Best Prank Ever? Real-Life Dead Pixel in Google Earth

Dead Pixels are annoying little dark bits you'll see on your screen when a bunch of teeny tiny subpixels are permanently off. It might be a broken transistor or just a pixel that's stuck on black. Or if you're messing around with Google Earth, it might be an 82-centimeter by 82-centimeter square of burnt grass.

We're not sure which came first: Either this guy was playing with Google Earth and had a "Wouldn't it be cool if..." moment, or he's just a pyromaniac with a flair for the geometric who likes to exhibit his work on Google Earth.

Either way, Dutch artist Helmut Smits somehow came upon the decision to burn an almost 3-foot by 3-foot square of ash into the grass somewhere out there in the world in the name of art in public places. When it's viewed from 1 kilometer above the ground (3,280 feet), it looks just like a dead pixel on your monitor at home.

We don't think anyone has found it yet, so happy hunting!

Via TechDigest

Comments (8)

So. Awesome. Makes me wanna go out on the hunt for it!

posted by thehalfie on May 2nd 2009 at 1:44am
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It's on a canal, so it's probably somewhere in northern Europe. He's Dutch - look in the Netherlands or Belgium.

posted by cakekick on May 7th 2009 at 1:52pm
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I just tried and according to Google Earth, the imagery date for Rotterdam (where Smits lives and works) is May 27, 2005. He did it in 2008, so I doubt we're gonna find it before the people at Google Earth update the images...

posted by mk710 on May 7th 2009 at 9:50pm
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A man, a plan, a dead pixel: Exipdaed anal panama!

posted by elcheapo on September 15th 2009 at 1:06pm
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@elcheapo: ahahaha! this post made me smile...

posted by Tobiaty on September 21st 2009 at 2:07pm
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I used to have a fuchsia dead pixel, it'd disappear if there was white behind it... lol I got rid of that monitor... then my nephew got a nintendo ds... the dead pixel had come back to haunt him.

posted by Djluckyonline on September 21st 2009 at 9:17pm
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Okay, I have to ask. If no one has managed to find the thing yet on Google Earth, why is everyone so sure it looks like a dead pixel?

posted by sammybaby on October 1st 2009 at 1:56pm
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An obvious element missing in the discription is the latitude/longitude alignment of the square. If not north/south by east/west, then you have a diamond or such. I'd like to see someone paint mall parking lots or roofs with images/symbols/words easily visible in GE from a mile or so, i.e "SEE ROCK CITY" that was so prevalent in the south several decades ago.

posted by marcdick on October 3rd 2009 at 4:01pm
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