City tourism report cites strong economic impact (Pati Diaz)

The city's tourism wing says the Big Apple is the place to be for visitors, and it wants the next mayor to ensure that it doesn't lose its shine.

NYC & Company released to the mayoral candidates and media Monday its first comprehensive report on the economic impact of the tourism industry since Mayor Michael Bloomberg created the group in 2006. Last year, the city had a record number of visitors, 52 million, a 19 percent jump from seven years ago. Those visitors spend almost $37 billion annually in the city.

George Fertitta, NYC & Company's chief executive, said his team created the report not only to show the candidates how important tourism is for the city's economy -- it got a boost of $55.3 billion last year from the industry -- but also to cultivate ideas for how to expand it.

The largest increase in tourists came from international visitors, with 11 million non-Americans coming into the city last year versus 7.26 million in 2006. Tourists from Asian and Latin American countries -- such as India, Brazil and China -- represented the biggest jumps, the report said.

Fertitta said the challenge his group and the next administration will face is to make sure those tourists return to the city and spread the word.

"The other thing we noticed is that . . . once they experience New York City, whether they come from a small town or an international market, it stays with people," he said. "Most of them never want to leave, and some decide to live here."

Fertitta added that the only downtime for tourism occurs in January and February, but his team has found several ways to fill the void with events such as Restaurant Week and Broadway Week.

The campaign offices of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, city Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and GOP candidate Joe Lhota confirmed they received the report, all saying they would continue to back NYC & Company's initiative to promote outer-borough destinations.

"One of the best ways to boost tourism - and our city's economy - is to invest in programs and infrastructure that bring more people into boroughs beyond Manhattan," Quinn said in a statement.

Said Liu in a statement: "We can promote tourism even further by leveraging the ties that many of our neighborhoods enjoy with places all over the world."

A spokesman for de Blasio said: "Bill de Blasio believes promoting travel and tourism opportunities across the five boroughs is key to creating jobs and ensuring we're projecting a positive image of New York City to visitors from across the globe."

A representative for Lhota said in a statement: "As the city's fastest-growing industry, Joe understands the importance of tourism to our economy and job base."

Fertitta said he predicts that all of the candidates will make tourism a priority and was optimistic that it would achieve NYC & Company's goal of 55 million visitors and $70 billion in economic impact by 2015.

"These are important milestones to recognize and not falter," he said

http://www.newsday.com/business/city-tourism-report-cites-strong-economic-impact-1.5649253

UNDERWATER SAFARI: DIVING WITH SHARKS-Paloma Cabestany

For some people, swimming in shark-infested waters is just what they're after. Adrenaline junkies and admirers of dangerous megafauna can now experience the ocean's apex predators up close, in their natural habitat, thanks to a number of shark diving trips that are being offered around the planet. Shark spotting has become an ultimate dive experience, and shark diving spots have become destinations that are on top of the bucket list for both the experienced and beginner divers.
Most of these spots are not the place for inexperienced divers - and not only because the sharks can be dangerous. Diving there can be a challenge. Best shark diving spots tend to be in the waters with strong currents, because the flow of water brings with it sharks' prey: the smaller fish that feed on plankton.
The great white is the first to come to mind when we think about sharks, but this species is best viewed using shark cages, to keep the divers safe. If you want to dive with the great white sharks, Neptune Islands in South Australia, Isla Guadalupe in Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand are the place to go. The favorite region for less dangerous sharks, such as tiger sharks, bull sharks, and oceanic white-tips, is Bahamas.
Three islands in the East Pacific, Cocos Island, Galapagos and Malpelo, make the "Hammerhead Triangle" - the best place in the world to dive with the hammerhead sharks. Hammerhead sharks are aggressive predators, but do not actively seek human prey. They are however known to attack when provoked.
Costa Rican Cocos Island - inspiration for Crichton's "Jurassic Park" - is a remote, uninhabited volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific. In 1994, Jacques Cousteau described the island's Marine Park as "the most beautiful in the world". Cocos Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - and is also known as the island of the sharks!
Deep waters surrounding the island are cold, with strong currents, and not a place for the beginner diver. They are however the best place in the world to watch hammerhead sharks. During the summer months, they school in hundreds here. Large numbers of white-tip sharks are gathering at night to hunt for sleeping fish.
Sharks have been around for millions of years, and are in a way the pinnacle of marine life evolution. They play a vital role in the ecosystem of the oceans. Sharks have only one natural predator: man. Many populations of sharks all over the world are seriously endangered because of the shark fin trade. The global shark tourism is currently a five hundred million dollar industry, and growing. Hopefully, more people around the world will start to realize that sharks generate more money alive than dead.

