Monthly Archives: March 2014

Travel & Tourism contributes 9.5% to the global economy in 2013 – WTTC Reports

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Governments need to increase peoples freedom to travel, to capitalise on Travel & Tourisms growth potential

Travel & Tourism's contribution to the world economy has grown for the fourth consecutive year and is expected to show even stronger growth in 2014. But policies need to be implemented to increase tourism receipts and jobs. That is according to The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which releases its 2014 annual economic impact data today.

WTTC is the global authority on the social and economic impact of Travel & Tourism. David Scowsill, President and CEO of WTTC, says it has been another really good year for the sector but many governments' lack of openness is restraining their country's Travel & Tourism potential; "The data underlines Travel & Tourism's undeniable status as a driver of growth. Some countries have taken huge positive strides with visa facilitation over the past few years. But many countries' economic contribution from Travel & Tourism is still being held back, particularly due to restrictive visa policies". Research from WTTC and the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in 2012 demonstrates that improving visa processes could generate an additional US$ 206 billion in tourism receipts and create as many as 5.1 million jobs by 2015 in the G20 economies . Mr Scowsill says there is real momentum in some countries with visa facilitation but there is still a lot to do; "To capitalise on, rather than thwart, Travel & Tourism's potential to boost visitors, spend and jobs, we would encourage countries to implement progressive approaches to visas, which make it easier for people to travel. Governments also need to ensure that they have intelligent rather than punitive taxation measures in place. Last but not least, it is also essential that the public and private sectors facilitate growth in a responsible and sustainable way, with people and the planet at the forefront of policies."

According to the WTTC Economic Impact Report, in 2013:

According to the WTTC Economic Impact Report, in 2014:

Mr Scowsill adds; "The WTTC data underlines that Travel & Tourism is a key engine for continued global growth, which governments can't afford to ignore. 2013 has been a really good year with strong demand from long-haul markets. 2014 looks like it will be even sunnier, due to rising incomes and falling unemployment in many countries and stronger consumer spending. International travel will grow slightly faster than domestic travel, with the expanding middle class, particularly in emerging markets, playing a big part in that".

Travel & Tourism's contribution to the world economy has grown for the fourth consecutive year and is expected to show even stronger growth in 2014. But policies need to be implemented to increase tourism receipts and jobs. That is according to The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which releases its 2014 annual economic impact data today.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of Travel & Tourism. It promotes sustainable growth for the industry, working with governments and international institutions to create jobs, to drive exports and to generate prosperity. Travel & Tourism accounts for 255 million jobs globally. At US$6 trillion (9% of GDP) the sector is a key driver for investment and economic growth. For more than 20 years, the World Travel & Tourism Council has been the voice of this industry globally. Members are the Chairs, Presidents and Chief Executives of the world's leading, private sector Travel & Tourism businesses. These Members bring specialist knowledge to guide government policy and decision-making, raising awareness of the importance of the industry as an economic generator of prosperity. WTTC's Sustainability Initiative has already concluded a number of projects aimed at driving sustainable economic recovery and growth, namely: the 'Leading the Challenge on Climate Change' report, and 'Climate Change A Joint Approach to Addressing the Challenge'.

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Travel & Tourism contributes 9.5% to the global economy in 2013 - WTTC Reports

UFO ET Abduction Extraterrestrial Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Thirteen) Part Three – Video

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UFO ET Abduction Extraterrestrial Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Thirteen) Part Three
https://www.newmessage.org/nmfg/Greater_Community_Spirituality.html Greater Community Spirituality presents a prophetic new understanding of God and human sp...

By: danielofdoriaa

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UFO ET Abduction Extraterrestrial Greater Community Spirituality (Chapter Thirteen) Part Three - Video

Entertainer Roslyn Kind inspired to lighten hearts by her spirituality and sister Barbra Streisand

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Yes, its the last line in her official bio, but seconds into a conversation with entertainer Roslyn Kind, its pretty easy to forget that she currently resides in Los Angeles and has done so since 1973.

