The Face of Mother Earth

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Tuesday, 7th November 2006

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

A poster over at the keyhole forums has discovered what does look remarkably like a kilometre-wide pair of rather luscious-looking female lips. If this were the face of Mother Earth, I wonder where the rest of her features are?

motherearth.jpg

The “lips” are actually in the Sudanese region of West Darfur, site of much of the ongoing Darfur conflict, and although at first they appear to be formed by some sort of small rocky canyon, the terrain data on Google Earth claims otherwise. At over 40 metres high, you could argue these lips were actually pouting.

Thanks to atlas1970 and via Gearthblog.

Thelma Will U Marry Me?

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Monday, 6th November 2006

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

Here at McAllen-Miller International Airport, Texas, someone has asked Thelma to marry them by writing an enormous proposal along one of the airport’s access roads.

However, I half hope that Thelma declined this particular offer, on the the grounds that if the potential suitor couldn’t be bothered writing the word “you” in full, then they weren’t worth marrying. They also very annoyingly switched to lowercase letters in the middle of a word!

thelmawillumarryme1.jpg thelmawillumarryme2.jpg

Of course this isn’t the first marriage proposal that’s been found on Google, but it definitely is the most ambitious – the proposals to D by person unknown, Melissa by Uxmal, and of course the one done by the unnamed person who wasn’t even sure who they wanted to marry, are all far smaller.

Of course if anyone were to actually adhere to my newly-invented “guidelines for acceptance of aeroplane-visible marriage proposals”, then only Melissa would have accepted, as Uxmal is the only suitor to have not switched case incorrectly or leave out any letters. Good work Uxmal, but perhaps you should go a little bigger next time.

marrymed.jpg uxmal.jpg marryold.jpg

Thanks to William Collins, philverney and doc0829.

London Bridge

Posted by James Turnbull, Saturday, 4th November 2006

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

The other day I caught the end of the video for the awful London Bridge by Fergie and I noticed that Fergie and her crew were dancing around in front of London’s most famous bridge and the image of a million postcards: Tower Bridge.

It was clear that Fergie had fallen for the same trick that Londoners have been playing on Americans for years, confusing them between the grand Tower Bridge and its much more boring neighbor London Bridge.

The most famous example is that of Robert P. McCulloch, American entrepreneur and owner of McCulloch Oil, who in 1968 paid $2,460,000 to have the then-collapsing London Bridge dismantled and shipped right across the world to be rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He later claimed it not to be true, but everyone knows that he thought he was buying Tower Bridge. Numpty.

Although clearly not much to look at, London Bridge is the second most popular tourist destination in the state of Arizona. For more info see the previous GgSs coverage of Tower Bridge and Wikipedia for London Bridge.

Thanks: Ben & Shea MarshaLL

Irish Road of Doom

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Friday, 3rd November 2006

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

I wonder if these drivers know that the road they’re driving along outside Cork, Ireland isn’t actually finished yet?

unbuiltroad.jpg

Thanks to David Patrick.

RMK TOP 15

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Friday, 3rd November 2006

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

Have you ever wondered what kind of camera takes the aerial photographs Google use? Well, at least in Anchorage, Alaska, the company taking the pictures uses a Zeiss RMK TOP 15 Aerial Survey Camera System.