Things To Do In SW Florida

You won’t go home as the world’s tallest human or the fastest cat alive, but you probably will glean some extreme knowledge from “The Science of Guinness World Records,” a traveling exhibit currently installed at Orlando Science Center.

The space is crammed with hands-on challenges for kids and adults, the competition continues from station to station on various topics and record holders are profiled through text panels and videos.

“Our record holders are simply the most incredible people you’re ever going to meet,” John Corcoran, director of traveling shows and Guinness World Records attraction development, said in a news release.

“They defy belief, and they often seem to defy physics and the nature of spacetime itself,” he said. “But of course, what they’re really defying is our limited sense of what a person can do with enough time, enough practice and enough dedication.”

There are building tasks, memory challenges, speed obstacles and endurance quests such as keeping your balance. There’s also a big-screen version of a Pac-Man video game. read more

The first SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch of the year managed to lift off from Kennedy Space Center carrying the GOES-U weather satellite for the NOAA.

The powerhouse rocket took off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, 2024 carrying the fourth in a series of satellites that look at the Earth from 22,000 miles altitude tracking the tropics and other severe weather in the Western Hemisphere.

The launch was the 10th ever for Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018. The three boosters combine to produce 5.1 million pounds of thrust on liftoff, the most powerful commercial active rocket available.

A vacant, weed-ridden plot of land where the once-popular Flea World attraction stood near Sanford moved closer Tuesday to becoming a complex of apartments, shops and offices.

Seminole County commissioners approved preliminary plans for Reagan Center, a development of up to 1,003 apartments, a 200-room hotel and about 1.3 million square feet of retail and office space on 75 acres off U.S. Highway 17-92.

County officials have called the vacant area — across from Seminole’s expanding Five Points government complex — blighted since Flea World was closed and razed in 2015.

“This is a good product and I’m glad to see you’re moving forward with it,” Commissioner Bob Dallari told representatives for the developer, Integra Land Co.

Randy Morris, an Integra consultant, said the empty land sits along one of the busiest highways in Central Florida and is surrounded by existing businesses and multifamily housing.

“This is a development in the urban area and not in the rural area,” Morris told commissioners. “If not here then where would it go?” read more

Katie Kelton | (TNS) Bankrate

Kari Karanikos is 25 years old with six figures of debt. A social media director who lives in Pittsburgh, Karanikos is one of the many Gen Zers who love to travel, despite carrying hefty debt.

A recent Bankrate survey on chasing credit card rewards while in debt found that nearly 1 in 4 (24%) Gen Zers and 1 in 3 (32%) millennials carry a credit card balance. At the same time, nearly 3 in 5 Gen Zers (60%) and millennials (61%) plan to take a summer vacation this year.

Experts — and young people like Karanikos — know how tricky it can be to balance debt payoff with your budget’s needs and wants. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Learn how Karanikos is juggling expenses and experiences, and discover ways you can do the same.

Splurging on travel

If you end up on a flight, cruise or other mode of travel this year, look around — you might see more younger faces than older. That’s because roughly 3 in 5 Gen Zers (60%) and millennials (61%) plan to take a summer vacation in 2024. Only half of Gen X (50%) and fewer than half of boomers (44%) say they’ll do so. read more