Read more: http://www.interestingarticles.com/adventure-travel/underwater-safari-diving-with-sharks-14780.html#ixzz2swWvDzzb

 LUCIA DE GISPERT

I've just found this article about the winter olympic games, i thought it was interesting to know something about it. The games have already started! 

Sochi 2014 begins with teams, classical music and a flying girl

(CNN) -- With lights, floats and flying, Russia kicked off the opening ceremony in Sochi as the world turns its attention to the costliest Olympic Games in history.

Spectators from all over the world watched the introduction of athletes that marked the official start of the Winter Olympics.

Light shows and music, lots of it, filled the air, starting at exactly 8:14 p.m. local time, or 20:14 in military time.

"Most of the ceremony focuses heavily on Russian classical music," said Konstantin Ernst, the main creative producer of the ceremony.

"Unfortunately, unlike London, we cannot boast a plethora of famous world-known pop performers. This is why we are now focusing on what Russia is best known for musically around the world; namely, classical music."

The celebration opened with a dream sequence of a little girl, who imagined all of the letters in the Russian alphabet, each letter recalling a Russian writer, artist or landmark.

Then the girl, rigged with wires, flew into the air and floated dreamlike over floats that depicted Russian landscapes.

The athletes followed.

Despite anxiety about terror strikes, controversy over gay rights and ridicule for poor preparations, the nation's officials have maintained that the sites in Sochi are secure.

It will be "the safest place on Earth during the Olympics," said Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of the Games.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who pushed the International Olympic Committee to hold the Games in the nation, attended the ceremony.

The opening ceremony was the only event scheduled for the day.

About 40,000 people watched from the stands at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi.

Russian classical music star Anna Netrebko performed the Olympic anthem.

A day before, high excitement marked qualification events in the men's and women's slopestyle, women's moguls and team figure skating.

All the addictions come from pain - Maria Serra

Editor's note: Caledonia Curry, also known as Swoon, is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work focuses on printmaking, sculptural installations and community-based projects. She gave a talk about her mother's addiction at the 2013 Feast Conference. 

(CNN) -- I have a memory of standing by the fence in my neighbor's yard. I was 6. My sister and I have had to run next door because mom's been wasted for weeks on end, and now she's got a shotgun.

She's fired it once already. Two of the taller neighborhood kids are nearby, one standing on top of the other's shoulders, peering over the fence and describing what she sees. "Your grandpa's got a 2 by 4 and he's going into the house." The scene ends.

I could tell you dozens of stories like this. Years later, I learned that grandpa had broken down the door to find mom on the bed with a shotgun and a suicide note, maybe too scared to pull the trigger.

        Caledonia Curry 

 

My mother was a lifelong addict -- from heroin to alcohol and pills to methadone and pills. If you asked her why, she would tell you she just liked getting high. If you were inclined to believe the prevailing sentiment about addiction as a kind of degenerate hedonism, you could hate her for being a junky screw-up, and for never managing to put anyone or anything before her addiction.

And it wasn't just my mother. Mental illness, drug addiction and suicidal tendency ran so thick in my family that as a teenager I just waited for the day when I would get mine. The medical professionals in those days just focused on the genes. They didn't talk as much about the life circumstances surrounding the addicts.

But a few years ago, I started to hear some different ideas. "Addictions always originate in pain, so the question is never really why the addiction, but why the pain," said Dr. Gabor Mate, a Canadian physician who specializes in the study and treatment of addiction. He went on to say that nearly every single one of his skid row junkies had a severe history of childhood trauma.

How heroin kills you

This idea was new to me. I began to learn more about the effects of trauma on the human psyche, and I found my family on every page of the literature. Mental illnesses of all kinds, suicidal tendency and addiction are all the remnants of a past severely marred by abuse, neglect and the utter lack of control over one's circumstances.

I learned that unresolved trauma fractures the psyche, and hardwires the brain to permanently elevated levels of stress.

The result is that chronically traumatized people no longer have any baseline state of calm or comfort. Owing to these chronically elevated stress levels, substances like alcohol and heroin, which offer an intoxicating buzz to the average person, give the chronically traumatized individuals their first taste of soothing and calm, which make them feel normal for the first time in their lives.

I went from heroin addict to PTA mom

Letting some of this new understanding take root, I found that I could begin to forgive my then ailing mother for the harm she and her addictions had caused over the years.

I could grieve for the difficult life she must have lived before my birth, even if I didn't understand the details, and I could offer her a compassion that I didn't think I was capable of before.

