Conspiracy Theory

Ok, I have to admit, the last two posts were a bit boring. Time for more pictures and a lot more sensation. What about investigating some conspiracy theories? Let's get to it.

One of the most well known conspiracy theories must be the Roswell Incident. In Early July 1947, a couple of witnesses saw an UFO crashing down in the New Mexican desert near Roswell. The 'believers' immediately jumped on the story, and the government kept their mouth shut, which only added more value to the believers' theories. The results were hundreds of websites covering on the subject - each and everyone telling to uncover a bit more of the truth - and an ideal story for big Hollywood movies Like Men In Black. Most theories say that after the UFO had crashed, the US Army picked up the debris (and Aliens inside) and transported them to an army base called 'Area 51'. You must have already have heard about this name before, recently there was even a game released with the same title (and subject).

How about looking up this 'Area 51' and searching for the Aliens ourselves? On foot or by car it is literally impossible to get anywhere near the vacinity of Aria 51. The surroundings are heavily guarded and trespassers risk to be shot. So I'm trying it the safe way, yes, Google Maps. Well, to be perfectly honest, Google Maps didn't make it that easy either, I could have known... Just typing 'Area 51' didn't give any results, a conspiracy maybe? I had to search google to find anyone else who had more succes finding it. And so here it is, Area 51!


The mysterious Area 51

But what's the deal with the big white spot? Is Google trying to hide something for us, is it a conspiracy after all? Well, I hate to dissapoint you, but actually the white you see is a dried up saltwater lake called 'Groom Lake'. Here's a picture from it, taken by another satellite. So nothing special to see here, and when you zoom in to close, Google says it doesn't have the images for that zooming level. For those who do want to see more, and I know you do, here's a link for more detailed pictures of the facility. Unfortunately, no Aliens either.


A more detailled view

The area surrounding Area 51 also has some other nice things to look at. Like 'Area 19' for example (kind of makes you wonder how many area's they have...). This is even an old nuclear testing site, called Area 3, which is quite impressive when seen from a larger distance. So I guess this is what Nagasaki looks like. And I still wonder what this is...


Strange...

So unfortunately we couldn't find any evidence on Aliens or UFO's. The discussion will probably keep continuing, altough the US government considers the case to be closed. Now I want to hear what you think, do you think they are hiding something for us, or is it just another conspiracy theory...?

First look at Google Earth

Get this, 2nd post today! This time about the new apple on the Google-tree, namely Google Earth. Newrecruit is one of the lucky few to download a beta version of this new software. It can be used to plan a route, project that route on sattelite images and even visualise the route from a birds' perspective.

Google Earth is supposed to be released in a couple of weeks. It combines the Keyhole software Google bought last year, together with Google Local and Google Maps. The software requires an online database to work. This way, no updates have to be installed to view new areas or new images with a better resolution. At this moment, it's unsure the software and data will be available for free. Altough Google has a tradition on free information distribution, the current Keyhole software still has to be paid for.

Since the beta is not freely downloadable, I advise you to visit newrecruit for the pictures. To give you a small indication, I included another screenshot I found on the net.


The Google Earth interface

Google Maps UK launched

Are the people over at Google Maps reading this blog? Two days after my previous post, my obeys are already answered, or at least some of them. It seems Google launched Google Maps UK. Let's hope the rest of Europe is coming soon.

Google Maps + Flickr

We've seen photos on Flickr with latitude and longtitude tags before. We also saw Google Maps' textballoon-like location indicators. But now someone has actually written an app witch is basically a mashup of the Flickr and Google Maps service. Geobloggers puts your geotagged photos on a Google Maps generated map. All you have to do is add latitude and longtitude tags to your photo, plus a 'geotagged' tag to let Geobloggers know it's there. It then automatically picks up your picture using Flickr's automated rss-feed (only displays photo's with a 'geotagged'-tag). Simple as can be and ideal if you want to show of your house or car to your friends or the entire world. Unfortunately, I haven't been to the United States yet, so I can't add tags to any of my pictures. Another reason Google Maps should come out of beta soon and cover Europe too, or Belgium at least...


Geobloggers, add your photo to the Google Map

Movies!

Sorry for the recent flaw of entries in this blog. I've been quite busy. The ideal moment for a short moment of relaxation just before the exams, and what better way to do it then watch a movie. Come to think of it, why don't we try to look up some movie locations for real?

