John Joslyn

Gail Crutchfield of The Mountain Press recently wrote a comprehensive story about the new Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge.  Although so much is being written and reported about this fascinating new interactive exhibit, there are so many interesting aspects to the Titanic Museum that each story is entirely different from the last.

In the article, Crutchfield writes, “For the couple (Mary Kellogg Joslyn and John Joslyn), especially John Joslyn who helped organize a 1987 expedition and served as executive producer on “Return to the Titanic…LIVE,” documenting the adventure, honoring the memory of those lost in the tragedy is their main goal with the museum.

“The ship is a celebration of her crew and her passengers that were aboard,” Kellogg said, in referring to the museum.

After participating in the $6 million expedition and traveling the more than 2 miles down to the ocean floor to see the doomed ship, Joslyn decided he wanted to do something to pay tribute to the ship, her crew and passengers.”

You can read the entire article in The Mountain Press here.

Yarbrough reports, “From the ships bridge, guests will see the same starry, moonless night and feel the same chill in the air and water. Not only will actors play the role of crew members, including Captain Edward Smith, but visitors will get involved by seeing the name of an actual passenger on their boarding pass. They will also follow the story of that person, eventually learning their fate.”

Yarbrough says the $25 million Titanic Museum sits near the Wonderworks on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge. In early December 2009, it was pretty much just steel, concrete and sheetrock. By spring 2010, it will be a half scale replica of the world’s most famous cruise ship, complete with the bridge and grand stair case.  However, its owner – John Joslyn - says in addition to housing priceless Titanic artifacts, the museum will feature numerous interactive galleries.

Cick the image above to watch Volunteer TV’s complete report.

Most people now store personal pictures, videos and writing (blogs, facebook updates, tweets, etc.) online.  Sites like Photobucket, Flickr and Vimeo make it easy.  If you’re like me, you don’t give much thought to where all of that information is actually stored.  CNN’s John Sutter knows — and he does a fascinating report on it today.

If you’ve heard the term “cloud computing” and didn’t know what it was all about, watch or read his report.  At least you’ll know where you put all of your stuff.

Recent investments by businesses like Wilderness at the Smokies resort in Sevierville and the new Titanic Museum being built in Pigeon Forge are not only changing the attractions East Tennessee has to offer, they are changing the type of visitors our area attracts.  During a two-month period in the spring of this year, Wilderness at the Smokies had 80,000 guests and 20 percent of those visitors had never set foot in East Tennessee (that’s 15,000 first-time visitors in 60 days).

As excitement builds around the new Titanic Museum (scheduled to open next spring) and the never-ending expansions to Wilderness at the Smokies (another new attraction will open there around Thanksgiving), I can only ask myself, “What will become of Reverend Elvis and where will I ever find another fine work of airbrush art?”  I can rest a little more easily knowing visitors to East Tennessee will have some amazing things to do … even if it doesn’t involve quite so many go-carts.

Early next year, the Titanic will sail into Pigeon Forge.  She will be hard to miss.  The $25 million half-scale replica of the RMS Titanic has been taking shape for the past few months and the impact the museum has on visitors is as overwhelming as the ship’s 100-foot tall smokestacks.

The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge will be similar to the Titanic Museum in Branson, Mo. (both are owned by Cedar Bay Entertainment) only larger and with a third floor.  Those who think of go-cart tracks and airbrushed t-shirts when they hear the words “Pigeon Forge” should take note — the Titanic Museum would be perfectly at home in Epcot at Walt Disney World (one of the owners was a senior executive at Disney for 20 years).  Its priceless artifacts and unbelievable detail bring the ship and her passengers to life, and the real story the museum tells is the story of the passengers.

Guests will be given a boarding pass when they enter the Titanic Museum.  Each boarding pass has the name of a different passenger on the RMS Titanic.  As they walk through the museum, they not only see and learn about the ship and its only voyage, but they get to know a real person who was on board.  They will see handwritten letters and postcards from passengers, personal belongings and other artifacts that make the museum much more than a simple exhibit.

