Take a trip and never leave the farm

I have been entertaining myself in the far reaches of the Internets. Actually, it was just on Google, but it took me places I would have never imagined I could go.

First, Google Earth. It's a fun little program where you can spy into people's backyards, but the real thrill comes when you click the little planet icon. That switches to a view of outer space. Wowza!

Here's a screen shot of what it first looks like:



But if you double click anywhere out there, it will take you zooming into the stars of a constellation. Here is the close-up of Cancer, the constellation in the middle of the first shot:



Warning: Do not double click if partaking of recreational drugs. You will fall into your computer and be lost forever.


Told ya. Didn't believe me did ya?

I got lost in space for about six hours the other day. I clicked away like a madwoman tripping out amongst the stars and I was stone cold sober.

If you have ever pooh-poohed the notion that there was intelligent life out there, playing with this for a while will change your mind. Odds are there is somebody out there looking at me just like I am looking at them.

It wouldn't surprise me at all to find a black monolith floating around out there somewhere.

If you switch back to Earth view you can spy on people, but actually the plain ol' Google Maps is more user friendly and much easier to navigate.

Type in any address in a major city (over 100,000 roughly) and it will take you to a street level view. This is something recent on Google Maps, because I don't think it was there a month or two ago. This is not the highly pixelated satellite view that's been made to look 3D, it's an actual photo of the location.

Anyway, the usual little red blood drop will appear close to the address. Then in a pop-up word balloon looking thingie, it will show a street level view. Click on that.

A little orange guy will appear and the green thing under him will point towards the view shown. You can grab him and fly him around to get to the next block or even across town. He just has to stay on the furry blue streets.



I chose to eyeball Uncle Buck's Marina Towers in Chicago. Here's his front door:



Then I skootched up the view to look at the skyline.



SWEET.

This will be a boon to Internet stalkers, international terrorists, and Dog the Bounty Hunter. Now Dog can see if your car is parked in the driveway.

Whooda thunk it that some little ol' girl in the backwoods of Arkansas could take a trip to Chicago, New York, Niagara Falls, and Sagittarius without ever leaving the comfort of her computer chair?

I love technology.