Where the Stars Died ... A Map

Interesting site . . . "Where the Stars Died." Over the years, Hollywood stars have often made the headlines by being involved in a wide variety of scandals, murders, suicides, accidents and controversial deaths - even occasional acts of celebrity heroism.

From Del Shannon to George Reeves, these incidents have gripped the imagination of the American public. And many of them happened in Los Angeles.Where did Marilyn Monroe die? How about Janis Joplin and John Belushi? Where was Phil Hartman murdered? Where did Freddie Prinze commit suicide? Where did "Superman" die?

Where can you find the scene of the crimes for such infamous L.A. cases as The Menendez Brothers, the Black Dahlia, Patty Hearst, the Manson Family, the Robert Blake case, and the Nicole Simpson murders? It's all at this site . They list the actual locations of the Hollywood stories which made the news. The locales are listed by decade, and include street addresses and links to interactive online maps for your convenience.

GOOGLE MAPS CATCHES WWII GHOST --- WHEW!

I love this story. I have a great uncle MIA since 12/22/43; who was a pilot in WWII. So this story really intrigues me:

Eagle-eyed Internet sleuths have discovered hundreds of weird aircraft on Google Maps' satellite views, from stealth bombers to bizarre globular UFOs hovering over Florida.

But a map-watcher in England may have topped them all by finding a ghost from World War II captured by satellite cameras flying over his own house.

The mystery plane is a historic and flightworthy Avro Lancaster bomber, one of only two left on Earth.

Now living at the United Kingdom's Coningsby air force base, the Lancaster is one of only two such planes still airworthy. 7,377 of the massive bombers were built for World War II.
Although this Lancaster didn't fly in combat -- the war with Japan ended before it was ready for battle -- it was one of the only Lancasters that wasn't scrapped in the post-war years.
Carefully restored and now painted to look like its famous sister plane, QR-M, this bomber now serves in the Battle of Britain memorial flights.

Known as Mickey the Moocher for its nose painting of the Disney mouse pulling a load of German-frying bombs, the QR-M was one of just 35 Lancasters to survive more than a hundred combat missions.

The Battle of Britain squadron includes 11 historic planes from the Second World War, including a variety of Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes. The beloved old planes fly for special occasions such as VE Day.

"The original purpose of the Memorial Flight was to help celebrate the Allied victory and the anniversary of the end of the Second World War," the RAF says. "It has since become a flying memorial to all members of the Royal Air Force, who lost their lives during the War. The Lancaster bomber, Dakota transport, five Spitfire fighters and two Hurricane fighters represent the types of aircraft which played such important parts in the final victory."

Rather than store the old war planes at a mothballed air base, the Royal Air Force operates a museum that flies:

"The Flight is unique as a living tribute and more evocative than any static memorial. It flies in memory of those who flew. In these days of fast jets, it is a reminder of the remarkable achievements of the men who flew and maintained these historic aircraft in the heat of the great battles of the War."

Of the more than 7,000 built, 3,932 Lancaster bombers were lost in action. In the minds of many British, the Lancaster won the war against Nazi Germany.

The other surviving flightworthy specimen is at the National Lancaster Museum in Canada.

Funerals ... As seen by Google Maps

This never crossed my mind until I ran across it on the net. I guess "Big Brother" is always watching ... from the beginning to the end."

With the continually increasing quality of images on Google Maps/Earth, it’s hardly surprising that the cameras are capturing ever more private moments of people’s lives. Perhaps then it was only a matter of time before the very end of someone’s life was published on the Internet for the whole world to see.

Here’s two examples of funerals taking place, one in the Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Chicago, and the other at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Washington DC Silver Spring, Maryland. In both shots you can see a crowd of mourners surrounding the grave and also the funeral procession parked nearby. Who'd have thunk it???? (Source)