Can you see me? Images from space
Did you ever have the feeling you’re being watched?
Back in the days when your computer was most likely running DOS I had little interest in getting involved with them. My wife kept encouraging me to learn how to use one but my ususal response was “When I can set one on the ground and it will dig a trench, then I’ll get one”. At the time she was working in the geography department of a University that was involved with early GIS implementation. The development of windows and the 386 computers opened a new oportunity for home use. Granted the software and satellite images were extremely expensive but she/we had an ‘inside’ source and I was hooked.
(My area from space)
But with that came a sense of being watched. My wife’s ‘conspiricacy’ senses started to tingle and grew as the detail of the staellite images improved. It wasn’t a case of paranoia but it was getting close. When the government can read the newspaper you are from space it should make you wonder.
I countered the “being watched feeling’ by saying that there was so much information being collected that it would be nearly impossible to go through it all. The likelyhood of being spotted was so small that there was nothing to worry about. With that much detail how in the world could it all be sorted out. Besides we would need to be in the right place and at the right time to even be photographed.
10 years later I have moved on - I discovered the web, html and photo editing. In the winter I played on the computer building a website, surfing other’s sites and pretty much forgot about the Peeping Tom in Space. Then GIS moved into the commericial realms and Google developed the Google Earth site. How cool was that! We had access to those photos from space. Granted they are not the same high resolution but it did give us a bird’s eye view.
Then one day I found myself on one of those images. The resolution wasn’t good enough to make out fine details but it was good enough to know I was looking down at myself. Of course I had to show my wife and that meant eating the words I spoke years earlier.
That’s my truck. The beginnings of the garden and paths in the front of the house are easy enough to see. The two blobs with black spots (black hats) are me and a helper.
So all I can say is if you think you’re not being watched - Think again.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
OMG we are being watched and by our own government? I think other governments would find us more interesting than our own!
Tis a bit scary when you give a sec to sink in, eh? Well, now that I know, I’m just gonna wave and smile. Confuse the hell outta them!
I love nature, in spite of what its doing to me!!!
March 11th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
That view is pretty amazing, WiseAcre - our neighborhood has many trees and the sites havent been updated in awhile - still has the previous owner’s car instead of ours!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
March 12th, 2008 at 7:00 am
ya know, if you’re not doing anything illegal what do you have to worry about?
March 12th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Hm, I think I’ll go out on my balcony and wave once a few times every day - just in case
Rosengeranium,
-waves back- and
March 13th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Is this a reason to stay inside my house so I won’t be spotted? lol! I never saw this aspect as threatening but when we lived in a more rural location, the regular helicopter fly overs looking for pot “gardens” used to really bug me. Since I had a decent sized yard cleared out in the woods with several gardens they would fly very low and circle my property checking it all out. Likely that have some interesting pictures of my gardens but they aren’t on google.
Carol
March 13th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Cue the theme from “The X Files” - now I’m starting to get paranoid!
March 13th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Dear wiseacer .. don’t be shy next time .. look up and wave why don’t ya’ ! .. my god .. does this mean I can’t go out in my jamies taking garden pictures anymore ? .. i just got our neighbors used to that frightful site , now I have to worry about being “Googled” by who knows what kind of people ! Yikes ! … nah … once they see “me” they would quickly move on ! LOL
Thank you for commenting on my little astilbe post .. once I read about another astilbe lover .. well .. I went on and on .. and those comments about Home Sense and Acme .. still snorting giggling over here .. SO TRUE !!!! LOL
Joy .. wink wink
March 13th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Holy cow I remember my parent’s first computer, a 386. We kept it in the kitchen and did nothing on it because it couldn’t, well, do anything. Luckily though, my house is too new to have been shot from space. I wonder when the next round of photos will come? If I knew, I’d be ready to present a full moon. That would be neat, wouldn’t it? Or, maybe neater, a big sign that said “Hi Mom,” no, “Welcome to Earth,” no “Punk Whatchu Lookin’ Tat?”
March 14th, 2008 at 9:34 am
I once googled my address and I could make out the garden bench in my front garden. I did think it might make a good landscape design tool : ) I also wish that I didn’t live so close to my neighbours…
.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
…….. uhmmmm …… Wiseacre ?
I’m still waiting for that list of astilbes ? …
any time lad … when you are ready … no pressure …. hahahaha
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 am
I found the image of my property awhile back and saved it for a future post. It was taken before we bought the place in 2004 and there were no cars or people. So until now I never thought about our old place. If the new owners look will they find my rather ample outline floating in the center of the pool? I don’t think I want to know. LOL