text:
Dear STIHL,
To many times companies only hear about complaints about their products. However, I would like to share my story about your high quality STIHL chainsaw. In December 2013 on a 27 degrees below 0, without the windchill, I took my 16 in. blade STIHL chainsaw out to chop the 10 ft. wide water tank. During my mission to free the tank the chainsaw got completely submerged, engine and all, under water. Immediately after that the chainsaw started twice. The following day I pulled out the air filter and spark plug to dry by the heater. The chainsaw has been running like a champ ever since. Thank you so much for your high quality equipment, please post this where others can read.
Frank D.
My son wanted to be a logger for Halloween, so I decided to make a STIHL chainsaw out of cardboard. He was very excited when I showed him the finished product. He had a fun Halloween and got a lot of compliments. Also, your products are far superior that anything on the market. I have ben using STIHL products for many years and have been completely satisfied.
Nathan H.
Campton, NH
I work on a wildland fire (initial attack and fuels) crew in Larimer County, Colorado. Here are two great photos of all of our STIHL saws lined up ready to get fueled and oiled before our shifts.
Bryan S.
Larimer County, CO
I love my FARM BOSS! You can't find any other brand of saw with the power to weight ratio as a STIHL. I love my saw so much, I have a picture of my Yellow Lab puppy and my STIHL.
Eric S.
Lake Murray, SC
Purchased this STIHL FARM BOSS MS290 with a 20" bar a year ago and it is sweet. As you can see, it cut this wild black cherry tree with about a 24" diameter at trunk. This is the biggest tree I've cut and I was pleased with the performance. This tree fell down during a storm, I counted the growth rings and it was 78 years old. I had to attack it from both sides, but it was fairly easy. This 290 is a great saw. I was going to have the cherry milled and rough cut to make furniture but it was infested with worm holes. What a great saw! I also have a MS211, 009, 021, 024. The 024 I've had for 23 years and it still runs great, original carb too! Thanks STIHL, I love these saws!
Joe A.
Tallmadge, OH
My parents needed a new septic system, which required heavy machinery and the removal of several large live oak and cedar trees. We were left with several high piles of cut down trees and branches that needed to be cleared. Usually, my 70-year-old father and my brother would be the ones to do this work. However, my brother now lives in California, and my father had some significant health events over the last 6 months that has left him unable to do any strenuous activity until he's healed. So, this left my 68-year-old mother and I to figure out what to do. Neither she, nor I, are strong enough to start the traditional chainsaws, which we have quite a few of, as you know since we bought them all from you. ;) Since we had the lithium ion battery powered weed eater and leaf blower already and love the products, dad suggested I get the chainsaw as well to see if it could do the job. The same day I purchased the chainsaw, I went home and started working on the first pile with mom. We worked for 2 days and only needed to change the battery 3 times (we have 2 so one is charging while the other is being used). So my mom on a set of loppers, and me on the chainsaw, were able to do all the clearing as you can see in the photos. We still have a little left to do on the first pile, but that was because I needed to get the chain sharpened. ;) Mom and I were amazed at what the chainsaw could cut through and how easy it was to use. Additionally, with it being so lightweight, even mom was able to do a little cutting herself. I think we may be fighting over who gets to use it in the future. ;)
I'm writing you this so that you can have proof of product not only for your store in selling these, but also as a kudos to STIHL for such an amazing feat of engineering. The whole product line allows my mom and I to now handle all the work on the property, both close to and away from the house. And of course, my father is very thankful that he doesn't have to hire crews to come in to do the work. It's been a wonderful way my mom and I to bond as well as feel like we are accomplishing something while my dad is still recovering. Thank you again for selling this product line. It has made a huge difference already and we can't wait to see what else comes out!!!
Daria N.
B.F.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Editor's note: Always wear the proper protective apparel as shown in your instructional manual.
I have a photo to Show n Tell for this story: Here is a "dead" tree that has survived several Tropical Storms. A lower limb finally came down and needed to be removed – 3 family lots involved with "Its" early morning "crash!" BJ and Boston attempted to pull "IT" - out n over - was unsuccessful… so the base will be fence level in height. I kept telling my young men to try our families 5 foot - 2 handled cross-cut saws … NOPE! Still using the power of STIHL… passing on the STIHL "strengths" to our son. [using these versions: MS 192 TC and MS 290] We were surprised to find a hollow space – that resembled the cookie television advertisement for KEEBLER cookie workers in the basement of a tree.
Carol B.
Palmetto, FL
Editor's note: Always wear the proper protective apparel as shown in your instructional manual.
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please accept this note as a commendation for superb customer skills, high knowledge base, and a patient approach to sales and service. Upon entering your store my wife and I were overwhelmed by the selection of STIHL Trimmers. Jacob approached us after giving us enough time to absorb the selection and get over the "overwhelmed" stage. Politely asked if he could help and from that moment on through the demonstration, string rewinding class, explaining the extended warranty offer, allowing us the time to then think there is NO reason not to purchase the HP Ultra and go there. All in all Jacob had us at "Can I help you?" We are frugal people, prone to "go generic" if possible, but Jacob and K&D, and STIHL are the Brand Name that shows true Customer First profiles on every side. Thank you, Jacob, for the beginning of a great K&D/Terry & Terri Partnership. Thank you K&D Management for hiring and keeping associates like Jacob, you will be here long after the "Big Box" stores have vanished. Feel free to use this note in any way that might bring attention to Jacob's abilities and further your mission.
Terry & Terri S.
Baton Rouge, LA
Central Oklahoma - May 19, 2013
We had need of our STIHL saws to say the least. We owned three, now 4. These saws have stood up to 7 weeks of chainsaw work under difficult circumstances and have gotten the job done! They were used to cut us out of the cellar, to clear our driveway and immediate road, and weeks of cutting trees, brush, and firewood. Do you make a log splitter?! Great product!
Carla S.
Mcloud, OK
Editor's note: Always wear the proper protective apparel as shown in your instructional manual.
Dear STIHL Team!
My name is Jens and I had the pleasure to serve the community of Moore and El Reno in Oklahoma last week. Partnering with the Christian, non-profit Disaster Relief Organization Samaritan's Purse (exclusive STIHL user) I was able to help with the tornado clean up and using my skills and experience with STIHL power equipments, mainly chain- and pole-saws. After we were done with our volunteer work and clean up we carved crosses in the remaining stump/root as a reminder of God's love for the people that have gone through so much and basically lost everything. As usual, STIHL power equipments have been a tremendous and reliable partner to us. We mainly used STIHL MS 361 and MS 660 chainsaws. Thank you STIHL! With your outstanding products we were able to make a difference in the communities of Oklahoma after getting hit by the strongest tornadoes ever recorded in the history of the United States.
All the best and God bless,
Jens M.
Rocklin, CA
Editor's note: Always wear the proper protective apparel as shown in your instructional manual.
I work for the San Diego Fire Rescue Department. We had a building collapse on Friday night and had to drop all of our equipment inside and run. It quickly turned into a three alarm fire. We left our STIHL chainsaw inside. The fire burned for 9 hours and the whole building collapsed on the saw. The next morning we pulled the saw out. It was melted together but the guide bar was still intact. I laughed and tried to start the saw and it fired right up even cut a piece of plywood. Just wanted to give STIHL major props. We trust this saw to save our lives and it was left for dead and still would have worked for us. Thank you again for making our job just a little bit easier.
Dan E., Equipment Officer, San Diego Fire Rescue Department
San Diego, CA
I am an avid user of STIHL products. I live Wisconsin and cut approximately 30 cords of wood each year (heat for two homes and a shop). Last fall (2012) I was looking for a saw that would compliment my MS460 (which I had used exclusively for the last 5 years). The 460 performed well and I did not want to compromise on performance with a smaller saw. After a great deal of research, I purchased the MS261 with a 16" bar. The saw has performed beyond my expectations. I was looking for a trim saw and discovered a well designed saw which has become my main saw. My MS460 (18" and 25" bars) is only used for felling and the big stuff. I believe that the 261 would easily handle a larger bar, but I am satisfied with the current set up. I have not used the 18" bar for my 460 since purchasing the 261. My hat is off to STIHL for a great line of products.
P.S. the guy I cut wood with wants to run over the 261 because he can't keep up. He clears brush and loads the wood with a skid loader and grapple.
Ron S.
Orfordville, WI
I just wanted to let you know that we have some great pictures of our brand new Stihl MS660 in action.
Parker C., Marketing Director, JB's Landscaping LLC
New Jersey
Editor's note: STIHL recommends the proper use of personal protective apparel and product usage as recommended in the product instruction manual.
Editor's note: Only trained professionals should attempt this kind of work. The condition of the tree indicates this as a high risk venture for untrained individuals..
On the evening of May 15, 2013 at approx 8PM, Station 2 of the Granbury Fire Department received a tone for a structure collapse in the Rancho Brazos neighborhood of Granbury, Texas. Engine 6 with myself and 3 other firefighters onboard responded in route not knowing exactly what we were walking into. We had little knowledge that an F4 tornado had just wiped the entire neighborhood of the face of the earth. Approximately 300 yards from the entrance of the neighborhood, Engine 6 encountered a huge oak tree completely blocking the entire roadway. Ditches full of water on either side. We were stopped in our tracks unable to move forward. We could see the devastation, but we couldn't get there. Several emergency vehicle apparatus were backed up behind us. We immediately grabbed our STIHL chainsaw. We had that tree cut and removed from the roadway in a matter of 2-3 minutes. That allowed us and multiple emergency vehicles to access the destroyed neighborhood. That night was a blur to me. We rescued many, many people from collapsed structures and we also recovered 6 dead. Days later I was recollecting on the events of the last several days and I thought about that saw. How that single saw opened the roadway and allowed numerous emergency vehicles into the destroyed neighborhood to save numerous lives. I'd like to thank you for making such a reliable saw and because of those events we are now seeking funds from donors to put STIHL saws on all our apparatus.
Tim H., Firefighter/Fire Chaplain Granbury Fire Dept.
Granbury, TX
I recently bought a STIHL 180 c saw. I cant believe it, I have had several saws and this is the best! It was also recommended by a couple of friends. Keep up the good work!
Dave D.
Brighton, IL
Just wanted to let you know I'm still getting hard work out of the 041 Farm Boss I bought 35 years ago in 1978. What a machine!
Mark H.
Dighton, MA
Good morning.
Just wanted to send you a pic from KC. Spring cleaning a heavily wooded lot. Got tired of fighting the old saw that we had. My girlfriend suggested I go buy the best one made. So I did. Works great. What a fabulous line of products you all have!
Dan S.
Kansas City
Editor's note: Always wear the proper protective apparel as shown in your instructional manual.
I bought my first STIHL chainsaw from a local dealer twenty years ago and used it on the property of our new home we had built. I used it for ten hard years and then gave it to our son (who built near us) and bought a new STIHL. We did not use the new one as much as the old one, as we were settled in, but the trees still needed trimming until our saw was stolen (I guess they liked the STIHL saw also, good taste on their part). I just bought a new STIHL 181 C-BE - time for more tree trimming. Our third saw in 20 years and always a STIHL. It keeps on running I could not recommend another from personal experience other than a STIHL. Y'all (that's one word) build a good product! I'm a happy Texan.
Peter G.
Msgt. USAF Retd.
Cedar Creek, TX
An ATV, a STIHL and man's best friend. It's going to be a good day!
Andy L.
Menomonee Falls, WI
I am a Wildland Firefighter and I would like to say thank you for your chainsaws they work very well in the job I do and your chainsaws are easy to work on and to troubleshoot also.
Jeffery H.
Boise, ID
I have a picture you might be interested in. I was taking a break from cutting and splitting wood and my dog sat down by my saw and wood pile. I took a quick picture with cell phone and it came out really good. My friends said I should send it to STIHL for a calendar or something.
Tracy E.
Boss, MO


