Mountain Villa Built on Top of Beijing High Rise

<div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2389974/Zhang-Lin-builds-mountain-apartment-block-Beijing-China-create-dream-penthouse.html" target="blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Daily Mail</span></b></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">P</span><b>rofessor Zhang, a medicine mogul, spent six years building his own private mountain peak and luxury villa atop a high-rise apartment block in China’s capital.</b></div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zaDZe6fgNlw?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_VtdH0KP6gE?rel=0" width="853"></iframe>

Mountain Villa Built on Top of Beijing High Rise

Daily Mail P rofessor Zhang, a medicine mogul, spent six years building his own private mountain peak and luxury villa atop a high-rise apar...

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The Daily Rant: Cheap Umbrellas

I haven't written much lately because I'm buried at work and am busy with summer vacation activities. Speaking of which, I recently returned from a vacation in a rainy climate. Rain is really annoying when you are not fully prepared for it, i.e., all you have (for your family to share) is a cheap and already-broken portable umbrella. You know, the type that bends, breaks, and tears immediately after purchase. We had a pink one that was an embarrassment. It really sucked.<br /><br />As luck would have it, crappy, fragile, cheap, and unruly umbrellas are readily available in wet tourist spots and rain forest souvenir shops. We copped a pair of them and were feeling good about ourselves. For a very short while. Forty minutes to be exact. That is how long it took for Cheap Umbrella 1 to break.<br /><br />Our original pink nightmare was tossed before Cheap Umbrella 1 failed, leaving us with only Cheap Umbrella 2 for protection. Thankfully, that one held up until our last rain-soaked day. Unfortunately, my kid left Cheap Umbrella 2 in the hotel lobby, and it was long gone before we realized it. So . . . we returned home umbrellaless.<br /><br />This is how my quest for a new "high quality" umbrella began. I spent a fair amount of time researching a number of offerings, such as the various models from Shedrain, the stylistic and spendy options from Davek, the high tech innovations from Blunt, etc. Truth be told, I feel that any umbrella, regardless of cost, style, and technology, will eventually break, get lost, or fail. I haven't pulled the trigger on anything just yet, and I'm not sure if I will. Are there are any umbrella experts reading this post? If so, I welcome your suggestions!

The Daily Rant: Cheap Umbrellas

I haven't written much lately because I'm buried at work and am busy with summer vacation activities. Speaking of which, I recently ...

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