Today is one day before my one-year anniversary at the Mars Space Flight Facility, and also one day after I finally got something else launched that the public might have a remote interest in.

Yesterday we sent out the official press release about our Suggest an Image project.

In a nutshell, for now you can go to the site and download a KML file to load into Google Earth 5. This file shows you where the Mars Odyssey spacecraft is going to be orbiting over the next week, and lets you suggest areas on the planet for the mission planners at my office to image with the THEMIS camera. If you've got the Google Earth browser plugin installed, you can also try this out without ever leaving your browser.

If/when the spacecraft takes the picture, we email it to you, and it looks something like this.

Eventually (i.e. when the Google guys get around to it) this will be a feature in the Mars Gallery in Google Earth itself.

For those of you interested in how this is done with Drupal, I did a writeup here.

Demonstrating the application at JPL's Open House earlier this month:

At today's weekly developer meeting, someone mentioned that they don't show up when they Google their name... and another said they'd never bothered to look.

Being the smug bastard I am, I googled myself, and lo and behold, I've got five out of the top ten when you search for christian yates, as well as the top four outright. The Facebook listing is NOT me, as I go by Chris Yates there, and I have never worn a t-shirt torn to look like an item from Fred Flintstone's closet.

I figure all the other Christian Yateseses out there owe me royalties for the use of the name, since Google, the all-knowing, all-seeing entity clearly thinks that's me. Please send cash or money orders only. Thanks!

I spotted this begadgeted Chevy Cobalt heading West on Hwy 80 toward Tybee Island.

Guess that means that some time soon you'll see me on Google Maps, speeding along, iPhone in hand, trying to take a decent picture. Obviously I failed.

Will be cool to get street-level views of the historic district though.

YouTube hosts thousands (millions?) of other peoples' copyrighted works.

Company with deep pockets buys YouTube for billions and billions in funny money.

Big copyright holder sues that company for billions (ok one billion) in real money.

Who'da thunk?

For a fleeting moment last week, if you googled "christian yates" (even without the quotes!), my site was #1. And now, I've faded back into obscurity, concealed beneath the chaff of the 1.3 billion other Christian Yateseses infesting this mote of dust we call home.

Edit: I'm back on top, baby! w00t!