text:
Complete Picture Converter lets you convert picture sizes and codecs. Vital utility for all net designers. ImageConverter is exclusive – it helps virtually all in style codecs (JPG, GIF, BMP, PBM, PGM, PCX, PNG, PPM, TGA, TIF, WMF, EMF). All you need to do is to set the required measurement or format and Complete Picture Converter routinely does the remaining.
With Complete Picture Converter, it's also possible to resize, rotate or carry out mirror photographs and alter shade resolutions. When you've got lists of pictures to be transformed, use our batch processing. Youâ™ll get lots of of pictures transformed or resized with one click on! ImageConverter is one of the best answer for changing pictures at a most affordable worth.
Listed here are some key options of "Complete Picture Converter":
* All picture codecs
* Complete Picture Converter helps virtually all picture codecs (see the record ->. Itâ™s all-in-one answer for many who don't need to waste effort and time looking for 10 totally different converters to cope with totally different codecs.
* Batch conversion
* When you've got a whole lot of photographs to be transformed, you should use its batch file convert choice. Simply examine the information that you simply need to course of or simply press Choose All button to save lots of your time. Get any quantity of picture information transformed or resized in a single click on!
* three methods of dealing with
* First, there's well-thought consumer interface. Second, Complete Picture Converter seamlessly integrates into Home windows. Meaning that you could be choose the file in your desktop and make right-button mouse click on. You will notice ConvertTo merchandise within the standart Home windows popup menu. And there's additionally Command line help. Run Complete Picture Converter from the command line inside different packages.
* Constructed-in viewer and thumbnails
* Complete Picture Converter has built-in viewer. You could simply view your pictures inside this system earlier than or after the conversion. You'll be able to both work with detailed listing of information (identify, measurement, sort, modify, attributes) or with their thumbnails.
* Resize, rotate, crop, mirror
* With Complete Picture Converter you may also resize, crop, rotate or mirror photographs and alter the colour decision (embrace convert to black and white shade) of your graphics. Apart from, you might regulate White Stability and make gamma correction. Regulate or set Brightness, Distinction or Saturation, apply shadow or use some filter. All this carried out when changing your picture with Complete Picture Converter!
* Watermarking
* Complete Picture Converter allows you to apply watermarks to your pictures! You might add your remark, emblem or date to a single photograph or a bunch of them.
* No particular information required
* Even when you by no means handled picture converters earlier than you'll grasp this system in seconds. This system will itself ask you all of the questions concerning the conversion settings and in case you're at a loss it'll advise you the most effective setting for every conversion. Click on right here to make a fast tour on this system and see how easy it's to make use of it.
* Top quality

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ten workers injured in Gujarat chemical factory blastBy ANI
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
VAPI - At least ten workers were injured in a blast that took place inside a chemical factory here on Wednesday morning.
The reason behind the blast is believed to be increase in the temperature of the chemical reactor.
G. S. Raol, a police inspector, said three people were seriously injured in the blast.
"In Vapi Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation area, there is a company named Arsen Crop Care, which makes chemicals. A blast occurred in the factory between 5.30-6.00 a.m. in which 10 people were injured," said Raol.
"Three people are seriously injured and others have minor injuries. Six people were working inside the factory at that time," he added.
Praveen Joshi, a fire official, said the intensity of the blast was very high, as it damaged the property in a three-kilometer-radius.
"Our browser is damaged badly and four to five fire officials have suffered major injuries. Even doors of our fire staff residences are broken. Five to six labourers, who used to work and live in the factory, were injured," said Joshi.
"One motorbike commuter was also injured in the incident. The blast could be a result of leakage, but leakage of which substance took place is as yet unknown," he added. (ANI)


text:
While regular compactions are an integral part of any healthy Cassandra cluster – the way that they are configured can vary significantly depending on the way a particular table is being used. It is important to take some time when designing a Cassandra table schema to think about how each table will be used, and therefore which compaction strategy will be the most effective.
Although it is possible to change compaction strategies after the table has been created, doing so will have a significant impact on the cluster's performance that is proportionate to the amount of data in the table. This is because Cassandra will re-write all of the data in that table using the new Compaction Strategy.
Cassandra's Write Path
To understand the importance of compactions in Cassandra, you must first understand how Cassandra writes data to disk. The Cassandra write path in a nutshell:
- Cassandra stores recent writes in memory (in a structure called the Memtable).
- When enough writes have been made, Cassandra flushes the Memtable to disk. Data on disk is stored in relatively simple data structures called Sorted String Tables (SSTable). At the most simplified level, an SSTable could be described as a sorted array of strings.
- Before writing a new SSTable, Cassandra merges and pre-sorts the data in the Memtable according by Primary Key. In Cassandra a Primary Key consists of a Partition Key (unique key that determines which node the data is stored on) and any Clustering Keys that have been defined.
- The SSTable is written to disk as a single contiguous write operation. SStables are immutable. Once they are written to disk they are not modified. Any updates to data, or deletion of data within an SSTable is written to a new SSTable. If data is updated regularly, Cassandra may need to read from multiple SSTables to retrieve a single row.
- Compaction operations occur periodically to re-write and combine SSTables. This is required becuase SSTables are immutable (no modifications once written to disk). Compactions prune deleted data and merge disparate row data into new SSTables in order to reclaim disk space and keep read operations optimised.
If you are unfamiliar with Cassandra's write path, please read The write path to compaction from Datastax.
Cassandra Compaction Strategies
Multiple Compaction Strategies are included with Cassandra, and each is optimized for a different use case:
|SizeTiered Compaction Strategy (STCS)
|This is the default compaction strategy. This compaction strategy triggers a compaction when multiple SSTables of a similar size are present. Additional of parameters allow STCS to be tuned to increase or decrease the number of compactions it performs and how tombstones are handled.
|This compaction strategy is good for insert-heavy and general workloads.
|Leveled Compaction Strategy (LCS)
|This strategy groups SSTables into levels, each of which has a fixed size limit which is 10 times larger than the previous level. SSTables are of a fixed, relatively small size (160MB by default) – so if Level 1 might contain 10 SSTables at most, then Level 2 will contain 100 SSTables at most. SSTables are guaranteed to be non-overlapping within each level – if any data overlaps when a table is promoted to the next level, overlapping tables are re-compacted.
For example: when Level 1 is filled, any new SSTables being added to that level are compacted together with any existing tables that contain overlapping data. If these compactions result in Level 1 now containing too many tables, the additional table(s) overflow to Level 2.
|This compaction strategy is the best for read-heavy workloads (because tables within a level are non-overlapping, LCS guarantees that 90% of all reads can be satisfied from a single SSTable) or workloads where there are more updates than there are inserts.
|DateTiered Compaction Strategy (DTCS)
|This compaction strategy is designed for use with time-series data. DTCS stores data written within a the same time period in the same SSTable. Multiple SSTables that are themselves written in the same time window will be compacted together, up until a certain point, after which the SSTables are no longer compacted. SSTables are also configured with a TTL. SSTables that are older than the TTL will be dropped, incurring zero compaction overhead.
|DTCS is highly performant and efficient, but only if the workload matches the strict requirements of DTCS. DTCS is not designed to be used with workloads where there are updates to old data or inserts that are out of order. If your workload does not fit these requirements, you may be better off using STCS and using a bucketing key (such as hour/day/week) to break up your data.
Configuring a Compaction Strategy
Compaction options are configured at the table level via CQLSH. This allows each table to be optimised based on how it will be used. If a compaction strategy is not specified, SizeTieredCompactionStrategy will be used.
ALTER TABLE mytable
WITH compaction =
{ 'class' : 'SizeTieredCompactionStrategy' }
Take a look at the compaction sub properties documentation for more information on the options that are available to tweak for each compaction strategy. The default options are generally sufficient for most workloads. We suggest leaving the default options initially, and modifying them as required if a table is not meeting performance expectations.


