Kodak Theatre - Los Angeles, California

[images in the news - tv]

American Idol's fourth season raps tonight at Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles when either Carrie or Bo will be announced as America's next Idol. Bo is lauded in the press as the favorite, but Carrie certainly seems more in the Idol mold and had a spectacular--by Idol standards (thanks Anna)--final performance. The Theatre (which can be spotted easily since 'Kodak Theatre' appears clearly on its roof) opened in 2001 as part of the Hollywood and Highland Shopping Complex. It is often the host location of the Academy Awards Ceremony, the ESPY Awards, and the BET Awards, among other high-profile television events and concerts.

Physical Address:
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028

5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals - New Orleans, Louisiana

[images in the news - headlines]

Finally impasse has been breached in the Senate showdown over President Bush's judicial nominees, at least temporarily. Judge Priscilla Owen has been confirmed for the bench of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans. The vote was 56-43 to approve the Texas native. She was first nominated by President Bush in 2001 to replace Judge William Garwood, who retired from the court eight years ago. The historic federal courthouse sites in downtown New Orleans, five block from the Louisiana Superdome.

Physical Address:
600 Camp Street
New Orleans, LA 70130

Caesars Palace - Las Vegas, Nevada

[images in the news - tv]

NBC's The Contender has its finale on right now from Caesars Palace arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Peter Manfredo and Sergio Mora will square off in the Contender Championship fight, while Alfonzo Gomez and Jesse Brinkley will have a previously unexpected and unannounced bronze fight (apparently it was recorded earlier today). NBC has decided to drop The Contender from its lineup next season. Caesars Palace features 2,399 guest rooms and over 129,000 square feet of casino floorspace.

Physical Address:
3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, Nevada, 89109

American Airlines Arena - Miami, Florida

[images in the news - sports]

Shaq was back, but the Pistons still beat the Heat 90-81 in a well played Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at American Airlines Arena in Miami tonight. The arena first opened on December 31, 1999 to replace the older (but still not that old) Miami Arena three blocks away. The Heat moved from the Miami Arena to the American Airlines Arena in the middle of the 1999-2000 basketball season. According to the arena's website, the American Airlines Arena, "seats 19,600 when fully utilized for Miami HEAT basketball, but the upper balconies can be closed to create a more intimate atmosphere of just 16,000 seats. The arena is able to be configured in five separate ways for concerts and other events, seating as few as 5,000 and as many as 20,000 patrons." It's a big place.

Physical Address:
601 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Florida 33132

Superior Court of California - Santa Barbara County - Santa Maria, CA

[images in the news - headlines]

Jay Leno will be testifying in the trial of Michael Jackson tomorrow in the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, in the courtroom of Judge Rodney S. Melville, located at the Santa Maria Division courthouse (not the famous Santa Barbara Courthouse). This is where the press camp out endlessly and Jacko delivers antics endlessly. Judge Melville's courtroom is in building G, the large building to the south of the complex. After Leno's hilarous approach to the case's gag order who wouldn't be interested in his testimony?

Physical Address:
312 East Cook Street
Santa Maria, CA 93454

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Livermore, California

The Associated Press has a story going from yesterday regarding efforts by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to build the world's most powerful laser. They hope to recreate in their football stadum-sized lab the "energy found at the center of the sun."

Engineers have assembled the framework for a network of 192 laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet to converge simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser. The trip will take one-thousandth of a second during which the light's energy is amplified many billions of times to create a brief laser pulse 1,000 times the electric generating power of the United States.

LLNL is a national security laboratory that employs over 8,000 people on its one-square-mile site in Livermore, California.

Physical Address:
7000 East Avenue

Livermore, CA 94550

[find it in keyhole]

Henry Hudson Parkway, Upper Manhattan - New York, New York

[images in the news - reports]

It's hard to forget the image seen around the nation over a week ago of the almost century old, 75-foot-high retaining wall that collapsed onto the Henry Hudson Parkway just before rush-hour, burying cars and causing immense traffic delays. Fortunately there were no injuries or fatalities. But today, the New York Times is reporting that of the 126 privately-owned walls its reporters visited, many have serious structural problems including at least one in a state of "considerable decay." According to the NYTimes, these walls are rarely inspected, and usually only in response to a complaint. There are over 2,ooo retaining walls in New York City, the majority of which are owned by government entities and inspected every four to five years. Fortunately, the NYTimes also reported the city will be inspecting all of these walls in coming weeks. Nevertheless, here's a look at the retaining wall that collapsed. Seems like driving down the Henry Hudson Parkway isn't all that unlike running a gauntlet.

Physical Address:
Along Henry Hudson Parkway
at 183rd Street in Washington Heights
[find it on keyhole]

Colonial Country Club - Fort Worth, Texas

[images in the news - sports]

The PGA tour today is spending its second day at the private Colonial Country Club in Forth Worth. The course was designed in 1929 by Perry Maxwell and has been home to the PGA Tour's [Bank of America] Colonial tournament since 1938. 2003 winner Kenny Perry set a Colonial scoring record yesterday and remains strong in a tournament won by golf greats such as Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Sam Snead.