The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge will open early next year.

If you’re in Pigeon Forge, stop by the Titanic preview trailer in the museum’s parking lot.  I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding it, just look for the large passenger ship sailing down the Parkway.

Dane Scism, founder and CEO of Cellular Sales, says the company rolled out the campaign in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, but anticipates his company will take the program national. 

Cell Phones for Soldiers was started in 2004 by two teenagers in Norwell, Mass.  Starting with just $21, the brother and sister team has now raised $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

For more information, visit www.cellularsales.com or www.ackermannwire.com.

The project has been covered by media from all over the Eastern United States, including a report in today’s Daily Times by Matthew Stewart.

Stewart writes, “Officials said a complex in this region could operate from February through November, and they’ve estimated it could generate between $19 million and $25.5 million every year.”

And the Ripken Design people seem to agree.  WBAL Sports Radio in Baltimore, Maryland says early indications are that the Ripken Design feasibility study supports Baseball, LLC’s beliefs.

WBAL quotes Jeff Eiseman, Vice President of Ripken Design saying, “These facilities typically bring in families – not just the players.  These families usually come in to play baseball or softball and stay in the community for the whole weekend or longer. They stay at hotels, eat at restaurants and go out and do the same things typical vacationers do. They spend a considerable amount of money while they’re in town.”

“With a shift towards family travel in youth sports tourism, a complex must have a great location, great operations, and great amenities in and around the facilities in order to be successful. The Smoky Mountains, Pigeon Forge, and the Knoxville area are very conducive to the type of family travel and entertainment necessary for a destination complex.”

“After meeting with Baseball, LLC and examining their current operations, we have no doubt that they have the ability to properly operate a facility.”  Eiseman says he believes the proposed facility could be a huge success, not only for Baseball, LLC but also for the growth of the game of baseball as well as the quality of life for the surrounding community.

UPDATE: Josh Flory of the Knoxville News Sentinel also has details of the story, including an interesting bit of baseball trivia connecting Cal Ripken, Jr. to Baseball, LLC’s (and former Major League pitcher) Doug Bochtler.

“What has happened in the last five years can’t even be captured by the word ‘change’ – it is as if the most fundamental laws of the media universe have been overthrown. Facebook didn’t even exist five years ago. It now draws more than 200 million visitors.

“Ask anyone about YouTube before 2005 and they’d have thought you were talking about an ointment. By last fall, it was drawing a hundred million viewers a month. Every minute, ten hours of videos are posted, ranging from news, sports, and entertainment clips to original creations.

“What these and countless other examples represent is a sea change that has upended all of our assumptions about how media are delivered.”

Greenfield believes the shift in how people get their media puts control into the hands of information users rather than the information providers.  A revolutionary change.  But, at the end of the day, the basics — good content, great storytelling, command of language — still apply.  And it’s the reason I still love CBS Sunday morning.

Before you write me off as hopelessly un-academic, the MSNBC story below (about an MIT program) caught my eye AND I totally get it …

“Schools of newly-designed robotic fish could one day patrol waterways, swimming around as fluidly as the real fish they’re based on, looking for environmental pollutants and inspecting submerged structures, such as boats and oil pipelines.

Mechanical engineers Kamal Youcef-Toumi and Pablo Valdivia Alvarado designed the sleek robotic fish to more easily maneuver into areas where traditional underwater autonomous vehicles can’t go.”

According to the story, the Robo-Tuna version has been around since 1994, but the Robo-Bass and Robo-Trout are the latest, sleekest, and fastest robot fish on the market (and are likely FAR more fuel efficient than their oversized predecessors).

Now that I comprehend a little MIT science, I simply ask God to let me be there the first time a fisherman pulls one of these babies up out of the Little River near the Townsend-Y.