OK so after several warning signs of possible permanent eyeball damage and some unsubtle mutterings of spousal disdain I have finally, slowly and very very resentfully started to do other things besides look for places I’ve been on Google Earth. I did a little homework, I cleaned the bathtub, made some ramen, tried to fix the Toilet of Perpetual Hissing, got blasted in the face by a high-pressure stream of toilet tank water; the usual Sunday afternoon stuff. These are things which normal people do. Normal people do not scour satellite images trying to pinpoint their grandparents’ house for hours on end. Well, it’s skunk hour 24/7 around here and my brain’s not right. My optic nerves are spasming like a fat southern sheriff’s pyloric sphincter after a third rack of ribs. I don’t really know that. I am not even sure what or where my optic nerves are. If only someone could find a way to present that information using satellite photographs, I’d be all over it.
Anyway, in the hopes of perhaps partially explaining the attraction of this fascinating program which has made an eyeball-shredding shambles of my weekend, I hereby proudly present some of my favorite images from Google Earth so far. Note that I found all of these locations myself by scrolling in from high above the earth with no outside help or maps, which is half the fun.
This is the (locally-) famous volcano barbecue on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. We didn’t have any, but you can buy food cooked by geothermal heat there. You can see by all the cars outside how popular it is with tourists. And yes, the island does look like that. It’s a volcanic wasteland. I think it’s often used to film sci-fi movies.
This is the Neanderthal (or Neandertal in the new spelling). The caves where the bones were found were part of a rich outcropping of bauxite or adamantium schist or Pop Rocks or something, so the actual discovery site is hovering somewhere in the air above that gigantic dug-out quarry. But there’s a pretty cool museum right nearby.
This is some of the gargantuan crazy-ass weirdness they’re furiously concocting over in Dubai, where Kim and I visited last year.
This is our apartment building and the school next door. It’s not a very long commute. I like living here.
4 comments:
So beautiful and surreal. Makes me think the surrealists had it right -- real life is the dream.
Alex - I have an idea. Come to Manila for a holiday and while Kim and I do fabulous things all day, you and Dave can drool all over Google Earth. No seriously, he is in love with it almost as much as you are.
Not to get all controversial, but is this a guy thing?
dang I never would have thought of that, but google earth is basically just
3D spatial relations... and rotating objects in space...
COMBINED with reading maps!
That's like a perfect storm of testosterone. I'm trying to think of what the stereotypical female(-brain) equivalent would be. Something makes me want to guess shoe shopping.
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