Google Earth and Peter Dunn

I want to reinforce the fact that I believe Google is taking over my life. I use it for searching, news, email, and directions. It even has its hands in the service that hosts this blog. Now, I am using it for entertainment. Last night I was watching Desperate Housewives with V and her boyfriend, Graham. Now, Graham is a boy who really does not appreciate the show as V and I do, so he went back, got her laptop, and started playing with Google Earth. I was completely fascinated! If you haven't seen this yet, you really must. The pictures are a couple of years old, and some of them - like Dalton - aren't very clear, but it is really cool to be looking at something in New Zealand and then watch the screen fly over the ocean to look at Atlanta. GT was really clear, so I got to show V and Graham all of the buildings on campus, where I lived, and where my most hated building on campus is (duh, Howey Physicsa!). It is so cool! I got to see where Graham lived in Australia, and we looked up the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

Funny point: we also looked up Casper, Wyoming, and the first thing Graham says is "Wow! There is nothing there!" So I OF COURSE was all like "Of course! That's because no one lives in Wyoming!" HAHAHA I hope my Techies back home appreciate the fact that I brought that particular joke all the way to New Zealand.

One other point of interest: Peter Dunn came and spoke with my POLS 244 class yesterday. He is a member of the United Future party and heads the foreign affairas and defense committee in Parliament (I can't remember his exact title). United Future is a lot more right-wing than the Green party of last week (they are extreme left). I enjoyed his speech more because he is a better public speaker. Mr. Dunn spoke about how New Zealand needed to strengthen its relationships in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically with Australia. By the way, Australia and New Zealand have the most comprehensive free-trade agreement in the world. It is a lot like one trans-Tasman economy. Mr. Dunn also brought up the idea that New Zealand needed to find its national identity before embarking on alliances and partnerships; just because it has been a traditional friend doesn't mean that continuing to be an unconditional supporter is in NZ's best interests. He was very insistent on Kiwis finding their own national identity and then making foreign policy decisions based on what was in NZ's best interests. All in all, not nearly as controversial (at least for me) as last week.