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Company officials say SeaWorld Orlando attendance has improved this year and that Discovery Cove, which this summer opened a new attraction dubbed the Grand Reef, is in the midst of a record year. The company's three Orlando parks, which also include the water park Aquatica, account for roughly 40 percent of SeaWorld P... |
Prather said the timing of the expansion is ideal. |
"When you look at last year, doing 51 million visitors to Orlando, and then look around the country, look around the world at some of these [other] destinations, … it's crystal clear around the world that Orlando is the No. 1 family destination," Prather said. "Our owners see that as a big plus." |
Importantly, SeaWorld said, all three additions will be suitable for visitors of all ages. |
Guests at TurtleTrek, for instance, will first walk through a pair of massive aquariums, one filled with hundreds of freshwater fish and manatees, the other with more than 1,500 saltwater fish and more than a dozen sea turtles. They will then enter a domed theater, where a 3-D film about the life journey of a sea turtl... |
"Content will be all around you," said Brian Morrow, SeaWorld Orlando's chief designer. |
The attraction, which will use space most recently occupied by SeaWorld's Manatee Rescue pavilion, will include an explicit conservation theme urging guests to become "everyday heroes" in wildlife protection. A post-show gift shop will include physical and environmental effects triggered whenever guests purchase items ... |
Freshwater Oasis at Discovery Cove will be designed with a rainforest canopy above freshwater springs. SeaWorld said guests will be free to explore at their own pace, wading and hiking through flooded trails that will take them through habitats with otters and marmosets — animals that SeaWorld said were chosen because ... |
In contrast to Grand Reef — a deeper, saltwater pool that includes an underwater experience — SeaWorld said Freshwater Oasis will be shallower and accessible to all guests. "Ensuring that everybody gets to participate is key to our brand," Morrow said. |
SeaWorld discussed fewer details in advance about Antarctica — Empire of the Penguin, which company officials said will be the park's biggest-yet single-attraction expansion. |
Replacing the park's 24-year-old Penguin Encounter habitat, the new attraction's central experience will be a "family adventure attraction," suitable for people of all ages, in which guests will experience life in Antarctica through the eyes of a penguin. Morrow said the attraction will be "a new species of ride," with... |
SeaWorld said the Antarctica-themed expansion will be a more-immersive experience than just a single ride. |
"It will be a new world within the park," Prather said. "It's a new realm that we're building." |
CAIRO — Sudanese security forces tried again to break up an anti-government sit-in outside military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, killing at least 14 people Tuesday, activists behind the demonstration said. |
The deaths brought the total number of fatalities in the sit-in since the weekend to 22, including five soldiers, according to the activists. |
The demonstration is the latest in nearly four months of anti-government protests that have plunged Sudan into its worst crisis in years. What initially erupted late last year as rallies against a spiraling economy quickly escalated into calls for an end to President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule. |
On Monday, for the first time, leaders of the protests called on the military's leadership to abandon al-Bashir and join their call for change. And on Tuesday, they invited military leaders to meet with their representatives to "discuss arrangements for a transition" in Sudan. |
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami, a spokesman for the military, said the military has nothing to do with political matters and authorities ordered the protest to be broken up. |
"This sit-in ... could drag the country into chaos. ... All demonstrators were pushed out of the area surrounding the armed forces' headquarters and this was done smoothly without significant causalities," he said in comments broadcast on TV. |
In a joint statement on Tuesday, Norway, the U.K. and the U.S. backed the protesters' demands, urging Sudanese authorities to "deliver a credible plan" for political transition. |
"Failing to do so risks causing greater instability. The Sudanese leadership has a grave responsibility to avoid such an outcome," they said. |
Sarah Abdel-Jaleel, spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, said the new clashes erupted early on Tuesday between security forces and protesters who have been camping out in front of the military complex in Khartoum for the past four days. |
The police used tear gas, rubber bullets and live fire to try to disperse the protesters, according to Abdel-Jaleel's union, which is spearheading the demonstrations. It was the second time security forced failed to break up the sit-in protests, which has grown into one of the biggest rallies in the current wave of unr... |
