Once the wood is kiln-dried, fungi can no longer grow and the spalting becomes frozen in time.

NPR: Excerpt: 'A Splintered History Of Wood'

The Prince toured the old Victorian offices and looked at the original bottle kiln - which is also being refurbished.

BBC: Prince Charles visits Middleport Pottery factory

Also thanks to CemexNet, Zambrano can use a laptop or the IBM 770 ThinkPad computer in his office in the ten-story concrete-and-glass Cemex headquarters in downtown Monterrey to check on the daily production, kiln conditions, crushing, bagging and shipping output at any Cemex operation around the world.

FORBES: Cement meets the cyberworld

Visitors can wander the grounds, learn about the craft of Scotch whisky, and tour the two-storey malt barn warehouse, kiln and other original sections of the distillery.

BBC: Exploring Scotland��s historic whisky trail

All the pieces of avocado-glazed pottery come from the nearby Snake Kiln, whose traditions date back to the Ming dynasty.

FORBES: Taiwan