|
| http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST29871820080706?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews
Toyota's going to start putting solar panels on an upcoming model of the Prius. This would be another nice boost for hybrids if the idea pans out, particularly where I live. I don't drive that many miles in my commute, so I haven't really looked too seriously for myself (aside from wishing I could afford one of the Tesla Roadster electric cars), but I definitely do hope these ideas keep improving the hybrids out there.
| | |
| Been back a couple weeks, and I still haven't given any details on my vacation nor any pictures. Well, I started uploading what few I have to my flickr. Well, one so far. I saw my camera when I was cleaning for the 4th, but I don't know where I put it. But in any case....
I spent the first 3 days on the beach for a good portion of the time, and ate some sort of seafood every night for dinner. The first night's seafood was fair at best (only after we left did my brother say the place was hit or miss every time he went there), but the rest of the time, the food was excellent.
The first day at the beach, we went to the one about 15 minutes from where my brother lives, and it was a great deal of fun. Spent probably 3 hours in the water, and some time lying out in the sun. I of course forgot to re-apply sunscreen after being in the water so long, which is why I was a nice bright shade of red on my back the rest of the trip. The next day, we went to the much more publicized Cocoa Beach about 40 minutes north of there. I was still pretty sore, so I wasn't all that eager to get in the water, but we did have lunch there and then wander along the beach. As we walked, we noticed a big storm coming, so we turned back. But not in time. It rained, and rained, and hailed, and rained upon our heads. The next afternoon, we opted to return to the closer beach. It once again was threatening to rain the whole time, but never really got to much more than a drizzle, so it worked out ok.
The last day there, we drove up to Orlando and went to Universal Studios. Both the Islands of Adventure theme park, and Universal Studios proper. We rode many, many rides. 3 or 4 roller coasters. The Hulk was interesting because partway up the initial climb it suddenly shot forward at 40mph instead of waiting for the fall. I also liked the intertwined Ice and Fire Dragon coasters, though we only rode the Ice side; just kind of funny riding along and then seeing people's feet what seemed right by your own fly by (though they had to be at least 10-15 feet away, looking at it afterwards).
We also saw some half-movie, half-acted shows like the Poseidon's Temple and the Terminator 2 show. The terminator one was particularly impressive because the actors would frequently ride in and out of the screen with a combination of the real actors who played the parts in the 3D movie portions and look-alikes in the parts running around in the crowd. Definitely could see why it was there for so long. We also saw the Shrek 4D movie, which was more impressive in the technical details, but not the overall quality of the Terminator one.
The Spiderman 3D ride and Men In Black ride were both very well done. The Spiderman had you wearing 3D glasses on an inside roller coaster/coaster simulator, with images projected all throughout the ride that went right up in your face and often felt like they were landing right on the vehicle. The highlight of it was when it made it look like Spiderman was flinging you around with him while the badguys kept knocking you out of his web and you'd fall along various buildings. The Men In Black one was unique in that each of the 6 people in your car got light guns, and you were shooting aliens throughout the ride, competing against another car running on a mirrored track running along in parallel on the other side of the twisty corridor. At points you could shoot one spot on the opposing car to make them twirl around. And at the end, the average score of the two cars was displayed up to show which side 'won'. My car lost, but I did have the highest individual score on the car of almost 2x the average :)
The last ride we did was the new Simpsons ride. The sign at the start showed an expected wait time of 95 minutes, so we were a bit hesitant to do it, but figured we'd give it a shot. Throughout the line, they had TV monitors showing an intermix of clips of the TV show with new material involving Krusty the Clown. The total length of the show was bout 60 minutes, and it took us a lot lot longer than that. About half way through the line, the intercom announced that they were running at limited capacity and for everyone to please be patient. For probably 20-30 minutes, we did not move at all. And our legs got very, very tired. But finally we started moving again, very slowly. And eventually made it to the ride. At the part where the lines for individual cars formed, they had a new set of monitors with more original pieces involving 5 or 6 different characters, Apu, Marge's sisters, Moe, and Homer are the ones I recall for sure.
They lined us up and a group of 6 of us went into a small room with funny mirrors and a TV which further advanced the plot of the ride's storyline. After 4 or 5 minutes, we moved to the ride itself, a car inside a small room with a large IMAX theater abovehead and a TV directly in front. They strapped us in, and as side show Bob started to talk to us, a loud blast of static burst from our speakers. And then stuff we couldn't quite see started to show on the theater up above. And the girl who led us in came running back in, saying I'm sorry the car broke, we'll get you into a different car next ride. Meanwhile, DON'T WATCH what's up there or you'll ruin it, look at me instead. And then just made a clown out of herself for the next few minutes. My brother, hadn't heard the initial explanation; only the DONT WATCH and her making a fool of herself, and was very confused. None of us were quite sure, aside from the short blast of static, what had been wrong, but as one of the group mentioned, they were confused how what we sat there and watched required the1) strapping in and 2) warnings that pregnant ladies, back/heart trouble, etc shouldn't go on the ride.
But after it was over, they funnelled us over to another little room, where we watched the intro yet again. And talked among ourselves. They eventually led us to another car, where it started up on the TV as before, but this time with no loud static. Ahhhh. And once that short piece on the TV ended, the car rose up about 10 feet, and we were now riding a very nice coaster simulator while watching the coaster itself on the large screen as the car would shake and move about to make the experience almost realistic, as the coaster fell apart and we were tossed around following, colliding into, and generally causing half the havoc that the Simpsons got into. A *much* better ride than sitting on the ground not moving and only seeing about 3/4 of the screen. Not quite worth the 2 hours or so we spent for the ride itself, but definitely the most memorable part.
By that time, our legs were exhausted, so we hobbled our way to sitting down for dinner and then the drive back to his apartment that night. All to fall asleep and get up early the next day to drive an hour back to Orlando for my flight home. :)
| | |
| Back from vacation. I had a really good time, and I'll post more details later. But I'm back at work now, and I have 2228 unread emails...after being gone less than a week. *cry* Can I go on vacation again already?
| | |
| Ha...came back to the computer because of insomnia and figured I'd look and see where a package I ordered from Amazon that was supposed to come tomorrow was at right now. Cause I'm wierd and like to look and see if my packages come from somewhere different. Logged in and noticed the status....delivered. Poked my head out the front door, and sure enough it was there on the doorstep.
It's funny to me because I would have spent the evening watching Stargate SG-1 instead had I noticed it when I got home. (I bought the entire 10 season collection of the show, as well as the straight-to-dvd movie that they released a couple months ago)
| | |
|