She has a voice, she has a demeanour, she has an attitude that is pure, 100-proof, bustling streets of New York City. Proudly.

I still am, Kind says via telephone from a stop in North Carolina. I still have my Brooklyn accent, Im a fast talker and a fast walker.

Ill never lose who I am and who I grew up as.

Her upbringing tends to be the thing that many people focus on, perhaps, as a detriment and insult to everything else on that otherwise impressive resume of hers one thats filled with Broadway and off-Broadway productions, TV and film roles and album releases. That, of course, is that Brooklyn upbringing as the younger, half-sister of famous artist Barbra Streisand.

Its a shadow and relationship that Kind, or Rozzie, certainly doesnt shy away from, even sharing the stage with her sister during Streisands massive North American tour in 2012 which was called, appropriately enough, Back to Brooklyn and European dates in 2013, including the 02 Arena in London.

But, as she says, that elder sibling relationship is only a small part of who she is.

Shes an inspiration to everybody and as well as to me. Shes always been an inspiration, Kind says. And the rest of my inspirations come from what my roots are, what I was taught by my family, and from God above.

Tuesday night, the entertainer will do more work on His behalf, when she returns to Calgary for a fundraising performance for Jewish Family Service Calgary at the Beth Tzedec Synagogue.

It will be the first time in over two decades that shell be in the city, where she actually spent a good chunk of time, performing the lead role of Ellie Greenwich in a Stage West production of Leader of the Pack, from April to August in 1988.

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Entertainer Roslyn Kind inspired to lighten hearts by her spirituality and sister Barbra Streisand

WDRB speaks with upcoming International Space Station crew

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On March 18, WDRB News got the opportunity to speak with three men who are preparing for an incredible voyage. On May 28 of this year, Reid Wiseman, Max Suraev and Alexander Gerst are expected to take off aboard Soyuz space capsule from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Their destination: 370 kilometers up to the International Space Station, where they'll be staying for six months with three additional crew members.

Wiseman, an American, Suraev, a Russian, and Gerst, a German, spoke with WDRB News by phone about their upcoming mission, what it means to the people of Kentuckiana, and the possibility that a certain Snow Fox could someday join the astronaut corps.

Here is some of what they had to say:

WDRB: Thanks for speaking with us! Our meteorologists are really good about letting our viewers in Kentucky and Indiana know about space station sighting opportunities, when they can see it from their back yards. What do you want the people of Kentucky and Indiana to be thinking about when they see the station pass over, during the six months you guys are up there? What does it represent?

REID WISEMAN: So first and foremost, I want them to come outside, and I want them to bring their kids outside, and just look up and watch this thing fly overhead. That's primary. And then, when they see this little tiny star, I want them then to just think in their heads that there are six little humans floating around in there, and they're going 18,000 miles an hour. That, to me, just sparks the imagination of, 'Wow. That's amazing.' We've got Russians. We've got a German. We've got Americans. We'll have a female Russian on the second half of the mission. So if they start to think about that personal side of humans up there...and what are they going through? They're floating. Are they eating right now? Are they having coffee? Is it morning up there or is it night? I think that kind of touches the individual really well.

Then if they make it beyond that point, then start thinking about, 'Alright, in my daily life, if I took gravity and removed it, what would happen to me?' And if they have a scientific mind, they'll start thinking about all the crazy science experiments that they can start to do, when you remove gravity, and see what happens to those science experiments. If they have the capacity to go that far, that would be fantastic. But really just to think about how crazy it is to live 250 miles up traveling this fast and floating around that's a great start.

MAXIM SURAEV: For me personally, you know, I wanted people, you know, to see, when they can see the space station in the sky that this is really human laboratory for science experiment. And the people, you knowactuallythe people right now who are flying and doing these experiments, they really want to make our lives better. To make our lives healthier. To make humans' bodies living more time and longer and to be in good shape as long as we can. We build this to help our human generationto be stronger, better and happier than we are right now.