text:
GnD Publishing LLC
Type your paragraph here.
GnD Publishing LLC by was created by award-winning author, George A Bernstein. Like so many other previously unpublished and unknown authors, his first novel, Trapped, was rejected dozens of times (mostly form letters). As a successful business man and retired President of a small, publicly held appliance manufacturing firm, Mr. Bernstein realized it required more than raw talent to really succed as an author. He began attending classes at several top writers conferences and author seminars, learning the building blocks of creating a blockbuster novel and polishing his craft and distinctive "voice." He applied his new skills to rewriting Trapped, and it won a small indie publisher's "Next Great American Novel" contest, going on to become an Amazon Top 100 Novel. Having endured so many challenges to become a success, Mr. Bernstein decided it was time to use what he had learned to give the unknown author a legitimate path to publishing, bypassing the usually unattainable agent required by most publishers.
GnD Publishing LLC publishes quality novels by debut and unpublished authors that have been ignored by agents and mainstream publishers, solely because they are debut and/or previously unpublished. We accept submissions directly from authors, not agents, and are geared to help new authors maximize income from their novels.
READERS: All of our books can be found in retail book stores, or Amazon, or can be purchased directly from GnD Publishing LLC. If your favorite bookstore is out, ask them to order a copy for you. We are hard at work with several quality authors to bring you more riveting fiction to choose from.
AUTHORS: If you are interested in a possible publishing contract with GnD Publishing LLC, please read our pages on PUBLISHING, SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES, ARTICLES, and FAQs before submitting a Query e-mail. We read all Queries, responding with an e-mailed acknowledgement, and usually get back to you within 1 - 3 weeks as to our decision on your work. We promise not to send a form letter.
RETAIL BOOK SELLERS: Contact us through our Contact Page or e-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.com regarding our discount and return policies, which are in line with industry standards.
QUESTIONS: Feel free to ask us anything, using the form on our Contact Page, or through e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
We look forward to serving you.
Publisher of qualitry novels by debut and previously unpublished authors


text:
To make reservations by phone, dial freephone 0800 221 222 in the UK, 1 800 409 929 in Ireland, or view our regional telephone reservation numbers.
Welcome Pedestals
The new state-of–the–art lobby at the Downtown Providence Courtyard features a new, more personal arrival experience that is sure to delight even the most traveled road warrior.
Queen/Queen Guest Room
This guest room features two queen-size beds with luxury bedding, high-speed Internet access and a flat-panel television.
King Guest Room
Our spacious and comfortable guest rooms featuring a king-size bed with luxury bedding, have a flat-panel television, sweeping views of the city and high-speed Internet access.
Deluxe King Guest Room
Our spacious and comfortable Deluxe King Guest Rooms feature a king size bed with luxury bedding, coffee bar area and two sitting chairs.
Deluxe King Guest Bathroom
Our deluxe king guest bathroom feature a large shower, granite counter tops, makeup mirror and Paul Mitchell bath products.
Guest Bathroom
The updated bathrooms feature granite countertops, curved shower curtain rods, makeup mirror and Paul Mitchell travel amenities.
King Suite
Our suites offer cotton-rich linens with designer covers, fluffy pillows and comfortable mattresses. We even have a pull-out sofa for extra sleeping space and many amenities, including free Internet access.
The Market
Guests at the Downtown Providence Courtyard can enjoy on-the-go snacks, beverages, microwaveable, healthy food items, and any necessities 24 hours a day in our Market. We feature a variety of name brand drinks, snacks and food items.
Our signature GoBoard, an interactive, touch screen informational display panel, located in our lobby, allows you to access driving directions, view local weather, find a restaurant and catch up on all the latest news.
Business Center
Stay connected with free high-speed Internet access and complimentary printing services.
Home Theater
Catch a game, television show, or read a book while relaxing on our cozy living room with plush couches and luxurious throw pillows.
Media Pods
Guests can enjoy the flexible and functional open spaces of the new lobby design. These comfortable media pods feature free wireless high-speed Internet access, power outlets for all your on-the-go devices and a private television and remote.
The Bistro
The Bistro provides freshly prepared high quality meals and beverages in a quick serve café environment. Breakfast features Starbucks coffee, healthy fruit, yogurt parfaits, egg sandwiches and a wide selection of pastries. In the evening, The Bistro offers hot fresh sandwiches, entrée salads, soups and a selection of craft beers and quality wines.
Healthy Start Breakfast Sandwich
Start your day with our Healthy Start sandwich made with egg whites, roast turkey, spinach, Havarti cheese on an English muffin.
Spicy Chicken & Spinach Flatbread
The Bistro offers several flatbreads to choose from: Spicy Chicken and Spinach, Tomato Mozzarella and BBQ Chicken.
Water Fire at Waterplace Park
Voted one of the Nations top 10 special events, Water Fire is a spectacular art installation of over 100 burning bonfires blazing on the three rivers in Downtown Providence.
RISD Museum
The Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum features historical exhibits and is located just steps away from our hotel.
Meeting Room Conference Setup
With complimentary Wi-Fi and spacious meeting rooms, we have our guests needs in mind. Our rooms offer a private environment with natural light that is suitable for corporate and social events.
Meeting Room U-Shape Setup
Our meeting rooms feature complimentary Wi-Fi suited for your needs. Book one of our spacious meeting rooms for your next meeting.
Meeting Room Classroom Setup
Designed for small to medium-size gatherings, when deciding on where to host your next meeting, choose from one of our four meeting rooms.


text:
Elmhurst continued its 8-day-old ban on lawn sprinkling Monday after a weekend in which the water supply ``just about met demand,`` and has authorized 12-hour days and 6-day workweeks for employees to get one well back in operation.
William Gray, city public works director, said water usage over the weekend was at about 7 million gallons a day, which is what the city can pump from its 6 operating wells. However, Well No. 9 is being repaired and another is out of service because of the hardness of the water.


text:
While the Mariners try to figure out what to do with outfielder Milton Bradley, the man they traded to the Chicago Cubs says he will be in the starting rotation on Opening Day.
Right-hander Carlos Silva told the Chicago Tribune that he believes his spot in the rotation is set despite last season's heart and elbow problems.
"I am one of the starters, you know what I mean?" Silva said.
That's not to say the club has confirmed his spot in the rotation. Silva acknowledged the decision is out of his hands.
"Whatever happened with my heart and then with my elbow, I don't think it's a reason to take me out of the rotation," Silva said. "But they're the bosses. They're the ones making the decisions. But like I say, if I have to win my spot, I'll do it. I have no problem with that."
When the Mariners sent Silva to the Cubs for Bradley, it looked like a swap of overpaid dead weight.
But Silva, 31, made 21 starts last season, going a respectable 10-6 with a 4.22 ERA, 80 strikeouts and 22 walks in 113 innings. It was a drastic improvement over 2009 with the Mariners, when he went 1-3 with an 8.60 ERA in six starts and two relief appearances and spent the second half of the season sitting in the bullpen.
Bradley, 32, battled physical and emotional problems last season and appeared in just 73 games for the Mariners. He hit .205 with a .292 on-base percentage and a .348 slugging percentage with eight home runs and 29 RBIs.
He was arrested earlier this year and his role with the Mariners is unclear after the acquisition of designated hitter Jack Cust.
It looks like the Cubs got the better end of that deal.
For more Mariners news, visit the front page of the Mariners blog.


text:
Theres still time to save the planet, say scientistsOctober 8th, 2008 - 12:55 pm ICT by ANI
London, Oct 8 (ANI): A new research has suggested that if humans do everything they can to cap emissions of greenhouse gases, they might be able to prevent more global warming, and save the planet.
According to a report in New Scientist, this is the conclusion of one of the most thorough attempts so far to look at where concrete climate policies could leave the world in terms of global warming.
If we are not so lucky, temperatures are more likely to be around 1.4 degree Celsius warmer; and if we are unlucky and do nothing to reduce our emissions, the average global temperature by century end could be as much as 7.7 degree Celsius warmer than in 1890.
In its latest report, published in January 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the global average temperature could rise by between 1.1 degree Celsius and 6.4 degree Celsius by 2100.
The 0.5 degree Celsius to 7.7 degree Celsius estimate is more realistic, according to Detlef van Vuuren of the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency.
This is because, unlike the IPCC, he and colleagues have included in their models different climate policies that could be adopted over the coming century.
The emissions scenarios used by the IPCC do describe how the world could develop in years to come, in terms of population and economic growth.
But, they do not take into account any government initiatives such as the Kyoto protocol to impose emissions caps.
In theory, such initiatives should bring temperatures down.
Van Vuuren coordinated the efforts of modelling teams around the world to plug 15 policy scenarios into two simple climate change models.
The policy scenarios describe regulatory futures that are both technically and economically conceivable. They range from very stringent to very lax, and include things like the EUs target to reduce its emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
In the most stringent ones, global emissions peak between 2020 and 2040 then drop to nothing by 2100.
In some, the land and oceans actually absorb greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere by 2100, thanks to policies that encourage the planting of new forests and capture and store the emissions generated by burning biofuels.
These extreme scenarios lead to an average warming of 1.4 degree Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100.
There are a number of uncertainties in our understanding of the climate, said van Vuuren. If we turned out to be really lucky, we could see a 0.5 degree Celsius rise, he added. (ANI)
Tags: average temperature, change models, climate policies, coming century, degree celsius, detlef, economic growth, environment assessment, futures, global emissions, global temperature, global warming, government initiatives, greenhouse gases, intergovernmental panel on climate change, intergovernmental panel on climate change ipcc, kyoto protocol, new scientist, policy scenarios, target


