The weekend of July 24–July 25, Washington, D.C. will become a sea of khaki as a large contingent of Scouts, volunteers, and Boy Scouts of America (BSA) leadership descend upon the nation's capital to help celebrate the Boy Scouts of America's 100th Anniversary and participate in activities leading up to the 2010 National Scout Jamboree.

Not since 1937, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited the Boy Scouts of America to hold the first Scout jamboree on the National Mall, has Washington, D.C. witnessed such a Scouting extravaganza. Nearly 25,000 Scouts participated in the first jamboree, and campfires could be seen blazing across the capital as youths came together to celebrate an organization that had taught them about the outdoors, service to others, and leadership.

Those same Scouting characteristics are still true today, and will be celebrated this weekend as all activities will center on the BSA's anniversary theme: "Celebrating the Adventure, Continuing the Journey." Merging the BSA's rich, 100-year heritage with modern twists on Scouting, the activities promise a new and exciting look at being a Scout. The general public is invited to join the BSA as Scouts participate in the Grand Centennial Parade, are challenged by ScoutQuest (a modern-day scavenger hunt throughout the Smithsonian museums and other area attractions), and live the Scouting experience at Adventure Base 100, the BSA's traveling exhibit.

"The Boy Scouts of America has had an undeniable impact on the nation over the past century," said Bob Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America. "There are not many organizations whose historical significance and contributions have been interwoven into the very fabric of American culture. This weekend, the BSA will pay tribute to the 100 million Scouts who have helped make the organization into the vital, thriving, and dynamic youth organization it is today."

The celebration will kick off at 1 p.m. on July 25 when the BSA Grand Centennial Parade makes its way down Constitution Avenue between 7th and 17th Streets. The parade will mark the first time since 1937 that the BSA has had such a commanding presence in the nation's capital. The parade will be the largest to travel down Constitution Avenue in decades, with nearly 10,000 participants and highlights from every era of the Scouts' 100-year history.

The centennial events continue with Adventure Base 100 (July 23–August 8), a unique, interactive exhibit with a mobile campus more than 10,000-square-feet in size, featuring immersive and exciting Scouting experiences. The exhibit provides a hands-on view of the BSA's 100-year history and the difference Scouting has made in the lives of millions of youths. Created specifically for the BSA's 100th Anniversary Celebration, Adventure Base 100 is traveling to more than 40 locations across the country. The journey began in January at the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, California, and will end in November in New York City.

The Grand Centennial Parade will close at 5 p.m. with a special ceremony to name inductees into the National Hall of Leadership and recognize them for their extraordinary service. A select group of four inductees, representing the many Scouts and Scout leaders across the country, will receive this once-in-a-lifetime honor.

Coinciding with these events, the BSA is joining the nation's finest museums to present ScoutQuest (July 24–25), a city-wide, high-tech scavenger hunt. Using Quick Response (QR) codes, young explorers will be able to uncover the links between Scouting and some of our greatest national treasures!

By scanning QR codes placed at the various participating institutions with smart phones, players will find clues and get their passport stamped at each stop on their journey. Each QR code will tell the story of how Scouting intersects with the mission of that location, showing just how deeply Scouting is woven into the American fabric. ScoutQuest is open to Scouts and non-Scouts alike.

Additional metropolitan area events include:

• Scouting Family Day (July 24)—The Smithsonian American Art Museum is providing a host of activities for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to enjoy, including crafts, entertainment, activities, and games.
• National Archives (various)—The National Archives is offering early entrance hours for uniformed Scouts and their families on July 23–25. On July 26, 29, and 30, the archives will show "From the Vaults: 100 Years of the Boy Scouts."

The weekend of activities leads into the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, which begins on July 26 in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. More than 40,000 Scouts, leaders, and staff from all 50 states, territories, and foreign countries will have the opportunity to live, work, and play together in an atmosphere of Scouting fellowship. In a special recognition to mark the 100th Anniversary, the closing arena show will be unlike any other in BSA history with "A Shining Light Across America," which can be viewed by a worldwide audience using both webcast and satellite broadcast technologies, on Saturday, July 31, at 8 p.m. EDT. Shining Light can be viewed via webcast at http://www.ustream.tv/shininglight.

A Century of Making a Difference/BSA Interesting Facts

• 114 million. Total number of Scouts who have gone through the program.
• Two-plus million. Total number of Eagle Scouts.
• Geocaching, Robotics, Inventing. Three new merit badges being introduced this year.
• Stamp, Coin, Locomotive, Indy Race Car. All ways the BSA is being honored this year.
• Eight. Number of Scouts who made the Forbes Billionaires list in 2010.
• 117 million. Total number of merit badges earned since 1910.
• 12,970. Number of awards given for demonstrating heroism or life saving.
• 25,000. Number of Scouts who participated in the first Scout jamboree in 1937.
• 50,000. Number of Scouts, Scouters, and visitors expected at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree.

About the Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. The Scouting organization is composed of 2.7 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 20, 1.1 million volunteers, and nearly 300 local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org.

More information about 100 Years of Scouting can be found at www.scouting.org/100years.

SOURCE Boy Scouts of America

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The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) launched a new online newsroom, www.thisjustinneworleans.com, designed to serve as a resource for all journalists covering the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and provide the latest news from the city's $5 billion tourism industry.  New Orleans is a city that survives by tourism, which is a multi-billion-dollar, perception-driven industry.

