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Google Streetview comes to Europe – the good and the bad

by Scott Carmichael on

Here in the US, we are used to having Google offer street level images of our country. Their cars have been driving around every town and city for several years, and have snapped millions of pictures.

On March 18th, Google enabled imagery of The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy. Of course, not every city has been fully mapped, but the new images do mean you can do some street-level research of your vacation destination before you leave.

Just like when the US images were released, people are working hard to find the most hilarious things the Google camera was able to snap. But this time, the people at Google are working harder than ever to remove anything that is remotely offensive. Sometimes just minutes after something funny is found, the Google technicians have removed it.

Which is of course why most sites make a screenshot of the image before linking to it! After the jump some of the most hilarious things found through Europe.

A word of warning though – these images may not be suitable for viewing at work, or when you have kids around.

A British gentleman throwing up his night of booze and curry.

Yes – this is the Netherlands, which means it was only a matter of time till someone located the local red light district.

Fingers crossed this guy is single, or that his significant other never figures out how to use Google maps.

Public urination – ugh

Junior pyromaniac.

I really don’t want to know what this man has planned for the evening.

Another working girl in The Netherlands.

Amazing Race contestants: What does it take exactly?

by Jamie Rhein on

What does it take to get picked as an Amazing Race contestant team? In this Columbus Dispatch article, there’s some insight. Victoria Hunt, the female part of the Columbus-based married couple team–Brad and Victoria, who are competing in Amazing Race 14, tried out for Survivor several times.

She never made it onto Survivor, but when she showed the powers that be a photo of her husband, Victoria was bumped over to the Amazing Race with Brad in tow. It helps that both of them are attractive and fit. Like Victoria, hubby Brad is an exercise hound. Along with rock and ice climbing, he kayaks, mountaineers at high altitudes and power-lifts. Not only does he participate in marathons, he is in ultra-marathons. Frankly, it sounds as if he could answer the casting call for a good looking, silver-haired Batman.

As for Victoria, she is an avid skier, but I hope she has more experience than Ohio’s offerings. Snow Trails and Mad River Mountain are fun–but even I ski those, and I’m no skier.

According to Victoria, the show is looking for folks who “have an opinion” since this makes for interesting TV. Based on the article, I assume Brad and Victoria made it at least through a couple legs of the race. I wonder if they made it to Romania and Siberia, two new destinations this season? The filming started right after Halloween, spanning 40,000 miles and seven other countries.

For a rundown of the other Amazing Race 14 contestants, click here.

Send your friends and loved ones away

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Travel is a tough gift to give. You need to know the recipient pretty well to make sure your well-intentioned effort doesn’t turn into a disaster. Could you imagine sending a wealthy friend through budget hotels in Romania? Or, putting a cities-only person on a beach for two weeks? The possibility for disaster is infinite. But, if you put some thought into it, your gift of a trip can be a big hit.

Time magazine realizes that “it’s the thought that counts” is flawed thinking. You need to get it right if you’re going to put a friend or family member on a plane, bus or train. Fortunately, you have choices. Solo jaunts, group get-togethers are and romantic getaways are all great fodder for the gift of travel … as long as you tailor it to the recipient. A certain travel writer (ahem) took his wife to Eze, France for her birthday and proffered a cake covered in gold leaf at the top of that city’s famous Chemin de Nietzsche (“Nietzsche Trail”). Not mentioned in the article is that the walk up tested the marriage. She and I had no idea that we’d really be climbing a mountain.

This brings me to my next point: know what you are doing. Just because something looks interesting, life on the ground may not be as advertised.

Read the original for a few more tips >>

[Via Time magazine]

New Burger King ad criticized as “culturally tone-deaf”

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Advertising is all about generating buzz, and those ad whizzes at Burger King sure do have a knack for that. (See, for example, Burger King’s big-headed, stalker-ish “King” character for a prime example.)

Now their newest ad campaign, called “Whopper Virgins,” is drawing fire from a number of organizations as being exploitative and culturally insensitive. The new ads show people from some of the most remote parts of the globe– the Hmong tribe in Thailand, farmers from Transylvania in Romania, and the Inuit in Greenland– sampling Burger King’s Whopper and a Big Mac from McDonald’s for the first time, while a voiceover hails the experiment as “the world’s purest taste test.” The Whopper was apparently chosen “more often than not” over the Big Mac, according to the company. (In other words, “slightly more than half the time.”)

Burger King’s goal with the ad was to “see how the Whopper would perform in a world that didn’t have ad or marketing awareness or any sentimental attachments,” says Russ Klein, a Burger King exec.

But many others see the ad in a more sinister light. The blog Stereohyped criticized the ad in a post under the headline “Burger King Storms Innocent Villages to Plunder ‘Virgins,'” while Adweek’s Barbara Lippert called it “culturally tone-deaf.”

“What might irk people is the concept that Burger King is taking its fat-laden fast food to people who aren’t used to this stuff in their diets, who aren’t usually subject to our crass commercials, and who probably don’t really care too much,” a blogger a WalletPop wrote.

Personally, I have a hard time getting worked up over the ad. Seeing a Hmong tribesman munch on a Whopper is a pretty stomach-turning juxtaposition, I’ll admit, but it isn’t like this ad campaign is going to cause American fast food chains to suddenly flock to remote Thai villages. And Burger King, realizing the ad might be portrayed as controversial, seemingly took great pains to be gracious guests, as they donated school supplies, toys, and money to each of the places they visited.

So let’s everyone calm down about the ad. It’s a commercial, people.

Hangover helpers by country

by Grant Martin on

National Geographic has a nifty little chart showing traditional hangover cures by country.

You may have known, for example, that many Americans use tomato juice and eggs to cure the aftermath of a long night out on the town. But did you know that in Romania they use tripe soup? As in cow’s stomach tripe? I don’t know about you, but nothing makes my upset tequila bowels go away better than some cow’s stomach.

Browsing around through the other hangover cures, you can see the stories behind each by hovering your cursor over any of the images. Coffee and green tea, to me, seem to be the only palatable items on the menu. But I guess I’ve always had a pretty weak stomach.

For now though, I’ll leave the fish, pickles and tripe soup go, to the foodies.

Think that’s crazy? Check out our list of the 10 stupidest laws you may encounter abroad!