Google Plane Grounded

Google, the company that provides this lovely blogging service to me for free, screwed up this past weekend. They did. They made a big hub-bub, a big to-do about a hired aircraft that would fly low over Sydney and its beaches, taking high-res photo-graphic metallic plates to add to their Internetified map service. It was big news! All over the papers there were articles with Google boasting about its first detailed photo of a city. People made plans and went out early with signs for a non-profit cause, an expression of love as a surprise for the lovee, a request for forgiveness or just for fun... and yeah some people were looking to take advantage of the free advertising.

So what happened? Nothing. Or next to nothing. Google posted this lame-ass update to the site. That space covers less than 10% of what they said they would and hardly any of the beaches and parks where people had started to prepare since early morning. Google, you are responsible for the [continued] failure of Aaron Schwebel's marriage. People will also be less inclined to Vote Climate, and, thanks to you, David Hicks will not be brought home. Possibly your biggest loss, Google, is that poverty will NOT be made history. I hope you're proud of yourself.

Yes, Google was providing a free service, but it also set expectations that it could not meet. It turned out that they did not have clearance to fly over the city and that Sydney airport would have had to have been closed to satisfy their demands. Google, c'mon, maybe if you're packing the right goods, but an aerial camera... {scuffaw}

We were out there with a big white sheet ($9) on which I spray-painted ($8) "DWARBI'S ROOF". Google, kindly send a refund of $17. And thanks for this free blogging service.