the Walnut Diary

Years ago I used to play video games in the SIM series where one methodically built homesteads or cities, or even whole civilizations.  A look at Fiery Cross Reef, South China Sea, on Google Earth shows the ultimate SIM game:  build a whole city, including a 2-mile airport runway system, on a sand bar in the middle of the South China Sea.  Memories of SIM Civilization quickly morph into the recollections of the obsessions of various Bond villains over the years.  And Google Earth brings it all to the screen of your laptop, whenever you want to look at it.

It’s not live, though.  The version I saw was filmed in 2014.  Four-storey buildings seem complete.  Others are under construction.  I’d love to see updates.  It would be like looking at a time-lapse ant farm.

I realize that the construction of this project is a major disruptor in world politics, but my first reaction to a look at it was fascination at the detail that I could see in the satellite photos, and admiration for the organization which could mount such a massive project in the middle of nowhere.