Google Earth has had more than its fair share of criticism over the past few months. It has been linked to the planning of terrorist attacks in Iraq and elsewhere, prompting calls from some quarters for the service to be banned, while recent revelations that it can now zoom-in to show car number plates and newspaper headlines has got privacy zealots hot under the collar and hot-tub Lotharios nervously looking to the skies.

Sneak, however, hasn’t come to bury Google Earth, but to praise it. Why? Well, this wonder of the Internet Age has been instrumental in answering a question that has long perplexed yours truly, viz: what’s the name of the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island? Answer: Vulcan Point in Crater Lake on Vulcano Island in Lake Taal on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines.