Stories from the States 27 August 2003 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.

So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.

Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.

And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.

We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm​. You made it all happen.

There are other changes as well.

Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:

We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.

It's time to move on and move forward.

PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.

But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.

So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.

And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.

That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!

If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.

So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!

Best wishes for a wonderful and magical new year!

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Old 08-27-2003, 02:44 AM   #1
chezp
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Stories from the States 27 August 2003

Nasa slammed in shuttle report - ITV news

The investigation in to the break-up of the shuttle Columbia has slammed Nasa's self-protective culture and its reluctance to tackle safety problems head-on.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board, set up after the tragedy that killed seven astronauts, said in its final report that Nasa needs to set up separate safety agencies that will be able to get the attention of top space officials when things go wrong.

The board found that Nasa engineers raised questions soon after Columbia's launch on January 16 about a piece of foam insulation that was seen falling from the ship's massive external tank about 81 seconds after lift-off.

Engineers asked three times during the 16-day mission for satellite images of Columbia in orbit to check on whether the foam struck and damaged the ship, but such images were never obtained.

The board's report said Nasa officials missed eight opportunities to address concerns about the falling foam, which was ultimately found to be the accident's most probable cause.

Briton in court on sex charge - ITV news

A Briton arrested in the US for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl he had met on the Internet has appeared in court.

Barry Beadle, 51, from Southport, Merseyside, was charged with third degree sexual assault and harbouring a runaway in April.

Police in Iowa allege that Beadle had flown to America and spent several nights in a hotel room with the teenager.

Memorial preserves WTC victims - ITV news

Unidentified remains of more than 1,000 victims of the September 11 World Trade Centre attacks will be stored until scientific advances allow them to be named.

More than 12,000 body parts will be kept in a memorial at New York's Ground Zero at the requests of many relatives of those who died in the 2001 terror strike.

The remains will be dried and then individually vacuum-sealed in opaque white pouches.

The procedure means memorial designers will not have to include a refrigeration or freezer system in the tribute.

US vows 'no retreat' from Iraq - BBC news

US President George W Bush has said there will be no retreat from Iraq or from the war against terror.

Mr Bush was speaking to US military veterans as the number of American deaths since the end of major combat operations on 1 May surpassed the number killed during the war.

Mr Bush told the gathering in St Louis, Missouri, that it was a choice between "civilisation and chaos".

Opposition politicians in the US have criticised his speech with one Democrat dismissing it as "empty rhetoric".
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Old 09-03-2003, 10:10 AM   #2
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Re: Stories from the States 27 August 2003

Alot of big news on that day!

thanks Cheryl!

Wendy
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Old 09-03-2003, 02:31 PM   #3
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Re: Stories from the States 27 August 2003

[img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] Thanks Cheryl.
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