ET the Extraterrestrial Tracked Down on Google Street View
[UPDATE June 30, 2010] I am restoring this blog entry from memory, as it somehow disappeared (was replaced by its neighbor entry) some time ago. It is still a mystery to me how this happened (I most certainly did not do this myself). Original permalink and comments were left intact. Extraterrestrial intervention perhaps?
I first saw this story in the UK Telegraph. The Google Street View cameras captured what looks like the E.T. brandishing a lightsaber. The Telegraph link (which I still have) is now dead. Below is a screen grab from Google Street View, somewhere in New Jersey (Berkeley Heights). Here's a link to another article describing the same phenomenon.
It's sunlight playing on a dirty lens. If you face west and pan down Diamond Hill Road, you'll see ET float along as the Street View car makes its way.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Diamond+Hill+Rd,+Berkeley+Heights,+NJ+07922&sll=40.673773,-74.406812&sspn=0.023598,0.038624&ie=UTF8&ll=40.668758,-74.404392&spn=0,359.961376&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=40.668684,-74.404373&panoid=2hH4m6ULyPCmUe5r8z8eQg&cbp=12,239.20382940841108,,0,5
The article should have been called "ET takes ride with Google."
Although I could not successfully follow your link, I tend to agree with your explanation. Nevertheless, I think my readers will get a kick out of this story -- E.T. tracked in NJ by Google, written up in a British paper.
This URL should work: http://tinyurl.com/etview
Yes, it does. Spoilers, everybody -- there's no E.T. (not in this capture, anyway).
Ok, I thought this would be published next weds April 1.
fun reading
I just restored this entry from memory. It was mysteriously replaced by its neighbor. Never before has this happened. E.T. in action?