ALEXANDER GERST: Well I think what's most amazing to me when I look up there is...on that little dot of light that travels over our heads, somebody lives in there, right? It looks like a satellite or a star that's moving a shooting star. The difference is that this object was built by us us humans. More than 100,000 people on 16 different nations built this place, and then there's six guys of us that live there. We sent them out there because we think it's important to have people in space as a first step: explorers who venture out there as a first step to reach our surroundings and the solar system...it's just amazing to think that this is possible, that we've done this, that we've achieved this."

WDRB: Will there be opportunities for you guys to be taking pictures of Kentucky, Indiana that area? Is that something that you'll be doing?

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WDRB speaks with upcoming International Space Station crew

SpaceX International Space Station Resupply Mission Set For March 30, NASA Confirms CRS-3 Launch

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The SpaceX International Space Station resupply mission is set for March 30. SpaceX

The SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-3) Mission was originally scheduled for March 16 and would deliver 4,959 pounds of supplies to the ISS. NASAsaysthe Dragon spacecraft will arrive at the ISS on April 2 at around 7 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft will stay attached to the space station for four weeks as crew members unload cargo and later refill the capsule with 3,578 pounds of supplies and scientific instruments.

According to SpaceX, the scientific instruments that will be delivered to the ISS include a prototype laser communication system, the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS); the Vegetable Production System (VEGGIE), which will produce salad-type vegetables in space; four cameras that will be secured to the exterior of the ISS to produce live streams of the planet as part of the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) project; and the T-Cell Activation in Aging investigation to learn more about the depression in the immune system in microgravity. The Falcon 9 will also send five CubeSats, smaller satellites, into orbit, during the CRS-3 mission.

The cargo will also include crew supplies, ISS hardware, a spare spacesuit and a pair of legs for Robonaut 2.

Another interesting feature of the CRS-3 launch will be the recently attached set of landing legs on the Falcon 9. The legs are in the testing phase and the rocket will perform a splashdown in the ocean on Sunday, but its the first step toward SpaceXs goal of a reusable rocket that can land vertically.

The SpaceX CRS-3 launch is scheduled for Sunday at 10:50 p.m. EDT and marks the end of a busy week for the Expedition 39 crew. On Tuesday, three new Expedition 39 crew members, NASA Astronaut Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, will arrive at the ISS.

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SpaceX International Space Station Resupply Mission Set For March 30, NASA Confirms CRS-3 Launch

The little space shuttle that couldn't

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Written by: Cole Peterson on August 8, 2011.

Costly manned space program ends with return of Atlantis

On July 21st, the space shuttle Atlantis touched down at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, signaling the end of the shuttle program and, for a time, Americas adventures in manned space flight.

The event garnered a great deal of media attention as articles and interviews called up great feelings of nostalgia, sadness and disappointment over the fact that NASA and the Bush administration had brought an end to our glorious era in space and shattered all those dreams that had been born from the moon landing so long ago.

The loss of the shuttle program is not, however, something to be mourned. Rather, it should be celebrated as something long overdue that desperately needed to be done.

The space shuttle should have easily been recognizable as a flop within the first decade of its inception. It was painfully expensive, costing an average of $450 million to launch rather than the predicted $55 million. It was inefficient, averaging five launches a year, rather than a predicted 65. Finally, it was incredibly unsafe.

Press releases from NASA indicated the risk of catastrophe was one in 100,000, but some engineers put the number closer to one in a hundred and, for earlier models, a terrifying one in nine. Its a wonder that the history of the space program is not littered with more Challenger- and Columbia-level tragedies.

On top of being a fiscal and safety nightmare, the shuttle program also failed to do much in expanding our presence in space. It was capable of ferrying goods to and from the space station and it provided a platform for certain experiments, but none of that is terribly exciting, revolutionary or even something only the shuttle was capable of.

We havent even bothered to return to the moon or explore much farther than the immediate area outside our atmosphere except with robots. Robots and probes have been far more useful in expanding our knowledge of our solar system, and even a tiny sliver of the galaxy beyond. Weve put a robot on Mars and Japan landed one on the side of a moving asteroid.