But a crack seemed to be emerging among the Sudanese authorities and the military as to how to handle the protests. |
Online video footage circulating Tuesday showed some Sudanese troops seeking to protect the protesters and guarding the entrance to the sit-in area. Heavy gunfire can be heard as protesters seek cover from the descending security forces. Other video clips show burned police vehicles used as trash dumps. |
The Sudan Doctors Committee, an affiliate of the union, said at least 153 people were wounded since Saturday. It said the five soldiers, including a captain, were killed while defending the protesters in the past two days. |
The medical group said troops guarding the military's complex, which also houses the Defense Ministry and a presidential residence, chased the security forces away, firing into the air for the second night. |
It said that apart from the officer, six protesters were also killed. Abdel-Jaleel, the spokeswoman, said at least 30 protesters were wounded in the violence. |
Amnesty International said authorities in Khartoum cut off the water supply to the area of the sit-in, and cars were being searched and seized by security forces for ferrying food and water to protesters. |
"The move by the authorities to try to starve protesters and deny them access to communication is a clear attempt to silence and deny protesters their human rights," said the group's director for the region, Joan Nyanyuki. |
A government spokesman didn't respond to calls seeking comment. The county's interior minister, Bishara Gomaa, told the parliament on Monday that at least seven people were killed in the protests since Saturday — six in Khartoum and the seventh in the Darfur region. There was no word from the army on the latest militar... |
A split between Sudan's militantly and its security agencies could mark a significant turning point for the protesters. |
Gen. Awad Mohammed Ibn Auf, the country's defense minister and vice president, denied any divisions and said the military and the security apparatus were coordinating on how to deal with the protesters. |
"There are parties trying to exploit the current situation to create strife between the components of the security system in the country," he told a meeting with senior officers on Monday. |
Despite the deaths, the mood among protesters at the sit-in on Tuesday was upbeat, with online videos showing the demonstrators singing traditional songs and shouting, "Revolution!" |
They also chanted, "The people want the fall of the regime," one of the main slogans from the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. |
Poppy Ntshongwana in an Eboka red-carpet gown. |
Eboka Design's spring collection is bursting with bright colours and fierce florals. At the centre of the grand manor that houses the design emporium's collection is Poppy Ntshongwana, the model chosen for the brand's foray onto the web. |
Standing at the foot of the infinity curve that dominates the House of Eboka in Sandton is the brand's stern creative director and founder, Fred Eboka. |
He describes Eboka Design as luxury meets contemporary African design. For more than 25 years, it has created what he describes as "bespoke, one of a kind" garments including gowns and other women's couture designs, bridal wear and menswear. |
The designer hails from a household filled with women in Lagos, Nigeria. His love for fashion was born when he advised his sisters on their style choices. It developed through his art paintings and it blossomed into a career that has seen him dress icons such as Miriam Makeba, Graca Machel, Adelaide Tambo, and the curr... |
Fred Eboka advised his sisters on their style choices. |
While studying in the US, as a black man on campus he was often snubbed - memorably, once, by a fellow student he picked up in his cab. "She was a backseat driver and rude and when I called her on it she dismissed me, telling me to shut up, as I was 'just a cab driver'. I told her that actually I was doing my second de... |
But this was nothing new for an African studying visual design in the 1980s. Eboka took part in the campus's design competition, where shows were adjudicated anonymously. He shocked the judges when he was announced as the winner. His victory was marred when he didn't get a job that was promised to the winner. |
Creative, Nkuli Mlangeni has brought traditional african culture through her textile business, the Ninevites using the art of weaving. |
Eboka now runs his business side by side with his daughter, Tinuke Eboka, who takes care of the brand's online presence and marketing. |
"The fashion industry now leans heavily on the digital world, I don't know that side of things but she does," he laughs, sharing his inability even to navigate his personal social media accounts. |
Having recently launched a new website and refreshed social media platforms, Eboka says that it was important to ensure his brand was accessible to potential customers online, avoiding a mistake often made by new brands trying to make it in the fashion industry. |
"Fashion is ever evolving, but style remains a constant. And making women look and feel their best is the ultimate goal that is enormously satisfying." |
