Apart from an idle man halfheartedly flipping through a book of local attractions, there was no one in the front of the shop, where miniature carved boats and model fish aged unwanted on the shelves.

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If you want a tamer version of the sport, you can go to Skip Barber Racing School in Lakeville, Connecticut, where they run miniature racing cars powered by a 135hp Dodge Neon engine.

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Tucked into a narrow bend on this leafy road stands a half dozen miniature cafes where poets, activists and writers socialise over strong cups of Arabic coffee and bowlfuls of hummus.

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The LUMIX FH8 also adds Miniature Effect mode where peripherals are defocused and saturation and contrast are emphasized to make the picture look like a diorama.

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And so are the amusements, from high-tech rollercoasters to nostalgic charmers like Schichtl's famous fake beheadings and the flea circus where trained pests provide the oomph for miniature chariots that outweigh them a thousand-fold.

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His quietly eloquent "Phoenix" (2012), at MAD, is a miniature replica of a 19th-century Georgia print shop where the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper was published.

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Opposite the museum is the KultuuriKatel (Culture Cauldron), where work is underway to transform the gasworks into Tallinn's own miniature version of London's Tate Modern gallery by 2015, combining art galleries, music studios and public spaces.

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In cities where it now owns networks, it sells to companies owned by the local municipality, but these are miniature versions of itself, with protective attitudes and vulnerable minority shareholders.

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