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Friday, January 28, 2022

Open Thread – Geek Moment of the Day

by Linda Kellen Biegel

My husband and I are big users of Google Maps on our iPhones anytime we go somewhere new. I’m especially fond of clicking on the “little man” and getting the “street view” of the area we are checking, if it’s available.

It can be quite useful, actually, if one is researching/investigating a location. (example: I used it to figure out where the Samaritan’s Purse camp is in Soldotna).

I always wondered exactly how they got the street view. Was it someone riding as a passenger in a car with a video camera? Was it done by volunteers?

Well, my little geek heart rejoiced today when, as we were driving home, my daughter and I spotted the car in this picture. When it actually turned onto our street, I excitedly waved him to stop so I could get a photograph. This prompted a *facepalm* from my daughter with her comment, “Oh my god, mom, you really are a nerd!”

I beg to differ. Nerds still live in their parents’ basements and dress like Star Wars characters (hey, I haven’t done that since I was 16!). Geeks have a life…we just like all of the same things as nerds and get really, really excited about stuff that makes other folks snooze. So, sue me!

I console myself with the thought that Rachel Maddow would probably get excited to see a Google Maps Street View car in her neighborhood. At least, that’s MY story…

Comments

comments

Comments
55 Responses to “Open Thread – Geek Moment of the Day”
  1. tinydancer says:

    I saw one of these a couple of months ago during the morning rush hour. I almost crashed because I saw it while merging from Rt. 295 onto Rt. 676 in S. Jersey. I, too, was excited to see it and thought to myself, so that’s how they do that. Very groovy.

  2. OH NO I have stuff in the front yard to go to the DUMP Quick BRING a TRUCK –

  3. David says:

    lol.. I would have taken a photo too, and no doubt got a similar reaction from my wife and son πŸ™‚

    David

  4. bb says:

    Thanks for this photo. I wonder how many times they get stopped for pictures. lol

    Nice to see Ann’s name in here. Been wondering about her and need to find that blog I used to read.

  5. DudleysPa says:

    A bit off topic, but why does the street sign in the photo appear to have a house number on it? Does every Alaskan home get its own individual sign?

    • the problem child says:

      I think that just shows the starting house number on the block. Helps idiots like me navigate to friends’ homes.

  6. Lacy Lady says:

    I have decided that Eric Cantor is a real NERD!!!! Or Worse!
    Brian Williams had a great program on NBC at the Capital today. From what I gather—the debt ceiling is going NOWHERE——and the Tea Party don’t give a dammmm! Who elects these people? They need to be impeached for putting America in jeopardy.

    • AKPetMom says:

      Cantor is more like the spawn of Satan. Nerds are nice. Cantor is Evil personified. Definitely more Demon Spawn, less Nerd.

    • yukonbushgrma says:

      And today – Sunday – After bipartisan party leaders agreed to a compromise, Michele Bachmann said she still won’t vote for it. Probably because it raises the debt ceiling. After all, she PROMISED she wouldn’t do that. (The Tea Party pledge, after all …. )

      AND – Nancy Pelosi still isn’t too sure she’s on board. She’s got to read it first. (Well, good for you on that one, Nancy! However, it’s now down to the wire.)

      I still don’t have too much confidence this thing is going to be fixed on time.

  7. Ann Strongheart says:

    I could just kiss the person that came up the idea for “Respite Care” right now!!!

    What a glorious thing!! Big girls respite worker took her to the park and the beach for two hours today and I enjoyed the break!! We, ok more like I, get 10 hours of respite care a week provided by a developmentally disabled grant through the State of Alaska, how’d I ever go without it? Now I just have to follow up with the tribe to see if baby can have respite services too. Then I can truly be “Ann” for a few hours instead of MOM! πŸ™‚

    Sorry just had to share! If anyone knows who invented respite care let me know!! I owe them a big kiss!! LOL

    • leenie17 says:

      Good for you…and good for Big Girl too!

    • merrycricket says:

      I used to work for.a.neighborhood non-profit that started as a settlement house. They assisted new immigrants that moves to Ohio to find work. The neighborhood was called flytown because it literally flew up over night. Someone left the organization land in the form of a camp. It was named camp Mary Orton and was a respite camp for the families living in flytown. The women and children would stay there all week and the men would ride the train up for the weekend. There were activities for the kids and temps were much cooler under the trees.

      It’s really kind of a shame that there are now respite camps for the families in our area living in poverty. I think whole families would be healthier and stronger for it.

  8. Man_from_Unk says:

    I wonder where Google is getting the money from to take on this big mapping project.

  9. Linda, I’m with you. I love seeing things like the Google mapping car. I remember a long time ago we had one on our street, but I think it was before the fancy cars they use now. This was a Google car (said so all over it) but someone with a fancy camera was out taking pictures of all our houses. At one time, there was some company that would fly over neigborhoods, take aerial photos and then offer to sell you one of your house. I found that to be a bit creepy as they were taking photos that showed our fenced back yards as well. I don’t mind the street view – and it’s quite helpful in locating an address when you can see what the place actually looks like.