West Yorkshire Police Training Centre have sent out a cheeky tweet after actor Tom Hardy hit the headlines today. |
It’s been reported that the A-lister was spotted giving chase through gardens and a building site to finally apprehend a suspect believed to have stolen a moped. |
Witnesses described how the star of Mad Max and The Dark Knight Rises, “switched into superhero mode” as he caught up with the theft near his south west London home. |
The 39-year-old, reportedly performed a citizens arrest of the fleeing thief. |
Chance the Rapper Was Everyone's Best Friend at the 2017 GRAMMYs -- See the Pics! |
Nobody has any problems with Chance the Rapper. |
The rapper -- who made history at Sunday’s GRAMMY Awards when he became the first independent artist to win Best New Artist -- also seemed to be having a historically good time, posing for pics with everyone from Jay Z to J.Lo and receiving some very special love from one of his fellow nominees. |
Sporting his signature “3” hat and ditching his overalls for a suit and tie, the 23-year-old Chicago-born rapper rocked the red carpet, snapping shots with fans, as well as fellow performer Katy Perry. |
Once he got inside the awards show, however, is when the real fun began. In addition to Best New Artist, Chance also scored golden gramophones for Best Rap Performance, for his Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz collab, "No Problem," and Best Rap Album, for Coloring Book (the first-ever streaming-only album to even be nominated, l... |
He also scored a hug from Jay Z and some face time with Rihanna. Not a bad haul. |
Prior to the ceremony, Chance (real name: Chancelor Bennett) shared a shout-out from Drake, who’s currently touring in Europe and missed the awards show. Though he and Champagne Papi swapped wins in some of the rap categories, there was nothing but love in their text conversation. |
GRAMMYs: Blue Ivy Steals the Show With Prince Tribute at the GRAMMYs -- See the Adorable Pics! |
Backstage after his wins, Lil’ Chano posed for even more pics, chatting up Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Lopez and GRAMMYs host James Corden. |
But Chance wasn’t the only one having epic celeb encounters at Sunday’s GRAMMYs. Check out the video below to see what happened when Lady Gaga and Celine Dion crossed paths in front of the ET cameras! |
LONE TREE, Colo. — The Colorado Department of Transportation closed a major route from southeast metro area connecting Interstate 25 because of the need to conduct emergency repairs on a bridge Wednesday morning. |
The eastbound ramp from C-470 onto northbound I-25 was closed around 10 a.m. |
CDOT said they need to complete emergency expansion joint repairs. |
No reopening time has been announced. |
Is Burning Wood For Heat Really Green? |
We love wood at TreeHugger; our posts on wood and pellet stoves continue to be among the most popular we have ever published. Environmental writer Mark Gunther loves it too, calling it A renewable energy technology that gets no respect.. He calls it " a "green" technology that appeals to poor and working class people. ... |
We also love simple tech, and learning from the past; Mark writes "as is so often the case with environmental or health problems-think about excessive packaging, or overly-processed foods-solutions lie not in some futuristic technology but in the past." |
1. Even the cleanest stoves are still dirty. |
The drawback of burning wood is that even efficient stoves produce some particulate pollution, so they should not be used in places like Los Angeles or Denver where smog remains a problem. |
That is a bit of an understatement. Even an EPA certified low emission stove puts out enough fine particle pollution in 2-1/2 days as a car does in a year. That's why they have been banned in Montreal and a lot of other cities. They are not suitable for urban areas, period. And at the last census, 80% of the population... |
A rule of thumb from woodheat.org is that " a healthy, well-managed woodlot can yield half a cord of wood per acre per year forever" and that "a ten acre woodlot could sustainably produce enough firewood each year to heat a house." That would mean that if there really are 15 million people using wood to heat their home... |
If you are harvesting your own wood on your own woodlot, the numbers are better. Scale up the industry and get the wood from farther away, and they get a whole lot worse. |
Wood stoves are most popular (obviously) in colder climates and (not so obviously) among poor people. Arkansas and West Virginia, for example, are big wood burning states. John says: "It's actually poor people in this country who are at the forefront of not using fossil fuels, and they're doing it without getting any m... |
They are not living in cute little well-insulated apartments, they are probably not using EPA approved low emission stoves, and I doubt the wood is sustainably harvested. Poverty is not green or sustainable. |
Despite its considerable advantages, fuelwood is not a good solution for all households to the problems of high home heating costs and global warming. Fuelwood is not a suitable energy source in all locations, such as densely-populated urban areas, because its air emissions tend to be higher than other options, and the... |
