entire tent from one compound beam rather than sewing them together.

Once successfully developed, the company began hiring its first employees. Its knowledge in the field even allowed it to offer consultation on human habitats for lunar and martian exploration! And so, with its credibility thus established, the company branched out beyond the original NEMO Equipment tent to study other designs for an increasingly diverse market of outdoorsmen and women.

The spirit of extreme sports had by then taken hold of campers, hikers, climbers, and trekkers alike, and so the AST range of products designed for extreme situations was unveiled. Industry accolades poured in right alongside increased sales, and no less than U.S. Navy Seals have endorsed NEMO products for real-world use that’s dependable like no other.

Most recently, NEMO Equipment has been researching greener products, work that has resulted in the first-ever nearly hundred percent recycled tent, with poles made of bamboo. Product lines have expanded to offer tent accessories and even fan gear, in response to the company’s dedicated following!

Actually, the company is staffed with individuals whose pastimes often incorporate company products. Being avid outdoorsmen and women themselves has surely lent the company invaluable marketing insight.

It’s interesting to watch old science fiction movies and compare the technology onscreen with current state-of-the-art technology in real life. For example, isn’t it funny that the world of interplanetary travel depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” should not have thought of cell phones and invented them – though in fact, such devices were in reality just another five or so years away from commercial feasibility! And it’s funny how with all the cinematic attention focused on such grand ambitious technologies like extraterrestrial travel the wonders that really did take place, in the real world, should carry, arguably, a lot more weight, impacting as they do our lives in maybe much more important ways. Take, for instance, the sort of rides offered by serial entrepreneur Zalman Silber.

Zalman Silber is the founder of a number of tourist attractions in the United States and Australia. Some are really great, such as Skywalk and The Edge, while others are rather uninspired, such as the Skyride and Oztrek. These latter two are billed as an immersive you-are-there experience for the whole family – blah blah blah – but they’re little more than travel movies the type you can get on public TV, educational fare you’ve had a million times over already in school, even. They are helicopter fly-bys of New York and Sydney, respectively, with the only concession to “multimedia” (a buzzword that’s been commonly used to ballyhoo them) being so-called motion seating providing kinetic feedback in sync with actions onscreen.

Nothing, as noted already, anyone hasn’t seen before.

Yet such things were to be found in many a science fiction film (albeit B-grade knock-offs, admittedly), someone’s vision of what hi-tech audio-visuals would be like one day! Certainly, that just speaks to the poverty of the imagination on the part of the writers more than anything else, but the point is that such contemplation makes for much amusement when screening the science fiction films of yesteryear.

Or take one of the earliest scenes from “Logan’s Run,” when the title character uses a kind of television-teleporter to find a date. Instead of going to a bar, the people of that world use this device to summon dates! It’s nothing short of a kind of 3-D Craig’s List!

These “everyday details” have a tendency to show up in the more thoughtful and interesting movies, and on the whole make up one useful yardstick by which much of the best examples may be separated from the mundane. For most sci-fi flicks focus on laser guns and starships, but leave out what really makes science fiction interesting in the first place, the nexus between science and technology and the everyday lives of human beings.

Notice how the worldwide web has changed everything? And what is that but a network of computers connecting to one another, serving up information, normally in a graphical (and truly multimedia) way? Nothing especially sophisticated here; no “warp drive” or “plasma cannon” here – proving the old adage that life is stranger than fiction!

Many will call it dangerous, but there’s no doubt that riding fast, almost racing, in New York City traffic is quite the thrill. It is one thing to go against another bicyclist – and they are out there, too – but quite another to go against cars and trucks and buses and motorcycles.

Of course, one does not exactly go against motorized vehicles. You will find no racing strategies for that. It isn’t even a contest. But part from the thrill of riding in heavy traffic comes from the illusion of passing them by. For in heavy traffic, cars cannot go too fast, relatively speaking – relative not only to their true potential but also, more importantly, to their actual customary practice.

And so the bold cyclist (for it still requires quite a set of nerves) will likely be able to keep up with them, oftentimes, and taking advantage of lights to bypass car after car after car when cross-traffic allows it. It isn’t real racing, but it sure feels like it to the cyclist! It is about the only time anyone will ever be able to pass car after car after car….

You’ll even be able to weave in and out of traffic, too, if your handling expertise are good. Situational awareness is also a must. And since it’s rush hour, people are arguably much more attentive: so many cars, so many witnesses….

Certainly, the streets of Manhattan are fun without cars, too, such as early on a Sunday morning or, even, late at night when even the revelers have gone home to bed. New York being New York, there will still be motorized traffic on the streets, but at such times, while you cannot exactly “race” cars, there is still just the sheer joy in having the streets seemingly all to yourself, relatively speaking.

Mention marble sculpture and most people will think about some thing like Italian marble statues, for instance as Michelangelo’s David or Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. However some of the greatest works of marble are entire buildings themselves, for instance India’s Taj Mahal in Agra, an ancient bustling city on the banks of the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh.

First mentioned in the old Hindu epic the Mahabharata, where it was referred to as Agrevana, or “the border of the forest,” today’s Agra is most famous for the Taj Mahal, Urdu for “crown of buildings.” It’s a marble mausoleum constructed by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtza Mahal.

It’s possibly the most stunningly beautiful piece of marble sculpture anywhere, an entire complex built to symbolize eternal love. It’s not for nothing that the Taj Mahal is usually found on lists of the seven wonders of the modern world, including one composed by polling a hundred million people.

Thus the Taj Mahal attracts anywhere from two to four million visitors each year, of whome about two hundred thousand are from outside the country. This is a significant fact, as admissions are significantly lower for Indian citizens than for foreigners.

The best time to see this beautiful work of marble is during the cooler months of October and November, which are important considerations since a lot of walking can be expected (the whole complex consists of several buildings and sweeping gardens) on account of the strict pollution controls in place that ban all traffic, except for some electric busses. Environmental pollution is also a serious matter in the area around the Taj Mahal.

Its storied white marble had turned yellow, and now there is a four thousand and fifteen-square mile area around this UNESCO World Heritage Site where emissions are subjected to the strictest standards.