Sixth annual Adventure Film Festival set for Nov. 18-20

by Kraig Becker on

The sixth annual Adventure Film Festival is scheduled to take place from November 18th through the 20th in the outdoor capital of the United States, Boulder, Colorado. Over the past few years, the event has earned itself a reputation as a great place for independent filmmakers and adventurers to share their ideas, as they inspire others to explore the world around them.

This year, more than 25 films will be featured over the course of the three-day event. Those films will take viewers around the globe, visiting such places as beautiful Argentina, remote regions in Russia, and the very ends of the Earth itself in Antarctica. The movies were specifically handpicked by a selection committee that was looking for inspiring, well made, and informative independent films that exemplified an adventurous spirit while capturing their subject matter in the most amazing way possible.

In addition to the great films that will be on display there are a number of others special events on the docket as well. Aspiring adventure photographers and filmmakers will want to take part in one of the workshops that will take place over the course of the festival, while live music, gear giveaways, round table discussions, and guest appearances will help to keep attendees busy while they’re not sitting in a dark theater.

The films will be shown in the historic Boulder Theater, at the local REI and Patagonia store, as well as the famous Neptune Mountaineering store. They’ll cover a host of outdoor activities including mountaineering, kayaking, cycling, skiing, and more.

House of Gladiators in Pompeii collapses

by Sean McLachlan on


Italian Archaeologists are enraged at Saturday’s collapse of the House of Gladiators in Pompeii. The 40 ft. wide structure had recently undergone reconstruction work on its roof, which might have contributed to its total collapse during heavy rains early on Saturday morning. An even greater culprit may turn out to be the Italian Arts Ministry. The ministry’s secretary general, Roberto Cecchi, admitted the building hasn’t had routine maintenance for more 50 years.

Now archaeologists, environmentalists, and conservationists are calling for the arts minister to resign and are demanding an investigation.

The Schola Armaturarum was buried like the rest of Pompeii when the nearby Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. There is some debate about the building’s original use, with archaeologists unsure if it was a school, an armory, or something else. A series of frescos of winged Victories bearing weapons has led many researchers to draw the conclusion that the building was reserved for gladiators. Pompeii receives millions of visitors every year and while the building wasn’t open to the public, it was next to a walkway. If the collapse had happened during opening hours, archaeologists warn, people could have been injured or killed.

State prosecutors are already investigating how funding for the site has been used and if there has been any Mafia involvement. Huge cuts to arts and culture funding has prompted a Italian museum strike on November 12.

[Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

National parks free for Veterans Day

by Kraig Becker on

The National Park Service will host its final fee free day for 2010 this Thursday, November 11th, in honor of Veterans Day, allowing travelers to experience more than 100 parks that generally charge admission at no cost. For a complete list of those parks, grouped by state, click here.

A number of the parks will host special ceremonies or commemorative events to honor America’s veterans, including Valley Forge, the birthplace of America’s army, which will hold a moment of silence and a wreath laying-ceremony at 11AM near the National Memorial Arch. There will also be living history interpreters near the Muhlenberg Brigade huts throughout the day who will share insights and thoughts on the history of the place. Meanwhile, visitors to Morristown Historical National Park, located in New Jersey, can enjoy a new trail that is 27 miles in length and wanders through George Washington’s historic army encampment.

The Park Service’s fee free days have been quite a hit with travelers over the past couple of years, drawing visitors in by the thousands, and helping to set new attendance records across the system. It seems they’re planning on continuing the practice in 2011 as well, as they have already announced that entry to the parks will be free from April 16-24 to celebrate National Parks Week, and again on September 24 for Public Lands Day and November 11 for Veterans Day. More dates are expected to be announced soon.

Additionally, a number of the parks’ partners will also be offering special discounts, prizes, and other deals to visitors on Veterans Day. Click here to view a sampling of those special offers.

[Photo credit: National Park Service]

Italian museums on strike November 12

by Sean McLachlan on

If you’re going to be in Italy on November 12, you might want to sit at a cafe and order an extra espresso, because many of the tourist sights will be closed.

Workers at museums and archaeological sites across the country plan to shut their doors on November 12 to protest massive budget cuts to arts and culture programming to the tune of 58 million euros ($82.02 million) annually in 2011 and 2012. The cuts were approved by the national government this summer.

Actually, when you factor in all the cuts to local government, which of course got passed on to arts and culture funding, the figure is more like 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) over the next two years.

The strike will also include other public institutions such as theatres and libraries. It’s unclear at this stage how many will participate, but considering recent large protests in places like Greece and France over austerity measures, Italy’s may be a big one.

[Photo of the statue Laocoön and His Sons in the Vatican Museum courtesy Damon Green via Gadling’s flickr pool. Chances are the Vatican Museum will remain open because it’s actually in another country!]

Oldest human footprints will soon be on public view

by Sean McLachlan on

History buffs love to see the places where famous people walked, but how about the thrill of seeing where some of mankind’s earliest ancestors strolled by? Footprints dating back 3.6 million years were discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania by the famous paleontologist Dr. Mary Leakey back in 1976. The prints of three individuals and several animals had been pressed into a layer of ash deposited by a nearby volcano and became fossilized as more and more ash and dirt piled up and pressed the lower layers into a soft rock called tuff.

This find is of major importance to the study of human evolution but the site itself hasn’t been open to the public for 15 years. Now Tanzanian officials have announced that the footprints will again be on view. The prints are in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which already attracts about 400,000 tourists annually.

The tracks are those of three individuals walking upright. One walked in the footprints of another and all lead in the same direction. It’s unclear what hominid (early form of human) made the tracks, but several skeletons of the Australopithecus afarensis were discovered in the region and date to the same approximate period. The famous Lucy skeleton is an Australopithecus afarensis. The photo shows a reconstruction of one at the Cosmocaixa museum in Barcelona.

Scientists are currently studying how to open the site with minimal impact. They expect the process to take up to two years.

This is the latest round in a continuing controversy over how to preserve the prints. Some scientists say the entire section of rock should be removed and placed in a museum. Others say they’re much more compelling where they were found. A protective sealant was placed over the prints in 1995 and the whole area was covered with earth. While this has kept the prints in good condition, it means nobody gets to appreciate them. Hopefully Tanzanian scientists will find a way to preserve the prints while allowing visitors to enjoy this one-of-a-kind discovery.

[Photo courtesy user Esv via Wikimedia Commons]