One Trick Pony

• Freshly blogged: Using Google Maps as a personal time machine. http://bit.ly/N2Sf #

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I got a call tonight from one of my old Peace Corps housemates and we spent a good hour reminiscing about our two years there. All kinds of memories were refreshed: hiking through tiny villages miles from nowhere; swimming on deserted beaches; drinking the fresh sap of palm trees in the morning before it could ferment into palm wine in the afternoon; close encounters with large poisonous snakes; and, somewhere in between there, teaching math.

Ever since Google Maps came out, I’ve clicked periodically to revisit those intense times. Until recently, our little town of Bonthe, Sierra Leone, was a low-resolution blur covered in clouds. You couldn’t make out individual buildings or really see much of anything. Then, last spring, they updated the satellite photos and suddenly I can look into my past with amazing clarity. I can see where I lived, the school where I taught, the bar where I spent many hot afternoons. Memories of what was where got straightened out for the first time in years. I can see how long a bike ride it was each morning, and how short our little airstrip was, and can even call up a map of where I live now and compare my commuting distances side by side.

Here’s my map. Thank you, Google! You’ve given me a way to travel back in time and hang on to experiences that I would ordinarily have begun to lose by now.

If you’ve followed me here or on Twitter for very long, you’ll know that I’m prone to sitting out in the dark after sunset waiting for satellites,  shuttles or the ISS to fly over. My favorite site for figuring out what’s up there on a given night is Heavens-Above. By registering your location, that site will give you the names of satellites passing over and tell you exactly where and when to look. I’ve often wished that the owner of Heaven-Above would make a mobile version.

He hasn’t, but someone else has. GoSatWatch is my newest favorite iPhone app. Though at $10 it’s tied for the most expensive app I’ve bought, to me it’s worth every penny. It’s great to be somewhere out at night and with a couple of pokes to the screen being able to see what’s going to be in the sky that night.

By clicking on the Sky option, you can see what ever is above you at any given moment, even during the day. It’s amazing how much stuff is out there and how high up it is.

The Heavens-Above site is still better than GoSatWatch in that it gives you quick access to background information about each satellite and a star map to help you locate the path in the sky. But for the sheer coolness of having all this in your pocket whereever you are, GoSatWatch can’t be beat.

Now if only someone would make a similar app for UFOs.

Sent to old friends who haven’t gotten a real card from us in years. Wonder how closely they’ll look at it.

I was driving home from campus just after noon when I saw a huge plume of black smoke on the horizon. Since that’s the direction of Miramar air base, I knew it was either a brush fire or a crash.  Three people dead, three homes destroyed. Silver lining: a high school packed with kids was only a few hundred feet away. It could have been much, much worse.

This car was stopped at the light ahead of us as we drove home the other day. I didn’t get a look at the driver but found that I wanted to pull him out of the car and shake him. Does he think that being President is just about making rousing speeches that appeal to a few and alienate everyone else? Did the damage caused by eight years with a Know Nothing in the White House go unnoticed by this guy?

Argh. Being stupid isn’t OK any more. I hope that will be abundantly clear by 2012.