A few months back there were reports that the undersea cables that bring internet connectivity to Iraq and a few surrounding countries were getting “accidentally” cut. Three or more, only a few days apart.

Ever wonder what that network of cables looks like?

Where the worlds internet superhighways actually sit?

Take a look at the greater map of all those cables less then 10cm in diameter that allow us all to communicate.

source: The Guardian UK

source: Jalopnik

As most everyone knows now a days the countries that make up the Middle East hold over 60% of the worlds known oil supply. Which adds up to over 700 billion barrels of oil. With Russia & the United States bringing up a distant second and third with just under 100 billion barrels.

source: Civic Actions

The maps are a bit overloaded with typical “local news” style background imagery so here they are with a higher contrast and simplified view.

source MSNBC

What if you have a real time map of the worlds earthquakes, volcano eruptions, hurricanes/typhoons, wars, epidemics & toxic accidents? All being tracked over time and all tied to a nice zoomable Google maps interface.

That would seem both long overdue and probably impossible to pull off. Someone has done it.

An information agency in Hungary has tied it all together. Not exactly sure where they are getting their information from since I can not speak Hungarian but I would assume it is a feed from the United Nations. If anyone knows for sure please leave a comment of the sites history.

Regardless it is one of the most addictive sites I have seen in a long time and has the potential of being on the the most interesting map/websites around if they could only clean the interface up a small amount.

source: Host Site

Last year with the release of Halo (the ever popular XBox first person shooter) we saw the beginning of a heavy PR campaign to place the blame of decreasing Box Office revenue on video games. You see, the fact that a movie fails to live up to studio estimates no longer is solely due to the quality of the film. It apparently has to do with pirates, weather & now video game releases. A popular video game (so the theory went) draws disposable cash from the same core demographic as most films and therefor if a $50 video game comes out the same week as a movie then it will naturally kill the first week revenue of that film.

The theory was a joke almost from the moment that it came out of Studio Exec’s mouths and was reported on by everyone including PC World: Halo 3 Triggers Worst Box Office October in Eight Years? but no one had any solid example to disprove the idea.

Half a year later comes the epic match up of Grand Theft Auto 4 & Iron Man. There could not have been two better products with the same audience. The anticipation for both was extremely high for months if not years in advance.

Who would sink? Who would swim? Which would come out alive?

In the end the answer was a clear and resounding……BOTH.

GTA4 had a first week sales of over 1 million units in England alone where it broke previous first week sales records. Estimates of 6 million units sold worldwide, generating $400 million for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

Iron Man on the other end had a weekend box office of over $200 million worldwide. With expectations of breaking $300 million within a month.

So in the end what did the battle show? That you make a good game or movie and you will get people to pay. You make something like “The Heartbreak Kid” and you get nowhere fast. Time to go back to the drawing board to come up with a new scapegoat for that $100 million flop you have coming down the pipe.

Not only does it tell you the location of items and events but it gives a spacial perspective by overlaying onto the map a regulation size football field. In other words they didn’t walk that far at all.

source: NASA

Calling the map the “Map of Misery” it reports that the CA, NV & AZ area is showing the largest grouping of “misery” with FL, WA and the Quad State area of DC, NY, NJ & MD as a close second.

source: Business Week

source: The Nation

If you are a determinedly single woman and want to be part of a larger pool of consumers then Chicago, Philadelphia & NYC seem to be the place for you….. and the men who want to change your mind.

Visa versa if you are a single male and just want to work without the distraction then you seemingly live in San Francisco, LA, Las Vegas & Austin. As we all know those places have long lines of people hoping to attract the attention of those single men.

source: National Geographic