    • jojobo1 says:

      I think the people that take aerial pictures do it to sell the pictures to the owners.We had one try to sell us a picture of a house back when I rented.When I told them we rented they wanted our landlords name and address.I just told them I would give their name card to the owner as it was not my place to give others information out.That led me to believe they take the pictures on purpose to sell.

  10. Juneaudream says:

    Heh heh..they are wandering about in this section of Lane county this last week..and all they can get in my neighborhood..is my fences and trees..bunches and bunches..of trees…heh heh….here guys..have tree..and then..jus..motor on By!

  11. beth says:

    I just now had a moment that so went beyond *facepalm*-ery or *eye roll*-ery. My otherwise highly intelligent, run-intellectual-circles-around-us-mere-mortals, smarter-than-a-whip DS2 called me with: “I’m having a brain phart…what’s the acronym you use for: “Not Suitable For Work”?

    I’m still trying to collect myself. beth.

  12. Ann Strongheart says:

    I am amazed how wide there coverage is also! I was goofing around on Google Earth the other day and was able to zoom right in and see a picture of our new home!! Although I couldn’t do the same with Nunam Iqua hmm wonder if they will ever make it to any of the villages? Has anyone check to see if Bethel or Dillingham has a street view? I would guess not but I think I’ll go check just to see πŸ˜‰

    Thanks for a great story Ms. Linda!

    • Ann Strongheart says:

      well no street level of Bethel or Dillingham. But I was giggling at myself because I was looking at each of them and had to zoom out to find the airport to get my bearings! Wonders if other Alaskans can only find things in reference to their proximity/distance from the airport? LOL Especially out in the villages b/c the airport is the most recognizable thing from the air πŸ˜€

  13. John says:

    Sounds like Congress is still debating how to avoid financial collapse. I don’t understand why the Dems don’t offer a compromise. So far, all they have offered is virtual capitulation and a deal that would have had Ronald Reagan dancing in the streets. Surely, they can do better than that.

  14. leenie17 says:

    We got triked!

    Last October, a specially equipped tricycle from Google came to RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) to film the campus for Google Map Street View. RIT had won a contest run by Google with 30,000 votes. There are only a few college campuses featured on Google Street View so we are very proud to be included in that select group!

    http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s1785518.shtml?cat=566

    (You want to see a real geek…check out the video of the guy who actually rides the trike!)

  15. beaglemom says:

    Off topic but I want to recommend a lovely film called “Two Spirits” which we saw this morning at the Traverse City Film Festival. It is about the life and too early death of a gay young Navaho man. The movie is beautifully made and presents a viewpoint about life and humanity that should give us all pause. My husband and I are Quakers and our Monthly Meeting (i.e. local church) is involved in controversy with the much more conservative Yearly Meeting (the overseeing organization) over recognition and acceptance of LGBT people. So seeing this film really touched us. I’d love to live in a world where we just accepted people and realized that the world (that Google earth!) we all live in is a very small planet in a vast star-filled universe. If you have a chance to see this film, please take advantage – it is a profound statement about an issue that keeps coming up.

    On topic, our street was Google-earthed on trash day so you can see everyone’s trash container along the street. Not our best day of the week!

    • tallimat says:

      Imagine a world full of people who were able to create and exist before they were told not too.

      Oh wait.

      Imagine a world where we told people they can’t create or exist. Whereby conforming is the spice of life. Murder ensues.

      Oh wait… Ug.
      I’m so glad you had a chance to see “Two Spirits”.
      It explains a lot. Clarity happens and well, maybe we can a get back to the first sentence I wrote above.

    • jenjay (Jen in SF) says:

      What a lovely write-up, beaglemom. I’m looking up the film now. Thanks!

    • fishingmamma says:

      Our Presbyterian Church is having the same discussion, and it is creating a lot of division and strife. I keep wanting to tell people that if we choose not to condemn the LGBT community God will not burn our church or change us all from straight to gay. Good grief.

      I saw a documentary on this subject that was very good. It was called “The Bible Tells me So”. It discusses the use of the Bible to condemn homosexuals, and explains what those passages mean in context, which is reallly quite differant than the RWNJs think they mean.

      The Presbyterians are headed toward accepting gays as full members of the church, with the right to serve as elders and church leaders, which I support, but there are members of our church that are willing to break off and start a new organization in order to avoid this reality. Sad.

  16. Elsie says:

    I LOVE this Google Geek story. Thanks a bunch, Mz. Linda, for sharing the info and the photo with us. I WONDERED what kind of big, powerful vehicle carried the impressive camera that filmed the streets and buildings found in Google Maps. I hadn’t a clue that it was jus’ a little ol’ car transformed into an important filming apparatus-on-wheels. I, too, love to place the little Google man on a map and see what turns up. Yee-Haw for Geeks! Boo-yah!

