The View From Above: groom lake

Saturday, May 30, 2009

This may be the world's only spiral jetty.

41°26'15.85"N 112°40'2.39"W

Constructed on the shores of the great Salt Lake in 1970 by sculptor Robert Smithson, the Spiral Jetty is 1500 feet long. It was constructed on dry land during a drought, and remained surrounded by water for the next 30 years. More on the Spiral Jetty.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Satellite photos picked up something VERY mysterious near Area 51...

37°38'46.62"N 115°45'1.66"W
North of Area 51's Groom Lake, Near Rachel, Nevada, USA

This 87,500 square foot picture of Colonel Sanders, which was referred to as the “Face from Space” by the project team, took a team of nearly 50 designers, engineers, scientists (including astrophysicists), architects and other professionals working nearly three months to conceive, create and execute building the world’s largest logo. The logo consists of 65,000 one-foot by one-foot painted tile pieces that were assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle: 6,000 red, 14,000 white, 12,000 eggshell, 5,000 beige and 28,000 black. See how it was done

Why "View From Above"

I have an unquenchable thirst for exploration and mysteries. But that isn't the only reason for "View From Above." This blog exists primarily thanks to the despicable ignorance and laziness of the many, many people who will post a picture of some anomaly and simply make guesses about it, rather than do five minutes worth of research. I can't count the many times I've seen aerial pictures of "UFOs parked in a row on the beach" (They're beach umbrellas, you dork!) or questions like, "What's this aircraft doing sitting in the middle of the desert?" (It's a military firing range. They use junk aircraft as targets. Duh!) The unwillingness on the part of most people to do even a minimal amount of research just boggles the mind.

Another pet peeve of mine is the practice of posting an interesting site without a precise location. I don't know if it's laziness, oversight, or a desire to hoard information, but it's irritating as hell to me. That's why mosts of my posts will always include coordinates to the site.

I hope you'll enjoy perusing the sites I've listed. I can't take credit for being the first to "find" most of them, but I will do my best to let you know what I find out about them!

Michael Makai