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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Podcast: Slowjamastan
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we’re visiting The Republic of Slowjamastan, a micro-nation built on good vibes, good music, and the dream of eliminating one very popular type of footwear. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people...

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Best Practices for using Artificial Intelligence in...
Question for Our Hotel Marketing Expert Panel What are the most beneficial use cases of Artificial Intelligence in hotel marketing? Where are the opportunities and what are the pitfalls for hotels to be aware of? (Question from Cory Falter) Our Marketing Expert Panel Cory Falter – Partner The post Best Practices for using Artificial Intelligence in Hotel Marketing appeared first on Revfine.com.

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The Confusing Truth About Arrowroot
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE JANUARY 20, 2024, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. While the common names of plants and animals vary around the globe, their scientific names stay the same everywhere. Scientific nomenclature is not without issues (like India’s native curry leaf being named in honor of two European botanists), but it can be a helpful tool for identifying ingredients, especially international groceries from non-English speaking countries. Such products may...

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The Site of Gaza's Oldest Mosque Has...
This story was originally published on The Conversation. It appears here under a Creative Commons license. The Omari Mosque in Gaza was largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment on Dec. 8, 2023. It was one of the most ancient mosques in the region and a beloved Gazan landmark. The mosque was first built in the early seventh century and named after Islam’s second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, a successor to the Prophet Muhammad and leader of the early Islamic community....

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Podcast: Whimzeyland
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we’ll explore the enchanting world of Whimzeyland in Safety Harbor and uncover the captivating stories behind 20 years of art sustainably crafted from up-cycled material found throughout Pinellas County, hear from the visionary artists who brought it to life, and immerse our audience in the magic that awaits around every corner

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Key Digital Trends in the Tourism and...
Digital Trends in the Travel Industry Digital trends in the travel industry are revolutionizing how services are offered and experienced. These trends significantly enhance customer engagement and operational efficiency by incorporating AI, VR, and IoT. They’re crucial for businesses to remain competitive in a dynamic market, offering innovative, personalized travel experiences while optimizing management and The post Key Digital Trends in the Tourism and Travel Industry in 2024 appeared first on Revfine.com.

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How to Build an Effective Commercial Hotel...
A hotel’s commercial team—revenue management, sales, and marketing—is critically important to the financial health of a property. When working harmoniously, these functions combine to ensure a property is filled with high-value guests while minimizing acquisition costs as much as possible. However, “harmonious” is an unlikely descriptor for many hotel commercial teams. 3 Ways to Build The post How to Build an Effective Commercial Hotel Organization in 2024 appeared first on Revfine.com.

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Uncovering the Importance of Pickup and Pace...
As a revenue manager, one of your essential daily inquiries is, “What was yesterday’s pickup?” It’s a question that sets the tone for your day and helps you make informed decisions about selling the right room, to the right guest, at the right time, at the right price. Setting the correct room price is undoubtedly The post Uncovering the Importance of Pickup and Pace in Revenue Management appeared first on Revfine.com.

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Guest Communications: Gold Standards, Key Challenges, and...
Time and effort going into answering guest queries should not be underestimated. How to optimize the process to benefit your guests and your staff? This article explores how hotel tech solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can help you do that. Still, first, it outlines the reasons behind the high volume of guest questions, the The post Guest Communications: Gold Standards, Key Challenges, and the AI appeared first on Revfine.com.

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Concordia Monument in Belvedere, Sint Maarten
With an area of 34 square miles, the Caribbean island of St. Maarten / St. Martin has the unique distinction of being the smallest inhabited island that is split between two countries. The northern portion is Saint-Martin, an overseas collectivity of France, while the southern portion is Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The border that runs through the middle of the island is open and has been since 1648, when the European powers signed the Treaty of...

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Shady Dale Bank and Old Stagecoach Stop...
On the backroads of Georgia in Northeastern Jasper County lies the small town of Shady Dale. If you blink you could miss it. On the tiny town’s Main street, you will find an old building that was once the bank in the 1900s. The Bank of Shady Dale began operating in 1907 with a start-up of $25,000, and ceased operations and liquidated all assets in 1921.  The building has also been used as the town’s post office and library,...

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Flying Circuses Led to the First Aerial...
On September 8, 1785, Thomas Baldwin saw something nobody had ever seen before: the English city of Chester and its surroundings from above. And then he did something nobody had ever done before: He produced maps of what he saw—the very first aerial maps in history. They’re included in Airopaidia, a curious book that devotes hundreds of pages to Baldwin’s one and only balloon trip. People have been flying planes for 117 years. But the history of human flight...

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Kiskatinaw Bridge in Parkland, British Columbia
The first curved wooden bridge in Canada still stands near Kiskatinaw Provincial Park. It was built in 1942-1943 by the U.S. Public Roads Administration during the construction of the Alaska-Canada Highway. Due to a large change in grade between the span the bridge covers, the bridge needed to curve nearly 90 degrees.   Kiskatinaw Bridge is a curved, timber-truss structure with high banks that extends 162 meters (534 feet). Because of weight limits that prevented some of the larger trucks that regularly used...

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Casa da Moeda in Panaji, India
In the square near Panaji Head Post Office, there are a lot of old Portuguese Era buildings. Also known as Tobacco Square in the Bairro do Sao Tome, the location of the area was historically extremely significant and many important buildings came up here. One such building is the Casa da Moeda which means House of Coins. This building functioned as the Mint of Goa from 1834-1841.  During that era, the then Portuguese Viceroy of Goa, Dom Manuel de...

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Lahontan Dam and the Newlands Project in...
In the late 19th and well into the 20th centuries, reclamation (the construction of water storage and distribution structures to irrigate farmland) was the subject of a great deal of enthusiasm among a segment of population in the U.S. West. Motivations ranged from notions of “making the desert bloom” to pragmatic ideas of fostering economic development to promoters seeking to add value to lands they had acquired. Francis G. Newlands, at the time a Congressman from Nevada, was one...

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