That was pretty interesting!

Recently I've been having a lot of fun doing research on Google Earth. It's become a lot more feature-packed than I remember the original being. Now you can see all kinds of "user" pictures, videos, even "street views" ... or follow things like the news or earthquakes in real time, or even look at below-sea-level features.

It is really fun and educational to "visit" other countries, and see how they live there, from the general environment (landscape and what not) to the populated areas. America seems to be strongly believed to be the best place on earth to live, and in some sense, I'm sure that's true... but on the other hand, there are many other countries where the way people live just seems more appealing in terms of, say, what they'd see going out of their front door, or looking out a second-story window. Or, as that article pointed out, what you might be able to WALK to in those other places.

Here, you're locked in your little suburban box, and unless you're very athletic, your chances of being able to walk anywhere, let alone walking back with an armload of goods, is rather slim. Plus, we stay inside our houses and will probably never get to know the people who live even two or three doors away from us, even on our own street! Some of the pictures of the surrounding nature in other countries' towns and cities is also quite beautiful, and we have not much to compare with it now we've built our sprawling messes all over the place.

Really, I'm sure there are a lot of things we could be doing in this sense that would be more natural, promote friendlier relationships in society, and make more sense. Too bad that they will probably never happen for those of us not fortunate enough to live, for instance, in Tuscany.