Google Earth

I have been sitting in front of my computer for two hours, eating chocolate mini-eggs in my bathrobe and saying, "Wow man." over and over like Dennis Hopper in Sunday morning drag.

If you haven't downloaded Google Earth to your computer yet, you should. It is free and one of the coolest things I have ever seen -- truly using the internet to show how tiny and interconnected we are. You can map locations all over the globe and "fly" from one location to another. I went from my apartment in Amsterdam (I could see the bike racks two buildings aways, so I knew right were it was) to Tom's apartment in New Jersey (the Galaxy Towers had been mapped about 6 times already, so I went right there). That is what makes this so great -- when you add a location -- say, The Green Kitchen Diner in Guttenberg, NJ, the global map stores it for everyone else to see and use. So this map of the globe is getting compartmentalized on several levels: landmarks, cities, businesses, homes, parks, etc. I even found mom and dad's house at Black Butte. It makes my brain hurt and buzz all at the same time.

And this brings up an interesting point about privacy. When I can sit at my kitchen table and zoom all over the planet, looking at specific places belonging to specific people, how private can any one of us be? Do the Muslim women who live behind me and who cover their faces just to change the laundry hanging out their windows know that they are being photographed by satellites? That the top of their head may show up in a future map?

Anyway. Download the program and dream about travel. Even if you can't get on a plane, you can fly around and see just how amazing this tiny planet is.