text:
:: Home
nervous system guide
Within the brain and the
outer spinal cord, millions of nerve cells lie close to one another.
Even though they have almost no insulation separating them, they
usually function perfectly, relaying
messages and forming memory connections. Like a perfectly functioning
computer chip, each electrical impulse maintains its distinct path.
But not every electrical
signal follows its programmed path. Imagine a single uncontrolled
burst of impulses, sweeping across the brain like a static shock.
As these wild signals spread, unpredictable reactions occur. You
can see the difference between normal brain waves and erratic ones
in the graphic below. During a seizure the victim may become disoriented
for a second, or lose consciousness for even longer ...
sometimes the muscles receive nonsense messages and contract violently
in a reaction called a convulsion.
loss and convulsions can be a symptom of a condition called epilepsy.
It can be the result of head injury, infection, high temperature,
tumors, stroke, or drug abuse, or it can occur without any of these
causes. Between brainstorms, the person with epilepsy is completely
normal; the condition is not directly related to any other disability
or mental condition.
In many cases epileptic
seizures can be controlled by drug therapy. In a few serious cases,
surgery has been used to isolate the source of the erratic messages.
:: Top of page
:: Site credits: National Science Teachers Association,
Medtronic Foundation


text:
New Survey Indicates Small Merchants May Be Putting Up Roadblocks to Mobile Consumers
Latest research from TransFirst® and ControlScan® offers help to merchants to adapt to immediate and future mobile payment needs.
Jun 13, 2013, 09:09 ET from TransFirst
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A newly released research report from TransFirst, leading provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, and ControlScan, a payment security and compliance solution provider, shares important insights into small merchants' progress and challenges in implementing various mobile payment technologies.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110824/DA57366LOGO)
The mobile payment acceptance survey, Small Merchants and Mobile Payments: 2013 Survey on Technology Awareness and Adoption, examines the business impacts of widespread mobile device use and the accompanying sudden increase of mobile-friendly applications. According to the survey, 82 percent of ecommerce merchants don't know whether a purchase on their website comes from a mobile device or a PC — yet data from those who do indicates that mobile site visitors are representing a significantly increasing portion of online sales.
Another key finding of the survey shows 49 percent of ecommerce merchants know their websites are not currently optimized for mobile devices and an additional 17 percent say they don't know or are unsure about their site's current status — revealing that as many as two-thirds of these merchants may be putting up roadblocks to the growing number of mobile consumers.
Ten percent of respondents to last year's benchmark Mobile Payment Acceptance Survey said they were using a smartphone or tablet to accept credit card payments. That number has almost doubled to 17 percent in less than one year's time.
"The mobile consumer is knocking at the small merchant's door," said Craig Tieken, Director of Product at TransFirst. "Business owners who aren't already up to speed with mobile payment acceptance need to have a viable plan of action to get there."
"The mobile payment survey findings show that small merchants have a real business need to effectively adapt to mobile technology trends," agreed Dave Abouchar, Sr. Director of Product Management for ControlScan. "Now is the time for ISOs and acquirers to embrace these trends with innovative offerings that guide their merchants toward business growth and increased revenue."
The survey was sent to small to mid-sized businesses representing service areas such as retail and consumer goods, healthcare and human services, personal and professional services, and restaurant and hospitality. Responses from more than 1650 merchants were collected from March 18 to April 18 of this year. Three-quarters of survey respondents' businesses have 10 or fewer employees.
The full report is available now for download. In addition, Tieken and Abouchar will present an expert review of the survey's findings in a June 27 Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) webinar entitled "Small Merchants and Mobile Payments: Measuring Current Technology Awareness and Adoption."
About TransFirst (www.transfirst.com)
A leading provider of secure credit card and payment processing services and payment enabling technologies, TransFirst, offers innovative products and services designed with financial institution, independent sales organization, healthcare, e-commerce, government and merchant customers' unique needs in mind. By collaborating with our customers and utilizing strong industry knowledge, we can help them grow their businesses. Founded in 1995, TransFirst continues to attain significant market share and world-class expertise in growing and profitable industry segments. Built on a platform of personal service, customer commitment and flexible pricing, TransFirst is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, and has operations facilities in Aurora, Colorado; Broomfield, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; Overland Park, Kansas; Franklin, Tennessee; and Cypress, California; and executive headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Company-wide, TransFirst currently processes approximately $37 billion in annual sales volume for approximately 190,000 merchants and financial institution partners. For additional information, please call 800.745.2659 or visit www.TransFirst.com.
About ControlScan (www.controlscan.com)
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, ControlScan delivers payment security and compliance solutions to a global network of payment service providers and the merchants they serve. The company's innovative approach to secure hosted payment and PCI compliance solutions leverages technology, education and services to provide flexible options for its customers. Known for its thought leadership, ControlScan gives its customers a clear view of marketplace issues and trends so they can remain competitive. For more information, please visit www.controlscan.com or call 1-800-825-3301.
SOURCE TransFirst


text:
NEWS: Fathoms confirm headline UK tour for August 2015!
July 21st, 2015
Rising metallic hardcore unit Fathoms have just announced details of a headline tour run across the UK next month, bringing along newcomers An Elegy for the duration as main support. You can check out all dates of the tour listed below:
AUGUST 16 – LONDON, The Black Heart
AUGUST 17 – CARDIFF, Fuel
AUGUST 18 – STOKE-ON-TRENT, Tech Noir
AUGUST 19 – NEWCASTLE, The Globe
AUGUST 20 – BIRMINGHAM, Rainbow Cellar
AUGUST 21 – DERBY, Victoria Inn
AUGUST 23 – SOUTHAMPTON, Talking Heads


text:
When Elisabeth Murdoch resigned her senior executive post at BSkyB, the company that was chaired by her father Rupert and would soon be run by her younger brother James, the corporate world assumed she had ruled herself out of the race to succeed Murdoch Sr as one the world's most powerful media moguls.
That left Lachlan, the second of Rupert Murdoch's four children from his second marriage, as the candidate most likely to inherit News Corp, the sprawling £30bn multinational in which the Murdoch family has a 30 per cent stake. But Lachlan has since returned to the beaches of Sydney to spend time with his wife and young family, leaving James, newly installed as the second most powerful executive at News Corp, as heir apparent should the company accede to Rupert's wish to retain the family connection.
But perhaps it would be unwise to discount Elisabeth, who turns 40 this year, as a possible heir to her father's throne, even if it is difficult to divine whether she might ever want to claim it. Her production company Shine, founded in 2001, looks set to become one of the TV industry's largest and most powerful programme-makers, demonstrating that she possesses plenty of the business acumen for which her family is famed.
Progress has hardly been swift. Shine started out making shows for Sky, among others, and for many years is was just one of dozens of 'indies' trying to pitch ideas in a hugely competitive market, forever in search of that elusive hit show. It lost a few million in its first years, and made a modest profit in 2005, the last for which figures are available. But in the last 12 months Elisabeth has exhibited a newfound flair for deal-making that must make her father proud, snapping up four rivals on both sides of the Atlantic, and making Shine the UK's fourth largest indie, according to Broadcast magazine, with a predicted turnover of around $400m this year. The woman who walked away from the family business is quietly building a media empire of her own.
Although she rarely gives interviews - the last appeared in the pages of The Observer four years ago - it is widely believed that Elisabeth wanted to escape from her father's shadow, and although her critics carp that the family name opens doors, it would be churlish to deny she has done things the hard way since leaving Sky - starting a business from scratch and turning it into a truly global programme-maker operating in different genres, from entertainment to drama and comedy.
That is a difficult trick to pull off. Young production companies usually begin by making a single programme and grow by finding a niche; quiz shows, perhaps, or cookery programmes. With characteristic ambition, Murdoch decided to make every kind of programme from the outset, and dabble in advertising, feature films and new media for good measure, a decision that prompted criticism that the company lacked focus. There were modest successes, including innovative teen drama Sugar Rush, but it took acquisitions to add ground-breaking series to its roster of shows.
Last year, it bought Kudos, which makes Spooks, Echo Beach and Life on Mars; Princess Productions; and Firefly. Then, just before Christmas, Murdoch pulled off the biggest deal of them all, agreeing to buy Ugly Betty producer Reveille, the biggest US indie, for $200m. When the deal closes, it will take the company - now called Shine Group - into the huge American market.
Although other British groups have broken into the US, and sold hugely successful formats including Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, very few have retained ownership of their franchises, and none of them operate across such a broad spectrum of genres.
The idea with Shine, as Murdoch explained in an industry speech last week, is to take successful formats from the US to the UK, and vice versa, and to protect the business from changing industry trends. 'The demand for products across platforms doesn't falter - in fact, it is still growing - but tastes and economics can differ wildly from cycle to cycle,' she said.
Finally, Shine is starting to look like a content company with clout, run by a member of a family for whom failure is unthinkable and in which success is taken for granted. The attention the family name brings with it - much of it unwelcome - is something Elisabeth has learnt to live with,
'You have to laugh it off,' she has said 'It's a matter of fact, part of life. It doesn't bother me.' But the constant chatter about her father and over-achieving siblings means she usually maintains a stony silence in public, despite the fact that she is married to Matthew Freud, a man who has made a small fortune from public relations.
That is a pity, according to those who know her; they describe her as huge fun and a pleasure to work with. Alex Mahon, her number two at Shine Group, says her boss is 'charming, creative, intelligent, driven, passionate' and just plain 'nice'. Any sensible employee might say that, of course, but Murdoch is genuinely popular in the industry and widely admired for putting together a company staffed by some of the most talented players in the industry.
The TV market is consolidating rapidly, with 'super-indies' buying smaller rivals, and Shine is now large enough to be among their number. Murdoch has lured some talented executives into the business by giving them equity and, more importantly, trying to create a culture where those who have sold up want to stay on. She has described it as 'a centre of creative excellence, with one of the best teams in the marketplace'.
She is a 'consensus builder', says Mahon - a quality not commonly associated with her father. 'She has made a success of it in her own right. Presumably, it's in the genes.'
Elisabeth is sensitive to charges of nepotism, but in truth she has not left the family firm behind. Sky was a shareholder in Shine from the outset, albeit a small one, owning around 3 per cent of the group. But now it has dramatically upped its stake, from 2.88 per cent to 11.3 per cent, partly to provide the company with the financial firepower needed to pull off big deals. Sony and venture capital firm 3i have also invested in the company, but Sky's new, increased, share has not been revealed until now.
Sky is, of course, part-owned by News Corp, whose complex network of companies reflect the Byzantine nature of the Murdoch family itself.
Murdoch has six children, the youngest two by his third wife Wendi Deng, further complicating his succession plans, but perhaps he has not given up hope that Elisabeth may one day return to the fold. Soon after she departed, he said: 'She is very settled into the London scene and what she is doing. I don't think she wants to return, at least for a few years. She wants to be sure she has been successful in her own right. She will probably sell Shine for a bloody fortune. And then she will come knocking on the door - and she will be very welcome.'


