San Diego homeless man gets 14 years for beating, burning Aussie tourist

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Damian Maple, a homeless man in San Diego, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for beating an Australian tourist, Robert Schneider, with a skateboard and dragging him into a fire pit. Maple went down for attempted murder for attacking the 26-year-old Adelaide resident in 2008.

Maple’s accomplice, Francisco Montoya, was sentenced to two years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon. Montoya is also homeless.

According to a witness, Schneider threw sand in Montoya’s face, prompting the latter to attack the former. Maple encouraged Montoya and then dragged the unconscious Australian tourist into a smoldering fire pit. Schneider’s injuries – including burns and a skull fracture – put him in the hospital for several weeks.

Tough 2009 ahead for international visits, 2010 comeback

by Tom Johansmeyer on

We all expected it: fewer international visitors are going to come to the United States this year. Overall, revenue from foreign guests is expected to fall 8 percent, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Twenty-four of the top five arrival markets are likely to drop. Drops of 13 percent, 12 percent and 11 percent are likely for Ireland, Spain and Mexico, respectively, with the United Kingdom and France posting declines of around 10 percent. Canada’s anticipated drop is 6 percent.

Visits from Europe should fall 9 percent this year – the largest regional decline. It will take until 2013 for European visits to the United States to return to 2008 levels. The Asia-Pacific region is projected to fall l5 percent this year but will grow at a rate of 21 percent through 2013, leading to more than a net recovery, especially for India, China, South Korea and Australia. The 4 percent decline in South America is forecasted to turn around by 2013, with visits growing 23 percent relative to 2008. This will make it the second-fastest growing region in the world for foreign visitors to the United States.

Globally, visits to the United States from abroad are projected to grow 3 percent in 2010, followed by a 5 percent annual growth rate through 2013.

The Delaying the Real World Fellowship

by Brenda Yun on

Had we at Gadling known about this earlier, we certainly would have brought it to your attention, but travel savvy twenty-somethings still have two days to apply for the Delaying the Real World Fellowship! The deadline is May 30, 2009.

All you have to do is describe what you would do if you could postpone the 9-5 grind. If your proposal is convincing, you could very well be the recipient of a $5,000 grant fulfill your proposed adventure.

The Delaying the Real World fellowship is designed to sponsor an adventurous project that is independent of academic and religious institutions. For a better sense of what kinds of previous adventures made the cut, you can read about the ones featured in Colleen Kinder’s book entitled Delaying the Real World, or visit the fellowship website to read about its past winners.
Applicants must be in their twenties (ages 21 through 29 to be exact). You must also be a U.S. citizen. There is no educational requirement to apply. Eligible applicants must use the online application form at to propose a gutsy and worthwhile adventure in the spirit of Delaying the Real World and the young adventurers who fill the book. There is no time length requirement on your adventure, though the fellowship committee (Running Press, Avalon Travel, Colleen Kinder, and past winners) will take into account how well your proposed idea maximizes the $5,000 grant.

The winner will be selected on the basis of the ingenuity of his or her detailed proposal. The fellowship committee will notify this year’s winner by June 15, 2009. The winner will be featured on the Delaying the Real World website and must be available at an agreed time and date to attend a dinner with Colleen Kinder and the fellowship committee in New York City. The winner should plan to begin the fellowship within four months of the award date and willing to report any fellowship-related escapades back to the fellowship committee, including occasional photos.

Treat yourself to an “epic summer” in Colorado

by Tom Johansmeyer on

A full week in the Rocky Mountains is exactly what you need to unwind. “Epic Summer,” the latest package from RockResorts, includes a range of options for individuals and families looking to enjoy crisp western air and natural surroundings without sacrificing comfort.

The package, which includes taxes and resort fees, costs $1,195 per adult and $895 per kid – a savings of almost 40 percent! What you get is nothing short of astounding. Spend six nights at either the Keystone or Breckenridge resort areas, and take advantage of an array of outdoor activities. Whitewater rafting, horseback riding on Beaver Creek Mountain and panning for gold can be added to your itinerary, and guides are available. You can even have a campfire dinner and wagon ride scheduled.

The “Epic Summer” deal includes ground transportation and all meals, along with resort access and related activities. At a savings of around $2,600, you’ll also get the added thrill of feeling like you’re stealing from the resort. Don’t underestimate the thrill of the illicit!

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Times Square becomes a pedestrian zone

by Sean McLachlan on

New York City’s famous Times Square became free of cars this Monday.

This is the latest in two decades of radical changes to what used to be a dirty, dangerous, but uniquely vibrant part of one of the world’s greatest cities. City officials have blocked traffic from 42nd to 47th Streets at Times Square and between 33rd and 35th Streets at Herald Square in a much-anticipated move we first reported on back in February.

The traffic jams are being replaced by pedestrian plazas and more shops. The hope is to attract even more visitors to New York City’s iconic square by getting rid of noise, pollution, and frequent accidents. New Yorkers celebrated Monday with a big block party and setting up lawn chairs in the middle of the road. The city plans to have various events and street performers every night in the coming weeks to attract more people to Times Square.

Old-time New Yorkers like yours truly have fond memories of the old Times Square, full of seedy bars, seedier adult shops, and crumbling movie houses where you could watch a double feature of martial arts films for two bucks. I saw my first Jackie Chan film in Times Square, my first zombie picture, not to mention countless Z-list action flicks. Ah, the Eighties!

But not everyone liked Times Square at its decadent best. It was too close to Broadway, where accountants from Omaha wanted to see musicals without being reminded that the world isn’t like it is in A Chorus Line.

First to go were the movie theaters, replaced one by one by adult video centers, as if the area didn’t have enough of those already. No more blaxplotation or ninja flicks, just hard core. Then the porn shops got shut down. Times Square began to look like Disneyland. Now the squalling, bumper-to-bumper traffic has gone the way of the dodo. The armpit of New York has been replaced with the outdoor equivalent of a shopping mall. Progress? Well, it’s certainly safer (how I survived my teen-aged trips to the old Times Square still amazes me) but I can’t help but think that by killing Times Square, New York City has lost something.

Every city has its grotty area. Amsterdam has its red light district, London has Elephant and Castle, and New York had Times Square. The thing is, these neighborhoods are often really interesting and alive. The red light district in Amsterdam has some of the city’s best architecture. Elephant and Castle has an amazing variety of African shops and restaurants. Times Square has. . .well, had. . .an exciting street life and a variety of movie houses for every taste. And no, I’m not talking about the adult stuff. Back in the day, all sorts of people went to Times Square, everyone from well-heeled businessmen up to no good, to curious teenagers like I was, all the way down to street hustlers and petty thieves. That’s what I liked about it. Now it’s tourists and the middle class. Aren’t there enough places like that?

Any other old-time New Yorkers out there have any thoughts on this?