LET'S HAVE FUN WITH GOOGLE MAPS!
Now before we begin, this program and any global positioning service are serious and valuable tools to prevent people from getting lost, but then again, a computer (program) is only as good as the person who wrote it.
Of course us dogs never get lost. We have an excellent sense of smell and direction. We might not always come when you call, but at least us canines are not lost.
While checking out the Google Maps program for an obedience school project, I accidentally put in Japan as 'Point A' and China as 'Point B', instead of looking for the individual maps.
Anyway, as curious as I am, I went ahead and pushed the 'Get Directions' button. The program did its duty and soon appeared a detailed set of instructions in regards to how to traverse between the two spots.
BUT (and you knew there had to be one) as I read the results, I was amazed by Step 43, and this is a direct quote: 43. Jet ski across Pacific Ocean, 782 km.
Can you believe it?
At first I thought this was a fluke, so I tried it again with a similar request.
The directions between Honolulu, Hawaii and Anchorage, Alaska had this as Step 12: Kayak across the Pacific Ocean to Washington State, 2756 miles.
Kayak? I guess the jet ski was busy going between Japan and China.
At least they didn't suggest swimming. I mean, I can out swim anyone doing the dog paddle, but even I would get tired eventually.
But how come the instructions didn't have me kayaking to Alaska directly?
Anyway, totally abandoning my research for some brief fun, a while later turned up the same Step 12 attempting to traverse between Honolulu, Hawaii and Galveston, Texas.
Well, at least it was not suggested to kayak through the Panama Canal, or worse: around the tip of South America!
But I was still going to Washington State. Wouldn't it have been more prudent to kayak to someplace in California?
And the jet ski was probably still somewhere between Japan and China.
Oh well.
I did try it with other locations, but the funny steps didn't happen again.
Two land points only gets you pretty strict road directions, and some requests result in just an announcement that no directions are available.
However the glitch, if that's what it is, in Google Maps will NOT do planets!
Trying to get directions between Earth and Mars only netted me a route between Earth, Texas and Mars, Pennsylvania.
And here I was hoping to be the first extraterrestial astro-mutt.
Yet even though I've only found the three listed above so far, there might be others.
If you locate one, please let me know courtesy of leehoustonjr@gmail.com and just put something along the lines of Autumn's Trippy Map in the subject line.
Otherwise, we'll see you next weekend for more Sunday Funnies.
Have a great week everybody and don't get lost! - AtP.
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