*sniff*

There was a ride at Epcot Center that I loved as a kid, and sadly it’s no more. After GM pulled their sponsorship of Horizons in 1994, Disney had it open on & off between 1995 and 1999, before demolishing it for Mission:Space.

Here’s a summary from Wikipedia:

Horizons began with a section titled Looking Back at Tomorrow, showcasing visions of the future as perceived from the era of Jules Verne through the 1950s. The ride then moved past two immense OMNIMAX screens (groundbreaking technology at the time the ride was built), showing modern technologies and ideas that could be used to build the world of tomorrow. Afterward came the main part of the ride: visions of futuristic life in deserts, undersea, and even in space.

The only Disney attraction with multiple endings, Horizons then allowed riders to select which path they wanted to take back to the FuturePort: from the space station Brava Centauri (depicting space colonization), from the desert farm of Mesa Verde (depicting arid-zone agriculture), or from the Sea Castle research base (depicting ocean colonization). As the final part of the ride guests in their ‘omnimover’ would push a button to select amongst the three choices, and would be presented with a 31 second video sequence. A film would then be displayed to riders in each individual car. The videos showed a simulated flyover of an outdoor scene. To create the effect, scale models were built and a camera swept across the futuristic terrain. The models were some of the largest ever created at the time, the model for the Desert sequence for example was 32 feet by 75 feet long. The visual effects were filmed in a hangar at the Burbank airport. Produced in 1983 by 30 model makers it took over a year to build and shoot the three segments.

It’s a damn shame it wasn’t around for our honeymoon, because it’s such a Dave & Amy ride. It had paleofuture elements, but it was also a paleofuture timecapsule itself, showcasing an early 1980s vision of the year 2076 (the tricentennial).

Horizons 1 (fan site)
YouTube video (9 minutes of stills, video, and film clips)

And, of course, the Paleo-Future blog entry that finally gave me a name I could link to those memories.

Well, it’s not technically a meme I guess, but here’s my result on the McAffee SiteAdvisor Phishing Quiz:

YOU ANSWERED 10 OF 10 QUESTIONS CORRECTLY
Rating: Safety Guru

Nice work! Your practically clairvoyant knowledge of the Web allows you to spot even the most realistic looking spoofed sites. We’re impressed!

But remember that even one misstep on a deceptive Web site can put your personal information at risk which could lead to identity theft or financial losses.

Don’t let scammers fool you! SiteAdvisor can help protect your identity by warning you before you visit a risky site.

MySpace announced that they pulled 29,000 sex offenders off their site.

Here’s a great commentary on why this probably isn’t going to make kids any safer. It may look long, but it you read my post More on the Child Predator Panic, you can skip the long quote from Dr. Finkelhor.

The author, Stephanie Booth, also has a companion piece on what parents can do to keep their kids safe. It has nothing to do with banning MySpace and everything to do with being a good online role model.