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I hung a camera from a kite and flew it up over Boston's skyscrapers (pics)

xkcd.com — These are pictures I took by hanging cameras from kites, a hobby I've played with on and off over the years. To get the camera to take pictures, I built a 555 timer circuit that, every 13 seconds, throws a relay wired to the camera's shutter button. I used a small delta kite and a cheap $30 digital camera with a large SD card.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 28, 2007

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164 Comments

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  • brklynmark, on 10/11/2007, -7/+271And to think Google spends all that money acquiring satellite images.
  • dukeeeey, on 10/11/2007, -5/+210Careful, the government might think it's a bomb.
  • UtahApocalyse, on 10/11/2007, -7/+146This was in Boston and a terror attack wasn't called?
  • dokbeast7, on 10/11/2007, -0/+70Dang he got that kite pretty high. I always wanted this one Estes rocket when I was little that had a camera that took a picture when the parachute ejected. This is even better though because it takes multiple pictures. Awesome idea.
  • mrgeekguy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+63Fox News Headline: "SLEEPER CELL EXPOSED IN BOSTON!!! CAUGHT WITH DETAILED PHOTOS OF SKYSCRAPER TARGETS!!! MILLIONS SAVED FROM CERTAIN DEATH!!!"
  • alphaterminus, on 10/11/2007, -2/+37Put some Lite-Brites on it and flip Boston the bird!
  • SCscoutguy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+31Dude with Harry Potter. http://imgs.xkcd.com/kite/yogi_doug_anna_400.jpg and Frodo Baggins along http://imgs.xkcd.com/kite/2007-06-17/derek_alice_randy_400.jpg you know your pictures are going to be magical!
  • pwallroth, on 10/11/2007, -4/+30His photography is as good as his comics, amazing stuff.
  • Skooma714, on 10/11/2007, -4/+28I'm surprised he wasn't arrested as a terrorist gathering intelligence by the Minilove.
  • Mtdewrulz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25I was in Boston Common this Saturday and saw a guy in a wheelchair with a kite on a fishing pole that was REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY high up in the air. Everyone around was pointing and saying "WOW! That kite is really high!"

    Was that you?
  • zirtbow, on 10/11/2007, -10/+33More like the Boston bomb squad should have showed up and had snipers shoot it down as a possible terrorist attack.
  • HunterTV, on 10/11/2007, -10/+32It's a bird! It's a plane! IT'S A BOMB!
  • staffrocket, on 10/11/2007, -2/+23In Boston? Never..
  • nicheplayer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20There's a huge group at flickr devoted to KAP.

    http://www.flickr.com/groups/kiteaerialphotography/pool/
  • alphaterminus, on 10/11/2007, -4/+21oops bury, sorry
  • khfn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17Anna is pretty attractive...

    dear god I hope she's not underage. I don't want to be hauled off or anything.
  • MikeonTV, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15no Fenway?
  • witcompe, on 10/11/2007, -3/+16It is not a bomb in Boston if it is not shaped like a cartoon character giving the finger.
  • alphaterminus, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14Put some Lite-Brites on it and flip Boston the bird. They have a good sense of humor I hear.
  • Derrekito, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12you MUST live in the U.S.
  • crom99, on 10/11/2007, -7/+19Somebody set us up the bomb.
  • Szandor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11You can read Arabic?

    [runs down the street]

    He's right there, officer!
  • HunterTV, on 10/11/2007, -6/+16I'm so high right now. I have no idea what's going on.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12who cares stfu
  • penguinofhonor, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11i refuse to.
  • Kr4t05, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Must I correct everyone who does this wrong? The original line is: "Somebody set up us the bomb."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base#Game_transcript
  • Clbck, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11http://imgs.xkcd.com/kite/2007-06-25/rainbow.jpg is trippy.
  • tnatharik, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Cool , if i do it in my country, i will get arrested. Possibly.
  • rspeed, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I was thinking the same thing.

    As for being underage... she's in college, no?
  • pencilneck, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11More likely some stupid local cop with over react and then the bomb squad shows up.
  • UNL1M1T3D, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Can't say that I have ever flown a kite. Something I will have to do soon.
  • Xenogis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6How the ***** would a kite make a helicopter crash?
  • FTLJohnson, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8When I saw this on "How to of the day" a few weeks ago... I wondered how long it would be before pics made digg...

    http://www.wikihow.com/Take-Aerial-Photos-Using-a-Kite
  • Arbus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6It's just you. I'd rather see pictures of this than pictures of them getting laid.
  • t0ny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Well MOST of Google's pictures are from an airplane not a satellite.
  • ORD2FRA, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I put a video camera on an RC airplane...
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8371816074062601749

    There are lots of people that have done this.
  • nixr, on 10/11/2007, -4/+10Actually now that I look at them again I think they were taken from the Business School campus though I'm sure most of you are like "who cares stfu"
  • Derrekito, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7next story: "Boston teens sent to secret military prison"
  • xkcd, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5That's actually not barrel distortion on the lens -- it's a result of sampling the CCD in a nonzero amount of time (cheap camera) causing horizontal distortion. I picked out the best and then un-distorted them by hand in Photoshop but didn't do it perfectly, hence the remaining curves.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5i see that dude every weekend. he usually lets passersby fly the kite for a bit.
  • jjk5, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Right hand side of this photo:
    http://imgs.xkcd.com/kite/2007-06-17/boston_shore.jpg
    Looks like there was a day game that day too.
  • Latka, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Mod parent up. The prank is funny, it may be hard to grasp at first if you're high :P
    http://xkcd.com/kite/kite_trick.jpg
  • jwensley2, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I looked it up after reading this and they do make a rocket that shoots video on a digital camera which you can plug into a PC via USB
    http://www.estesrockets.com/products.php?number=2187
  • alamandrax, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4You're the worst character ever Towelie.
  • rspeed, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Maybe as good as his artwork... I wouldn't say it's even close to as good as his comics overall.
  • penguinofhonor, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6don't be silly. it's a weather balloon. nothing suspicious here. this man never existed.
  • Arch77, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Google Kite View
  • Derrekito, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4great... now cheney's delusional statements are pushed back to the end of the newspaper.
  • Minarbles, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5The kite prank is the best bit.... A small teddy bear mod "hovering" from the string would really freak people out.
  • ECas123, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Thats what she said...
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