May you live in interesting times...

[GoldenRivet]

That thread title, I was once told, is an ancient Chinese curse.

for, i suppose, if you lived in uninteresting times... life would be filled with the simplest of pleasures and a most uninteresting and unchallenged lifestyle. But, if you live in interesting times... life is filled with complexity.

I must say, we live in the most interesting of times.

What got me thinking of this?

Google Earth. ( which of course spawned other thought tangents)

Now this is purely opinion, but i think that Google Earth is the single most important and significant known mapping tool in the entire history of mankind.

The sheer thought of the monumental undertaking of photographing every square inch of the surface of the earth in high resolution satellite imagery, AND photographing every bit of virtually every interstate, highway, road, and street in several nations is mind blowing.

perhaps I'm being amused or amazed by something that is in every day use now... but as recently as 15 years ago this would have been an impossible pipe dream!

Not even considering the monetary expense of such an ordeal... I mean the logistics alone are staggering i would think.

To think... what would the earliest cartographers in history have said about such a marvel?

to think... google earth would be impossible - even with all the money and effort in the world, without the common map maker's contributions made some 400+ years ago.

Just think of all the things we use every day that really do make our daily living so simple.

The human story never fails to amaze me.