Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Pondering Publishing at Disney World

We're back from four days in Orlando, and it was splendid. Yesterday I was in the pool and it was 80 degrees. Today it's 32 and everything is grey and covered in slush. Talk about a rude awakening!

If you're planning a trip to Disney World, don't miss the Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot. Call it cheesy, lame, or naive if you like, but I love it. You board "futuristic" cars and ride up into the giant silver sphere that is Epcot's landmark. Along the way, animatronics depict significant moments in the history of human communication: cave paintings, Phonecians, Michaelangelo, Gutenberg, Walter Cronkite on radio, watching men walk on the moon from a 1960s living room, and a room-sized computer operated by a girl in kicky go-go boots.

The highlight for me was the new addition at the end of the character tunnel: a young Bill Gates tinkering in his garage, paving the way for the PC revolution (love the orange Vega parked outside!). How many years will it be before they have to depict some sort of e-book reader as well?

At the end there is a new interactive quiz where you get to input your preferences and see how technology can improve your future. It told me that in the future I would be able to do work while commuting because my car will drive itself! (Apparently even the enlightened folks of the future can't figure out a way to eliminate commuting altogether.)

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