Suitable for all media, from broadcasters to bloggers, features of www.thisjustinneworleans.com include:

• Video stories on timely topics including seafood safety, cuisine, music and cultural events featuring key personalities and chefs.  These videos are embeddable on news or blog sites, and available by request in broadcast quality.
• Still photographs from around the city
• Press materials, statistics and updates from the city
• RSS subscription for future updates

Tourism is the largest industry in New Orleans providing employment to 70,000 citizens.  Tourism attracts $5 billion in capital annually and contributes more than $200 million in taxes to state coffers making crucial contributions to the health of the state.  More information on tourism in New Orleans is available on the new site.

The events on the coast 100 miles from New Orleans have been tragic and have impacted everyone in the region.  New Orleans continues to welcome hundreds of thousands of leisure visitors and conference attendees who enjoy the same hospitality and fun for which the city is known.

The New Orleans CVB is the driving catalyst for New Orleans' largest industry - tourism - strategically leading national and international marketing, public relations and visitor services efforts that attract millions of visitors, events, conventions and festivals.  Consistently recognized as one of the top five CVBs in the country, the New Orleans CVB is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010.

SOURCE The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau

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More than 1,100 of the world's best coin and paper money dealers will be buying, selling and trading numismatic items during the Boston World's Fair of Money held by the non-profit American Numismatic Association (ANA). The event, August 10-14 at the Hynes Convention Center, will be the largest coin show of the year and visitors will be able to attend hourly presentations from numismatists on a wide range of subjects.

The show will include museum-quality exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution, the ANA Edward C. Rochette Money Museum and private collectors. As many as 20 mints from around the world will give visitors an opportunity to collect coins from five continents.

In conjunction with the show, the city of Boston will be holding a number of tours and events for the many visitors and their families who will attend the show. The tours will include tours of Revolutionary War sites, scenic cruises, whale watching, and Boston's most recognizable landmarks such as Fenway Park, the major league's oldest ballpark and one of the country's most beloved sports venues.

The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) will be holding their public biennial meeting at the show on Saturday, August 14 at 2:00 p.m. The ACCG is a supporter of the ANA and is fighting against draconian import restrictions on common collectors coins that will surely threaten events like this in the future despite their many economic, educational and cultural advantages to the cities that host such events. Strangely, China, is one of the countries that the U.S. has granted import restrictions on their coins, regardless of which country they are exported from. Yet China has recently promoted the hobby of coin collecting by emulating such coin fairs and has even issued a coin celebrating ancient coin collecting in conjunction with one of their largest coin shows. See:

http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2009/12/prc-mints-silver-coin-celebrating.html

Show hours are 2:00-5:30 p.m. August 10, and 9:30-5:30 p.m. August 11-14. Dealer set-up is from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 10.

Admission is $6 for adults, and free for ANA members and children 12 and under. For details on the entire events that the World's Fair of Money and the City of Boston are planning, visit the ANA's show website at:

http://www.worldsfairofmoney.com/

For information on the ACCG, see:

http://www.accg.us/

Contact: Wayne G. Sayles, 417-679-2142, director@accg.us

This release was issued through The Xpress Press News Service, merging e-mail and satellite distribution technologies to reach business analysts and media outlets worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.XpressPress.com.

SOURCE Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG)

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Myouterspace.com, a new Social Network created for those passionate about Science Fiction, will officially launch with William Shatner who will soar over the San Diego Harbor in a helicopter, landing onto deck of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier at Comic Con. William Shatner's Myouterspace.com launch will be held at the Tweet House on the USS Midway from 7:30pm-9:30pm PST on Friday, July 23, 2010.

Comic-Con is a natural magnet for the fans, as the world will be watching Mr. Shatner interview other celebrity guests and industry professionals.  Shatner fans from around the world can follow the link to our live transmission page on Myouterspace.com and follow a live Twitter chat.

"I am excited about the possibilities that are happening at Comic Con," said Mr. Shatner, host of Myouterspace.com. "The brand new platform for creativity in film, in gaming, and in animation is now coming alive on Myouterspace.com.  With Tweet House on the USS Midway, and a great team of partners, can you get more with it?"

"The team at Myouterspace has worked extremely hard towards this exciting event," said Sammy Oriti, Co-Founder of Myouterspace.com. "Bill is an innovator; a truly incredible visionary and it will a great moment when he lands his helicopter on the flight deck. All I can say is that I have the coolest job in the world...I work with William Shatner in a Sci-Fi virtual universe!"

Myouterspace.com is dedicated to providing fans with amazing content, while connecting talented users with creative opportunities in music, graphic design, entertainment, acting, film production, and writing. Myouterspace.com generates Sci-Fi projects for film, television and the web by allowing registered users to participate alongside industry professionals and connect with other users in the business. William Shatner, host of Myouterspace.com, engages with the online community by creating video messages to fans, overseeing feature productions, providing his professional critique to users, and promoting Myouterspace.com on Twitter, Facebook, and major media outlets.

With the support of William Shatner and an innovative twist on social media, Myouterspace.com is poised to be a presence in the Sci-Fi community.

Sponsorship/advertising inquiries; sales@adplayerz.com, or 800-557-4165, Ext. 202.  Visit www.myouterspace.com and www.adplayerz.com.

SOURCE Myouterspace.com

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