UCF trip (reprise)

Just back from Orlando where I gave a colloquium talk at the University of
Central Florida (I talked about the AQUA robot and some of the vision
algorithms we are developing for it). [This was a second trip after a botched visit recently.] There is a very active computer
vision group there that is really
agressive and productive with many interesting projects on the go. Among other things
they just got a nice DARPA contract for a fleet of flying air vehicles (UGV's) to complement the one they already have.

I took three hours off and made a quick trip to the Kennedy Space Center on the coast.
They have several old rockets and shuttle mock-ups on display. It's kind of interesting, but I am not sure it's worth 2 hours driving and the $35 admission price if you onyl are left with a
single hour to visit. On the other hand, there are various included movies (including IMAX) that I wasn't able to see, and they seem to be key parts of the site. A much more reasonable plan is to take the bus tour(s) of the entire site, but that is both time consuming and requires advance reservations. I did that years ago and found it very worthwhile, plus there is interesting wildlife to see occasionally (such as alligators).