text:
Last update:
- irene closet
- blogger
- ripped jeans
- knitted sweater
- pom pom beanie
- winter boots
edit tags
cancelTag what you see on the picture : clothes, celebrities, bloggers, series, movies and brands.
Originally posted 38 months ago bythereisbeautyindarkness
Where to get these shoes?
Boots / stivali: karma of charme
0 tip - post a tip - comment
Be the first to post a tip. You will help 1 person.Do you have fashionista friends? Ask them if they know where to get these jeans!
$ £ €


text:
Spain confirms mutual expulsion of diplomats with RussiaDecember 29th, 2010 - 11:53 am ICT by IANS
Madrid, Dec 29 (IANS/EFE) Spain's foreign ministry confirmed Tuesday that Russia expelled two Spanish diplomats in response to Madrid's decision last month to expel two Russians "for conducting activities incompatible with their status".The two Spanish diplomats expelled from Moscow last week have the rank of secretary, Foreign Ministry sources told EFE.
The Spanish daily La Razon reported Dec 10 that the expulsion of the two Russian officials was due to their engaging in acts of espionage.
Both governments "consider the incident over and done with, and are working to staff their diplomatic delegations as soon as possible", the Spanish foreign ministry said.
Spain's top diplomat, Trinidad Jimenez, will fly to Moscow Jan 16 to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the purpose of settling the crisis once and for all, and to review the state of bilateral relations.
Spain and Russia will celebrate the 2011 "Dual Year" with the goal of strengthening political, economic, cultural and social ties, and the Spanish foreign ministry said that "the entire programme of activities for that event remains as planned".
Russian officials have made no comments as yet about the incident of the expulsions.
Jimenez proceeded to banish the two Russian diplomats following a request from the director of Spain's CNI intelligence service, Gen. Felix Sanz Roldan, who presented "solid proof" of espionage, the Madrid daily El Pais said.
This has been one of the most notorious diplomatic conflicts since Spain and Russia re-established relations in February 1977, 18 months after the end of the Franco dictatorship.
The two countries had another significant incident in July 2007, when the CNI announced the arrest of ex-agent Roberto Florez for offering Russia classified information.
The CNI's then-chief, Alberto Saiz, gave an unprecedented press conference at which he explained the case, which he defined as "unique in the history of Spanish intelligence services", though it did not endanger the security of Spain, NATO or the European Union.
Florez was sentenced to 12 years in jail in democratic Spain's first prosecution for treason, but the Supreme Court last week reduced his sentence to nine years.
The high court concluded that it was not proved that Florez revealed the information to Russia, though he could have had the intention of offering it to that nation's secret service.
- Russia expels two Spanish diplomats in response to expulsion of two Russian diplomats - Dec 29, 2010
- Spain expels Libyan envoy - Jun 17, 2011
- Spain demands apology from Iran for diplomat's arrest - Feb 16, 2011
- Canada has not expelled diplomats: Russia - Jan 21, 2012
- Spain prepares to temporarily close its embassy in Libya - Mar 02, 2011
- Libyan rebels seek financial help from Spain - Jul 22, 2011
- Russia to retaliate for diplomat's expulsion from Ireland - Feb 02, 2011
- Ireland reveals name of expelled Russian diplomat - Feb 04, 2011
- Al Qaeda planned to attack Gibraltar during Olympics - Aug 06, 2012
- Spanish jobless rate climbs above 24 percent - Apr 28, 2012
- Diplomat's expulsion: Venezuela to close Miami consulate - Jan 14, 2012
- Spanish journalist to be freed from Cuban prison - Jan 17, 2012
- New album mixes flamenco and Mexican songs - Nov 22, 2011
- Four journalists held by Gaddafi forces: Human Rights Watch - Apr 08, 2011
- Spain carries out 94 organ transplants in 72 hours - Dec 06, 2011
Tags: alberto saiz, bilateral relations, classified information, cni, delegations, dictatorship, efe, espionage, expulsions, felix sanz roldan, florez, intelligence service, la razon, ministry sources, russian diplomats, russian officials, sergei lavrov, social ties, spanish foreign ministry, trinidad jimenez