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The little space shuttle that couldn't

NASA Targeting Earth Observing Satellites and ISS Sensors to Aid Missing Malaysian Airline Search

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Sensors aboard NASAs Terra satellite are aiding the search for vanished flight MH 370. Credit: NASA

NASA has actively joined the hunt for the missing Malaysian Airline flight MH-370 that mysteriously disappeared without a trace more than two weeks ago on March 8, 2014.

Sensors aboard at least two of NASAs unmanned Earth orbiting global observation satellites as well as others flying on the manned International Space Station (ISS) are looking for signs of the jetliner that could aid the investigators from a multitude of nations and provide some small measure of comfort to the grieving families and loved ones of the passengers aboard.

Obviously NASA isnt a lead agency in this effort. But were trying to support the search, if possible, Allard Beutel, NASA Headquarters, Office of Communications director, told Universe Today this evening.

NASAs airplane search assistance comes in two forms; mining existing space satellite observing data and retargeting space based assets for new data gathering since the incident.

The Malaysian Airline Boeing 777-2H6ER jetliner went missing on March 8 while cruising en route from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. See cockpit photo below.

Accurate facts on why MH-370 vanished with 239 passengers aboard have sadly been few and far between.

Chinese satellite image of possible debris of MH 370. Credit: China/SASTIND

Last week, the search area shifted to a wide swath in the southern Indian Ocean when potential aircraft debris was spotted in a new series of separate satellite images from Australia and China government officials.

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NASA Targeting Earth Observing Satellites and ISS Sensors to Aid Missing Malaysian Airline Search

Let's discount the notion David Ortiz took less money for 'peace of mind'

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By Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Columnist

Hometown discount?

Is that what were calling $16 million these days?

David Ortizs annual soap opera revolving around his contract finally was resolved for 2014, as the Red Sox tacked another year onto the designated hitters deal that will pay him $16 million in 2015, and comes with a pair of club vesting options for 16 and 17, perhaps with the intent that the team wouldnt have to deal with this nonsense for at least a couple more years.

Ortiz could have insisted on the $20 million annual compensation he felt he warranted, the Globes Nick Cafardo wrote, but instead settled again for a hometown discount for the peace of mind that hes where he wants to be for the remainder of his career.

Thats some peace of mind.

While Miguel Cabrera (due to make $22 million in 2014) was the only offensive member of the $20 million club to surpass Ortiz in production last season (.309, 30 home runs, 103 RBI, .959 OPS), at 38 hell be the highest paid DH in Major League Baseball this season, only a half-million more than the final year of Adam Dunns deal with the Chicago White Sox. And hes now one of only three designated hitters on the books for next season. The Royals Billy Butler, who will make $8 million this season, has a $12.5 million team option for 2015. Adam Lind has a $7.5 million team option in Toronto, and the Indians Carlos Santana will make around $6 million.

Butler will be 29 in 2015, Lind 31, and Santana 29. Ortiz will be 39.

You want any of those names as the centerpiece of the Red Sox lineup over the incumbent DH? Probably just as much as youd prefer Dunn and his .219 batting average representing your biggest threat.

Nobody is arguing that a productive Ortiz isnt a boon for the Red Sox. But can we please not purport the ridiculous notion that Ortiz took a hometown discount"?

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Let's discount the notion David Ortiz took less money for 'peace of mind'

Officials: 'Red creek' in Floyd County no cause for alarm

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FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - Several people were left scratching their heads Saturday afternoon, after a creek ran red outside McDowell in Floyd County.

Officials with the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection say the McCoy Elkhorn Coal Corporation reported the incident around 2:30 Saturday afternoon.

They say vandals tampered with a plastic container, spilling about 10 gallons of potassium permanganate.

"This material is used for water treatment, and basically when it impacts water it does change the water color, and that's what people were seeing today," said Robert Francis, manager of the Environmental Response Branch of the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection.

Officials took samples to find out if concentrations of the material exceeded authorized limits.

They say the spill is no cause for alarm, and should not impact drinking water quality.

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Officials: 'Red creek' in Floyd County no cause for alarm