Crop Circles Google Earth

Crop Circles Google Earth

Crop circle enthusiasts are using Google Earth to track down the most interesting patterns in fields across Britain.

* Most complex crop circle ever discovered in British fields

*Google Earth and Facebook ‘dipping’ craze irks pool owners

* Robert Colvile: Why the world is addicted to Google Earth

The internet giant’s satellite mapping service has made it easier than ever for fans across the world to locate and study the phenomena, which previously had to be photographed from light aircraft. Message boards and online communities devoted to crop circles now play host to Google Earth maps and screenshots, allowing swift comparison of their locations and designs. Google Earth does not provide real-time images – its maps are usually at least six months old – so recent circles like the pi figure cut into a barley field in Wiltshire earlier this month are not yet visible.

But this does mean that many of the circles cut in previous summers can still be seen. Here we present 10 of the most impressive crop circles that have been found on Google Earth.

Patrick Swayze died

Patrick Swayze died

The news as it first came over the AP wire was "Patrick Swayze at 57": they'd forgotten to put the "died" part in the headline. Given that we all know that Swayze had been battling with pancreatic cancer for a couple of years (when the prognosis is usually less than 6 months) there wasn't that much surprise when the headline in its next incarnation was "Patrick Swayze died at 57". The British newspapers have been giving huge coverage to this news of Patrick Swayze's death from pancreatic cancer. The Telegraph collected quotes from those who knew him:

Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, tweeted: "RIP P Swayze". (One might want to make a note about Demi Moore's Twitter there. We usually use the past tense about those, like Swayze, who have died, not the present. And, err, that particular sentiment, shouldn't it have been said to Patrick Swayze while he was alive? As for Ashton Kuchner's Twitter: are there really a million people signed up to follow such pearls of wisdom as might come from a bookend?) Days ago it was reported he had left hospital to be at home with his wife, Lisa Niemi, his childhood sweetheart from Houston.

The Times gives him a full obituary: Patrick Swayze was in his mid-thirties when he became an overnight sensation in 1987 with the romantic dance movie Dirty Dancing, in which he played the dance instructor Johnny Castle, and Jennifer Grey was his pupil Baby. The film cost $5 million and was intended primarily for video, but it grossed more than $200 million worldwide and was one of the biggest hits of the year.

Serena Williams Outburst

Serena Williams Outburst

When Serena Williams was dubiously penalised for a foot-fault when two points away from defeat, she could contain herself no longer. She twice unleashed a tirade at the lineswoman and match officials intervened to award a point to her opponent, Kim Clijsters, effectively handing her the match and a place in the US Open final. Earlier, Williams had been reprimanded for smashing her racket on the court.

In a sport where ill temper reached its apogee in the early 1980s antics of John McEnroe - why do there seem to be so many outbursts? Former top British player Andrew Castle says that due to the intensity of the game, all tennis players suffer from bursts of anger that they ultimately have to keep under control. "Most tennis players are just like any fit, young, wound-up people. But controlling your emotions is what training is about, what being a professional is about." Castle says he had been prone to the occasional outburst himself.

"I had a bad temper. I was the most fined player in the world one year," he jokes. But whatever minor outbursts cropped up in tennis, there are other sports with far worse offenders. "Some of the worst things I've seen have come recently in the football Premier League. It's just appalling." In football, players shout at the referee persistently, although using foul language in this way would usually bring a booking. "Any sport is a pressure cooker and I don't think tennis is unique in that," says sport psychologist Craig Mahoney of Northumbria University, who worked for the Lawn Tennis Association for seven years.