text:
This article was originally published in the May 1997 issue of Playboy.
Stately, plump Donald J. Trump drapes his right arm over the back of a wicker sofa, balancing his breakfast at arm's length on a white plate. Stacked on the plate are a dozen strips of fried bacon. Just bacon. It's part of this diet. The greatest diet. All protein. The best. He reaches with his left hand across his body to the plate, picks off a stiff piece with two famously stubby fingers, steers it to his famously curled lips and chomps off the end.
In a sense this is the anti-Marla diet, in that Donald's famously young and flamboyantly blonde second wife disdains red meat and has been known to drop sprout-like foods on his plate (which he promptly passes to whomever sits nearby—"What the fuck is this? Want it?"). The Trumpster has lost 20 pounds on his diet, by his own large reckoning.
He is still pudgy. His brown belt bites gently into soft flesh under a white polo shirt and white pants. His square pink face is widening bottomward like a baobab, slackening from chin to sternum, easing into Churchillian jowls. Blond eyebrows spray up on the famous low brow, over small pale-blue eyes. The famous world-by-a-string smirking playboy face has gained gravitas. Last June, the Donald turned 50. Wunderkind no more.
Still, there is much to celebrate. Six years back Trump was a black hole of collapsed speculation, by his own estimate $900 million in debt. It was, befitting his obsession with being biggest and best, a downfall worthy of cosmological metaphor, positively Saganesque. Trump was the symbol of the free-borrowing Reagan era left for tabloid feed, beset by harpy bankers, divorcing and mired in gossip, a bloated carcass on the shoulder of America's celebrity interstate.
That was then. Check again. Forbes recently low-balled his worth at $450 million. While he is not yet the colossus of Manhattan he seemed to be in his heyday, he is certainly no longer "the poorest guy in the world," which is how he described himself six years ago. It takes, one casino analyst estimates, about $1 million a month to support his lifestyle. He can afford it. He takes in about $1.2 billion a year from his casinos alone. Donald insists he's doing better today than he ever has, which is what he always says. Except now there's hard evidence. He was insulted by the Forbes estimate, which placed him near the bottom of that magazine's list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, behind Robert Petersen, publisher of Hot Rod magazine. Phoning from a red-velvet seat in his black Boeing 727, he defiantly highballed back a net worth of $2 billion, complaining, "I've got $450 million in stock market assets alone!"
He suffers skeptics. Few have ever been able to see the same Trump in full raiment that he sees in the mirror. He's back building in New York and throwing his weight around Atlantic City. He has casinos, beauty pageants, office towers, condos, country clubs, mansions. He's building the world's biggest yacht to replace the one he had to sell. He's exploring markets in Moscow. Even in his tin cup days, Trump never slipped from the lap of Manhattan luxury, and his Barnumesque sense of showmanship (and humor) is intact. His public image is still a cartoon, with his inveterate boasting, kamikaze candor and defiant ostentation—"People say the Eighties are dead, all the luxury, the extravagance. I say 'What?' Am I supposed to change my taste because it's a new decade? That's bullshit."
Still, the decade has altered him. Maybe it was the near bankruptcy, the loss of several close friends in a helicopter crash or the years of brutal press. Maybe it is his marriage to Marla, or the sobering landmark of 50 years. But Trump has changed. His bombast now comes with a growl. He knows he can fail, but he also knows it won't kill him, which emboldens a man. His trials have encouraged a sad, sometimes morbid, strain. "When I was 38, it was all going to last forever," he says wistfully.
On the occasion of that big, round birthday number, that midlife passage, Maria threw a party at Trump Tower, a large party with 400 very close friends. There were strawberries and champagne for everyone, and there was a statue of Trump fashioned out of sugar, showing him dressed like Superman (with a dollar sign on his chest). Eartha Kitt sang Happy Birthday as 600 golden balloons descended. Golden-locked two-year-old Tiffany Trump attempted a song and dance, cute as cute can be. It was swell. The power years. At 50 the man still has the will and damn sure knows the way. A little sunny and a little sad. Full bloom of life…
"I hate being 50. It's really a fucking disaster."
"How do you mean?"
"A disaster. Guy calls me. Haven't seen him for years. He stops by my office. This is a guy, this guy, he had the women lined up. I mean, lined up. Nobody had women like this guy. I haven't seen him in about 20 years. He shows up in my office and he's this big, fat, bald guy. I didn't say this to him, but I'm thinking, Holy shit, what the fuck happened to you? You know? Then it occurs to me. He's looking across the desk at me, probably thinking the same damn thing."
Another chomp of bacon. Donald is putting on a show, a command performance in his weekend whites with a blue Trump Tower cap pulled down low on his forehead. He's enjoying himself. The wicker sofa is on the great curving back patio of Mar-a-Lago, his Italianate castle in Palm Beach. Moorish-patterned tile stretches up 20 feet behind him. He's looking out over a patio, lush gardens, muscular art deco sculpture, the pool, a nine-hole chipping golf course, acres of swaying palms ($300 each, an unbelievable deal!) and, in the distance, the choppy purple waters of Lake Worth. From the house's central tower one can look out over the orange Spanish-die roof east across the front yard to the Atlantic, and west to the lake. Hence the name Mar-a-Lago, or "Sea-to-Lake." Donald and Maria and Tiffany stay in one wing; the rest is now a high-priced club and spa. He is directing dozens of renovations at once, big and small. His estate manager is here, along with several other members of the Florida staff, this writer and Maria, the drape lady. This morning Donald is choosing ballroom drapes. Maria has lots of samples at her feet and on her lap. Twenty-one flavors of gold. She knows she's in the ballpark and she's looking for a little guidance here—Trump is notoriously fussy—but he isn't being too helpful.
"They released the Valujet tape," he says. "Did you hear it? The cockpit tape? You don't want to hear it. Is that a fucking nightmare, or what? Smoke filled the cockpit so bad the pilots had to get out. Can you imagine being a passenger on that plane? You're out of control, and you look up and the pilots come running out of the cockpit. No fucking hope. You got about 30 seconds before you hit."
Maria the drape lady has gone pale.
"And you're going down in the Everglades, in the swamp, so if the crash doesn't kill you—I got these Seminole Indian guys, friends of mine, great guys, you should meet these guys, the plane went down just a few miles from their reservation. They tell me they've got the world's fucking hungriest gators in this swamp—so if you're lucky enough to be alive after you hit, the fucking gators are coming after you. And if the gators miss you, the moccas—that's what they call water moccasins; you guys ain't from New York, we got our own machas up there—will get you. And these fucking things are vicious. They bite you and in two minutes you're completely paralyzed and in three minutes you're dead. Can you fucking imagine this?"
Donald takes another chomp of bacon. Maria and the others are stuck in awful reverie, the smoke, the dropping plane, the crash, the water, the mud, the gators, the moccas.
"But, on a more pleasant topic," says Donald, not missing a beat, "the ballroom. Maria," He gestures to the men around him. "This woman, she's the best, the best! Does all my drapes. All of them. She's a genius." Maria blushes.
"I want it really rich, Maria. Rich, rich, elegant, incredible."
He's up now, moving again, plate in hand. The men rise. Maria is still seated plaintively with her samples.
"Really rich," Donald says, looking back over his shoulder. "Don't disappoint me, Maria."
Performance is all with Trump. Fantasy is his business, no less than it was with Walt Disney, and he expects his hired help to deliver. The drapes must be incredible. His is a magic kingdom of perfect luxury, a life without stain, without wear and tear, without malfunction, mistake or delay. Perfect ease surrounded by brilliant people and beautiful things, a life without failure, distraction or care. Trump's own life sets the standard and is meant to be seen. Being seen is key. This is more than mere showing off. Like Disney's, Trump's is an inclusive fantasy. It's what endears him to his public, despite his excesses. When he bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985, he noticed that Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built the house to host fabulous flapper-era parties, had constructed a berm out where the front yard abuts Route A1A. That way, the view from the house looked right over the busy highway. One saw only ocean and sand. Donald ordered the berm lowered. If the road could not be seen from the house, then the house could not be seen from the road. Trump does not buy one of the most fabulous houses in North America to have people drive past without noticing it. Exhibitionism is part of the fantasy. He wants others to watch, to dream and to spend, from the little old ladies who yank his slot machines and scream when he walks across the casino floor to the Palm Beach climbers who shell out $100,000 to join Mar-a-Lago and stand in line at receptions to shake Donald's hand.
For a while the fantasy fell apart. The clock tolled midnight on the Eighties and—poof!—Trump's carriage and horses turned into pumpkin and mice. His wealth, his marriage and his image crumbled. He has his own version of what happened and why down pat. It was his fault:
"I got a little too complacent. I definitely blame myself for it. I came out of Wharton and it was, like, boom! Fifteen years of unbroken success. One thing after another. And I got to thinking, This is easy. I got complacent. I just didn't work like I used to work."
And it wasn't:
"I relied too much on guys who were supposed to be experts. You can have a guy with degrees from Harvard and Wharton, who's amazingly knowledgeable and smart, who knocks your socks off with credentials, know what I mean? And if he doesn't have touch, you're screwed. I was turning over too much of my business to guys like that. I figured, Why should I do everything? Let those guys handle it. But you have to have touch. It's like Jack Nicklaus and putting. It's something you're born with. I'm convinced of that."
The real story is more complex. It was partly Trump's fault, partly not. He may have been the loudest, but he certainly wasn't the only builder and real estate speculator leveraged out the eyeballs in the Eighties. His string of early successes intoxicated bankers. He signed his name and money poured his way—$400 million for the Plaza Hotel, $365 million to buy Eastern Airline's troubled Northeast shuttle service, $63 million for the Atlantis casino. His name was magic. Trump never intended to repay all this money by the formal terms of the loans. The game was to refinance strategically, keep dozens of balls in the air at once. Trump turned borrowing from Peter to pay Paul into an art form—the art of the deal. He took the sturdy station wagon of a fortune his father, Fred, gave him and drove it off like a fancy sports car, selling bankers and politicians on his dreams. From the start it was about fantasy, about bathrooms with marble walls and gold fixtures, about glass towers the color of gold, having the largest living room in the world, the coolest helicopter, the biggest yacht. People loved it. They paid more for Trump's condos and hotel rooms, and they flocked to his casinos. Trump's empire wasn't built on sand, it was built on fantasy.
Trump wasn't out on a ledge alone. His bankers were handcuffed to the legend they helped create.
Then the rules changed. Donald blames a lot of things for the collapse. There was "the stupid 1986 tax act," which limited depreciation. Real estate losses could no longer be offset to the same extent by increased earnings, which drove investors away and popped the inflated Manhattan real estate market like a balloon. Liquidity dried up. Anyone heavily leveraged was doomed. Trump says the act "destroyed the economy, destroyed the banks." Matters worsened in the wake of the savings and loan scandal, when the feds tightened lending practices. Then the junk bond market, one of Trump's favorite sources of cash, collapsed. "Boom! The curtain came down," Trump says. "I don't care how great you are, when you're bucking a three-year depression, you're going to have a tough time."