  17. benlomond2 says:

    Frustrated this am- more than usual- with our Congress. Looks like another “kick the can” down the road escapade about to occur, with cuts on Social programs ( on the backs of the poor and middle class) . Totally disappointed with our lawmakers, and with a system that allows a minority party to hijack the governing of our country thru abuse of Senate rules. I seriously doubt that the vast majority of these elected jack a**es can balance their own checkbooks, much less understand the economics of running a goverment. It would be VERY interesting if each of them had to go thru an IRS audit each year they are in office, AND an audit by the FEC; not just file the paperwork..

    • bubbles says:

      great idea Benlomond.

    • I read today that the plan ‘gives the defense interests and [some other big spendy thing that I don’t recall] more time to lobby’ so they won’t suffer cuts. Guess what, kids, that means we can use that time to rally forces and ‘lobby’, too. I think there may be more of interest here than we have gotten from the media as of yet. They aren’t necessarily looking for the same things we are interested in. Don’t give up yet. Our work has perhaps, just begun.

  18. Fawnskin Mudpuppy says:

    Los Angeles is swarming with the little google bugs. And Fawnskin-The-Geek Mudpuppy goes all giggly when she sees one. Yes, she does.

  19. slipstream says:

    What? Google is still using human drivers? Isn’t that so 2010?

    You would think that by now they would be using the antigrav floating orb of all-seeingness.

  20. tallimat says:

    I use google maps! Everytime I go to town. No way could I figure out where a place in Anchorage.

    Question is, will the google car make it to my village? And, if so, how do they inteend on mounting the camera on the ATV? Will it have a anti motion device for recording the trail-road to the airport?

    At the end of the day, I just think if said filming for google maps occurs at my village… I hope its when everybody has their smoke fish going on.

    Morning muddy puppies! It is raining so hard this am, that its turning dark out. Quite a pretty morning from the covered deck. The rain is just beautiful.

    • ugavic says:

      We were laughing and wondering the same things about IF they ever got to our village:-)
      It would take longer to GET the village than doing a video!
      Made for lots of giggles at the breakfast table!!

  21. jimzmum says:

    Oh, how cool! The Son saw one in Kansas City recently. I have never seen one, and probably won’t. Our town is so little, they could Street View it with an iPhone set on video, and still have room to film the rooster crowing contest at our County Fair.

  22. thatcrowwoman says:

    hahahahaha caw Caw CAW!

    I got a little thrill of excitement,myself, and not just a vicarious thrill. DH Happy and I saw a googlemaps car down in Pensacola this summer, but we were stuck in the left turn lane at the redlight and IT turned right on red. We Did wave to the driver with big old goofy grins on our faces. πŸ™‚

    John Prine – It’s A Big Old Goofy World
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZACwVOJXpn0

  23. Lacy Lady says:

    I don’t know about being called geek or nerd, but yesterday when going for my 3 month check-up, my Doctor called me a “hippie”….Told him—–ya——love all my hippie artist friends too!

  24. laurie says:

    I wondered how they did that.

  25. WakeUpAmerica says:

    I am SOOO jealous!!!

  26. merrycricket says:

    Now that would be a great summer job! Drive around Alaska in a google maps car. I would brag Bout that.

    Went to my 35th high school reunion last night. Had a great time. Now I have to get ready for work. I wish I had the day off so I could relax and reflect on the ways some people have changed. Maybe later.

    Have a good day everyone.

  27. Aeroentropy says:

    I’m pleased to report that googlemaps still thinks my house is about a half mile from where it actually is. When the ZombieGeeks come looking for me, I’ll get a little head start for my getaway.

    • thatcrowwoman says:

      hahahaha caw Caw CAW!

      Lots of zombie fiction on my Teens Read List this summer; not my favorite genre, but an occupational hazard I endure. (I’m SO Over vampires and werewolves and fallen angels, but I’m always on the lookout for dragons and wizards, science fiction, historical fiction…)

      Right now I’m reading Rot and Ruin, not to be confused with its sequel Death and Decay, by Jonathan Maberry. I had a facepalm moment when I picked up the book, but I Do know better than to judge a book by its cover/title, and I’m actually quite enjoying it. It’s very well written, with a compelling storyline, but some of the descriptive passages make me nauseous. I guess that’s a tribute to the power of the writing. πŸ™‚

      all of which is a very long way to say that I’m really glad you’ll get a little headstart on the ZombieGeeks, Aeroentropy!

  28. Illanoy Gal says:

    Oh, I’m sure she would, Linda. And probably run out to get a picture as well.

    Now that you’ve brought it up, I’m going to have to check to see what they’ve done in Hawaii. Maybe they did our street! Wouldn’t that be a blast? LOL

    • Baker's Dozen says:

      I wonder if they drove all the way to Hawaii or took the ferry? πŸ™‚

  29. OzMud says:

    My kids are all grown up now but I still ‘live’ for the facepalm moments – and proudly I might add, still have the knack for getting them – great photo!

    • thatcrowwoman says:

      πŸ™‚
      I get more eye rolls than face palms from my own littlebird and from the teenagers at my school, but DH Happy is the facepalm King!

  30. Anna says:

    I was surprised to see how much of Alaska has been covered by that little car! Saw it parked (camera covered by a tarp) this morning at the apartments at 12th and K… I wonder if it took the ferry up, or drove the whole way!