Word: palmful
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This is not your everyday blue lagoon. It has palm trees, waterfalls and white-sand beaches, but it lies under the vaulted roof of a former zeppelin hangar 60 km south of Berlin. The Tropical Islands Resort opened in December to the rhythm of Brazilian samba bands. Banking on the novelty of being Northern Europe's first indoor tropical getaway - and the Germans' reputation as dedicated beach lovers - Malaysian businessman Colin Au paid $18 million in 2002 for the abandoned hangar after zeppelin maker CargoLifter went bankrupt. He spent $91 million creating the resort, a sparkling lagoon surrounded by thatched...
...land in the world, 2,300 miles off the coast of Chile, a civilization in a bottle. Diamond uses archaeological data to meticulously piece together its decline. Despite its current denuded state, it turns out that Easter Island was at one time home to the largest species of palm tree in the world. It seems the Easter Islanders overtaxed their tiny home's unusually fragile ecosystem. Once they chopped down all the palms, they couldn't make canoes to go fishing in, and soil erosion devastated any attempts at agriculture. "The further consequences," Diamond observes dispassionately, "start with starvation...
...solve our problems," Diamond writes, "we 'just' need the political will to apply solutions already available. Of course," he adds, "that's a big 'just.'" With Diamond's help, maybe we'll learn to see our own problems a little more clearly--before we chop down that last palm tree...
Other businesses are facing similar conundrums. Several seafood restaurants around the country find themselves saddled with a name that once sounded chic but now seems tasteless. At the Tsunami Restaurant in West Palm Beach, Fla., patrons used to ask what a tsunami was. Now managers fear potential diners will assume the restaurant was named for the disaster. But after two years of marketing the restaurant's name, the managers aren't eager to change it. Instead, they're sponsoring happy-hour fund raisers for UNICEF...
...down on your knees and scrape a 4-cm patch of carpet with your fingernails about a dozen times. A small pile of fluff indicates poor-quality wool and a limited life-span. Then briskly rub a section of the rug with the flat of your hand. The palm should come up shiny?lightly greased from the wool's natural lanolin and a good indication of how well the carpet will age. "Do this in front of the shopkeeper," says Tawab, "and he will start bringing out his best pieces...