Behind the scenes in 1990, bankers were clamoring for interest payments Donald could no longer afford. Out front, he was still the great and powerful Oz, still boasting of his deal-making genius and continuing triumphs. His second book was a best-seller, he was planning to build the world's biggest yacht and the world's tallest building and was about to open the world's biggest gaming palace. But the curtain was pulled back when The Philadelphia Inquirer's Atlantic City reporter, David Johnston, got hold of confidential financial statements Trump had filed with Atlantic City's Casino Control Commission in 1990. According to news reports, the financial analysis showed that Trump's holdings were worth only half of what he said, which meant, given all the money he owed, he was on a high ledge.
"Actually, it was worse than that," says Stephen Bollenbach, the graybearded wizard of corporate salvage who boarded the sinking USS Trump in 1990 at the insistence of Donald's lenders. "Donald was broke. He was worse than broke. He was losing money every day, and he was already hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. The truth was, he had been only a kind of paper millionaire to begin with. He owed lots more than he had, and he was getting poorer every day."
Trump was on a ledge, but he wasn't out there alone. Bollenbach's key insight was that Trump's bankers and investors were handcuffed to the legend they had helped create.
"Ironically, the fact that he was so overextended worked to his benefit when the real estate market collapsed," says Bollenbach. "He already had his financing. They were stuck with him."
The break in Trump's free fall came when he started calling his creditors' bluffs. Bollenbach remembers an $800,000 quarterly insurance premium for the Trump Princess. Trump was personally indebted $115 million to a Boston bank for the yacht. He assumed if he failed to make the insurance payment, the bank would seize the boat. Bollenbach argued that the yacht was worth a lot more to the bank as the Trump Princess than as just another 282-foot yacht with its own laser-lit disco and 13-nozzle shower carved in onyx. Who besides Trump would want or could afford such a thing? Since the bank effectively owned most of the yacht anyway, who would get hurt worse if it sank?
Bollenbach sent the bank a note "as a courtesy," he says, explaining that Trump, as a cost-cutting measure, would not be making the insurance payment. When he got the bank's response, Bollenbach strode down the hall to Donald's 26th-floor Trump Tower office and announced, "They made the payment."
"I can't believe it!" said Donald.
Here was the principle that would save Trump. The anchor of debt around his neck was heavy enough to sink a few banks if he went down. The banks knew it, and now Donald did, too. He still had many hard decisions to make. Bollenbach would corner him in his office with ultimatums.
Once you have enough to eat and live, money is about ego.
Donald Trump
"It was like, 'You can have A, B or C. You pick,"' he recalls. "Even months after I arrived, I think Donald believed he might be able to keep everything, that the world would get better if he only had more time. But after a couple of months of my beating on him, he realized the game was over. It got so bad that one day, when we were all boarding his helicopter for a trip to Atlantic City, the airlift facility refused to fuel the helicopter. One of the guys took out his own Mobil card and charged $2000 worth of gas."
Donald has said, "Once you have enough to eat and live, money is about ego." To survive, he had to let others manage his affairs, which was humbling enough. Harder still was giving up the fantasy, having to lose his public trophies. The toughest decision, Bollenbach says, was giving up the Plaza Hotel, a symbol of Manhattan luxury. Donald could see it fronting on Central Park from the window of his Fifth Avenue office. He would point to it from behind his desk when showing off for visitors. Part of him would always be the kid from Queens making good in Manhattan, and the Plaza was a tangible reminder of his success. It had to go.
The strategy was to dismantle the empire built on fantasy and rebuild it on sand, specifically Atlantic City sand. Methodically he sold off costly assets—the Trump Shuttle, the Plaza, his Connecticut mansion, the Trump Princess, the Grand Hyatt (his first big success)—in return for equity in the casinos, the Trump Castle, Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal. Donald and Bollenbach (who left Trump in 1992) were betting that Atlantic City would save him. And they were right.
If there was a precise moment when Trump's comeback was complete, it was on September 30, 1996, when stockholders of his publicly traded company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, agreed to buy the Castle—the laggard of his three Atlantic City holdings—for $485.7 million. That meant stockholders assumed a $354.8 million debt and directly paid Trump $130 million in stock and $885,000 in cash. He remains chairman of the company and owns 25 percent of its stock. He had successfully shucked the last vestige of his crushing debt. He was back.
Now even his most stubborn critics had to admit the Trumpster had done it.
"He was able to persuade bondholders to let him off the hook," says Marvin Roffman, a casino analyst who was fired (under pressure from Trump) from Janney Montgomery Scott in 1990 for refusing to apologize for a report critical of Trump. "His turnabout is a classic. It ought to go, if it isn't there already, into a Harvard Business School textbook. It is the biggest comeback I've ever seen. Donald Trump, financially speaking, has come back from the dead."
Donald says, "It was a good experience for me. I wouldn't give it up for anything, but I wouldn't want to live through it again. The success I'm having now is more satisfying because I have more respect for success. Before, it was like everything just happened. I never missed. Now I realize it's not that easy."
Satisfaction oozes from Donald these days. This fortune is solid. You can measure it daily by checking the value of his stocks. He has proved he's no fluke. Having survived one turn of fortune's wheel, Donald has a more tempered view of his wealth. "Money makes life easier, but it doesn't make you happy," he says. "I wouldn't say I'm happy. I'd say I'm content."
Money makes life easier, but it doesn't make you happy. I wouldn't say I'm happy.
Donald Trump
Newly returned from the dead, the Donald is haunted by images of falling planes. The idea of a plunge into a carnivorous Everglades is especially harrowing to a man who spends so much time in the air. On a recent trip to Moscow, where gambling has become even more of a national pastime—"Moscow is going to be huge, take it from the Trumpster!"—he and Maria and entourage were reduced to flying on commercial airlines.
"We had to wait about an hour in London for a flight, right out there with all the other passengers," says Marla, making a face. "Well, you can imagine how that went over with Donald."
Convenience is the big reason Donald keeps his own jet fueled and ready, as is ego (there is that giant T painted on the tail). But he also does it out of an obsessive concern for safety. This is a man who hates to shake hands for fear of contracting a virus (though he can hardly avoid it and manfully endures dozens of handshakes every day, leaning forward with his fingers held together stiffly and pointing slightly downward, as if to spear the offending hand).
The night before at La Guardia Airport he had thrust his hand to guests aboard his 727 for the flight south. To board the jet is to step into the fantasy. Its spotless interior has plush carpets and two groupings of four big bucket chairs with beige leather upholstery around exotic-wood coffee tables buffed to a high gloss. The golden clasps of its seat belts shine like new money. Beyond the second table is a bedroom with a double bed, and past that is the red-velvet furniture arrangement, sofa and chairs, that is the Trumps' flying living room.
Marla and Tiffany follow Donald up the plane's back stairs. Marla is reedthin, her frame that of a tall teenage boy, and wearing a short gray wool skirt over black tights. She's carrying a big Gap bag and another with carryout food for everyone. Little Tiffany's bright blonde locks fall halfway down the back of her plaid jumper. She runs and chatters happily, at home.
Donald announces he's too tired for an interview. "I hate them anyway," he says. So Donald opens a cabinet with dozens of selections, and after some deliberation picks Pulp Fiction. He presses a button that lowers a screen at midplane, then he loosens his tie and settles in for the two-hour flight. Marla is annoyed. She had forcefully urged a tape more suitable for Tiffany, something in the Muppets vein. At the sound of the first "motherfucker" in the opening scene, Marla moves to the front of the plane, where she sits with Tiffany on a couch and opens a big picture book.
Trump sits only for the first half hour—"Great writing. This is great writing, isn't it?" he asks—and then drifts up to sit with Marla and Tiffany, and to chat with pilot Mike Donovan and his crew in the cockpit. When dance music starts up in the film, he boogies down the aisle and briefly resumes his seat, admiring Uma Thurman, whose face fills the screen—"In real life she's got to be amazing, this chick. You can tell. Amazing." As the plane begins its descent into Palm Beach, Trump holds forth on the art of the perfect landing:
"You get these guys, these fucking idiots, who drop the plane halfway down the runway and then run the engines in reverse to slow the plane. Tears the hell out of an airplane. I go to American Airlines and I ask, 'Who's your best pilot?' They tell me, 'You're not going to want to pay this guy. He makes a lot of money.' I ask, 'How much money?' They say, '$125,000.' Oh, wow. I offer him $160,000. I pay lawyers five times that much, and all they do is protect me from lawsuits. I'm trusting this guy with my fucking life. He puts the engine down on the front of the runway so you can glide on in, not this reversing-the-engines shit."
In real life she's got to be amazing, this chick. You can tell. Amazing.
Donald Trump, referring to actress Uma Thurman
Never mind that air-traffic controllers have more say than pilots about where planes touch down on runways at busy airports, or that pilots don't reverse the engines to help slow the plane; they merely reverse the airflow, thereby reducing their reliance on the brakes, which can tear the hell out of a plane.
Much was made of Trump's iron whim, his sometimes ill-informed don't-bother-me-with-the-details management style, by Jack O'Donnell, a former president of the Trump Plaza who left Trump's employ in 1990 and then trashed him in a book (Trumped! The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump—His Cunning Rise & Spectacular Fall). The book is a classic midlevel manager's lament over an employer who wants results, not excuses. He does catch Trump at his petulant worst, demanding that employees be fired for problems beyond their control, issuing contradictory commands, insisting on the impossible. O'Donnell neglects to explain, however, how Trump's seemingly hopeless leadership somehow manages to succeed. Bollenbach says he found Donald's famously short attention span and penchant for storytelling annoying at first. There were times he wanted to shake him by the shoulders, make him focus. But he discovered that beneath Donald's distracted exterior is a hard business mind—"I realized that when he didn't want to discuss something, it was because he'd already made up his mind." Donald is not one to talk something through, but that doesn't mean he isn't thinking. Even his worst critics admit that his casinos are consistent moneymakers, that his towers rent space well over the rate of comparable properties, that Mar-a-Lago's renovation is a triumph and … damn it, his pilot does guide the big black bird down through treacherous crosswinds and sets it on the runway with barely a bump.
"Nobody has had worse things written about them than me," Trump says. "And here I am. The stuff O'Donnell wrote about me is probably true. The guy's a fucking loser. A fucking loser. I brought the guy in to work for me; it turns out he didn't know that much about what he was doing. I think I met the guy two or three times total. And this guy goes off and writes a book about me, like he knows me! I understand it. He needs the money, so he uses my name to sell some books. But it must have been a lousy book because it didn't sell any copies."
Donald has discovered what all celebrities eventually find. If you're doing well, there's nothing written about you that can hurt you. And if you're doing poorly, there's nothing written about you that can help.
He has often identified his special gift as deal making, but his real talent is something else. If you watch him in action, what you see is a man willing a fantasy into being. He wants to live on a mountaintop of perfection, where everything around him is miraculously neat, clean, new and in its place—he was voted "most tidy" by his military school classmates.
Trump polices the fantasy rigorously. Whether in his Manhattan office, in Atlantic City or, this weekend, in Palm Beach, he remains in constant motion, throwing his frenetic energy in ten, 15, 20 different directions, keeping an amazing number of balls in the air. He wants the shields in the towering foyer regilded, the rug on the north wing's back stairs replaced, the bright-red-leaved plants in the patio's lush gardens removed—"I don't like them"—and the new golden rug in the men's locker-room at the spa replaced ("What kind of fucking idiot puts a living room rug in a locker room with showers and saunas going all the time?"). He notices that the brass panel on the kitchen door is smudged: "Polish this, Tony. Today." When the lord of the manor is home, Mar-a-Lago's staff scurry like they expect, at any moment, to be slapped on the back of the head.
