What do a diamond and a shot of espresso have in common?
That’s no meant to be a bad joke. It’s a serious question. And the answer is: Both can only be made under pressure.
In the case of the shot of espresso the pressure is required to push hot water through densely packed ground coffee beans. Typically this requirement for pressurizing water has meant that effective espresso makers were relatively loud and large electric devices.
The Handpresso Wild, however, is not a typical espresso maker.
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Picture outdoor travel in the upper midwest of the United States and an image probably comes to mind of flat forests and flat fields—if anything comes to mind at all.
In fact, the region is home to a variety of unexpected natural treasures,. Among those: the world’s largest freshwater dune system.
These dunes scattered along the shores of the five Great Lakes—Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario—were formed 3,000 to 6,000 years ago (recent in terms of geological terms) when the water level of the lakes was 40 feet (12 meters) higher than it is today. Every U.S. state and Canadian province that borders a Great Lake has at least one sand dune preserve area, including Indiana where there are some wonderfully scenic dunes not far from the powerfully unscenic blighted industrial town of Gary.
Arguably the coolest place to experience the Great Lakes dunes is at the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area in western-central Michigan.
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Usually, if you had to spend the night in a drainage pipe in a public park that would be a bad thing.
It’s almost like being homeless
All the charm and safety of a bomb shelter
Our rooms are no longer full of crap
We like to imagine that those were among the tag lines rejected by the Dasparkhotel, the accommodations in a suburb of Linz, Austria where guests spend the night in a recycled drainage pipe.
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It seems there are always cruise deals of some sort to be found. But with the industry trying to jumpstart travel as the world economy rebounds, there are some especially good cruise deals to be found right now.
Here’s our selection of a few sales on cruises to the Bahamas, to the Caribbean and to Europe. As always, you can see our latest collection of discounts by visiting our travel deals archive or subscribing to our RSS feed.
Please note: All of the offers below are valid for a limited time only. In fact, all require booking before the end of March 2010 at the latest, though most allow for travel after that.
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These days most airlines are cutting back on the amenities they offer. If they still have amenities to cut back on, that is. Airlines already without frills are resorting to increasing extra fees in their quest to make your flying experience increasingly horrible—Ryanair is even considering charging for bathroom use.
In this race-to-the-bottom environment we’re thankful that a small handful of airlines are working on a novel concept: increasing their level of service. Air New Zealand is chief among them. Starting later this year, on select long-haul routes, the airline will be introducing lie-flat seats in their economy class and improved seats in premium economy.
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Spot Cool Stuff recently reviewed five towns on cliff sides where drinking and driving . . . or drinking and walking . . . or simply walking could be especially perilous.
Following up on that, here are five religious buildings—temples, shrines, monasteries and churches—built at a cliff’s edge. Gazing down at the rocky drops from these structures, and out at the magnificent vistas they offer, one can’t help but believe in God.
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Take a modern, stylish boutique hotel. Then automate its check-in process. Then shrink down its rooms. Then place this hotel inside the terminal of a busy airport. What you’ll get as your result is Yotel—Spot Cool Stuff’s favorite chain of airport-only accommodations.
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The dolls belong to spirits that keep the deceased girl company and prevent further evil from descending upon the island
On a creepy island in a creepy swamp south of Mexico City there’s a place that looks like the stuff of nightmares and horror movies. Here, among the scraggily branches and dead trees hang hundreds of old, mangled dolls.
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