We have noted for years that wood stoves are hot, but are they green enough to merit subsidies and tax credits like solar panels and other renewable energy technologies? I am not convinced. More at Marc Gunther. |
The Express allowed nine doubles, walked three batters in a row and faced a seven-run deficit Saturday - and won. |
That's just the way things are going around Round Rock these days. |
This 10-9 win over New Orleans is at or near the top of the Express' PCL-leading 77 wins. Facing a 9-2 seventh-inning deficit, Round Rock scored four times in the bottom of the seventh to add some drama to the late innings, then scored four more in the ninth for the walk-off win. |
Chad Tracy delivered the game-winning hit with a single to deep center field, scoring Nick Green. |
Round Rock (77-51) started its ninth-inning rally against the New Orleans bullpen with a Guilder Rodriguez lead-off single. Leonys Martin followed with another single to bring the tying run to the plate. Esteban German singled to make it 9-7 and Green walked on four pitches to bring the winning run to the plate. |
Victor Garate came on for New Orleans (63-65) and promptly threw away a Brad Nelson grounder to tie the game and put the winning run on third. |
All that was left was the cherry on top of this rally, which Tracy provided. |
The Zephyrs built their lead by hammering Round Rock starter Ryan Tucker for six runs in 41/3 innings. Chris Davis was 3 for 4 with three of New Orleans' nine doubles and drove in five runs. That included a bases-clearing double in the fourth after Tucker walked the bases loaded. The Zephyrs scored in each of the third... |
The Express lowered their magic number to clinch the American Southern division to five, with second-place Albuquerque playing late. They also stayed ahead of Sacramento in the race for the PCL's best regular-season record. Round Rock held a two-game lead entering Saturday. |
Celebrating all types of comics from Manga to Disney to graphic novels to webcomics to cartoons, Denmark’s largest comic book festival gives you the opportunity to meet some of the artists behind your favourite characters, watch debates and take part in workshops. |
Since its launch as Komiks.dk in 2004, the biennial event has been held six times, and on the last occasion in June 2015, it attracted 4,500 visitors. |
Arguably the biggest draw is Nadia Khiari, a Tunisian cartoonist included on the BBC 100 Women list for 2016, whose work has come to prominence since the Arab Spring, which started in her homeland in 2011. |
In her own words, she previously had “to suggest rather than to say” to avoid being thrown into prison and felt like she “was a zombie”. After the revolution it was like she had been reborn and drawing was like “screaming like a baby”. |
Among the other cartoonists appearing in person are a British quartet that bring mainstream and alternative experience. Barry Kitson and Dave McKean both regularly draw for DC Comics, while Tom Gauld (You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack) and Garen Ewing (The Adventures of Julius Chancer – The Rainbow Orchid) are know... |
Many might know Poland’s Grzregorz Rosinski as the main contributor to Thorgal and French couple Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset who draw together under the name of Kerascoët. |
Cold War Kids’ new EP “Behave Yourself” was released for download on iTunes in December 2009 with a physical album in mid-January, but beyond that there isn’t much else to announce. This is the ninth EP for the group, and the four-track set released at number 177 on the Billboard 200 Chart. |
The EP is said to be a collection of songs recorded after the second album “Loyalty to Loyalty” in 2008 that didn’t quite fit with past EPs and albums. This could explain a slight lack of cohesion between tracks. The album takes a few listens to really understand and get into, but after that CWK fans might find a coupl... |
“Audience,” “Sermons”—originally recorded on the second EP—and “With Our Wallets Full” are worth the buy. However, the other tracks, “Coffee Spoon” and “Santa Ana Winds,” might take some more time to appreciate. |
Perhaps the EP is just too short to judge definitively. The good news is that CWK is rumored to be back in the studio this month with plans for a third full-length album. Until then, “Behave Yourself” will have to tide fans over. |
A day after the Election Commission temporarily barred Mayawati from campaigning starting Tuesday, the Supreme Court today rejected the BSP supremo’s plea against the poll panel’s ban. The Commission invoked its extraordinary powers to temporarily ban four political leaders — UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BSP chie... |
“Seems like the Election Commission has woken up and found its powers,” the top court said today. The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, was hearing a PIL filed by an NRI in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seeking action against political parties for “hate speeches” made by their leaders or representa... |
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