Whether in his Manhattan office, in Atlantic City or in Palm Beach, he remains in constant motion, throwing his frenetic energy in ten, 15, 20 different directions.
The Donald had his tile man—a genius! the best!—come out just a few weeks ago to lay smooth, rust-colored slate on the platforms between the burgundy clay tennis courts. It looks a lot nicer than plain concrete. Handsome stone water coolers stand at one end of the platforms, and there's enough room under a yellow-striped umbrella for four chairs and a small table. Except, today, smack in the middle of each platform there's this … this thing … this little metal box about two feet high and a foot wide with wires and tubes sticking out of it, right where the table is supposed to go. Inspecting the courts with his tennis pro, Anthony Boulle, Donald probes the ugly box first with his foot.
"What's this?" he asks, like a man with a turd on his dinner plate.
Boulle explains that it's the chiller for the water cooler, that he tried to tell the plumber that Mr. Trump wasn't going to be happy, but the guy said…
Donald kicks the thing. It doesn't budge so he bends over, pissed royally now, and gives the thing a hard shove. It flops over. Water from the ruptured main begins to spout two, three, four feet high, rapidly soaking and then puddling on the carefully combed courts. The Donald, muttering angrily, skips out of the spray and strides off, stepping around the widening pool.
When giving tours of Mar-a-Lago, which is what one mostly does with a mansion that has 118 rooms and dazzling curiosities in almost every one, it's not enough to say that this is one of the most opulent homes in North America. Donald must gild even gold leaf. He'll point to the whimsical cartoon castle spun into the rug in the sunny bedroom originally designed for Post's daughter Dina Merrill (now, on infrequent visits, it serves teenage Ivanka Trump) and tell guests that the rug was designed by Walt Disney when he was just 18 years old and that the castle eventually became the prototype for the Magic Kingdom itself. Never mind that Disney was 26 years old and already running a successful animation studio in Los Angeles when Mar-a-Lago was built. The tower bedroom is where "Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie decided to get married," except, according to the staff, the "lovebirds" stayed at opposite ends of the estate.
Even the spectacular is not good enough for Trump. He wants what he asked for from Maria the drape lady. He wants incredible. The downside of demanding perfection, of course, is living with constant disappointment. It explains Donald's restless soul.
One of the things he can't police, and that most frustrates him, is his image. He's tired of being seen as a lightweight, a man of vulgar tastes with a big wallet and a big mouth, a gold-plated con artist. He sees himself as a creative man with an unerring, innate sense of style, a trait he feels has been overlooked.
"You know what the thing is that really bugs me?" he says, retreating to the grand chamber of Mar-a-Lago's dining room. "I get all this credit for being a great promoter and not enough credit for being a great builder. Look at the Trump Tower, all the attention that's been given to that building." (Indeed, Trump posted the raves of architecture critics on the wall in the lobby, the way theaters do off-Broadway.) "Or look at 40 Wall Street, one of the most beautiful buildings in New York. I took the middle out of that place and rebuilt it and made it gorgeous. People are always saying that my success comes from being a great promoter, but I'm a lousy promoter. I don't like doing interviews like this. I hate them. The success of my buildings has nothing to do with promotion. They succeed because they are great buildings. The reason I get more per square foot in my buildings is because I build better buildings. You can't fool people. You can make them come and see, but you can't make them stay and buy. I'm dealing with intelligent people who can afford to pay $5 million, $6 million for a condo."
For all his love of beautiful things and his creative soul, money is Donald's bottom line.
"Hey, come over here," he says, pointing to an impressionist painting. This is a Renoir, one of a series the French master did in the 1880s of young women reading. These are some of the most treasured of Renoir's works. This one shows two lovely young girls, one wearing a black dress and clutching a red corsage, the other with a long pony-tail tied with a ribbon, her back to the viewer.
Donald doesn't call his guest over to point out the luminous brush strokes and surprising use of color. He points to the signature in the lower right corner.
"Check this out," he says, and notes the painting's market value, which is about $10 million.
Luxury has always been about subtly advertising you have money. With Trump there is no subtlety. It's just literal. It's about money.
Thomas Hine
The kind of painter he can appreciate, one who truly sees Trump the way he sees himself in the mirror, is West Palm Beach artist Ralph Wolfe Cowan, whose Sun God portrait of Donald hangs in the library at Mar-a-Lago. Cowan's portrait depicts a wide-shouldered, thin-hipped Donald, his youthful face eclipsing the sun itself, his skin glowing like the top floors of Trump Tower at sunset, the color of warm bullion.
"Luxury has always been about subtly advertising you have money," says Thomas Hine, the author of two books of design criticism, Populuxe and The Total Package. "With Trump there is no subtlety. It's just literal. It's about money. His buildings, with all the polished brass and gold reflective glass, actually look like money."
Or banks. Nothing better defines the Trump look than marble. He buys it by the quarry. In another century, the scarcity of marble and the fact that it could be used only in thick blocks made it a symbol of wealth and permanence. That's why marble was long the favored material for temples and banks. But in recent years stonecutting technology has enabled marble to be cut in sheets just inches thick. So a marble surface now costs a fraction of what it once did. It still delivers the same emotional message of solidity and permanence, but it's just a veneer. Because air pollution and acid rain eat away at it, marble is too vulnerable to cover large exteriors, which is why it now is used primarily indoors. Many consider it the perfect symbol for Donald Trump—a rich surface only inches thick and deceptively fragile.
This is what we thought we had discovered about Donald, anyway. The millions were just numbers. The genius was all con. The marriage with Ivana was for show. But this remade Trump has a sturdier weight and feel. This new fortune is solid. It took real business acumen to come back this far. And the new marriage? Well, despite its tabloid start, this union with Marla has some of the scratchy texture of truth.
"I like her with a little more meat on her bones than this," he says, slipping an arm around his young wife's slender hips. "She plumped up a little when she had Tiffany. That was nice."
"I felt sloppy," Marla says. "I couldn't wait to get rid of those pounds. I didn't feel like me."
"You looked better."
"You just like girls to look like the ones in Playboy. Why don't you buy it?"
Donald looks at her quizzically.
"Well, you bought the Miss Universe pageant. Playboy would be right up your alley."
There is a hint of reproach in her tone that Donald ignores. But when Marla starts talking about how terrified she was waiting to appear onstage the night she debuted in The Will Rogers Follies, he beams with pride. He says, "Being in that show, stepping out on that stage with every critic in New York watching, hoping and waiting for her to fail … I mean, that took balls."
Marla says she works at her relationship with Donald's three children by Ivana—Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric. Fourteen-year-old Ivanka has a busy modeling career, and Donny, 19, is in college. Eric, 13, sometimes visits Mar-a-Lago with his friends. He likes to race his four-wheeler around the estate. Marla copes creatively with the stresses of managing a combined family. When she wanted an oil portrait of Ivana and the children removed from the library, Donald balked. So she secretly hired Cowan to prepare an idealized portrait of the four smiling Trump children, with Ivanka holding baby Tiffany, and presented it to Donald on his 50th birthday. The old painting was replaced.
Trump is not a religious man, not in the traditional sense nor in Marla's New Age manner. Still, she pesters him to go with her to church on Sundays.
"I don't want to go to that hillbilly church you go to," he tells her. "If I'm going, I want to go to a church where somebody knows me."
What purpose if one is not seen to worship?
"Tony," he asks his butler, "what's that church?"
"St. Andrew's, sir."
"Who does Donald know at St. Andrew's?" Marla asks.
"God," says Tony.
And the Donald laughs all the way up the stairs.
"We have to work at our relationship just like anyone else," says Marla. At the age of 33 she says she feels the first nudges of midlife pressures. Enough, anyway, to identify with her husband's ambivalence about turning 50.
"Donald is doing well with it," she says. "This comeback was a really great thing for him. It feeds his ego, which is important. Otherwise you start feeling your best years are behind you. Now when I pick up the paper and I read about all these buildings he's buying, and listen to him talking about his plans for more and more, it's exciting."
Late Sunday afternoon, after hours of patroling his estate, asking questions, demanding changes, Donald wanders up to Marla on the patio by the pool. He puts his arm around her waist and she rests her head on his shoulder.
Trump has been up and down, and now he's up again. He has seen his strong father addled with Alzheimer's. He wonders out loud about the apparent senselessness of life. But he is content.
"Turning 50 does make you think about mortality, or immortality, or whatever," he says. "It does hit you. It's definitely the big turn in the race, more than the halfway point. It stinks. I hate being 50. But when you look at it another way, it's a great age to be. You're still healthy. You still have your energy and vitality, and you have all this experience. For business it's like the best age because of that. I'd rather have innate ability than experience any day, but at 50 you can have both."
Still, despite the changes in Donald, his basic nature is intact. The truth about a man is always reflected in his tennis game. Until a few years ago, Trump played the game the way you would expect: He tried to hit winners every time. Two or three points out of ten, he looked terrific, screaming forehand passing shots, blistering backhand crosscourts. But against a consistent opponent he didn't have a prayer.
"Last year I got him to change his game," says Boulle, his tennis pro. "We host some pro-am tournaments, and Donald wanted to play at a higher level, so he listened and wised up, and he started playing a whole lot better. He learned to back off his strokes and play for more consistency. He became a good tennis player." Then he gave it up.
"I don't have the patience for it," he says. "When I changed my game, I lost interest. I like trying to hit winners all the time. I liked it better that way."
He's back on his plane, on the way back to New York from Palm Beach, talking about a lot of things. He likes Bill Clinton, another precocious 50-year-old. Trump, a Republican, identifies with the way the president has coped with "personal issues." He says that he was never serious, "even for a minute," about running for president himself. He wonders if his celebrity today is as big as it was back when people talked about that.
"Do you think?" he asks.
He loves watching Michael Jordan play basketball—another example of true genius. He was really spooked by the movie Ransom. And, at the end of a long weekend, he is feeling a little sheepish about having kicked over the chiller and flooding his tennis courts.
"That's gonna look great in your article," he says. "But can you believe how stupid that is? The stupidity of some people. It's important for me to make a show. I could just stand there and say, 'You know, I don't like the way this looks. We ought to do this another way.' Maybe that's what I should do. But I'm not sure anything would get done that way. This way, everybody gets the message."
He plows through a foot-tall stack of paperwork he has put off over the weekend, signing his name big in a tall, thin vertical script with a black marker, then dumping the pages he's finished into a heap on the rug. He lets Tiffany climb up on his lap.
"How much do you love Daddy?" he asks. She opens her baby arms wide.
"Only that much?"
Tiffany strains to open her arms wider than they reach.
The Donald folds himself around her and laughs.
Follow For the Articles on Twitter and Facebook for more Playboy Sex & Culture.