Nick Newcomen's GPS Writing Tells World to 'Read Ayn Rand'

by Amar Toor on August 13, 2010 at 10:40 AM

Nick Newcomen had something to get off his chest, so he decided to write it across the continental U.S. Literally. With the help of a Qstarz BT-Q1000X GPS logging device and seemingly endless amounts of spare time, Newcomen spent a full month driving across 30 states, along a route he'd carefully planned before leaving his house. When he finally ended his trek, his trans-continental message was laid bare for all Google Earth viewers to see: "Read Ayn Rand."

As Wired explains, Newcomen began his odyssey in Marshall, Texas, after drawing out his circuitous route on a map. As he was driving, Newcomen would turn on his Qstarz BT-Q1000X GPS logger whenever he wanted to "write" a letter, and would switch it off in between characters. He then uploaded the GPS data to Google Earth, and, 12,238 miles later, his masterpiece was finally complete. (View it on Google Earth here.)

So, why would anyone devote this much time to this? "The main reason I did it is because I am an Ayn Rand fan," the presumably unemployed Texan redundantly confirms. "In my opinion if more people would read her books and take her ideas seriously, the country and world would be a better place -- freer, more prosperous and we would have a more optimistic view of the future." And, if Newcomen's story is any indication, we'd probably all go absolutely insane. [From: Wired and World's Biggest Writing]

Tags: AynRand, GoogleEarth, GPS, GpsNavigation, GpsTracking, politics, Qstarz, texas, top, us