In other random international news, a marijuana plantation in Switzerland was recently busted by police, yielding 1.2 US tons of pot, along with almost $800,000 in valuables.
Yeah, yeah... what's so special about this particular bust? The Swiss police happened upon the pot plantation while perusing Google Earth!
The police spotted the illegal crop, which was hidden inside a field of corn, while investigating a drug ring. The discovery of this nearly two acre plantation led to the arrest of 16 men, all of whom will be formally charged this February and more than likely prosecuted afterwards.
"It was an interesting chance discovery," said Norbert Klossner, head of Zurich police's specialist narcotics unit.
The gang is alleged to have sold up to 7.7 US tons of hashish and marijuana between 2004 and 2008, with an annual turnover of 3-10 million francs a year ($2-9 million USD), officials said.
Google Earth/Google Maps are good for much more than finding illegal drug crops, though. There are loads of lists on the internet (such as GoogleSightseeing.com and MapOfStrange.com) that give you photos, information, and often the exact dimensions for funny/interesting/odd sites (such as airplanes, crop circles, naked men tanning on rooftops....) - as well as lists for famous landmarks.
What do you think - is it their fault for growing it in the first place, or is Google Earth an invasion of privacy?
Neko Case has a soft spot for animals, clearly made evident by her recent campaign with ANTI-Records to donate $5 to Best Friends Animal Society for each blog that posts the mp3 for her latest single, "People Got A Lotta Nerve."
In a recent interview with Spinner, the singer songwriter is speaking out again on behalf of animals - this time concentrating on zoos, stating it is a "sad way to teach kids about animals." She also had a few not-so-nice words to say about PETA.
“Those stories are so depressing,” she told Spinner. “And the animal is always the one who gets murdered at the end. I don’t know why people act so shocked. You got in the cage with the tiger, you were harassing it and then it f—ing killed you. It’s a f—ing tiger. What the f— were you thinking?”
“Then they shoot the tiger. That’s hardly fair. It’s a large predator. Or killer whales in zoos — those things are supposed to swim 200 miles a day. It’s like having a teenager and saying, ‘OK, I’m gonna feed and clothe you, but you have to live in this refrigerator.’ People say [zoos] are for the children, but why would you want your children to see sad, crazy animals?”
When Michael Vick was investigated for leading dog fights, Case was pleased to see who came to the rescue:
“Best Friends took the Michael Vick dogs,” Case mentioned. “That’s a big deal because a lot of supposed animal welfare organizations like PETA — who can blow me — said you should euthanize the dogs immediately. But it’s not the dogs’ fault that they were fighting dogs — they’ve been abused. Pit bulls are muscular and big, but they’re not man-eaters.”
This Valentine's Day, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Tyrone Wells have teamed up with Invisible Children to give someone a very special Valentine.
They're raffling off a personalized Valentines video message with all proceeds going towards Invisible Children in their campaign to provide relief, safety and protection for war-affected Ugandan children.
Raffle tickets are going for $2 each, so even those of us on a budget can have a shot at winning.
Even if you don't personally want the video for yourself, buy a few tickets for your sweetheart. You'll be supporting a great cause, and nothing feels better than that (not even candlelight dinners, chalky candy hearts, or drugstore Valentines Day cards).
Buy your Pete Wentz raffle tickets here, and your Tyrone Wells tickets here - you've got til Feb 11.
Good luck to you! It would be awesome if a SocialVibe member won - maybe we could share it with the whole community!
NASA has made some extraordinary discoveries on their own in the past, but this time, they're asking for your help. In honor of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first telescopic space observations, they're asking the public to help them decide where they should point the powerful Hubble Space Telescope next.
No matter where in the world you are, you can vote on which part of our vast universe gets photographed in high-res. The options, none of which the Hubble telescope has not previously photographed, include four distant galaxies (two of which are colliding), two planetary nebulas and one star-forming dust cloud.
Each voter will be entered in a drawing for one of 100 new Hubble pictures of the winning celestial body.
The photo would look something like that.... beautiful!
The polls are open til March 1, and we'll find out the winner between April 2-5, during the IYA's 100 Hours of Astronomy, a global astronomy event geared toward encouraging as many people as possible to experience the night sky.
Find out all the information about the contest (including a video from NASA's Dr. Summers to help educate you on the options) at their site - http://youdecide.hubblesite.org.
This is pretty cool. Astronomy is so interesting, looking at the billions of stars in the sky (some of which don't even exist anymore) reminds us of just how small we are and how much left there is to explore!
Due to the abundance of adorable animal videos online (and sites like this to supply material), I could eaaaasily turn this into a "cute animals" blog. As easy as that might be, I possess enough self control to resist posting most animal videos I find. This one, however, is TOO good not to share.
Ladies & gentlemen of SocialVibe, I give you... Kingsford the Piglet!
Insurance salesman by day, Real-Life Superhero by night.
We know how much you guys love superheroes, but most of you probably haven't heard of Razorhawk aka Jack Brinatte: a middle aged man donning a superhero mask who spends his nights patrolling local neighborhoods to fight crime.
Razorhawk is just one of many real-life superheroes in the World Superhero Registry. These are Average Joe's who assume normal lives and work average jobs during the day, and fight crime in their communities at night - armed with nothing but a can of pepper spray, a creative costume, and a passion to keep villains off the streets.
The Eye patrols the streets of Mountain View California. "A street-level, practical crime fighter, who uses various electronic and other means to prevent crime."
Ghost patrols the streets of Salt Lake City, Utah with other members of the superhero group, The BLACK MONDAY SOCIETY.
Entomo patrols the streets of Naples and promotes environmental awareness.
Polar Man shovels elders' steps and walkways, entertains children and prowls the streets some nights keeping an eye out for vandals
Geist aids the homeless and others in need and patrols the streets of Rochester, Minnesota. "I have training and equipment to aid myself and others. My equipment and methods are completely legal. I'm prepared to make Citizen's Arrests if necessary."
Sure this is extremely funny, grown men and women wearing costumes and patrolling their neighborhoods, but you have to admire their desire to keep their community safe and donate their time to working with charitable organizations.
What do you think - are these guys really making a difference or are they asking to be ridiculed?
If you could be a local superhero, what would you be? And what would you wear??
Who doesn't want an Ivy League education? Unfortunately, most of us can't afford it, especially in this economy. Fortunately there are sites like AcademicEarth.org that allow us to absorb the same wisdom bestowed upon Yale and Harvard grads by their professors - for free, and in our spare time.
Reading is great and all, but who has time for that these days!? These high quality video lectures are much easier to take in as you're goofing off online, cooking dinner, pretending to work (what?)... and they're embeddable, so you can share them with your friends.
You can find lectures from professors at some of the top universities in the country (we're talking Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley) on just about any topic. Some of their categories include: Psychology, Biology, History, Literature, Engineering, Political Science, Mathematics, Law & more.
Whether you want to learn about the Origins of World War I from a Yale History professor, or Understanding Computers and the Internet from a Harvard Computer Science prof... they've got ya covered.
You won't walk away with a degree, but you will walk away with loads more information in your noggin. This is great for people like me who enjoy learning simply for the sake of learning!
Bonus point: the site was created and designed by one of SocialVibe's tech guys and his brother. Even more reason why you should chiggity-check it out!
Call me a nerd, but this is my new favorite website. AcademicEarth.org - let us know what you think.
