Woohoo! It’s Friday! A fact which doesn’t appear to have escaped this guy etched onto a mountainside in Mongolia – he’s clearly doing a Friday dance of joy!

Thanks to Kerry and anarster

Avast Ye! Today, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day an’ we’ve got a barrel-load of piratey-themed sights fer ye landlubbers!

Las Vegas’ Treasure Island be havin’ a daily pirate battle, ‘ere the swashbucklers by defeated by th’ booty-shaking o’ “the sirens o’ ti”. Not yer usual kind o’ booty neither!

Them “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie-films wi’ buccaneer Johnny Depp, they be based on a children’s ride! Those children orta be workin’ the sail and swabbin’ the decks! Arrr!

There be a swashbuckling ship maze on the Isle of Wight! Shiver Me Timbers!

This even be a plane in middle o’ Santa Cruz, ‘ere they be callin’ it ‘Th’ Pirate Plane’! Flyin’ Pirates? Whaterenext!

Be seein’ you also The Pirate Skull of Vegas.

Thanks to these scurvy dogs: Juan Manuel Gil, bruv, Virtual Globetrotting and Munden.

Here at the King Khaled Airport in Saudi Arabia, a little way away from the main terminal, there’s a mysterious and unexplained outline of a plane marked out on the desert sand.

The shape is similar in size and dimensions to the four-engine Boeing 747; perhaps one was used as a fire training aircraft and since removed? If so, then where did it go, and how did they remove it without disturbing the outline?

Looking closer, is it possible that the plane shape is actually marked by some sort of plant life? Perhaps the brown dots that litter the landscape are shrubs and for some reason they have sprouted up where a plane used to stand.

This was found by diane9247 at the Keyhole forums – where despite extensive discussion and an actual email to King Khaled Airport – they’re still no closer to proving what this really is!

Anybody got any other suggestions?

For tonight’s dinner we’re following what might well be the world’s largest recipe – as it’s written in large type all over the surface of Google Earth.

To start with, on the coast of Nova Scotia a vineyard uses the fields to do more than grow the grapes – they also advertise wines and their website.¹

So we’ve got some wine. Next, if you happen to be driving down this motorway on the Danish island of Zealand, and feel a little peckish, you can stop off and buy some peas from the top of the hill.

You’ll know when you’re at the right place by the giant advertising for “Ærter” (that’s Danish for peas), but it sometimes it says “Æbler” instead (apples).

Lastly, a roof in Columbus urges us to “Eat Trout“. Clearly not a trout farm, from what I can gather the building is (or at least was), some sort of night club – so perhaps it’s just a public service announcement?²

So there we have it, a complete meal in Google Earth: fish, peas on the side and a glass of wine! But can anyone find me some dessert?

Thanks to Greg_Yetman, sladys and Dave Collins

(This post was updated 8th September to correct the location of the peas. Thanks to those in the comments!)

Continuing the never-ending stream of “World’s largest…” we present The World’s Largest Portrait, which adorns the hills of Erzincan in Turkey.

The massive 7.5 square km painting is of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of Turkey until his death in 1938. Despite his passing some time ago, Atatürk’s face is still a very popular image and is featured on banknotes, public buildings, schools, and (in this case) mountains.

The image was painted in 1982 by the order of the then-ruling military junta and it took 3000 soldiers just under a month to finish their handiwork.

Over the years the Turkish army have continued to write on the country’s hills, more recently writing one of Ataturk’s favourite sayings: “Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyene!“.

With the second largest standing armed force in NATO (after the much larger USA), perhaps the soldiers have spare time on their hands?

Previously: Portraits Paintings in Google Earth.

Thanks to ssaatci and baharbahar