As the Google Street View car drives down this small Parisian side street, we can see an approaching Rollerblader, glancing down the street at the oncoming car.

However the sight of the massive camera mounted to the roof must have shocked the balance out of him, as our rollerblader pirouettes to his knees right in the middle of the road, directly in the path of our oncoming vehicle!

The crash to his knees must have been quite dramatic, as the people on the pavement have heard what happened, and we can see that they’ve turned to see what’s going on. But with the Google car careering towards him, is it going to be lights out for our poorly-balanced hero?!

Fortunately for everyone involved, the Google Car must have slowed in time to save his bacon, as in the next frame our hero is safely on his way down the street – presumably hoping to hell that the Google Camera wasn’t recording when he fell on his ass right in front of it…

This isn’t the first time someone has been captured falling off their wheels in front of the watchful Google Street View eyes, but it is the first time Google has tried to flatten the unfortunate person altogether.

Presumably the evidence will be removed any second now.

Thanks to Street View Fun.

This is the brilliantly bizarre-looking National Aquatics Centre, which is better known as The Water Cube. The building is perhaps best described as resembling some sort of “bubble cake”, and when it’s lit up, it looks pretty incredible.

During the Beijing Olympics the centre will host the Swimming, Diving and Synchronised Swimming events, and is situated within Olympic Green, right next to the Bird’s Nest Stadium where the opening ceremony was held on Friday.¹

The design of the steel space-frame that makes up the building is actually based on a theory originally posited by great Victorian physicist Lord Kelvin. The idea was further developed in the 90s, and suggests that a combination of dodecahedra and tetrakaidecahedra (12 and 14-sided shapes respectively) can be used to divide space into cells of equal volume with the least surface area between them. In the case of the aquatic centre, thus maximising the amount of light entering the building, and helping to reduce the cost of heating the pool!

The frame is wrapped in a transparent form of Teflon called ETFE, and the building is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world – bigger even than the world’s largest greenhouse, the previously featured Eden Project. ETFE allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass – apparently accounting for an equivalent 30% decrease in heating costs.

More about the National Aquatics Centre at Wikipedia, and an informative article about theoretical physics is available from The Guardian.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a very large rock, you’re probably aware that today sees the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Held in Beijing, China, the celebrations begin at precisely 8pm local time, 8/8/08. This is a date of extremely special significance in China, as the number 8 is considered to be very lucky.

10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events across 28 sports, in a competition that has been beset with controversy since long before it was due to begin. Political issues aside, the Chinese government has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems – in total 37 venues will play host to events, including 12 newly constructed ones.

Google recently released up-to-date images of Beijing, so we’ll be able to see the finished structures, despite some having only been completed a few weeks ago!

Today we’re kicking off with the centrepiece location of today’s opening ceremony: the Beijing National Stadium. Completed in March this year, it’s nicknamed “The Bird’s Nest” because of its skeletal, nest-like structure, which was constructed using 36 km of steel sheeting.

The 330 m long, 220 m wide, and 69.2 m tall Bird’s Nest cost about 3.5 billion yuan, and during the course of the competition will seat up to 91,000 spectators, who will be here watching the main track and field events.

Originally the Guangdong Olympic Stadium was going to be the main venue for these Olympics, but it would appear that the Chinese wanted something much newer and shinier to show off to the world.

If you’re using Google Earth then you’ll be able view 3D models of the places we’re featuring during the Olympics by turning on the “3D Buildings” layer.

Read more about the Beijing National Stadium and the 2008 Summer Olympics at Wikipedia. Also, boston.com’s Big Picture blog published an absolutely stunning photoset of China’s preparations for the Games which you’d be foolish to miss!

Thanks to Dave and Christian Stüben.

Last night in the UK saw the start of the eleventh series of popular BBC2 car show Top Gear – so it’s time to finally visit the Top Gear studio and track!

Based at Dunsfold Park in Surrey, the two mile track was built on an old RAF airfield by Lotus engineers.

As seen from the opening credits, the large hanger by the track is the studio, although the large Top Gear logo isn’t there any more (or perhaps this picture was taken before filming). Just next to the studio, you can see the production office of Top Gear, which is, according to the makers, just a portakabin!

A member at Google Earth Community has posted an overlay of the track, so you can get an aerial overview of Gambon and the follow-through, with the Hammerhead sitting at the end of the runway. The lack of visible tyre marks suggests that the images was captured before the ‘Power Lap’ and ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ features began.

You can find out more about Top Gear and Dunsfold Park at Wikipedia. Sightseeing car fans in the UK can watch the most recent Top Gear again at BBC’s iPlayer.

Thanks to Scott Blair, Shane Ferguson, Justin Flavin, Stu Gowdy, Lee, Patrick, Scott and Matt Wix.

Normally considered to be places of fun and pleasure, perhaps the last country you would expect to find the world’s largest stadium is in North Korea, one of the most isolated nations on the planet. However with the capacity to seat 150,000 people, the Rungado May Day Stadium is the biggest stadium of its kind in the world.¹

During a professional wrestling match in 1995 the stadium held 190,000 people simultaneously, with crowds sprawling in its 8-tiered seating and across its 207,000m² pitch. The lofty canopies stretch 60m into the sky at their peaks.

This being North Korea however, the stadium’s primary use is actually to celebrate the President, Kim Jong-il, who holds elaborate parades and displays of power here each May Day. Even more disturbingly, during the 1990s a number of army generals were apparently executed by being burned alive here.

The petal-shaped structure is not the only major stadium in the city, though. Just a few hundred metres away, there’s another massive presidential ego boost – Kim-Il Sung Stadium², which can seat a not unimpressive 70,000 people.

A massive amount of entertainment, don’t you think, for a country where the GDP per capita fails to reach £1000, and 1 in 4 of the country’s 23 million people are short of food?

Of course the money handling skills of the North Korean leaders are infamous, as demonstrated so clearly by the previously featured Ryugyong Hotel which would have been the world’s tallest hotel – if they could have afforded to finish it.

You can read more about the Rungado May Day Stadium at Wikipedia and on The Guardian’s website.