- Google Maps may still be telling the world that islands exist
in places they don’t (like between Australia and New Caledonia), but rather
than fix small glitches like that, the Web search giant is moving on to map the
interiors of various public places in addition to showing their location on a
map. Its latest endeavor is the implementation of a feature that has been under
development for some time, the introduction of indoor maps. While the feature
was first introduced via a soft rollout last November, Google hasn’t promoted
the service heavily as it develops the concept. The basic idea is offering indoor
floor plans for a variety of transit, cultural, and retail locations to
smartphone users. One year later, Google has expanded the indoor maps feature
to its standard Google Maps implementation on the Web. "Before heading
home for the holidays or out to shop on Black Friday, check out indoor maps of
the airport or shopping mall on your desktop to better plan your trip. Simply
zoom in on a building on Google Maps and you'll automatically see a detailed
floor plan with helpful labels for gates at the airport, stores within the
mall, departments within a retail shop, as well as ATMs, restrooms and
more," the company wrote last week in an official blog post. According to
Google, it currently offers its indoor maps for more than 10,000 different
locations across nine different countries and a comprehensive list of supported places
can be found on a linked Google Support page. How quickly the mapping process
will progress is unclear, as venues can submit their floor plans for inclusion
in the service, but Google has not indicated long it might take for Google to
import the plans into Google Maps. The official Google Maps Floor Plans page
states that the service is still in Beta mode and that the company is still
working out the kinks………
- The gap narrowed, but the order was the same at the
weekend box office for the Thanksgiving holiday frame. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part
2” held the top spot despite falling off nearly 70 percent from its opening
weekend, bringing in $43 million to fend off a solid challenge from “Skyfall.”
The latest James Bond flick held strong in its third weekend, raking in $36
million to boost its cumulative domestic total past the $200 million mark at
$227 million and counting. “Lincoln” and all of its Oscar buzz ranked third
with $25 million, upping its three-week haul to $62.1 million and counting. Two
new films occupied the next two slots as the animated “Rise of the Guardians”
claimed fourth with $24 million and “Life of Pi” rounded out a very profitable
top five with a first-week bank roll of $22 million. “Wreck-It Ralph” was next
on the list, with its $16.7 million good for sixth place and its four-week
domestic total resting at $149.5 million. “Red Dawn” notched $14.6 million in
its debut, good for seventh place. Eighth place went to Denzel Washington’s “Flight,”
which earned $8.6 million and as amassed a respectable $74.8 million after one
month in theaters. “Silver Linings Playbook” was able to achieve relative
success despite remaining in limited release, as its haul of $4.6 million while
playing in fewer than 400 theaters was good for ninth place. “Argo” rounded out
the top 10 with $3.9 million and is precariously close to cracking the $100
million barrier in domestic earnings at $98.1 million. “Taken 2” (No. 11) and “Pitch
Perfect” (No. 13) both dropped out from last weekend’s top 10…………
- There are many warning signs at the average beach,
telling people where and when they may swim, what areas of the beach are off
limits and other such vital information. Until now, there didn’t seem to be a
need for a sign telling 53-year-old idiots not to ride a manatee like it’s a
freaking pony. Now may be an optimal time to start crafting that sign so kooks
like Ana
Gloria Garcia Gutierrez have fair warning that their imbecilic actions will
lead to an arrest and prosecution. Gutierrez was caught on camera riding a
manatee in Pinellas County on Sept. 30. When authorities released pictures of
her going bareback on the poor manatee, she turned herself in to the Pinellas
County Sheriff’s Office and her defense was that she hasn’t lived in the area
long and did not know it was illegal to touch a manatee. “[Gutierrez explained]
she is new to the area and did not realize it was against the law to touch or
harass manatees,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. With plenty of
witnesses able to provide photos of Gutierrez on her joyride and a description,
authorities quickly zeroed in on their suspect. For Gutierrez and any other
(allegedly) ignorant people in or around a coastal area in any part of Florida,
here are some words of advice: Manatees are not pets and they are not horses.
You cannot ride or harass them in any fashion. In fact, check out this tidbit
from the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act: “It is unlawful for any person at any
time, by any means, or in any manner intentionally or negligently to annoy,
molest, harass, or disturb or attempt to molest, harass, or disturb any
Manatee.” Thankfully in this case, the manatee has not reported any
injuries……..
- The world has its camel needs and once again, the
world-famous Pushkar
Fair is here to meet those needs. The fair, held in Rajasthan, India, is also
known as Pushkar Mela and it began on Wednesday with camel races, music, songs and
other cultural programs. For those looking to acquire just the right camel for
that next cross-desert trek in Africa or Asia, the fair offers a selection of
some 20,000 camels, making it one of the world’s largest livestock fairs. Not
only are there camels to be bought and sold, but also cows, sheep and goats on
the auction block. Held annually at the end of October or during the month of
November, the fair has become one of the important tourist attractions in India
in recent years. Part of the reason for its success, aside from the obvious
draw of tens of thousands of filthy and ill-tempered camels gathered together
in one place, is that after the buying and selling of livestock dominates the
first half of the five-day fair, there are religious activities and other
programs to delight and entertain the masses during the final two days. The Ajmer
district’s administration went all out this year for the festival, declaring
Nov. 27 to be a public holiday major celebrations at the fair. For those who
may have reservations about spending 16 hours or so on a plane to New Delhi and
then having to commute by land to northwest India to reach the fair with only
three days left, rest assured that it will be well worth your while. On Wednesday,
the event will come to a close with a sure-to-delight special camel parade and
cattle show………..
- Making no friends and infuriating people, that is the new
business philosophy for the Miami Marlins. Cheapskate, scumbag owner Jeffrey
Loria not only swindled the taxpayers of Dade County into paying for two-thirds
of a $628 million new baseball palace and jerked the rug out from under those
taxpayers by pretending to care about winning a championship long enough to
deke them before trading away his best players in a massive salary dump, but he
and the rest of the Marlins’ management seem to have offended both current and
former players with their antics. Slugger Giancarlo Stanton, the team’s lone
remaining decent player, tweeted shortly after the massive salary dump/ blockbuster trade that sent left-hander
Mark Buehrle, All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes, right-hander Josh Johnson and two
other players to the Toronto Blue Jays that he was “pissed” and hasn’t backed
off those sentiments. Stanton remains pissed at the team and one of the players
exiting sunny South Florida isn't too keen on Marlins management either.
Buehrle paused on his way out the door to fire a parting shot at the team’s
front office for lying to him repeatedly during his one year in Miami. "I'm
upset with how things turned out in Miami," Buehrle said in a statement. "Just
like the fans in South Florida, I was lied to on multiple occasions. But I'm
putting it behind me and looking forward to moving on with my career." The
Marlins continue to lie about gutting their roster and paring $146.5 million in
payroll to increase profits while not giving a damn about fielding a
competitive team. Buehrle insists he was given repeated assurances he would not
be traded even though the team refused to give him an official no-trade clause
in his contract. Team president David Samson insisted that isn’t so and that
the team had to make changes after winning just 69 games and finishing in last
place in the National League East. "I'm as sorry as he is that he was
traded," Samson said "There was no way we could have envisioned what
happened, both on and off the field." What’s funny is that Samson isn't completely
lying about what he said. There is no way the Marlins could have known they
would suck as badly as they did, even if they knew without a doubt that they
would sign a lot of big-name players to lucrative deals to give the illusion of
wanting to compete the season they opened their new stadium, only to jerk the
rug out from under fans and players alike by trading as many of those players
as possible after one season………
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