Back in 1977, Charles and Ray Eames made a short movie entitled ‘Powers of Ten‘, which Wikipedia describes like this:

It begins with a couple picnicking in a park; the view is that of one meter across. The viewpoint then slowly zooms out to a view ten meters across. The zoom-out continues, to a view of 100 meters, then 1 kilometer, and so on, increasing the perspective and continuing to zoom out to a field of view which is 10²⁶ meters, or the size of the observable universe.

Anyway, this is the spot in Chicago where the film began (although it doesn’t look quite the same these days), so you can re-create a bit of the film yourselves (Here’s a still from the film showing the starting point, and there’s lots of info on the official site).

You can also watch the whole film on Google Video.

Thanks to Mark Eichin.

The Bahá’í Faith is one of the youngest of the world’s major religions. There are currently seven Bahá’í Houses of Worship in various parts of the globe, although we can only find two of them available in high-res satellite shots.

Our first temple is in Wilmette, Illinois USA and one submitter noted that it resembles a big egg from the ground.

The second Bahá’í Temple available on Google Maps is also the most famous, The Lotus Temple in New Delhi apparently holds the title of “most visited edifice in the world”, designed to resemble a lotus flower it is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad “petals” and is just over 40 meters tall.

Thanks: Joe Chin, Artem Koronkevitch, Sathish, Saikat Guha, Ashutosh Rajekar, Jay Hinde, Rob B, Tom, Eamon, Esquif & Ananya Gupta

There appear to be some serious alignment issues with the Clark Bridge, which connects Missouri and Illinois. I certainly wouldn’t fancy trying to cross it!

Evidently this bridge was the subject of some documentary sometime… Good shadows further down it though.

Thanks: Turd Ferguson

Dedicated in 1927, the Clarence Buckingham Fountain was a gift to the city of Chicago by somebody I’ve never heard of, to her brother Clarence. Apparently.

Much more interesting is that it’s the fountain featured in the opening credits of Married With Children! What’s also quite cool is that the fountain’s night-time light shows are actually used to be controlled by a computer located in Atlanta, Georgia (but have now moved to Chicago I’m afraid).

The fountain is in Grant Park, and judging by the large wet patch on the ground I’d say that the Windy City had a fairly strong southwesterly blowing that day! Also, check out the colour of the water, very cool.

Thanks to Peter, Justine, David Drexler, Rick Baer, Marcin and Chris Granger.

Wrigley Field is home to the Chicago Cubs and was built in 1914 (making it the second-oldest ballpark in the majors). The historic structure at Clark & Addison maintains its original 1937 scoreboard where the score-by-innings and the pitchers’ numbers are still changed by hand.

Thanks: Deanna Peters