Most movies are made in Hollywood, California, which is famous for its sign and its 'Walk of Fame'. For now, I haven't yet figured out where to find the most famous actors live, but I did manage to find the Playboy Mansion, a bit north of Hollywood. I'm sure Wouter will be interrested, because he was looking for it the other day. Unfortunately, you don't see any Playboy bunnies.

The Playboy Mansion (Without the bunnies)

The real heart of the Industry however is at the studio's themselves. Here's the Universal Pictures Studio's for example and the Warner Bros Studio's a bit north. In the centre of this last image, you can find the famous Warner Bros water tower.

This is the list of ohter image locations I found:
- The Rock [Alcatraz, San Francisco]
- The Matrix Reloaded [The Speedway specially built the Movie, San Francisco]
- King Kong [The Empire State Building, New York]
- Men In Black 2 [The Unisphere, NY - featured at the end of the movie]
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind [Devils Tower - a strange monolith rock]

If you know any more interesting movie locations, let me know...

Google: a terrorists' best friend

Most people use Google Maps just for fun, but what with people that have less good intentions. We all remember the terrorist attacs of 9/11 on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

Notice the workers restoring the west wing of the Pentagon.

Is it such a good idea to offer these kind of terrorists sattelite imagery of North-America? I think that if terrorists would want to attack a target like the Pentagon, they will be able to gather the necesary data anyway, Google Maps or not. But it's certainly making things a hell of a lot easier for them. This made me wonder...could I plan an attack on a nuclear facility in the United States right here behind my laptop in Belgium? Lets find out... :-)

First goal: Find a list of all nuclear plants in America

Pretty easy, thanks to -yes again- Google. The 'International Nuclear Safety Center' is so kind to put up a good overview over the nuclear reactors in the US.

Second goal: Find a possible target

Because I want to have good satellite images of my target, I make sure I pick my target in a place where Google Maps has a lot of good satellite coverage. Lets pick the area with the lakes around Ohio. The Perry Nuclear Plant will do just fine. Thanks to the International Nuclear Safety Center I also have a lot of detailed data of the amount of power it can produce (read as: the amount of destructiveness it has).

Third and final goal: find my target on Google Maps

Apparently, Perry, Ohio isn't a very large city. Keeping in mind that nuclear power plants need water to generate steam, I went looking at the banks of the lake and within about 10 seconds: bingo! The 2 giant cooling towers are a clear give away.


My 'target'

Of course, it might be a bit ridiculous to say Google Maps helps terrorists. After all, even when you are at the top zooming level, you still can't clearly destinguish the different builings very well. But it does clearly show what Google's services are capable of, certainly when we'll see even more detailed pictures in the future. For now I'm closing this post and hope I won't end up on the FBI Black List.

Neverland

Michael Jackson's trial was on the news again today. He is accused of child abuse and apparently he's completely broke after this trial. He might even have to sell his own private amusement park 'Neverland'. For those of you who have a couple million dollars to spare and would like to buy a nice little property for you and your children, you might already take a peek at what you will be buying right now. For a more detailled plan I would recommend a visit to this website. Now let's find the elephants...

GTA San Andreas vs Google Maps

I have a small suspicion Rockstar North, the makers of the bestseller game GTA San Andreas, had access to the Google Keystone satellite imagery. The game environment is based on real cities like San Francisco (San Andreas), Los Angeles (Los Santos) and Las Vegas (Las Venturas). But up until now I never realised the locations and monuments had been reproduced so realistic. When I stumbled upon the Las Vegas (Nevada) Strip - the lane packed with the most neon packed casinos in the world - I had a feeling I had already been there for real because it also appears in the game. Sadly enough, I couldn't get a screenshot from above of the Sfinx in the game but you get an idea with the image below.



Another monument the game designers reproduced was the Hooverdam. Maybe you have already heard of it, it's one of the largest dams in North America, providing power to half of Las Vegas. Below you can see what it looks like in the game.



Lots of other Architectural sites also feature in the game, but these were about the most well known examples, at least in Las Vegas. Maybe I'll go and look for other examples in Los Angeles or San Francisco soon, but you'll read that in another post. If you also have the game, I would recommend that you pay a visit to the satellite version of Las Vegas, I'm sure you'll get the same wait-a-minute-i-ve-been-here-before feeling as I did. As a conclusion I would like to say I think it's good that game developers put these kind of monuments in games. It can only help to improve the realism of the game. But most of all, as a gamer, you get the opportunity to get the feeling you went to Vegas, altough you have never been there in real life. Come to think of it, I get a feeling I want to go there for real...