Physical Address:
3735 Country Club Circle
Fort Worth, Texas 76109
[find it on keyhole]

Fort Bliss - El Paso, Texas

[images in the news - military]

The New York Times did a nice piece today about the anticipated growth of Fort Bliss in Texas as a result of Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) recommendations. While most media attention has focused on the anticipated economic impacts of base closures, in this case, BRAC recommendations would add 11,354 service personnel to the 18.000 that already call Bliss home. Fort Bliss, on the northern end of El Paso, is larger than the state of Rhode Island. El Paso International Airport is immediately to the east, noted by its darker tarmacs and runways.

Physical Location:
Fort Bliss, Texas 79916
[find it on keyhole]

America West Arena - Pheonix, Arizona

[images in the news - sports]

Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals is tonight, featuring the Pheonix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs at the America West Arena in Pheonix. Looks like it's going to be a pretty good matchup, given how many games it has taken both teams to advance to this round. The arena is the in the heart of downtown Pheonix. Bank One Ballpark, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, is one block to the east.

Physical Address:

201 East Jefferson Street

Phoenix, AZ 85004

[find it on keyhole]

'Wysteria Lane' @ Universal Studios - Universal City, California

[images in the news - tv]

Here's the site of the fictional 'Wysteria Lane' on ABC's Desperate Housewives which has its season finale tonight. The set exists on the backlot of Universal Studios 615 acres in Universal City, California. What mystery yet lurks on Wysteria Lane? No clues from above...

Physical Location:

Universal Studios Backlot

Address Unknown

[find it on keyhole]

Lowes Motor Speedway - Concord, North Carolina

[images in the news - sports]

Mark Martin won the NASCAR All Star Challenge at Lowes Motor Speedway tonight, winning the $1 million dollar prize at one of NASCAR's premiere tracks. Martin won the race in 1998. Unfortunately, as is the case with more than one NASCAR track, half of the image in Google Maps is in high-resolution, while the other half is not. Built almost half a decade ago, Lowes Motor Speedway is the largest sports facility in the Southeastern United States, with 167,000 permanent seats, 121 executive suites, room for nearly 50,000 spectators in the infield, and 40 condominiums above turn one that have year-round residents.

Physical Address:
5555 Concord Parkway South
Concord, NC 28027

[find it on keyhole]

Calvin College - Grand Rapids, Michigan

[images in the news - politics]

President Bush gave the commencement address here today at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Bush emphasized that the strength of the nation depends on the compassion of individuals while some students protested at this evangelical Christian college. A campus map is available here.

Physical Address:
3201 Burton St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
[find it on keyhole]

Lacy Park - San Marino, California

[images in the news - film]

Up until Star Wars made its major spash back on the silver screen, Jenifer Lopez and Jane Fonda's Monster-in-Law was #1 at the box office. Part of the movie was filmed in San Marino's Lacy Park. Originally called Wilson Lake, the land was purchased by the City of San Marino in 1925 and became a municipal park replete with walking trails, tennis courts, and a rose arbor. Sadly, Star Wars was filmed entirely outside the United States, so no imagery will be forthcoming until Google adds some of Keyhole's global coverage to the Maps database.

Physical Address:
1485 Virginia Rd
San Marino, CA 9110

Wal-Mart Supercenter - Elkhart, Indiana

[images in the news - odd]

You've got to love a little boy with the resolve to climb into a machine to get at the toy his mother wouldn't let him try to win. Earlier today, three year old James Manges managed to retrieve the toy, but became stuck in the crane vending machine in an Elkhart, Indiana Wal-Mart. Firefighters had to remove the back of the machine to extract James. Despite his efforts, he didn't get to keep the toy. Northern Indiana isn't in high-res, but this story had to show up somewhere on this blog, and frankly, the Wal-Mart Supercenter shows up pretty clearly.

Physical Address:
175 Country Road #6 West
Elkhart, IN 46514

Pimlico Race Course - Baltimore, Maryland

[images in the news - sports]

Today was the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Surviving near disaster, the favorite, Afleet Alex had a decisive victory. Pimlico is the second oldest racetrack in the nation, having opened on October 25, 1870. The facility sits on 70 acres, and holds more than 65,000 fans on raceday. [more Pimlico history]

Physical Address:
5201 Park Heights Ave
Baltimore, MD 21215

Google Headquarters - Mountain View, California

It only seems fitting to start with a look at Google's Headquarters in Mountain View, California, just south of Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley. Google has over 24 offices worldwide and a number of datacenters, but the Mountain View Campus is home base. Comprising of at least eleven buildings (potentially more or less depending on how you count them), the campus stretches across both sides of Charleston Road. The multicolored dots in the middle of the image are the awnings of tables outside the GoogleCafe, and the circle to the left of that is a beach volleyball court. The core of the Google campus, north of Charleston Road previously served as the Silicon Graphics campus.

Physical Address:
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Welcome to Earth from Google!

As Google has become ever more inclined to provide us with endless gobs of visual information, it has become more and more fun to parse through that information seeking cool tidbits. As useful as Google Maps may be for picking out our houses, offices, schools, etc. from above, it's way more fun to use Google's tools to look at things we'd never get such a great look at otherwise, particularly places currently in the news. Unless you've got a private jet and a lot of free time, chances are we all will never get such a view of the places making headlines. Make a long story short, I started crusing Google Maps and Keyhole far too often after reading a story on Google News to not share some of the more interesting sites with others. So, I introduce, Earth from Google.