And then something unexpected happened. Released from the firewall of my rage, she was able to open up and tell me about her own history of trauma. Caught between a sexually abusive uncle and an emotionally abusive mother, she had turned to black-out binge drinking at age 14, and it had been one substance or another every day ever since.

And here's where the light went on. Talking to my mother, I realized that nothing that our punitive systems and shaming culture might inflict on her would ever be greater than the internal suffering that compelled her to constantly seek obliteration of her own life with substances and suicide attempts.

I now believe that punishing those who are already suffering will never foster the kind of change we all so desperately need these individuals to make.

Because this particular addict was my mother, I had the incentive to do the hard work of finding the human being behind the nightmare, of letting go of the disgust and blame, and seeing an incredibly wounded person in need of our support. This is much harder to do when the person is a stranger on the street, or in the prison system.

My mother died of lung cancer six months ago. I can't speak to what may have happened if she had access to truly empathetic health care and trauma counseling. I can say that understanding her pain, and the roots of her addiction, has been incredibly healing for me.

Opinion: We can prevent fatal ODs like Hoffman's

We need a society that focuses less on retribution and more on recovery for its most troubled members. We need to design policies that enable people to end their cycles of violent and addictive behaviors. Punishment is not an end in itself, and may lead to more damage, and the exacerbation of these cycles.

What if we were to take a moment to realign our values toward seeing the injured human behind the unconscionable actions? Could we then do better at creating systems within which people can actually heal and change and recover?

I believe that by starting with the right questions -- simple and compassionate -- like "Why the pain?" we can come up with better solutions.

Taking Notes (Ricard Viñas Masfurroll)

 Hearing something once is not enough to really learn it, and that is why note taking is so important. Clearly written, accurate notes help to capture information for later study and review.

Taking notes also helps you to focus and learn during class time.

Taking notes in class

1. Sit as close to the front of the class as possible to minimize distractions. 

2. Be prepared to keep your notes neat and organized. Use a separate spiral-bound notebook for each subject, or use dividers in your loose-leaf notebook to make separate sections for each subject. 

3. Begin each note taking session at the top of a fresh page. Start by writing down the date. 

4. Do not try to write down everything the teacher says, but do try to record as many facts and ideas as you can. Mark important facts or main ideas with an asterisk or star or underline them. 

5. Use short sentences and phrases and easily remembered abbreviations and symbols. Some commonly used abbreviations and symbols are: 

        ocf (compare) 

        oie (that is) 

        oeg (for example)

        ow/ (with) 

        ow/o (without) 

        o&, + (and) 

        o= (equals, is)

6. Write clearly, and leave lots of blank space in the left margin or between ideas in case you need to add information later.

7. Read over your notes as soon as you can after class. If there is anything you don't understand, ask the teacher at the next class.

Taking notes from textbooks

1. Organize your paper the same as for class notes. 

   oPut the date at the top of the page. 

   oWrite down the name of the book and the chapter or section you will be taking notes from. 

   oLeave space in the left margin or between ideas for your own comments or questions.

2. Keep textbook notes separate from class notes. Use a separate notebook or a separate section in your loose-          leaf notebook.

3. Get a general idea of what the reading is about. 

   oRead the introduction, headings and subheadings, and any paragraphs that summarize the content. 

    oLook at any illustrations or graphs and charts and read the captions.

4. Go back and read the chapter or section carefully. Look for the main ideas. 

5. Try not to copy information directly from the textbook into your notes. Instead, summarize the information in       your own words. This will help you to concentrate and learn. 

6. If you do copy directly from the textbook, use quotation marks to indicate that it is a direct quotation. Take     care to copy the quotation exactly.

7. Summarize the main ideas at the end of your notes and circle them.

Read more: Homework Center: Taking Notes http://www.infoplease.com/homework/studyskills2.html#ixzz1eYJhm4NV

This Is What Happens When A Kid Leaves Traditional Education (Pati Conesa)

 

Logan Laplante is a 13 year-old boy who was taken out of the education system to be home schooled instead. Not only was he home schooled, but Logan had the ability to tailor his education to his interests and also his style of learning, something traditional education does not offer. As Logan has mentioned, when he grows up he wants to be happy and healthy. At a TEDx talk in 2013, he discussed how hacking his education is helping him achieve that goal.

 

VIDEO LINK (VERY INTERESTING!!!!!!):

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/01/07/this-is-what-happens-when-a-kid-leaves-traditional-education/

WORTH WATCHING THIS VIDEO!
POSTED BY: Your teacher

http://seniorplanet.org/dont-dress-your-age-six-inspiring-women-say-no-to-drab/ http://seniorplanet.org/dont-dress-your-age-six-inspiring-women-say-no-to-drab/