Bare-chested Shetlander welcomes Google with open fingers

The Shetland Islands are proving fertile ground for Street View tomfoolery, and hot on the heels of yesterday's Incredible Hulk revelation we have this chap offering Google's Orwellian black Opel the traditional local welcome: Bare chested Shetlander gives Street View the two-finger treatment Splendid. Of course, every time …

[Mark 65]

Was that

Les Battersby from Coronation St?

[scottboy]

Odd blurring

The Richard Nixon-looking mask is unblurred, while the guy with the tinfoil hat has his arm blurred. Does he have a hyper-realistic tattoo of an registration plate on his arm? Perhaps Dangermouse can supply the details.

[Pirate Dave]

local welcome?

so is that some rude gesture over in the UK? Here in the states we'd just say he was groovy for giving the peace sign...

[Anonymous Coward]

Peace and love

The peace gesture is the same, but with the palms towards the person you're aiming it at.

Here is quite clearly is the other way around, meaning "Up yours!"

[Jim Carter]

Yup

It was an old English "salute" from English archers to the French at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, if memory serves.

[Cameron Colley]

@Jim Carter

Your memory serves you correctly -- but the story is incorrect. Apparently the old Agincourt story is a myth.

[Secretgeek]

Slight tweak.

I always thought it was a post-Agincourt gesture to remind the French of how many English fingers it took to beat them royally at that battle.

Still, I failed History so you're probably right.

[bygjohn]

Further minor tweak

IIRC the myth (if myth it be) was to do with the French chopping off those two fingers from any captured English longbowmen to prevent their being able to ever draw a bow again. Effectively the "salute" is a taunt of "I've still got mine, Frenchy!". Longbows being the thing that made the difference at Agincourt, being much more efficient and rapid-fire than the French crossbows. Of course if it's all a myth, then the whole thing is tripe. Pity, it's quite a good story.

[Geoff Kennedy]

local welcome

SImilar to the "Local Welcome" you'd expect to receive in the Jersey Shores.

HINT: Phot-shop his index fingers from each hand.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is news?

Oh, down here in Deal is quite normal for such things. I didn't think it something that I should send in:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=rooks,+deal&sll=51.22482,1.40272&sspn=0.001304,0.002814&ie=UTF8&hq=rooks,&hnear=Deal,+UK&ll=51.224691,1.402734&spn=0,359.997186&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.224821,1.402719&panoid=y3C7r5l5eA2iu7aWLe6hLg&cbp=12,238.19,,0,20.36

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This is news?

Wow - you need to include some kind of warning. I think I may have accidentally observed images of chronologically challenged, stature challenged pre-persons. Google should also mask them as well.

Won't anyone please think of the adults?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha ha

Looks about right for Deal. Not a bad butcher, though

[Anonymous Coward]

They're rough n tough in Shetland

but I'd give her a go

[Tim]

Never heard this pointed out

Google blurs faces on street view, supposedly to prevent identification. But anyone who knows a person - say a boss, or a jealous spouse - would recognise them from their clothing, stance and other physical characteristics even if their face was obscured. It is patently absurd to claim that streetview preserves individual privacy. I wonder why this argument hasn't been made to the ICO (or any other watchdog) in the many arguments over the legality of SV?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here we go again.....

What is the chance that you was doing something at that exact time that your boss just happened to see that he/she just happened to manage to recognise you?

Have you even seen pictures with just a black box over the eyes. it makes people very hard to recognise....

[Anonymous Coward]

More streetview sillyness

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st+andrews,+fife&sll=56.3411,-2.793881&sspn=0.004644,0.009645&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Saint+Andrews,+Fife,+United+Kingdom&ll=56.341062,-2.792898&spn=0.004769,0.009645&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=56.3411,-2.793881&panoid=BQm8XS9uIPDm_HUUgyo0BQ&cbp=12,16.68,,1,24.25

Somewhat of a silly title for the thing. Any smaller and the bin men only a few yards down the road could have confused it with the council bins!

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the stop sign gone?

Ok, so it's like one of those 'spot the difference' pictures. In the army one the stop sign has vanished - or may be they've use the invisibility cloak!

[Jos]

google pulled over

And sometimes the police (in the Netherlands in this case) don't like google taking pictures everywhere :-)

http://maps.google.nl/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=nl&geocode=&q=venray&sll=52.469397,5.509644&sspn=4.705532,14.095459&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Venray,+Limburg&layer=c&cbll=51.528949,5.982856&panoid=fkHZlF2ZyY7tS6sVwAraGA&cbp=12,102.37,,0,21.91&ll=51.528931,5.983&spn=0,359.922838&z=14