This is fun for like 30 minutes

Fun with Google satellite photos - it's goofy and pointless, but I have to admit, it's a nice time killer. Basically, you use the satellite photo feature at Google Maps and look at overhead shots of landmarks, famous or personal. So yeah, it's good fun for a short while.

New York isn't the best city for doing this since buildings are densely packed and stuff tends to be tall and narrow, Even the Empire State Building is easy to miss. But you can easily make out places like the West Side Railyard and Shea Stadium and Flushing Meadows.

Some of my favorites:

• San Francisco - I love how my favorite places in SF like Presidio and Golden Gate Park are clearly visible.
  
• University of North Carolina - You can almost feel the collective stench of previous night's beers wafting up into space.
  
• Niagara Falls - It's just too cool looking.
  
• United Center, Chicago - Because it has its name on top. More buildings should do this.
  
• Biscayne Bay, Miami - My absolulte favorite, especially those million dollar houses along the Venetian Causeway.

The picture quality is pretty blah - the pics are taken in the morning so the shadows get in the way and the patching is ugly, though to be fair, I bet my pictures would suck if I had to take them from outer space. Who am I to judge? And to whoever told me the Great Wall of China is the only manmade structure visible from space - well, you're so wrong. Ha!