Here’s another Southern California fire image from Arnold Christensen, this one taken of the Santiago fire from across Mission Viejo Lake by a “friend of a friend” of Arnold’s daughter, Michele. Says Arnold, “This image was taken the same night I took the images I sent you earlier. Though it is actually a little further from the fires than my home (which is somewhere near the middle of the frame of this image, about two blocks from the lake), it was certainly taken from a better pictorial vantage point.”

I have to say that I find this more than a little disconcerting:

Militant Palestinian groups who have been launching rockets into the western Negev from the Gaza Strip have been using Google’s popular satellite imagery program “Google Earth” to reconnoiter areas in Israel to be targeted for attack, according to a report in the British daily The Guardian.

A leading figure in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades told the paper that his organization scans military and civilian sites, including the town of Sderot, through Google Earth. […]

The Palestinians are not the first to employ Google Earth for military gains. According to the report, British authorities expressed concerns that Iraqi insurgents were using aerial images from Google Earth to target British bases near the southern Iraqi town of Basra.

And Google’s somewhat cavalier response does little to make me feel any better about the situation:

When queried about the use of Google Earth by militants, Google issued a statement saying “we have paid close attention to concerns that Google Earth creates new security risks. The imagery visible on Google Earth and Google Maps is not unique; commercial high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world is widely available from numerous sources. Indeed, anyone who flies above or drives by a piece of property can obtain similar information.’” […]

Read the entire article. If the Palestinians are using Google Earth against Israel, are our enemies using the service to check out our military positions in Iraq and Afghanistan (or here in the U.S.)? Or are they just using satellite data supplied by unfriendly foreign governments? Am I being overly concerned?

Steve, a systems engineer, sent me this humorous illustration dealing with the elements of project design and installation from the different perspectives of everyone involved…